Grading and policies

Table of contents

1. Course grading scheme
   1. Flexible weighting for quizzes and the final exam
2. Homework
3. Homework review sessions
4. Quizzes
5. Exams
6. Exceptions
7. OAE deadlines
8. Remote exams for athletes

Course grading scheme

The course grading scheme is designed to encourage students to keep up with the course content as it happens, to learn through consistent practice and studying, to use AI to deepen their understanding and augment their skills, and to join lectures in person when possible.

• Homework (10%): biweekly (or so) homework assignments
• Homework review sessions (15%): small-group discussions of homework with a TA
• Quizzes (25%): weekly (or so) in-class quizzes
• Project (30%): one final data analysis project
• Final exam (20%): cumulative final exam

Flexible weighting for quizzes and the final exam

The course offers a flexible grading schema that automatically shifts the weight of the course off of quizzes or exams you miss onto those you take. The table below shows a few examples:

To get full credit in the course, you’ll need to take the exam or at least 7 of the quizzes. If you take both the final and at least 7 quizzes, then your score on both will be max(standardized quiz score, standardized final score). So you can’t hurt your grade by taking the final.

Homework

Grading. Each homework problem is scored on a simple rubric:

• 2 — successfully solved the problem
• 1 — a genuine, if unsuccessful, attempt to solve the problem
• 0 — no answer or no serious attempt made

Drops. Your lowest homework grade will be dropped.

Weights. We weight all assignments equally when computing your overall homework score.

Slip days. Students have seven slip days that may be used through the quarter with no grade penalty. At most three slip days may be used for a single assignment. For example, you could submit two homeworks two days late and a third three days late. To calculate slip days, we round up: a homework submitted 24 hours and one minute after it is due will use two slip days. Homework submitted after all your slip days are used will receive a score of 0.

Collaboration. You are allowed - and encouraged - to collaborate with each other and with AI on homework. However, each student must submit their own homework. We ask that you

• Give credit to the people who have helped you: please write on your homework the names of the people you worked with.
• Give credit to the other resources that have helped you: on each assignment, describe the textbooks, notes, web pages, or AI models you found useful, with details on how you used each.

Using AI effectively. We suggest you use AI tools to help you understand concepts, debug code, and check your work. However, you should not paste a homework problem into an AI and submit the output. A good test: could you reproduce your solution on a whiteboard without AI assistance? If not, you haven’t learned the material yet. The homework review sessions (see below) are designed to help you confirm that you’ve truly understood the material.

Sharing solutions. Under no circumstance should you seek out or look at solutions to assignments given in previous years, or share or post solutions (yours or ours) to a public website.

Homework review sessions

After each homework deadline, every student will attend a 30-minute review session in a group of approximately 5 students with 1 TA. Each student will briefly present one problem from the homework, explain their approach, and answer follow-up questions from the TA and peers.

Grading. Each session is scored on a simple rubric:

• 2 — demonstrated understanding of the problem and approach
• 1 — present but could not clearly explain their solution
• 0 — absent

Drops. Your lowest review session score will be dropped.

Logistics. At the start of the quarter, you will sign up for a recurring weekly time slot. If you need to miss your regular slot, you may attend a different session that week with advance notice to the TA.

Quizzes

This class will have 8 quizzes (approximately weekly), which will ask some simple questions on course material. Quizzes will be cumulative.

Quizzes will take place in class on Wednesdays. These quizzes will be closed book and internet. You may bring a single sheet of handwritten notes (both sides). Each quiz will generally last 10 minutes, but some may be longer.

Drops. Your lowest quiz score will be dropped.

Regrades. You can ask for your quiz to be regraded up until two days after grades have been assigned. Regrades may increase or decrease your grade.

Accommodations. If you are not able to take the quizzes in class, you may shift all quiz weight onto the final exam (see the flexible weighting table above).

Exams

This class will have a final exam during the assigned exam period scheduled by the University registrar. The exam will be cumulative, closed book and internet. You may bring a single sheet of handwritten notes (both sides). The final exam will be 1.5 hours long.

Accommodations. If you have a letter from the Office of Accessible Education that grants extra time or modified test-taking conditions, send your letter to the course staff and we will accommodate your needs on the final exam. If you are not able to take the final exam at the designated time, you may shift its weight onto the quizzes (see the flexible weighting table above).

Academic integrity. This course is participating in the proctoring pilot overseen by the Academic Integrity Working Group (AIWG). The purpose of this pilot is to determine the efficacy of proctoring and develop effective practices for proctoring in-person exams at Stanford. To find more details on the pilot or the working group, please visit the AIWG’s webpage.

Exceptions

Beyond the slip days and drops outlined above, extensions on assignments will be granted only with an academic accommodation letter from the Office of Accessible Education (generally for medical reasons), or in other such exceptional circumstances. Requests due to job interviews, other classes and assignments, and poor planning will not be considered. We suggest you save your slip days to ensure against catastrophe.

OAE deadlines

If you plan to use your OAE approved exam accommodations for a specific assessment, you must provide your accommodation letter and inform the instructor (using this webform) by:

• 10 calendar days prior to a quiz date.
• No later than May 25th, 2026, at 5:00 pm for the final exam. You only need to submit your letter once per quarter. For urgent OAE-related accommodation needs that arise after the deadline, please consult your OAE adviser. If you are not yet registered with OAE, contact the office directly at oae-contactus@stanford.edu.

If your require an accommodation other than 1.5x time on exams, you will need to book directly with OAE, following these instructions.

Remote exams for athletes

If you are a student athlete and need Stanford Athletics to remotely administer a quiz or exam for MS&E 125 (Spring 2026) due to an official university-sanctioned athletic event, use ]this form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfNEnKbzvP9GVup7paXulU2sar_56c-FCCQOga1UGJhyW5-FA/viewform?usp=publish-editor) to submit your request.