Attendance hurdle

This unit, like Mathematics A and B, has an attendance hurdle. You probably know the drill but here’s the details:

• There are 10 mandatory labs, 5 each in weeks 13-17 and 19-23.
• Week 18 is reading week so no labs at all; Week 24 is revision week so the labs become drop-ins which are not mandatory and also do not count for attendance.
• You are expected to attend at least 9 of the 10 mandatory labs.
• If you are unwell, you can self-certify your absence (e-mail coms-student-enquiries@bristol.ac.uk if you need information on this), then the lab counts as attended.
• Labs are Fridays 11:00-14:00. The lectures on Tuesdays 11:00-12:00 are not mandatory and do not count towards attendance (they cannot be used to make up a missed lab), but it’s a good idea to come to them anyway.
• The hurdle is set at 5 out of 10 labs.

Since the expectation is 9 labs, we will ignore any complaints if someone fails the hurdle with only 4 labs but claims that’s “almost 15”, as it’s not almost 9.

If for any reason we need to cancel a lab, then we will give attendance for everyone involved. For example, if you attend 6 labs, self-certify one as unwell, and we have to cancel two other labs then we would count that as attending 6 + 1 + 2 = 9 out of 10 labs, which meets the expectation. A lab is only cancelled if we announce that officially on the unit page and on Teams.

We will likely take attendance with Qwickly on Blackboard, but may use other means if possible, so do bring your U-card or other attendance tools with you just in case.