Grading
Category | Weight |
Milestones | 40% |
Labs | 25% |
Midterm Exam | 15% |
Final Exam | 20% |
Milestones (40%)
There are four group milestone projects that will help students develop professional cybersecurity and communication skills.
- Milestone 1: Risk Assessment Draft
- Milestone 2: Final Risk Assessment Report
- Milestone 3: Penetration Test Report
- Milestone 4: Penetration Test with Mitigation Report
- Late submissions are subject to a 10% deduction in points per 12 hours.
Labs (25%)
These are hands-on learning activities that are completed outside of class.
- There are 13 labs. However, only the top 10 highest lab scores will be counted toward the lab grade. (In other words, students can skip up to three labs.)
- Lab assignments are typically necessary to doing well on exams or milestones.
- It is strongly encouraged to complete one lab a week throughout the semester. All labs are due by 11:59 PM on Monday December 6. No late submission will be accepted.
Lab Peer Support
Students are encouraged to help each other complete lab assignments. When a student offers help to another to complete one lab assignment, he/she will receive a 3% extra credit to the lab assignment.
- For example, if Michael reports that Molly helped him for Lab #2, Molly will receive a 3% extra credit to her Lab #2 grade. If Molly is reported to have helped two of her classmates, she will receive an 6% extra credit.
- The one who receives help must submit the helper’s name in Canvas submission. (In other words, Michael should report that he has received help from Molly.)
- A student can report receiving help only from one student in one lab. (Michael cannot report help from both Molly and Stuart.)
Mid-Term (15%) and Final Exams (20%)
- The mid-term and final exams will be open-book and open-note exams over Canvas.
- The mid-term exam opens at Oct 4 and is due by Oct 9, 11:59 PM (subject to change).
- The final exam opens at Dec 9 and is due by Dec 15, 11:59 PM (subject to change). It is cumulative and covers the entire semester.
- There will be no extension to the deadlines for completing exams.
Certification Option for the Exams
- As an option, students seeking certification may replace both the mid-term and final exams by passing CompTIA Security+ certification (https://www.comptia.org/certifications/security) or other certification approved by the instructor.
- Students can substitute the score on the certification plus an adjustment (5% for the Security+) for the mid-term and final exams. For example, if a student receives an 85% on Security+, he/she receives 90% of the points for the two exams.
- To receive credit for the certification, the student must show evidence of having taken the certification exam by December 5.
Grading Scale
Grades |
Grades |
A |
93% – 100% |
A- |
90%-92.99% |
B+ |
87%-89.99% |
B |
83%-86.99% |
B- |
80%-82.99% |
C+ |
77%-79.99% |
C |
73%-76.99% |
C- |
70%-72.99% |
D+ |
67%-69.99% |
D |
63%-66.99% |
D- |
60%-62.99% |
F |
<59.99% |
Other Course Policies
- Attendance and Participation : Attendance and participation are a key component of learning experiences. It is strongly encouraged to read/review all post materials (readings, videos, or others) prior attendance and actively take part in all class discussions and activities. Missing classes will make it difficult to successfully complete the milestones, labs, and exams, leading to a lower final grade.
- Email : Students are required to use their @temple.edu email account for all correspondence with the instructor. Email messages sent from a non-Temple account may not be responded. The instructor will not respond to messages sent using Canvas messaging.
- Inclement Weather: Generally, in case of inclement weather, a class will not be canceled as long as the University is open.