PHYS 224, Winter 2003
Thermal Physics

Exams and Grading

Grading policy

Your grade is determined by a combination of (1) exams, (2) homework, and (3) quizzes. There are two midterm exams and one final exam (see below.) Homework will be set each Wednesday and collected the next Wednesday. The quizzes will be given in class, usually on Mondays.

The relative importance of these is as follows:

First midterm = 2 questions
Second midterm = 2 questions
Final exam = 4 questions
First 6 homeworks = 1 question
Last 3 homeworks + quizzes = 1 question

For each question, the marks will be scaled so that the class mean is 10.0. Then, for each student, the worst question will be discarded and the remaining ten questions added to give a single number, N. The mean value of N over the class will therefore be a bit more than 90. The student's letter grade will be calculated from N according to the final distribution of N over the class, with a mean of approximately 3.0.

About the exams: Each exam will test on all the material covered up to that point. All exams are closed-book. Simple calculators are allowed, but pocket computers are not. One sheet (two sides) of notes is allowed in each midterm. In the final, which will cover the whole course, you may bring both of those with you as well as a third.

Midterm 1

This comes at the end of the first month:
Friday January 31, 12:30-1:20pm, PAB A110.
2 questions in 50 minutes.
Practice exam with and without solutions.

Actual exam with and without solutions

Histogram of grades

Midterm 2

This comes at the end of the second month:
Monday March 3, 12:30-1:20pm, PAB A110.
2 questions in 50 minutes.

This exam will concentrate on everything we've covered since the first midterm, as listed on the syllabus web page.

Practice exam with and without solutions.

Actual exam with and without solutions

Histogram of grades

Final exam

The time of the final is determined by the university:
Thursday, March 20, 8:30-10:20am, PAB A110.
4 questions in 110 minutes.

Here is last year's final. HEALTH WARNING: This was a hard exam! With and without solutions.

Exam with solutions

Notes

The thermal exam was quite near-o,
And he thought everything was quite clear-o;
"Why study this junk
I'm sure I won't flunk,"
But they gave him an Absolute Zero.
-anon