Programming problems will usually be marked out of 10 according to the following scheme.
9, 10 → Excellent work. Does (or exceeds!) what the assignment requested exceptionally well. The final product is simple, yet elegant.
7, 8 → Good work. Does what the assignment requested, and does it well: thought has been given to the design, attention has been paid to details, and care taken in the implementation.
6 → Acceptable work. Does what the assignment requested, but no more, and without elegance or craft, i.e. your program works correctly, can be read, is not horribly inefficient.
5 → Marginal work. Barely does what the assignment requested.
0, 1, 2, 3, 4 → Unacceptable work. Does not do the minimum specified by the assignment.
Sometimes it is helpful to remind ourselves what key words mean:
Source: The American Heritage Dictionary and Electronic Thesaurus are licensed from Houghton Mifflin Company. Copyright © 1986, 1987 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Based upon The American Heritage Dictionary.