Elements of Machine Learning

Dear all,

We just posted your grade for the re-exam on CMS.

In addition we also post points per sub-problem, as well as a sample solution that would have scored full points. If these give you the impression that we made an error in grading, you have opportunities to identify factual errors, such as when we for example seem to have missed part of your answer to a question, or did not give points for a correct answer.

The first option is to submit a written claim via CMS. Submissions are open until Thursday 07.04.22 at 23:59. You may submit your claim either as a pdf or txt file per problem. Please make sure that you include your name and matriculation number on every page. Be explicit and specific in your claim. If needed, you may include a scan of your original submitted solution. Any annotations on these need to be made in a *different* pen color than with which you wrote the exam.

The second option is to attend the in-person exam inspection, where we will offer you access to a hard copy of your graded exam, i.e., your solution with our grading annotations, and the sample solution. This inspection takes place Thursday, 07.04.22 09.00-12.00h on campus in room 0.07 of E9.1 (CISPA). You will have to register for the inspection and will be assigned a timeslot. You will need to wait outside of the CISPA building until we call you in. You will need to bring your own pen and need to leave your belongings at the entrance of the room. CISPA requires everyone to wear a mask at all times while indoors, as well as to keep the room well-ventilated. During your assigned timeslot you may inspect your exam and write down any perceived or factual errors in the grading, on a piece of paper, which you then hand in before leaving. Besides the sound of pens and paper, the in-person inspection will be silent, i.e., there will be neither discussion nor explanations. To clarify what you can expect of seeing your graded exam: Our annotations consist mainly of tick marks and indications (e.g., underlining) of mistakes and wrong statements.

If after screening your grade, points, and sample solution you want to join the in-person exam inspection, we ask you to register on CMS by Wednesday, 06.04.22 at 11.59h (midday). You find the button “Re-exam inspection” under “Registrations”. We will allocate you to a timeslot of 15 minutes on Thursday 07.04.22 between 9.00-12.00h. We will notify you about your assigned timeslot by Wednesday afternoon. Note, you are only granted access to inspection during your specific time slot. If you wish to attend the in-person inspection and you have a valid reason that permits you attending on Thursday morning (e.g., an exam), write us an email with the proof of your reason.

After claims have been submitted – both online and onsite – we will process them jointly, quickly, but above all fairly. We will update your points when Prof. Vreeken and Prof. Valera agree this is justified. There will be no written or verbal feedback.

Best regards, 

Prof. Isabel Valera
Prof. Jilles Vreeken
and the entire EML Team

Dear all,

We hope you are all well and fully recovered from the re-exam. Over the last week we’ve been busy grading your exams, as well as thinking how to organize the exam inspections in a way that is safe, sound, and minimizes waiting times all at the same time. Please read this email carefully.

On Monday, 04.04.22, we will publish your grade, points per subproblem, as well as a sample solution on CMS. This allows you to assess how close or far off your answer of your submitted exam was from full points.

If you have the impression that we did not take all information in your answer into consideration, we provide two opportunities to identify factual errors in our grading, e.g. identify when we somehow did not consider your entire answer to a question, or did not give points for a correct answer.

The first option is to submit a written claim via CMS. We will open submissions for these upon release of the grades, with a deadline on Thursday 07.04.22 at 23:59. We will send out the details on how to submit these claims in due time.

The second option is to attend the in-person exam inspection, where we will offer you access to a hard copy of your graded exam, i.e., your solution with our grading annotations, and sample solution. This inspection will be held next Thursday, 07.04.22 in the CISPA building (E9.1) on campus. To avoid crowds and long waiting times you will have to pre-register for a 15 minute timeslot. Details will follow soon. During your timeslot you can inspect your exam and write down any perceived or factual errors in the grading on a hand-written form. Besides the sound of pens and paper, the in-person inspection will be silent, i.e., there will be no discussion. To clarify what you can expect of seeing your graded exam: Our annotations consist mainly of tick marks and indications (e.g., underlining) of mistakes and wrong statements.

After claims have been submitted - both online and onsite – we will process them jointly, quickly, but above all fairly. We will update your points when Prof. Vreeken and Prof. Valera agree this is justified. There will be no written or verbal feedback.

In summary, you get access to your submitted exam, points per problem, and grade electronically, as well as additionally have the opportunity to inspect your annotated exam in person. You may identify grading errors both electronically and hand-written. We will share a sample solution, but will not offer one-on-one explanations this time round.

We will share with you details on how to submit your claims via CMS as well as on the procedure for the in-person inspection next week.

