IIT Madras BS in Data Science · Foundation level
Basecamp
Eight courses stand between you and the Diploma. This is what each one actually asks, how it is graded now that weekly assignments carry zero marks, and every resource worth opening.
Made by Angad Jangir
The rule that changed
Your weekly assignments are now worth zero marks.
Foundation used to hand you 5–10 free marks for doing the weekly assignments. That weightage is gone: GAA is 0. In its place, 10 marks of questions in the two quizzes and the end term come straight out of the assignments.
So skipping them costs you more than it used to, not less. They are also still the only thing that makes you eligible to sit the end term — best 5 of your first 7 weeks has to average 40/100. The full rules are below.
The eight
Every course, its own guide
Each one is written the same way: what it really asks, the week-by-week map, the grading formula, where people lose marks, and the resources worth your evening.
How Foundation is graded
Three numbers decide your grade
For six of the eight courses, your final score comes out of two quizzes and one end term. Nothing else. The formula takes whichever of two splits is kinder to you:
F is the end term, Qz1 and Qz2 are the two quizzes, and a quiz you skip counts as 0. Read the first branch carefully: if you write only one quiz and ace the end term, you still get 90% of the marks on the table. Read the second and you see why writing both is better — Quiz 2 is weighted more than Quiz 1.
Two courses do not use it:
- Programming in Python has no Quiz 2. Its score is 0.15·Qz1 + 0.4·F + 0.25·max(PE1, PE2) + 0.2·min(PE1, PE2), and you must score 40 or more in at least one programming exam or you get no grade at all.
- Statistics 1 and 2 and Maths 2 add bonus marks for optional course activities — up to 5, 5 and 6 respectively, and only if you pass.
Before the formula, the gate
You are only allowed to sit the end term if the average of your best 5 of 8 — the first seven weekly assignments plus Mock Quiz 1 — is 40/100 or more, and you attended at least one quiz. Miss that and the formula never gets used.
Weeks 11 and 12 are not in any eligibility calculation, which is why people skip them. They are in the end term. Do them.
What do I need?
Move the sliders. Grade bands are the programme's usual S/A/B/C/D/E scale — confirm them against your course page.
September 2026 term
The dates that actually bind
Read this before you plan
Quiz 2 falls on a Saturday this term, not the usual Sunday. The end term is on 10 January, which means the last three weeks of revision land squarely in the new-year holidays.
Assignment deadlines do not move. The grading document says so in capital letters, and it means it. There is no make-up quiz either — miss a quiz and it scores 0.
Dates above come from the official Sep 2026 academic calendar. The Sep 2026 grading document was not published yet when this page was last checked (23 September 2026), so every formula here is from the May 2026 document. Check your course page in week 1 and trust that over this.
Sequencing
What order, and what really blocks what
Four courses have a hard requisite. The other four have none at all, and everything beyond this table is advice — good advice, but advice.
| Course | You must have done |
|---|---|
| Mathematics for Data Science 2 | Mathematics for Data Science 1 |
| Programming in Python | Computational Thinking |
| English 2 | English 1 |
| Statistics for Data Science 2 | Statistics 1 and Maths 1 co-requisite: Maths 2 |
Maths 1, English 1, Computational Thinking and Statistics 1 have no prerequisites at all — which is exactly why the suggested pathway puts them first.
A sane two-term plan
- Maths 1 · English 1 · CT · Stats 1Nothing blocks any of them. If four is too much, drop Stats 1 — it is the heaviest of the four.
- Maths 2 · English 2 · Python · Stats 2Every prerequisite from term 1 is now behind you. Python brings the OPPEs, so keep its weeks 1–8 assignments spotless.
How many you can take is not your choice alone. Your Credit Clearing Capability decides it — up to four courses, based on the Qualifier or on your previous term's end term scores.
About
Why this exists
The official pages tell you the syllabus. They do not tell you that Maths 1 turns into a graph-theory course in week 10, that Python's real danger is an eligibility rule and not the exam, or that the assignments you now get zero marks for are still the thing standing between you and the end term hall.
Every fact here has a source, and every source is linked. Nothing on this site is an answer key: there are no graded-assignment solutions and no links to sites that post them. Where a page says "this is my opinion", it says so.
Made by Angad Jangir · last checked 23 September 2026