There will be three midterms of 100 points each. Homework will be
collected and will count for 50 points. There will be in class
quizzes that count for 100 points. The Final will count for 150
points. This gives a total of 600 points and you grade will be based
on the total out of the 600. In summary:
Three midterms @ 100 points each
300
Final
150
Quizes
100
Homework
50
Note that the homework counts as much as a half a test so it is
important to spend time on the homework. Letter grades will be
assigned to all the tests. In general the curve on the midterms will
be A 90-100, B 80-89, C 70-79, D 60-69, F 0-59, but this can vary. The
last day to drop without a WF is Wednesday, Febuary 26 and you should
have a reasonable idea of where you stand by then.
Test 1
Wednesday, September 17
Test 2
Wednesday, October 22
Test 3
Wednesday, November 19
Final
Wednesday, December 10, 9:00a.m.
There will be not make up exams
or quizzes:
If you miss a test, then your score on
that exam is 75% of the average of your other test scores including
the final. If a second exam is messed the score on it is zero. Exams
will be taken in class on the days listed above. So don't ask to take
an exam early or late because you have to be ``out of town'' or some
other reason. Late homework will not be accepted. Likewise there will
be not make up quizzes. If you miss a quiz then you lose the
points. As a reward to anyone who turns on all the homework and takes
all the quizzes will get 10 extra points. Missing only one homework or
quiz is worth 5 extra points. On the other hand if someone leave class
early without permission then I reserve the right to give them a zero
on the homework or quiz for the day.
Remarks on how the class will be
run:
Not all of class time will be devoted to lecture. Some days the class
will be split into small groups to work together on problems.
Getting Help:
Besides my office hours you can get help in the Math Lab. This
is a free tutoring service supplied by the mathematics
department. Starting this semester it will have three locations
LeConte 101, Towers' Conference Center, and Bates Area. The hours that
the math lab is open can be found
here.
About partial credit and bad
algebra:
Some arithmetic errors do not bother me much. If your get in a hurry
and get 7x8=48 it is not going to cost you much, provided you are
doing every thing else correctly. However, there are certain mistakes
(involving misuse of high school in such a way that always gives the
wrong answer), that will not be tolerated. If you make these mistakes
I will mark the entire problem wrong. Here are some examples of zero
point errors:
This is not meant to scare you, but just to let you know where things
stand.