Astronomy 161 Winter 2008 Professor Terndrup

Policy and exams and homework

There are three contributors to your grade: 1) on-line examinations, 2) on-line homework assignments, and 3) the final exam.

Exams:

There will be three exams, which will be given about every three weeks during the quarter. See the syllabus page for the dates of the exams. Taken together, these exams count for 30% of your grade in this course.

You must take all of these tests. I will consider make-up exams only under special circumstances. If you fail to take a test, you will receive a grade of zero, which will be averaged into your score.

Exams will be taken during the regular class time. The exam format will be a combination of questions that have one- or two-word answers, those which require a brief computation, and questions which require short answers (a few sentences to a paragraph or two).

Homework:

The homework assignments are designed to get you to focus on the most basic concepts of astrophysics.

There will be six homework assignments, which together make up 40% of your final score. The assignments will be given out according to the schedule on the syllabus page, and you will have at least one week to work on each assignment.

You may cooperate with other students on the homework assignments. This means that you may freely discuss the problems and even work together on them. You must, however, submit your own answers.

Final exam:

Attendance at the final examination is mandatory, and there will be no exceptions granted except in the case of serious emergencies or other special circumstances. The score on the final will make up 30% of your grade. The final exam is will take place in our regular classroom on Monday, March 10, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:18 p.m.

Grading will be on a scale of 0 - 100% for each exam and homework assignment, and for the final. Final letter grades will be assigned on a fixed scale. Everybody can get an A in this class if everybody does well! The final grading scale will be announced late in the quarter, but will probably be something like this:

> means "greater than." There will be a number of practice assignments/exams and you can help each other on the homework assignments, so the only real reason you can get a low grade is if you don't put in the effort to study. While the material may be unfamiliar to you, it is not all that difficult. I find that student's grades are almost entirely determined by their effort, and not by how much previous experience they have in science or math.