 

Best regards, 

Prof. Isabel Valera

Prof. Jilles Vreeken

and the entire EML Team

 

Dear all,

The re-exam will take place tomorrow, March 24th at the same time as the main exam did (14h-16:30 CET). We updated the Zoom link.

All regulations, instructions and times stay exactly the same as in the main exam. Therefore we refer you to the tab (Information > Exam instructions). Please (re-)read the instructions for doing the exam online or on-site. Importantly, we would like to highlight: please do not use checkered/squared paper (it is really hard to read your answers) and please write your name and matriculation number at the first page of each submitted pdf. We recommend to upload pdfs not zip files.

If you are planning to take the exam online, you can do a test upload to "Fake exam submission Re-exam" until tomorrow 14.00h CET (to test the system). Please note that the submission deadline for the online exam tomorrow is 17h CET sharp, we will not accept late submissions.

Please use the forum, if you have any questions regarding tomorrow's exam.

Good luck for tomorrow,

Your EML Team

 

 

Dear all,

This is a reminder to all students, who have registered for the re-exam on LSF or via email with us:

Please register in addition on CMS for an on-site or online slot until Sunday 20.03.22 at 23:59h CET.

This serves us to plan the logistics for the upcoming exam. For details, kindly consult the previous post on CMS.
 

Thank you & Have a nice weekend,

Your EML Team

Dear all,

First, a reminder that registration for the EML re-exam is possible on LSF (via email to us if and only if LSF does not work) unitl today 23:59h.

In addition, please register on CMS in for taking the exam online or offline. This registration will be open until Sunday 23:59h (To facilitate planning it would help us if you do this as soon as possible). For this, go to your CMS profile, and click on "I prefer online" or "I prefer on-site" under the section "Registrations". Registration is enabled only for those students eligible to take the exam. Note, you still need to register on LSF.

 

Thank you,

Miriam

 

 

 

 

 

Dear all,

This is to inform you that registration for the re-exam is open now until including 17.03.22. Please read this information carefully.

Please register in LSF.

If and only if you cannot register in LSF, please send us an email to eml-ta [at] lists.saarland-informatics-campus.de with the following subject [Exam-Registration] {Matriculation number} {Name} and  containing the following information: 
- Name
- Matriculation number
- Study subject
 

Thank you! Wishing you all the best for the exam preparation. 

Your EML Team

Dear all,

We have received a request to share the meeting ID of the exam inspections for those joining from abroad. Here is a list of the links, meeting IDs and times of the inspection. Note that you may also use a VPN of the university, if you have troubles joining. Please do read the instructions on the inspections shared in an earlier CMS notification.

Tuesday, March 8th 2022 from 9:00-12:00h CET - Inspection Problem 4 & 5 - join before 11:00h:
https://cs-uni-saarland-de.zoom.us/j/88307145537?pwd=OTU3d2pnQnBmb3R5MENLNGViYTU3Zz09

Meeting ID: 883 0714 5537
Passcode: 602668

Tuesday, March 8th 2022 from 15:00-18:00h CET - Inspection Problem 1 - join before 17:00h:
https://cs-uni-saarland-de.zoom.us/j/81455300247?pwd=UWE2NzUrcTd0cHRremlvZFE4eHFaZz09

Meeting ID: 814 5530 0247
Passcode: 154346

Wednesday, March 9th 2022 from 15:00-18:00h CET - Inspection Problem 2 - join before 17:00h:
https://cs-uni-saarland-de.zoom.us/j/84269145253?pwd=RXM3cnhFdDJQOFVWTE40R205cjlQZz09

Meeting ID: 842 6914 5253
Passcode: 275057

Thursday, March 10th 2022 from 15:00-18:00h CET - Inspection Problem 3 - join before 17:00h:
https://cs-uni-saarland-de.zoom.us/j/87339194357?pwd=a2pDa3RzZlVzRmVLcWFYT3JmejdSZz09

Meeting ID: 873 3919 4357
Passcode: 058920

 

Best,

Your EML Team

 

Dear all,

We hope you and your families and friends are all well in these times.

This is to inform you that we have released the points for the EML main exam. You can find them on CMS.

The final grades will be released after the inspection. Reminder: Inspections are taking place tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday and are fully online. For this, please read the previous email / CMS post carefully.

 

Best regards and a good start in the week,

Your EML Team

Dear students,

I am happy to inform you that the EML exam inspections will take place next week. I would like to share with you the inspection procedure. Please read this information carefully.

We offer an online exam inspection in which clarifications regarding your scores can be requested. The inspection is not meant for, and we will not share the template solutions. The inspection will be held in four sessions. Each time slot is allocated to one to two problems of the exam and only questions to this problem will be addressed. Please find the times and links to the Zoom meetings below.

