Your main learning on this unit will happen in twice-weekly workshops where you will solve problem sheets in groups with other students. There will be 20 workshops in total, two each in weeks 1-5 and 7-11. Week 6 is reading week where there are no timetabled activities, and in Week 12 the workshops are replaced by support sessions for revision week.
We expect you to prepare for each workshop by attending the lectures and reading the lecture notes (in any order you prefer). In the workshop itself, you will work on a problem sheet, and sample solutions will usually be provided a few days later.
The workshops are mandatory and we will take attendance with card readers in each one, so you must bring your UCard along and sign in at the start of each workshop. We expect all students to attend 19 out of 20 workshops, we do not mind if you miss one in total across the entire unit.
Although lectures are “highly recommended”, we do not enforce attendance there, and you cannot use attendance at lectures to compensate for missed workshops.
Drop-in sessions are optional, and we do not take attendance there either.
This is the official wording of the attendance hurdles, as agreed with the school:
Attending at least 75% of the labs/workshops and engaging with the lab work is a “must pass” hurdle for this unit.
The details are:
- There are 20 mandatory lab/workshops, two each in weeks 1-5 and 7-11.
- If you are unwell, you can self-certify your absence using the following form: Notication of absence form COMS1012, COMS10013 and COMS10014 or by emailing coms-student-enquiries@bristol.ac.uk, then the lab/workshop counts as attended.
- The hurdle is set at 75% which is 15 out of 20 workshops.
If for any reason we need to cancel a workshop, then we will give attendance for everyone involved. A workshop is only cancelled if we announce that officially on the unit page and on Teams.
We will take attendance in Maths A using UCard sign-ins, but we may use other means if necessary.
This unit has an attendance hurdle, as specified in the unit catalogue, that you must attend at least 75% of all workshops (15 out of 20) otherwise you automatically fail the unit. Since the hurdle is lower than the 19 workshops we expect you to attend, you will get no sympathy if you attend only 14 and argue that you almost met the hurdle, as you did not come close to the expected 19.
You get attendance for a workshop by signing in with your UCard. This implies that you must bring your card with you - but you should have your card with you at all times on campus anyway, so this is not a problem.
Some workshops are in-class tests. For these, you get attendance by
It does not matter how well or badly you do on the test - you do not need to pass the test to get attendance - as long as you have made a reasonable attempt.
The card sign-ins for workshops (both normal and class test ones) are a separate system from any other sign-ins you might do using phone apps, PIN codes or swiping your card on the entrance door of the building; those all have their function (such as visa monitoring for overseas students) but for the purpose of the attendance hurdle, only card sign-ins done in the workshops count.
If you are unwell for a workshop, you must self-certify your absence with the school on the day. You do not need a doctor’s note for this. A self-certified workshop counts the same as an attended one for attendance tracking purposes. If you need to be absent for another reason, ask the school for permission first.
To self-certify your absence on the day, please use this form. You will need to log in with your university account.
For all other questions about self-certification and absence, ask the school office at coms-student-enquiries@bristol.ac.uk - not your unit lecturers or TAs, they have no access to the self-certify system.
If you have registered a disability with the university, or you have caring responsibilities (for example, you are a parent) then you should talk to the school about possible exceptions from the attendance hurdle.
If you miss more than one workshop without self-certifying, your tutor will be informed, and repeated unexcused absences without good reason may be noted on your student record and lead to further consequences. In extreme cases, a student who is not engaging with their course may be required to withdraw from the university.
In past years, there have been cases where missing attendance hurdles was one of several factors that led to students being required to withdraw from the university without a degree. These were extreme cases (and the students involved also failed other units), but they do show that we take the hurdle seriously.
If you are struggling with the unit or the course for any reason, you must inform your personal tutor as soon as possible. On no account should you think “I’ve fallen behind - so I’ll stop going to the workshops”; that leads to falling further behind and usually to failing the year.