Final Grade Determination

• 3 progress exams (evening, 2 hours, rooms & time announced later)
• One final exam (2 hours, rooms & time announced later)
• 9 TA quizzes (administered during discussion sections)
• 11 WebAssign assignments (performed online at home)
• In-class quizzes using hand-held HITT transmitters

Your final score (100 points max) is the sum of the following:

TA quiz grade: In order to make the quiz grades across TAs consistent and fair, we adjust grades to take into account differences between TAs. Please do not ask the TAs to violate this policy. See one of your instructors if you have questions about this policy. No formula sheets are allowed for TA quizzes.

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. You must provide this documentation to your TA within 1 week 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 phy2054 AT phys.ufl.edu within that 1 week period. To provide a measure of forgiveness for illnesses and other challenges that life throws at you, your quiz score will be divided by 0.9 at the end of the semester and scaled to 0 - 15. (max of 15 pts).

WebAssign grade: WebAssign homework covers all 11 chapters with several problems per chapter (it will vary per assignment). We will scale the scores so that 10% of the total points will not be counted (this means we divide your total points by 0.90) and scale the result to between 0 - 10 (max of 10 pts). Since assignments are available for two weeks, there will be no extensions or drops allowed for the homework assignments, which are 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.

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 scale the result to between 0 - 5 (max of 5 pts).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.

Exam grade: There are a total of four exams, three regular exams given in the evening (20 pts apiece) and a final exam given at the end of the semester (30 pts), for a maximum total of 90 pts. This score is divided by a forgiveness factor of 0.9 and then multiplied by 7/9 to obtain a number between 0 - 70. For example, if you received raw scores of 12 on all four exams, then the number of initial points is 12+12+12+18=54 (the final is worth 30 points so 12/20 is graded as 18/30). Divide by 0.9 to get 60.0, then multiply by 7/9 to get 46.67 points out of 70.

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, 20 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 require (1) that you contact us directly by email (at the phy2054 address) ahead of time and (2) that you provide a doctor's or instructor sanctioned note with a verifiable contact phone number. The documentation must be provided to us within 1 week 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 that week. You yourself must contact us and make these arrangements during the time indicated.

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, April 27 at a mutually agreeable time.

Total grade: Total = Exam total (70) + Quiz (15) + WebAssign (10) + HITT (5)

Letter grade: Total minimal scores (out of 100 points) ensuring a particular letter-grade are shown below (grades are not rounded). Note that this scale is absolute and will not be adjusted upward, reducing competition between students.

Exam Procedure & Allowed Materials

• For reasons having to do with security you must come to the assigned room. Your exam will not be counted otherwise.
• You must bring your GatorOne ID to the exam! Your exam will not be counted otherwise.
• All cell phones, electronic devices, headphones, etc. must be completely off and out of sight. Any such device seen during the exam will result in a grade of 0 on the exam.
• Bring pencil, eraser, sharpener, calculator
• Bring one 8.5"x11" formula sheet (both sides OK)
  On the final exam, 2 formula sheets are allowed.
• Bring (blank!) scratch paper. We are unable to provide paper to everyone.

Finding your grade

Discussion Quizzes

Quizzes take place sometime during the week as shown on the schedule page. Material that will be covered will be specified by the TA.

• Closed book, no notes
• Each discussion section instructor sets his/her own quizzes and scoring (though quiz grades will be normalized to account for different TA averages)

WebAssign Assignments

Online homework is given weekly using the WebAssign system. Each individual problem counts the same amount. All WebAssign homework must be completed by 11PM on the due date. Because of the large number of students, we do not allow any exceptions. Be sure to start the online homework early.