Hofstadter's Law: "It always takes longer than you think, even when you take Hofstadter's Law into account."
The assignment deadline policy this quarter has been designed with built-in flexibility in mind. With that being said, here are the details of the assignment deadline and late policy this quarter:
- All assignments this quarter will have a published deadline date, which means that the assignment must be submitted by 11:59pm in the Pacific time zone. Submission by this deadline will earn a small on-time bonus. These bonuses will be added into your course grade at the end of the quarter and will not be reflected in your individual bucket grades on the assignment.
- All students will be granted a penalty-free 24- or 48-hour "grace period" for submission on all assignments (except possibly the final one). The grace period allows you to submit the assignment after the original deadline, with no impact on your final grade. Following our prior example, for an assignment with a July 10 submission deadline and a 24-hour grace period, all students have the opportunity to submit until 11:59pm in the Pacific time zone and still be eligible to submit their work for full credit. This grace period is meant to give built-in flexibility for any unexpected snags – however, we strongly recommend that students submit by the original deadline if possible, in order to avoid falling behind on the class cadence.
- Late submissions are not accepted after the grace period expires, unless there have been arrangements made for an exceptional situation as described below.
The grace period is effectively an automatic extension that has been approved in advance, to accommodate you when minor life emergencies arise (laptop dies, get a cold, etc). Given that, additional extensions beyond the grace period are generally not granted, except in cases of truly exceptional major emergencies. Such needs will be considered on a case-by-case basis and handled by the Head TA (do not email your section leader).
Common questions about late policy
Does the deadline change depending on my time zone?
No, deadlines are the same for all students. For this course, we express all times in the Pacific time zone. You can assume any time in our course materials, website, and tools (Paperless, etc) refers to Pacific time.
If I make a first submission by the deadline, can I use the grace period to make a later submission or add a extension?
If you make multiple submissions, we grade the last one. If the last submission is during the grace period, you forfeit any on-time bonus. The grace period is intended to provide flexibility when unexpected circumstances prevent you from finishing the assignment by the deadline. Late submissions put extra pressure on your section leader to return feedback to you in a timely manner. We ask that you use the grace period only when your situation requires it.