This page contains information specific to Extension School students. Extension students are also subject to the course policies for all students.
Prerequisites
Prerequisites for this course for Extension students are CSCI E-52, CSCI E-26, or experience programming in C or C++.
Note: This course requires programming in C++. You should deeply understand C pointers and arrays before taking this course. Ideally you should already have experience programming in C or C++. If you have not previously programmed in C or C++ but know another procedural language, such as Java, you will likely be able to quickly learn what you need. See the prerequisites page and the resources page for pointers to material for learning C++. Talk to the instructor if you are unsure whether you are sufficiently prepared for CSCI E-61.
Add/Drop deadlines
Please see the Extension School calendar for details of registration dates, add/drop dates, and so forth.
Attendance
If you are local to Cambridge and can make class meeting times, you are welcome to do so. If you are not local or cannot make classes, that's OK too. We encourage you to work on the exercises (which will be available from each day's lecture), either alone or with a partner (Piazza is a fine mechanism to find partners). If you have questions, you can post questions on Piazza, ask teaching staff during office hours, or ask questions during section. If you find that you're regularly having difficulty with the exercises and cannot get help, please let us know!
In addition, there will be a weekly, recorded section on Wednesdays at 7:40. You can participate in these sections in real time, or you can watch videos of them at your convenience.
Lecture and Section videos
Recorded section videos will typically be available a day or two following the live section. We will have videos from class time available, one per week, at the end of the week.
Office Hours
Office hours for Extension School students will be held via Zoom on Tuesday evenings 8:00-9:30pm. More information here.
Assignments
Assignments for Extension students are the same as for College students, and the same policies apply regarding late days, grading, etc.
One exception is that assignments for Extension students are due exactly 24 hours after the College student deadline (i.e., college deadlines are Friday nights; extension deadlines are Saturday nights). This only applies to assignments, and not forms that we may need you to fill out or exams.
Like other students in the course, Extension students may work in pairs for the assignments that allow this. Extension students may work with other Extension students or with College students, although we find that Extension pairs work best (because Extension students tend to have similar schedules). Please contact the course staff if you would like to work with a partner but are having trouble finding someone.
Course staff and sections
All students, including extension school students, should use Piazza (or, alternately, cs61-staff@g.harvard.edu) for requests.
For Piazza you will need Harvard email address. The instructions for getting one can be found here.
Exams
Extension students sit the same exams as College students: a midterm exam in mid-October, and a final exam in mid- to late December. Exam dates will be posted on the schedule. We will provide proctors during a several-hour window in the evening for those in the Boston area. For those not attending the exam in person, you must sit for the exam within a 24 hour window starting on the exam day at the time of the college exam.
Please refer to the Extension School pages on exams for more information on Extension School exam requirements.
Grading
Extension students are given the same work as College students, but graded on a different curve (College student marks won’t affect Extension student marks, and vice versa).