Grading and exams
To pass the Python Programming MOOC courses you are expected to both complete exercises and take part in an exam.
Upcoming exams
Introduction to Programming
- Thursday 24.10.2024 (Extra exam)
- Saturday 23.11.2024
- Saturday 11.01.2025
Advanced Course in Programming
- Saturday 26.10.2024
- Saturday 14.12.2024
- Saturday 18.01.2025
- Saturday 15.02.2025
NOTICE! An additional exam for the Introductoin to Programming course will be held on 24.10.2024. If you wish to participate in this exam, do not take the exam on 19.10.2024. If you take both exams, the lower score will be recorded.
As an exception. the exam time on 24.10.2024 is from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM (UTC+3), and technical support will be available from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM (UTC+3). We recommend starting the exam during this period.
Taking a programming exam
Once you have completed the required number of exercises for either of the courses, you may take the relevant course exam at any of the times listed above. Specifically, you must have received at least 25% of the exercise points for each of the seven parts on the course by 8 AM on the morning of the exam. If you are taking the advanced course exam, part 14 must be fully completed. If any of the seven points totals falls short of this limit, your exam submission will not be graded.
Submissions are assessed separately for the Introduction to Programming course (parts 1-7) and the Advanced Course in Programming (parts 8-14).
You may take part in any number of the exams listed above. The highest grade achieved will be your final grade.
Information about exam arrangements
- You do not need to enrol for the exam.
- The course exam can be taken on exam date between 10:00 AM and 10:00 PM.
- The exam ends at 10:00 PM at the latest. If you want to be able to spend the maximum time allowed on the exam, you should start at 6:00 PM at the latest.
- You will have four hours to complete the exam. If you have been granted extra time through special arrangements, you will have five hours to complete the exam, and should start at 5:00 PM at the latest.
- Your solutions to the programming tasks in the exam are submitted in the same manner as your solutions to the programming exercises on the course.
More detailed instructions will be published on these pages before the exam date.
Exercise points
Each programming exercise and quiz in each part is worth a number of exercise points. You can find a list of all the exercises in a specific part by clicking the "List of exercises in this part" menu on the index page of that part. You can see your current exercise points total by clicking the blue blob in the bottom right corner of any page in the course material. The percentage in the "Total points" section for each part is the critical one for passing the course.
Grading guidelines
Grading scale
The course is graded on the following scale:
| Total points | Final grade |
|---|---|
| 90 % or more | 5 (Excellent) |
| 80 % or more, less than 90 % | 4 (Very good) |
| 70 % or more, less than 80 % | 3 (Good) |
| 60 % or more, less than 70 % | 2 (Satisfactory) |
| 50 % or more, less than 60 % | 1 (Sufficient) |
| less than 50 % | Fail |
The final grade is calculated based on the number of exercise points received during the course (50 % of final grade) and points received in the exam (50 % of final grade). Your exercise points percentage equals ([all received exercise points] / [number of exercise points available on course]) * 100. We are working on including this percentage in the visualisation in the bottom right corner of each page.
For example, if your total points percentage for the exercises for the whole course is 42 %, and you receive 79 % of the points in the exam, your final points percentage will be (42 % + 79 %) / 2 = 60.5 %, which equals grade 2 (Satisfactory).
To pass the course you must have received at least 25% of the exercise points for each part on the course, regardless of the above calculation.
Exam points cutoff
To pass the course you must receive at least 50% of the total points available in the exam.