DMP: Assessment

Assessment in DMP is spread across multiple elements of in-course work and a final exam. All elements are combined and weighted to give a final mark out of 100 and a corresponding grade following the university common marking scheme CMS 1.

The components are the homework exercises, online quizzes, mid-semester class test, and a final written exam. Marks from each element are weighted 1:2:3:4 to give the overall course mark.

The pass mark is 40/100 and there is no requirement to pass each component individually: only the overall mark is used to determine final grade.

There is a resit exam in August for students who do not pass the course in December. This covers the full material of the course and replaces all previous assessment to give a final mark out of 100. There is no cap on resit grades.

Weekly Homework

There are six weekly homeworks through the semester, in weeks 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, and 10.

Each homework is marked out of 10. The best four marks out of six are then combined and together contribute 10% to the final course mark.

Link: DMP Homework

Online Quizzes

There are ten weekly online quizzes, in weeks 1–5 and 7–11. Each is marked out of 10. These are timed tests, with two attempts each limited to one hour. Only the highest mark of the two is kept. Students who receive additional time in exams get the same time adjustment in the online quizzes.

The best eight marks out of the ten weeks are combined and together contribute 20% to the final course mark.

Quizzes can be reached by following the “Weekly Quizzes” link on Learn.

Mid-semester Class Test

There is a class test in Week 6. The is a timed paper done through Gradescope in your own time. It goes live at 9am on Wednesday 23 October and requires submission by 12 noon on Thursday 24 October. You choose a time to do it: once you start you then have three hours to complete and upload your answers. The paper is set assuming two hours to work on the solutions and with a large extra allowance to cover scanning and uploading. Students who receive additional time in exams get the same time adjustment in the class test.

Students starting the test after 9am on Thursday can do so but must still submit by the time listed and will as a result have a shorter period to complete the test.

Questions in the test are based on material from across the first half of semester. The test is open-book: notes and reference materials are allowed.

The week leading up to the class test is cleared of all other DMP work to allow time for preparation: no Monday lecture, no tutorials, no weekly homework, no quizzes. Thursday's lecture in the week before reviews the first half of the course as a guide to preparing for the test.

The class test is marked out of 30 and contributes 30% to the final course mark.

2024/25 Class Test: Question Paper and Notes on Solutions
2023/24 Class Test: Question Paper and Notes on Solutions
2022/23 Class Test: Question Paper and Notes on Solutions

Final Written Exam

The final exam of the course is in December. This is an in-person two-hour written paper held in an exam hall. The paper is in two parts: Part A contains questions on probability; Part B contains extension questions that are more challenging and may draw on any part of the course.

Part A has four questions worth 60 marks altogether; Part B has two questions each marked out of 10. Adding up the marks for all questions gives a total out of 80.

Students may take in up to three A4 pages (six sides) of notes for reference, and will need a scientific calculator. Calculators should not be able to draw graphs or communicate online. The school web pages provide full details and give a list of suitable models — see the sections “Examinations” and ”Calculators”. DMP is a “NOTES PERMITTED, CALCULATORS PERMITTED” exam, which the school page explains in detail. Tables of the standard normal distribution, or other numerical references, will be provide alongside any question that needs them.

 Link: Assessment: Coursework, Exams and Feedback 

The university exam period for this semester is from Monday 9 December to Friday 20 December, including Saturdays. The dates and locations of exams were published on Friday 1 November and appear in each student's personalised examination timetable.

For DMP the exam will be on Tuesday 10 December starting at 1300 in St Leonard's Land. Enter from Viewcraig Gardens on the south side of the building. Different students will be in different rooms, depending on surname, so it is essential to check personalised timetables to confirm exact details.

The written exam is marked out of 80 and contributes 40% of the final course mark.

The University Library publishes past papers at https://exampapers.ed.ac.uk. The DMP Learn pages have some solution guides for past papers: navigate to Course Content / Assessment / Examples of Past Exam Papers.

Links: Exam Timetable; St Leonard's Land; Past Exam Papers

Resit Exam

There is a resit exam in August. This is open to any student who has not achieved a passing grade by December. The resit exam is an in-person two-hour written paper held in an exam hall. Some students receive additional time or sit in a different room. The paper is in two parts: Part A contains questions discrete mathematics; Part B contains questions on probability. Together these cover all elements of the course.

Each part is made up of four questions that are together marked out of 50. Adding up the marks gives a total out of 100. This replaces all previous assessment and gives a final grade for the course. There is no cap on resit grades.

Students may take in up to three A4 pages (six sides) of notes for reference, and will need a scientific calculator. Calculators should not be able to draw graphs or communicate online. The school web pages provide full details and give a list of suitable models — see the sections “Examinations” and ”Calculators”. DMP is a “NOTES PERMITTED, CALCULATORS PERMITTED” exam, which the school page explains in detail. Tables of the standard normal distribution, or other numerical references, will be provide alongside any question that needs them.

 Link: Assessment: Coursework, Exams and Feedback 

The university exam resit period is from Monday 4 August to Friday 15 August, including Saturdays. The dates and locations of exams are published in July and will then appear in each student's personalised examination timetable.

The University Library publishes past papers at https://exampapers.ed.ac.uk. 

Links: Exam Timetable; Past Exam Papers