Participation MarksApdx A: Course Principles


Grade Breakdown

pie title
"Participation" : 5
"Individual Project (iP)" : 15
"Team Project (tP)" : 50
"Exam" : 30

HEADS UP: 5 extra marks for community engagement!

Aim: A student who does well in should receive one letter grade higher than another student who does not do as well in this area, all other things being equal.
Rationale: Such activities are mutually beneficial and enhance both your learning and your classmates' learning.

How does it work? At least 5 bonus marks are allocated for such activities. These marks are embedded inside various grade components (i.e., iP, tP, participation).

Examples of eligible activities (non-exhaustive):

  • Engaging in forum discussions.
  • Helping others test their iP/tP, as requested via the forum.
  • Giving peer feedback through pull request reviews to team members (in the tP) and other students (in the iP).
  • Participating in peer evaluations in iP and tP.
  • Helping to find bugs in another team's product (in the tP practical exam dry run).

What qualifies for bonus marks: While most of the eligible activities already have participation points attached to them, the bonus marks are earned by going the extra mile to help peers. Some examples:

  • Providing more useful and thoughtful input.
  • Doing notably more than the minimum requirement.

What doesn't qualify? Obvious attempts to grab bonus marks by gaming the system will not be rewarded. Some examples:

  • Only a short burst of activity (instead of consistent activity over the semester).
  • Spammy/trivial posts or responses.
  • Submitting low-effort AI-generated feedback or responses.
  • Creating bogus activities (e.g., starting superfluous forum threads).

Admin Participation Marks


Admin Individual Project (iP) Grading


Admin Team Project (tP) Grading


Admin Exams



Participation MarksApdx A: Course Principles