All course material, including lectures, homework, and coursework assignments.
The Final Exam will be conducted online via ZOOM.
You must make sure you have a working webcam, microphone, and reliable internet connection.
Please read and follow the instructions below thoroughly and carefully. Failure to abide by these guidelines will result in point deduction, annulment of your exam, and/or referral to the University for possible disciplinary actions.
Please log into the ZOOM meeting used for our Tutorial Sessions by 1:30 pm on the day of the Exam:
https://cuhk.zoom.us/j/93251238524?pwd=TzlOc1pjREhkM3J2MXNZNU9UNlFzZz09 Meeting ID: 932 5123 8524 Passcode: 062731
Please make sure your ZOOM profile name is the same as your name in official University records.
We will start letting people join the meeting at 1:25 pm. Please join in by 1:30 pm.
The checking of Student ID's (or other forms of official ID if Student ID is not available) will be conducted during 1:30 - 1:45 pm.
The Exam consists of two parts:
You have 45 minutes within this 50-min time slot to complete the quiz.
If you start the quiz on-time (i.e. before 1:50 pm),
you must click on the button "Grade Test" before the 45-minute mark after you start the quiz for your answers to be submitted.
If you start the test after 1:50 pm, you must click on "Grade Test" before 2:35 pm for your answers to be submitted.
To be safe, you should click on the "Grade Test" button after answering every 3 or 4 questions. The result of the quiz is based on the answers entered when you hit the "Grade Test" button for the last time.
Part 2. Written Exam (2:45 - 4:15 pm).
A password-protected pdf of the question paper will be distributed on the Blackboard page for this course, by 11 am on the day of the Exam. To forestall any potential problems caused by unstable network connections, please download the question paper pdf well in advance of the exam. The password for unlocking the pdf will be announced in the ZOOM session of the exam.
To download the pdf from Blackboard, right-click on the filename and choose "Save Link As...".
The duration of the Written Exam is 90 minutes.
At the end of the exam, you will be given another 15 minutes to scan and upload your answers to the Blackboard assessment item corresponding to the exam. You must prepare your answers according to the same guidelines used for Homework Assignments and the Midterm Exam.
If you manage to successfully upload the pdf of your answers within this 15-minute period. Please remain in your seat until 4:30 pm.
Both parts of The Exam is open-book/notes. You are allowed to make use of the internet during the Exam, except
for the purpose of communicating with another individual besides the lecturer and TA of this course. In particular, you are not allowed to post questions or answers on any internet forum or tutoring/educational establishment during the exam. Any violation of this rule is considered an act of academic misconduct, and will be reported to the University for further disciplinary review.
Do note that your actions are watched not only by the exam invigilators but also potentially by your fellow classmates,
who have access to the same internet resources as you do.
You must have a working webcam (e.g. camera on a smartphone), so that the exam invigilator may see you and your workspace via the ZOOM live stream, continuously throughout the course of the exam, including the scanning and submission period:
(Do try to take care of all your vital bodily needs before the beginning of each part of the Exam).
You are allowed to use at most two computing devices during the Exam. For example: (i) a laptop/desktop computer to view the exam pdf, and (ii) a smartphone to video stream your workspace.
You may use a scanner, while remaining visible to the ZOOM session, during 4:15 - 4:30 pm.
If you encounter any sign of network instability during the submission of the Written Exam , please use the following form to submit a "hash digest" of your pdf file before the deadline of the submission period. This is a backup measure that can (hopefully) allow us to determine that your answers were produced before the submission deadline, when we eventually receive the pdf scan of your exam answers. If you use this backup measure, do make sure the pdf you use to generate the hash digest is the same file as the pdf we receive. (Advice: Do not delete any of your pdf files during the near future of the exam.)
Please be informed that updates have been made on the penalty guidelines published in the Procedures for Handling Student Disciplinary Cases since the beginning of this academic year 2020-21, 1 August 2020. Other than plagiarism, cheating and academic dishonesty matters that may lead to record of demerits, rules like Employing or using services provided by a third party and Distribution/ Sharing/ Copying of teaching materials once established may risk termination of studies. Be ensure to familiarize yourself the information provided by the University published in website: www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.
Always sign on to ZOOM via your CUHK student account.
