Final Grade Determination

• 3 progress exams (during class)
• One final exam (2 hours, rooms & time announced later)
• 10 TA quizzes (administered during discussion sections)
• 16 WileyPlus assignments (performed online at home)

Your final score (120 points max) is the sum of the following:

HITT grade: Scoring for the HITT transmitters will be 0 = not present, 1 = wrong answer and 2 = correct answer. (When you respond to a question, your remote identification number will appear on the screen to show you that your remote is working.) We will scale the scores so that 10% of the total points will not be counted. This means that we divide the fraction of points correct on the HITT questions by 0.9 and then multiply by 5. (You cannot receive more than 5 points for this part of your grade.) This policy is intended to account for routine illnesses as well as technical problems with your remote or even failure to click in the answer on time.

Note that you can expect some technical problems during the semester such as having a dead battery in your remote. You are responsible for maintaining the functioning of your remote. No credit will be given for questions in class if you forget your remote or it is not working or you do not respond to the question in the allotted time. You may not bring anyone else's transmitter to class. Doing so violates our cheating policy and will end up in Honor Court.

We will email your scores for the student response questions once a week, assuming that you do the required registration of your remote. Registration should be done immediately on the registration page.

Quiz & homework grade: Our homework/Quiz grading scheme is very similar to that used in PHY2048. The quiz in your discussion section will be related but not identical to a homework problem from the most recently due homework set from Wiley Plus. The particular problem given in each discussion section is chosen at random so sometimes it will be an easier problem and sometimes a harder problem. Each section will get a different problem. Your score for the homework/quiz for that week is obtained by multiplying your fractional homework score (out of 1.0) by the fractional credit (out of 1.0) you got for the associated quiz problem. If you scored 100% on the homework and you get a 100% on the quiz you did your job that week and get the full homework credit (1.00) towards your homework/quiz grade. If you scored 100% on the homework but only get 50% on the quiz you get 0.50 towards your grade. If you scored 50% on the homework and 50% on the quiz you get 0.25. Note that if you score 100% on the homework and get a zero on the quiz you get NO homework credit for that week. Homeworks that do not have an associated quiz will be multiplied by 1.0.

Below is the actual calculation of the homework/quiz grade. Note that some homeworks are multipled by 1.0 because there was no quiz for that chapter. Quiz 5 covered different chapters depending on which class you attended, so we just multiplied it by 1.0. Each quiz is worth 10 points while each homework is worth 8 points.

Thus QH1 - QH14 are each between 0.00 and 1.00. To calculate the QH grade, we use the following procedure:

QH grade = 25. * (QH1 + QH2 + ... + QH14) / 14. / 0.9

This gives a grade between 0.00 and 25.00. Scores above 25 are capped at 25.

You will be permitted no more than 2 documented (e.g. medical note) absences from the discussion sections, with make-ups for missed quizzes to take place at the first opportunity determined by your TA. The documentation must be provided to your TA within 2 weeks of the missed quiz or a rational reason that it will be delayed must be e-mailed along with the projected receipt date of the documentation to both your TA and to phy2049 AT phys.ufl.edu within those 2 weeks. To provide a measure of forgiveness for illnesses and other challenges that life throws at you, your quiz/homework score will be divided by 0.9 at the end of the semester. (You can not receive more than 100%). There are no drops or excused absences specifically for the homework, which are all assigned at the beginning of the semester. Please do not wait to the last minute to submit your answers because if there is a technical problem like a down internet connection or a computer virus you will receive 0 for that homework.

Exam grade: There are a total of four exams, three regular exams given in class (20 pts apiece) and a final exam given at the end of the semester (30 pts), for a total of 90 pts. The dates and chapter coverage are given on the schedule page. Exam questions will be taken from a number of sources, including, but not limited to, the textbook, lectures and assigned problems. 50% of the final exam will cover the last section of the course and 50% will cover the overall course. Exam format is multiple choice using ScanTron sheets, 10 questions for exams 1-3 and 20 questions for the final.

Unless superseded by a valid excuse a missed exam will result in a zero. Valid excuses are officially sanctioned UF events, medical excuses or family emergencies. Acceptable excuses will require a coach's, doctor's or instructor sanctioned note with a verifiable contact phone number. The documentation must be provided to your instructor within 2 weeks of the missed exam or a rational reason that it will be delayed must be e-mailed along with the projected receipt date of the documentation within those 2 weeks. A valid excuse will allow you to take the cumulative make-up exam to replace the zero on the missed exam. There will be one cumulative make-up exam (covering material from all three exams) given on Monday, December 15 at a mutually agreeable time.

Total grade: Total = Exam total (90 pts) + Quiz/Homework (25 pts) + HITT (5 pts)

Letter grade: Total minimal scores (out of 120 points) ensuring a particular letter-grade are shown below (grades are not rounded). Note that this scale is absolute and will not be adjusted to a curve. This ensures that there is no competition between students.

Updated grade scale (Dec. 17, 2008)

Exam Procedure & Allowed Materials

• You must bring your GatorOne ID to the exam!
• Cell phones and all other wireless devices must be turned off and out of sight. If such a device is seen during the exam you will receive a zero for that exam.
• No formula sheet is allowed. We will provide one.
• Bring pencil, eraser, sharpener, calculator

Finding your grade