Illness & Absence

The University provides a variety of options for students to be absent from studies for a short period of time. The most common are:

• Short-term absence: A self-declared absence of up to 48 hours for any reason (but only once per term and only up to the last day of classes; this isn’t available during the exam period).
• COVID-19 illness: An absence up to 10 days due to a COVID-19 symptoms or a positive test.
• Other Illness: An absence due to other illness.
• Creed/Religion: A self-declared absence of up to 48 hours due to a conflict with your creed or religion.

All of these require registering on-line. For Short-term absenses, COVID-19 illness, and Creed/Religion absences, please see the University’s short-term absenses web page and declaration instructions for more details.

For other illnesses, you will need to fill out a Verification of Illness form, which is faculty specific. Math students should see Math’s Verification of Illness Form (VIF) . Other students should go to that same page and follow the links it contains to their own faculty’s equivalent page.

If you need to be absent for other reasons or for a longer period of time, you should consult with your academic advisor.

Informing CS135 Instructors and Staff

Registering a short-term, COVID-19 or creed/religious absence automatically informs course staff; you don’t need to do anything else.

For absences due to other illnesses:

• If you are a Math student, we automatically receive the VIF when you register the absence. You don’t need to do anything else.
• If you are not a Math student, obtain a VIF and email a copy to the Instructional Support Coordinator with a subject of “CS135 X illness” where “X” is replaced with the appropriate assignment (eg A03) or midterm (eg MT).

If you must be away for other reasons, please email documentation to the Instructional Support Coordinator with a subject of “CS135 X Other Factors” where “X” is replaced with the appropriate assignment (eg A03) or midterm (eg MT).

Impact on Assignments, Midterms, and Final Exam

In a course as large as CS135 we are not able to give make-up assignments or exams.

Assignments: Assignments due within periods covered by a COVID-19 illness or a VIF (Verification of Illness) will normally be excused with the weight shifted to the remaining assignments.

Assignments due within short-term illness or creed/religion self-declaration will be due at the end of the 48 hour period allowed.

Midterms: Midterm exams will normally be excused and the weight transferred to the final exam.

Final Exam: If you are ill and cannot write the final, we will assign one of the following marks for the term:

• IP (In Progress), in cases where a make-up final exam can be prepared and written early in the following term. This option is not always available.
• INComplete, in cases where the illness is accepted and we believe the student could plausibly pass the course based on other work done in the term. The student will be required to write the final exam the next time CS135 is offered (either Winter or Fall; CS135 is not offered in Spring). The ISC makes the arrangements. Note that successor courses (e.g. CS136) may not be taken until CS135 is passed.
• DNW (Did Not Write), in cases where medical documentation is not provided or we reject it or we do not believe the student could plausibly pass the course.

Limits on Excused Assessments

At some point we simply do not have enough information to assign a grade. Students with more than three excused assignments or more than one excused exam will be given an INComplete (provided we believe, based on the work we do have, that they could plausibly pass the course).

Advice

You can keep up with the course in the following ways:

• Look at the course calendar to see where we expect to be at the end of each lecture.
• Read the commentary in the study modules for those lectures.
• There is no direct way to keep up with tutorials other than attend. They focus on the development process, which is also a major focus of office hours; make use of office hours. If you’re sick, visit office hours on MS Teams .
• Always do the assignments if at all possible – they are an important part of your learning process to understand and implement that material. Start them early, while material is still fresh and they provide maximum benefit to learn material useful on future assignments.

It is your responsibility to keep up with the course content. It is particularly important for the content covered by any assignments you may have missed. Reading the notes is no substitute for actually doing the assignment!

We highly recommend that you complete any assignments that may have been excused. If you submit after the 100% deadline, you should
email cs135@uwaterloo.ca to ask the ISAs to “mark for feedback”.