When we are not engaged in a group activity or discussion, I expect you to pay attention to the speaker (the instructor,
TA, or another student), and not to engage in behavior that distracts others (private conversations, rustling
newspapers, etc.) Please turn off your cell phones during class. Finally, while we will do our best to post announcements
on the class web pages, it is your responsibility to keep up with the readings and stay informed about assignments, test dates, etc.
Course Exams
There will be four in-class exams of equal weight (20% each) and no comprehensive final exam. No make-up exams will be given,
and exams will not be given to some students before the rest of the class takes them. However, you can replace the lowest exam
score with your score on the optional comprehensive final exam, which will be given at the officially scheduled exam time.
(Yes, this means that you can miss one exam with no academic consequences, as long as you take the final exam. However,
any further accomodation for missed exams will require rigorous and convincing documentation, such as records of hospital
admission, etc. The instructor will be the sole judge of whether additional missed exams are excused.) Finally, if you elect to
take the final exam to replace an hour exam grade, you must take it at the officially scheduled time, Monday, December 13.
Grading Basis
Course grades will be awarded on a point system. There are no quotas on "A's" or "B's;" your course grade will be based solely on your
performance. The course grade will be determined according to these rules:
Hour exams - (80%). Multiple-choice, plus optional "grade-breaker" essays. These are short essay questions which will be graded
only if your multiple-choice score is on the borderline between two letter grades. Answering the essays does not automatically raise your
grade, but cannot lower it.
The remaining 20% of your course grade will be computed as follows:
Short-answer quizzes - (up to a maximum of 12%). We will have several short in-class quizzes. Expect some of these to be given on
Fridays! Each quiz earns you up to 3 points, up to a maximum of 12 points.
Other participation credits - Additional credits can be earned from: (1) in-class surveys and/or individual and group activities;
(2) documented attendance at special lectures or Star Parties (telescope viewing certain evenings); or (3) finding and writing up news items
in the media that are relevant to the course. Details will be announced later, but the credits earned in these ways will be added to the "quiz"
points, up to a maximum of 20% of the course grade.
Letter-grade equivalences for your scores will be announced before the mid-point of the semester. Grade records will be posted on-line
via the eGradebook at UTdirect.
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