1. Scheduled Activities

There are four kinds of activities: lectures, labs, quizzes and reports. All activities are online; no activity will take place at campus.

All Lectures are recorded. Videos, lecture notes and reading instructions are presented under Modules
There are a number of labs, which are not mandatory. The purpose of the labs is to offer live Q&A and aid with assignments (quizzes and project). You will have time to ask questions regarding assignments, and there might also be presentations and demos on practical tasks, such as installing and using related software.
There are both graded and practice quizzes, which can all be found both under Quizzes and under Modules. The graded quizzes are part of the LAB1 sub-course. Practice quizzes are not mandatory but can be used as practice for graded quizzes and the final examination.
There is a mandatory project, which is also part of the LAB1 sub-course and is described further under Project. The project consists of multiple parts and is to be presented at report sessions at the end of the course.

2. How to Get Help?

Before the course starts you will be automatically enrolled to the IV13-51 Piazza Forum. This is the official forum of the course for all discussions, questions and answers. If you are not enrolled after the course starts please notify the teachers via email.

You can ask questions at labs, which are described above, and also post questions in Piazza. Do not send direct emails to teachers, instead post questions in Piazza, since then all students can be helped by the answers.

Mind that posts can be (optionally) anonymous to peer students in Piazza. Only the Instructors are able to see the author of every post.

3. Literature

The recommended reading for the course is the following book :

Fundamentals of Database Systems (7th Edition recommended, 6th edition is also fine) by Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Navathe.

4. Diagram Editors and Programming IDEs

Recommended diagram editors and programming IDEs are listed on the page Software.

5. Examination and Grading

The examination consists of the following modules:

Graded Quizzes and Project (LAB1, 4.5 credits, Grading scale: A-F ) - max 60P
Final exam (TEN1, 3 credits, Grading scale: A-F) - max 50P

To pass the course and get a final grade it is required to pass all five quizzes, the project and the final exam. Below is more information about each examination.

Quizzes
Each quiz gives max 4p, which makes a total of 20p for the five quizzes. You are given two attempts for each quiz (highest score wins). You need 2p to pass. In case you fail both attempts there will be an equivalent pass-only (2p) quiz at the end of the course. Note that you must pass (2p) each individual quiz. For each quiz you do not pass, you must take the corresponding pass-only quiz at the end of the course.
Project
Each project task gives max 8p, which makes a total of 40p for the five tasks. All project tasks are graded after the project report on Jan 7. No points will be reduced for minor errors. If you fail one or more project tasks, you will have to re-report those tasks later. There is no deadline for re-reporting failed project tasks, but you can only pass a task (4p) when reporting after deadline.
Final exam
The exam gives max 50p, you need 25p to pass. If you fail the exam you have to retake it at the next scheduled occasion. The exam is given two times per year, see schema for next occasion. You can find more information about the final exam at the Final Exam page.

When all examinations are passed, the final grade is calculated as follows:

total = Graded Quizzes (max 20P) + Project (max 40P) + Exam (max 50P) = max 110P

where A: (total>=90) , B: (total>=80) , C:(total>=70), D:(total>=60), E:(total>=55), F:(total<55).

The grade that is calculated according to the formula above will be given for all course examinations (LAB1, TEN1, Final Grade).

6. Disability

If you have a disability, you can get support through Funka, KTH's coordinator for students with disabilities, see https://www.kth.se/student/studentliv/funktionsnedsattning. In addition, if you have special needs that do not concern the written exam, inform the course coordinator and show the certificate from Funka.

Support actions under code R (i.e. adaptations relating to space, time and physical circumstances) are generally granted by the examiner.

Support actions under code P (educational adaptation) can be granted or rejected by the examiner after you have applied in accordance with KTH's rules. Normally, support efforts under code P are also granted.

7. Teachers

All course-related questions should be asked in Piazza, so that all participants can see the answer. Furthermore, the Lab sessions will also offer live Q&A via the help of the course Teaching Assistants. However, if and only if the question contains private information you can contact the teachers directly:
- Leif Lindbäck, Examiner, Course responsible, Teacher
  email: leifl@kth.se
- Paris Carbone, Course responsible, Teacher
  email: parisc@kth.se

IV1351 HT20-1 Datalagring