Operations Research, Spring 2013

Exams

Grading

• Homework: 15%.
• Three projects: 30% (project 1: 8%; project 2: 8%; project 3: 14%).
• Class participation: 5%.
• Two exams: 50% (one of the following two plans will be chosen to maximize your grades):
  • Plan 1: midterm 20% and final 30%.
  • Plan 2: midterm 15% and final 35%.
• The final letter grades will be given according to the following conversion rule:
  

  Letter	Range	Letter	Range	Letter	Range
  A+	[90, 100]	B+	[77, 80)	C+	[67, 70)
  A	[85, 90)	B	[73, 77)	C	[63, 67)
  A-	[80, 85)	B	[70, 73)	C-	[60, 63)

Policies

• Office hour: You are welcome to my office hour to ask me any question. You may ask me to clarify some concepts, give you hints for homework problems, or even demonstrate how to use OR software. In fact, discussions not related to OR are also welcome. If you don’t want to come in the designated time, feel free to send me an e-mail to schedule a meeting.

• Class participation: We do not require one to attend all the lectures and labs. If you have something more important to do, feel free to drop a class. Nevertheless, as communication skills are essential for almost everyone, we encourage class participation and include it in evaluating each student. In other words, class participation is not just sitting in the classroom. During lecture time or office hour, you are more than welcome to ask or answer questions and provide comments. You are also encouraged to use the course bulletin board on PTT. These will not only give you a good participation grade but also significantly help your learning.

• Homework: Weekly homework will be assigned every Wednesday or Thursday and due the following Wednesday (unless there is a holiday or exam). Please put a hard copy of your work into my mailbox on the first floor of the Management Building II by 1:00pm on the due date. No submission in class or in lab. No late submission. Each student must turn in her/his own homework. The lowest two homework grades will be dropped (i.e., you may skip two homework if you want). The TAs will grade homework and regrade them upon request. If you have a regrading request, please contact the TAs directly (e.g., in the labs).

• Labs: The instructor or the TAs will conduct a lab every Monday. In the lab, the instructor may give extra lectures or lead project presentations and the TAs may demonstrate how to solve problems with useful analytical tools or computer techniques. In my opinion, attending labs is as important as, if not more important than, attending lectures.

• Projects 1 and 2: Please form a group with no more than five persons. You may have different teammates for different projects. For each of these two projects, at most five teams may volunteer to do a 10-minute presentation in a lab to earn extra credits. If too many teams want to present, teams who volunteer earlier will be selected. All team members must be in class for the team to present.

• Project 3: Please form a group with five to eight persons. Each team will make a 15-minute presentation. All team members must be in class for the team to present.

• Exams: Both the two exams will be in-class and open-book. Except a calculator, no electronic device is allowed. No discussion is allowed. Cheating will result in severe penalty.