Physics 11x5 Policy

Attendance/Watching Posted Lectures:

You must attend and actively participate in class. It is essential to see how the material is presented differently from the book. In borderline grade cases, attendance and participation will be considered.

Taking Notes:

Taking notes in this class is required.
You must take notes by hand, if possible. (For reasoning and evidence, see this link.)

Homework:

• Homework will be assigned each Monday and Thursday, details can be found on syllabus and homework pages.
•  Written homework problems are graded on a three point scale (3 - completely correct, 2 - mostly correct, missed a minor point, 1 - right concept only, 0 - missed the boat).
• Late assignments will be penalized 10 percentage points per day (same day, 10% points off; next day 20% points off, etc.)

Exams/Quizzes:

Two "hour" exams will be given as listed on the syllabus, in-person. You know when the tests are now, the dates will not change. They must be taken on these dates. If the scheduled time is not possible for you, you may take it in ANY two-hour block that day.
Three short take-home quizzes will be given on Moodle throughout the semester.
The final exam includes both a third (not comprehensive) exam and a comprehensive, open-book assignment.

Extra Credit Homework:

Extra credit problems will be available beyond the regular homework set - the more extra credit homework you do, the less the exams will be worth. Extra credit homework sets have the same due dates as regular homework. Extra credit homework points will only help your grade, no matter how much you do. You should plan to do as much of this as possible.

Mind-Reading:

On humid days, I am not able to mind-read in this class, and the point is to learn thought processes.  You must show your work, show your thought process, for homework, exam and quiz solutions in order to get full credit even if your answers are correct. Incorrect reasoning will be penalized even for correct answers.

Grade Weight:

• Three Quizzes, each of equal value: total of 15%
• Two Semester Exams and Third Exam (during finals), each of equal value: total of 50%
• Comprehensive Final Assignment: 10%
• Homework (13 assignments of various lengths): total of 25%
• Additional ("extra credit") Homework: If you do the regular homework assignments, then homework is worth 25% of your grade. The more additional homework you do, it improves your homework grade, and the more the homework counts, and the less the exams count. If you get all the extra homework points, homework is then worth 45% of your grade (an additional 20%) and the weight of the exams goes down to 30%. Or if you get half the extra homework points, homework will count as 35% of your grade and the weight of the exams is 40%, etc.
• Here is a grade calculator 

Honor and Responsibility:

If you are going to miss class, a homework, a lab, a quiz or an exam, you must let me know ahead of time.  You may reschedule earlier than the original due date.  The only exceptions to this rule are for unforeseen emergencies, and will require a note from the Dean or a doctor. Take responsibility for your work and yourself. Do not blame an unfinished homework on the fact that you could not find a time to meet with me the day before it is due. Honor is of utmost importance in the academic atmosphere and is taken very seriously by me. I encourage people to work together on homework and labs, but the finished product must be your own work. I would encourage anyone to come to me with a problem that has kept you from doing your work, so that we can work something out, rather than just taking a zero, or worse yet, cheating and possibly failing the class. I will feel free to give you freedom, but then the conduct of the Honor System instituted at Randolph College is in the hands of the students.

Expectation of Effort: Please see the link here.

Grade Scale:

This class grades on a ten-point scale, where an A is worth 95, B is worh 85, etc. Please see here for detail. Please note that in the case of a completion grade, a complete assignment is an A, which is worh 95 points.

Note:

These rules are subject to change.  I give ample opportunity to do well in this class - homework is worth a significant amount and you can do it until you get it right. For these reasons I do not typically give additional extra credit and do not make exceptions for missing work.