Important 1: Once you join the meeting, you will be added to the waiting room. We will consider students on a first-come-first-serve basis. We will admit students to the waiting room for the first two hours of the respective session after which we will lock the meeting (= you cannot join anymore), and continue until all the students had their turn. Please be patient in waiting for your turn and refrain from sending us emails during the inspection asking how long it will take. Be assured that we will attend all students in the waiting room following the procedure described above.

Important 2: When you join the inspection, please enable your video and have your student ID-card ready. To speed up inspection, make sure that you have the digital copy of your exam ready such that you can screen-share it with us.

Please use the following Zoom links to join the inspection:

Tuesday, March 8th 2022 from 9:00-12:00h - Inspection Problem 4 & 5 - join before 11:00h:
https://cs-uni-saarland-de.zoom.us/j/88307145537?pwd=OTU3d2pnQnBmb3R5MENLNGViYTU3Zz09

Tuesday, March 8th 2022 from 15:00-18:00h - Inspection Problem 1 - join before 17:00h:
https://cs-uni-saarland-de.zoom.us/j/81455300247?pwd=UWE2NzUrcTd0cHRremlvZFE4eHFaZz09

Wednesday, March 9th 2022 from 15:00-18:00h - Inspection Problem 2 - join before 17:00h:
https://cs-uni-saarland-de.zoom.us/j/84269145253?pwd=RXM3cnhFdDJQOFVWTE40R205cjlQZz09

Thursday, March 10th 2022 from 15:00-18:00h - Inspection Problem 3 - join before 17:00h:
https://cs-uni-saarland-de.zoom.us/j/87339194357?pwd=a2pDa3RzZlVzRmVLcWFYT3JmejdSZz09
 
Best regards,
The EML team

Dear students,

We have created a new tab on CMS called "Exam instructions".  There you can find new information regarding both the onsite and online exams (physical room, Zoon link, COVID measures, plagiarism policy, etc.), so make sure to carefully read it in any case.

This information complements the one of the main page (section "Evaluation") that was already available to all of you, so check out the main section as well if you haven't done it so far.

Best regards and good luck on the exam,
the EML team.

Dear students,

we have updated the main page of the CMS with new information regarding the EML exam, taking place the 24th of February, under the Evaluation section.

For your convenience, below you can find a copy of the updated text:

 

Evaluation

To be eligible  to participate in the exams, you will need to have cumulatively scored 50% of the points for the theoretical exercises and 50% of the points for the  programming exercises.         

​To participate in the exams, you will need to register at least one week before the exam via the LSF/HISPOS system of Saarland University. If this is not possible, register with us by sending an email with your full name, matriculation number and study program to: eml-ta [at] lists [dot] saarland-informatics-campus [dot] de.     

The final exams will be written and held both online and on-site. All material covered in the lectures, slides, exercises, and required reading is relevant. 

We will release the exam PDF on CMS from 13:50 onward, allowing you to download and possibly print it. The exam officially starts at 14:00. You will have until 16:30 to prepare your solutions. Online participants need to upload the solutions as a ZIP-file to CMS by 17:00 the latest, on-site participants will need to hand in their solutions at 16:30. These are hard deadlines. (If disaster strikes and the CMS were down, we accept solutions by email via eml-ta [at] lists [dot] saarland-informatics-campus [dot] de but only if they reach us by the deadline.)        

The exam will be open book, meaning that you are allowed to consult  the slides, lecture videos, books, etc. We will design the exam, however, such that it strongly favours those that studied over those  that plan to look things up. There is a big difference between  consulting and straight-up copying, and it will come to no surprise that we do not condone plagariasm. Exams are to be done individually.        

You are allowed to write your solutions and derivations on paper using a black or blue pen and may submit a ZIP-file with clearly readable JPG-pictures or PDF-files (e.g., using a  smartphone camera or scanning app) of your answers by the deadline. You may use plain or lined paper, but as it often causes readability issues when digitized, we do not allow squared paper. You are also allowed to write your solutions digitally – for example using LaTeX, Word, or a notepad app on your tablet – and include PDF files of these answers in the ZIP-file.         

While the ZIP-file's name does not matter (CMS automatically renames it), the individual JPG or PDF files within the ZIP-file should be named such that it is immediately clear to which questions they are relevant, e.g. "2424242-exam-q1.jpg",  "2424242-exam-q2,q3a.pdf", "2424242-exam-q3bc.jpg", etc (where 2424242 is your matriculation number). If you submit a single PDF file (instead of a ZIP), no special naming is needed (CMS does it for you).        