You will need to sign on to ZOOM via the “Sign in with SSO” option, specifying “cuhk.zoom.us" as the company domain. (Otherwise, we will have no way of knowing who you are.) If you have previously signed on to ZOOM with a non-CUHK account (e.g. Facebook), you may need to “sign out” or “switch account” in order to sign in again via CUHK.
Announcements
Overall Statistics
Final Exam Statistics
Homework Assignment 6, due Dec 7, 2 pm, will be posted under "Course Contents" on the Blackboard page for this class, at 2 pm on Nov 27.
It consists of two parts:
Homework 6 - Written
To be done on paper, scanned, and uploaded to Blackboard as usual.
Homework assignments are posted under "Course Contents" of Math 2070B on
CUHK Blackboard
Course Description
This course is intended as an introduction to modern abstract algebra and the way of algebraic thinking in advanced mathematics. The course focuses on basic algebraic concepts which arise in various areas of advanced mathematics, and emphasizes on the underlying algebraic structures which are common to various concrete mathematical examples.
Video recordings of the lectures may be accessed via the "ZOOM" button on the Blackboard page for this section.
Solutions
Sample Solutions to Homework, Coursework, and the Midterm Exam will be posted on CUHK Blackboard at appropriate times.
Assessment Scheme
Component
Contribution
Tutorial
1%
Homework Assignment
14%
Midterm Test (November 2nd, 2020)
35%
Final Examination
50%
One must take the Final Examination in order to be eligible for passing the course.
Class Notes
Lectures:
Each lecture will be conducted online during the official time slot scheduled by the University.
Tutorial:
Tutorial sessions are conducted weekly online. Each session lasts 45 minutes. During each session, students will be given time to work on a tutorial assignment, and a teaching assistant will demonstrate solutions to selected problems on the assignment.
We will post the tutorial assignment ("coursework") on the internet the day before each tutorial session.
Instead of collecting and grading the physical tutorial assignment, we will use your attendance to determine your tutorial assignment score in our assessment. You need to be present at each session for at least 30 minutes in order to receive a score of “1” for the corresponding assignment, otherwise you would get a score of “0”.
Homework Assignment
There will be a total of 5 to 6 homework assignments given during the term. Each student is expected to scan each completed assignment into a single pdf file and submit the file to an online platform.
Midterm Test
A 90-minute long written Midterm Test will be given during lecture/tutorial hours in the 8th or 9th week of the term. It will be conducted online. Each student is required to have a functioning webcam turned on for the duration of the test. Each student will be expected to scan their test into a pdf file and submit it online.
Final Examination
A 3-hour Final Examination will be given at the end of the term.
It will be a written test conducted online. Each student is required to have a functioning webcam turned on for the duration of the test. Each student will be expected to scan their test into a pdf file and submit it online.
A student whose performance on the Final Examination is significantly higher than how he/she normally performs on past assignments or the Midterm Test might be required to take an oral test. The score of the oral test would count towards 20% of the Final Exam, and the written portion will account for 80% of the exam accordingly.
We also might require students to take the oral test if we judge that there is a high degree of similarity between their answers on the written exam.
The main purpose of the oral test is to determine whether a student fully understands his/her own answers on the written test. We might, for example, pose a question similar in nature to a problem contained in the written test, and ask the student to solve it in real time.
If the student performs well on the oral test, his/her oral test score will be equal to the written test score.
To maintain fairness to those who are *not* asked to take the oral test, the oral test score will be no higher than the written test score.
In case face-to-face teaching is deemed suitable by the University, the Midterm Test and the Final Examination will be conducted on campus, requiring each student's physical presence. Any student in a special situation which prevents him/her from coming to campus physically could request an online test.
It is possible that lectures and tutorial sessions could be conducted on campus if face-to-face teaching is judged to be safe, but actual measures to be taken would depend largely on currently unforeseeable circumstances. In any event, we will abide by the key objective that each enrolled student will have convenient access to all course content.
Honesty in Academic Work
The Chinese University of Hong Kong places very high importance on honesty in academic work submitted by students, and adopts a policy of zero tolerance on cheating and plagiarism. Any related offence will lead to disciplinary action including termination of studies at the University. Although cases of cheating or plagiarism are rare at the University, everyone should make himself / herself familiar with the content of the following website:
