Spring 2008
Tests will be partly short answer and partly multiple choice. Bring a Scantron form to class on the day of the test. All tests are closed book. The Final Exam will be a cumulative exam. Students who cannot attend the Final Exam must arrange an oral final with Professor Durran before the end of the quarter.
| 1st MIDTERM | Wednesday, 30 April |
| 2nd MIDTERM | Wednesday, 21 May |
| FINAL | Monday, 9 June 8:30-10:20 |
Grading will be apportioned as follows:
| Quiz Section Quizzes | 10% |
| Homework | 14% |
| Each Midterm | 23% |
| Final | 30% |
Homework will consist of approximately seven one week assignments. Homework assignments will be posted on the web by 5 PM each Wednesday and handed in at the beginning of the quiz section, the following week. Late homeworks submitted to your TA before 4:30 PM on the day the homework was due will lose 25% of the possible credit. No late homework will be accepted after 4:30 PM on the day it was due. Each student's lowest homework score will, however, be dropped to allow for one sickness or unavoidable absence.
Homeworks will typically consist of five questions and graded on a scale of 0-16. Three of the homework problems will be selected at random by the TA's and graded on a scale of 0-4. Four additional points will be awarded to those papers in which a reasonable attempt is made to answer the remaining two problems. Solutions for all the problems will be posted each Monday on the web and outside the TA office.
Quiz Sections. Quiz sections will begin with an extremely brief quiz on that week's reading. The goal of this quiz is to encourage everyone to keep up with the assigned reading. Each student's lowest quiz will be dropped to allow for sickness or unavoidable absence. Most quiz sections will include a laboratory demonstration designed to allow everyone to participate in scientific investigation and discovery.
Forecast Contest: an opportunity for extra credit. Forecasting will begin the sixth week of the quarter. Students who submit a minimum of 15 forecasts will have 6 extra credit points added to their final. Students who do well on their forecasts, and submit at least 15 forecasts, are eligible for up to 6 additional points of extra credit on the final. (Total possible extra credit is 12 points added to a 100-point final.) Grades for the final will be assigned, and the grading curve established, before the addition of these extra credit points.
RF Clickers: another opportunity for extra credit. Students who answer all questions asked during class over the entire quarter with the same degree of skill as random chance, will receive an additional 0.1 added to their final grade. Correct clicker answers are worth 2 points, incorrect answers are still worth 1, so if there are four possible answers to each of four questions in a given lecture, the random-chance score is 5 for that lecture (3 incorrect and 1 correct answer). If you miss this threshold, you will receive the fraction of 0.1 corresponding to the fraction of this threshold you achieve. That is if you only get to 80% of the threshold, 0.08 will be added to your score before rounding your raw grade to the nearest 1/10 to obtain your final grade. Raw grades will be assigned, and the grading curve established, before the addition of these extra credit points.