Students who are taking the online exam and do not have a smartphone or other option to take a picture of their solutions should let us know as soon as possible via email. Students who take the onsite exam should comply with the current covid-related rules (2G+) and wear an FFP2 mask will be mandatory for the duration of the exam.

 

Best regards,
The EML Team

Dear Students, 

We hope you are all well. 

As you probably saw the registration for the EML Main exam is open now until February 17th.  

Please register in LSF.

If and only if you cannot register in LSF, please send us an email to eml-ta [at] lists.saarland-informatics-campus.de with the following subject [Exam-Registration] {Matriculation number} {Name} and  containing the following information: 
- Name
- Matriculation number
- Study subject

Thank you! Wishing you all the best for the exam preparation. 

Your EML Team

Dear EML students,

We would like to inform you that registration in LSF for the EML exam, taking place the 24th of February, is already open. You will be able to register/deregister from LSF until February 17th.

The exam will be open book, meaning that you will be able to consult external resources (such as books and slides, not other students) to help you write the solutions, and you will need to cite those sources in your solutions (just like in the assignments).

Moreover, the exam will be hybrid, offering you the possibility to do the exam in person or online:

• In-person attendees will have the usual advantages of being in a physical room with us.
• Online attendees will, of course, also have access to us via Zoom. Additionally, they will have some extra time in order to prepare and submit their solutions through CMS.

Please feel free to reach us via the usual ways (such as the forum) if you have further questions. However, keep in mind that we will clarify most doubts and extra details as we get closer to the exam date.

Best regards,
the TA team

Dear students,

be aware that we just slightly adjusted exercise sheet 4, but only the practical part.

In particular, for task 3, we added the hyperparameters for which you should perform the grid search, and for task 4, we explained more clearly which plots we want to see.

 

Stay healthy and have a nice weekend!

Your EML Team

Dear students,

We hope you are all well. This is to inform you that grades of Assignment 3 have been uploaded.

For the next assignment recall:

• You are required to write all team members' names and matriculation number on each submission sheet of your solutions.
• Do not use checkered paper.
• Please check your solution before submitting with the checklist we provide on CMS.

Note, if you have already passed the threshold for being admitted to the exam (you can check this on your CMS), it is not mandatory for you to hand in Assignment 4. However, since the assignments aim to prepare you for the exam, we highly recommend you to submit your solutions anyways.

 

Thank you,

Your EML Team

Dear all,

We would like to remind you to please submit a running code for your practical problems of the assignments. If you submit an answer to a practical problem without running code corresponding to that answer, then you receive 0 points for this problem.

How can I double check, if my submitted code is running?

One option: If  you have a partner, ask them to download it from CMS and run it on their computer.

Another option: Send the zip to a friend and ask them to run it on their computer.

This is a non-exhaustive list of options, i.e., feel free to come up with other options of how to check it. Please also assure that your data loading works.

Where can I get help?

If you have any questions in this regard, please take advantage of the help tutorials. Tutors and TAs there to help you.

Please see also the entry "Checklist for submission" on the main page. Thank you!

 

Stay healthy,

Your EML Team

 

 

 

Dear students,

As the Covid situation in Germany continues to be very serious, the EML lectures by Professor Valera will be held online until further notice. Therefore, starting this week and for the following weeks, the lecture will take place fully online. To attend the lecture, please join the Zoom room or YouTube link we will provide. Professor Valera will be available to attend your questions during the lecture via Zoom.

Stay healthy,

Your EML-Team

Dear all,

I hope you are all well and healthy. We would like to provide you with a checklist for your next assignment submission:

For the new assignment, I have...

• created (formally) a new team on CMS. This can be with my previous partner, if I like. Important is, that I created a new team on CMS.  
• filled out the code of conduct for the new assignment, including inserting the current assignment number, and updated the date. I signed the code of conduct. I submitted it individually in my own CMS, even, if I am a team (each team member submits their own code of conduct).
• put my name on each of the pages I submitted. If I am in a team, I have put BOTH team members' names on each page that I submit.
• written on plain paper with blue or black ink/font color. I have not used checkered paper.
• numbered the equations in my proofs. This allows the tutor to reference while grading and provides me with more precise feedback.
• referred to my equations by the numbers I gave them, if I needed to explained my equations. I used underbraces to refer to parts of the equation. I did not write "RHS of this equation", because it adds ambiguity.
• written question numbers next to my code in R (as a comment). This allows the tutor to understand my code better and faster.

Looking forward to seeing you at the next help tutorial, where you can get help for your next submission and ask clarification questions regarding the feedback you received in your last assignment. If you have questions on the submission guidelines or style, kindly ask in the forum. We also constantly update the FAQ - please check them before sending us an email.

Stay healthy,

Your EML Team