It is expected that students will attend all classes. There is no way you can learn this material without coming to class. Even if that day’s material does not happen to show up on an exam, you cannot know it as well as someone who attended class.
Thus, attendance will be taken on a random basis. What will missing cost you in points? Perhaps nothing. But at the end of the semester when you come in with a 89.7 overall average and I see you missed 1/2 of the classes where I called your name, that won’t look good.
Finally, please DO NOT and ask me is it OK for you to miss class. Sorry, but the answer is always, no. Without exception. Yes, I understand that your brother is getting married, but it’s still not o.k. Yes, I realize that your transportation prof has a field trip that you want to go to, but it’s still not o.k. Yes, I understand that you have been selected to take the ransom money to the terrorists to get your grandma out of the jungle, but it’s still not o.k. Yes, I know you had the flu with double pneumonia, but it’s still not o.k. It may not cost you points, and it may be unavoidable, but it’s never “o.k.” It may even be acceptable, like when you are going on a University sponsored field trip, but it’s not o.k. In any case it is up to you to make up the material by watching the class videos for the days missed, if they are available. If not, you should at least look over the class notes, which are always posted.
The question of what is defined as a university excused absence is definitively answered at https://student-rules.tamu.edu/rule07. To this you can add going to job interviews, illness where you were too sick to go to the doc, family emergencies including close friends, and other reasonable things that come up in life.
Making up missed homework, pop quizzes, and/or exams
If you indeed have an excused absence, please submit your homework after you return. Simply write a note on the top right corner of your work saying “Not late due to excused absence” and hand it to me at the end of class. I will initial it and you should then put it in the “Submit” folder the next time that folder shows up.
Please do not ask me if we had a pop quiz on the day you missed. I don’t remember. It is up to you to determine if we had a pop quiz that day by checking with the video, friends, and/or the class notes. Later in the semester we will set an evening date for you to make up any and all quizzes you missed. They will not cover the same material as the one you missed,. They will be on anything covered through that date in the class.