Physics 303K -- Fall 2008 (MWF 12-1, Pai 2.48)

Homepage: http://www.ph.utexas.edu/~itiq/303K/chiu/

(UT registration Unique numbers: 60180, 60185, 60190, 60195)

Unique Number for QUEST-account: You must only use 60180 , not other unique numbers

1. Instructor: C. Chiu, Office: RLM 10.206, 471-1707

• Office hours: MWF 12:50-1:30 ( Pai 4.42, then RLM10.206), other time by appointment.
• Contact by email: chiu@physics.utexas.edu. Please include “PHY 303K” on the subject line.
• Instructor’s informal session:
• Tu: 3:30-4:30p, RAS 218
• Fri: 4-5p, location ECJ1.204 (We will meet on the Friday before each midterm, i.e. 9/12; 10/10, 11/7, 11/28)

TA: Matt Haley (See 303K TA homepage). For additional help, see coaching service : RLM 5th level.

2. Course materials:

• Textbook: Ohanian and Markert, Physics for Scientists and Engineers, 3rd ed.
• Reference: PQ(PhysiQuizzes)-library. We plan to intersperse the lecture with informal interactive quiz sessions on a fairly regular basis. Many questions given in these sessions will be the taken from the PQ-library. Good understanding of PQ-questions will help you to understand the physics of this course. .
• Onoging Lectures (lecture outlines)

3. Course summary: It is a two-page formula sheet, which gives basic formulas (or basic principles) you will learn in this course. We encourage you to use it as your study companion. It can help you to organize the course materials, to do homework and to review for exams. The course summary will be included in the exam package. Queries on this course summary are welcome at anytime, except during the exam.

4. Homework/midterms/Final: ( The syllabus gives an overview of the lesson plan of this course. )

· Homework: The QUEST system handles the distribution and the collection of the homework on the Web. No late homework will be accepted.

• Midterms and Final exam: There will be 4 evening midterm exams and the final. The syllabus page indicates time and place of these exams. During each Midterm,
• a fresh course summary sheet will be given to you. No crib-note cards will be allowed.
• Programmable calculator may be used during an exam. However, its memory needs to been cleared before using it .
• Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated.

5. Grading policy:

• Inclass quizzes (4 drops) 5%

• TA session: 7%
• Homework (2 drops) 13%
• Midterms (1 drop) 45%
• Final 30%

During the semester to gauge his/her ongoing performance, a student should look at %scores for all non-exam items and look at both the % score(ps) and the scaled score(ss) for the exams.

The letter grade cutoffs for the percent-scores and scaled-scores are:

· ps-cutoffs are: 40%, 55%, 75% and 90% for D, C, B and A respectively;

• ss-cutoffs are: 400, 450, 525, and 600 for D, C, B and A respectively.

For each exam, determine your ps-letter grade and the ss-letter grade. If the two letter-grades are not the same, the better of the two is the letter grade you have made for the exam.

After the final exam a separate semester-grading-program independent of the QUEST-system will be used to evaluate the precise scaled score to percent score conversion for each exam. This is done through a linear interpolation process which satisfies following correspondence:

§ At the cutoff points: (ss = 400 maps to ps = 40), (450 to 55), (525 to 75), (600 to 90).

§ At the end points: ( ss = 200 maps to ps = 0) and (700 to 100).

The better between original percent-score and the ss-to-ps converted score will be selected by the program as the percent score for the exam in question.

Based on the grading policy stated, this program will determine the semester-grade using % scores for all items.

No make up midterm will be given. A student is required to take all four midterms. At the end of the semester, the midterm with the lowest chosen-score will be dropped. If a student misses a midterm, the missing midterm will be the one which will be dropped. If the missing a midterm is due to a legitimate reason approved by the instructor, the student may alternatively elect a no-drop option, where the student's final exam score appropriately scaled may replace the score of the missing midterm. After a midterm is missed, the student needs to contact the instructor immediately by email. For the no-drop option to be applicable, the student must take the other three midterms.

6. TA session: TA session is a part of this course. TA session grades will be determined by the TA. TA session record of the semester will end one week prior to the end-of-class day. Deadline of complaints on TA session grades is the last day of class. No dispute of TA session record beyond the end-of-class day will be accepted.

7. Good participation status(gp-status): The gp-status policy is intended to encourage the student to work hard and work persistently in all aspects of this course throughout the semester. The gp-status will be determined based on student’s pre-final QUEST-record, which will be closed at a designated time which will be during the no-class days before the beginning of final exams. Student’s verification on the accuracy of his/her QUEST record prior to this designated time is one of the requirements toward achieving the gp-status.

To achieve gp-status, student’s record must satisfy following triple 80% -criteria.

1) Homework score (after 2-drops) >80%

2) TA sessions score >80%, .

3) Inclass quiz: iq-score: > 80%.

a) Iq-score (after 4 drops) >80%. An iq-score is assigned when there are interactive sessions during a lecture.

· iq-score=1, if there is at least one correct answer recorded;

· iq-score =0.8, if there is at least one answer recorded and none of the answers is correct.

· iq-score=0, if there is no answer recorded.

b) It is our policy there is no adjustment on the iq-score. If your clicker is not working on that day, you have used up one of your legitimate excuses for not able to participate the iq-session electronically. In the case of an exceptional situation where a student has been attending and participating in the class on a regular basis and at the end of the semester receives a low after drop iq-score (<80%), student’s attendance and participation effort may still be accounted for based on the student’s class notes. In particular, during the last week of class, the student may request the TA to audit his/her class notebook. The TA will check 1) the completeness of lecture notes and clicker-question notes and 2) that there must be over 80% attendance. If the student passes the audit, the student’s after drop iq-score will be set to 80%. A more than 20% absence from the class for any reason (including legitimate reason) will automatically disqualify from consideration of the gp-status.

Following special considerations will be applied to any student who has achieved the “gp-status”.

· For a borderline case, where student's % score is within 2 %-points below the cutoff, the next higher grade will be assigned to the student.

• If the final exam “hard letter grade” ( which is determined based on the cutoffs of paragraph 6, and the gp-status does not enter in the determination) is higher than the letter grade of semester average (where the final and after drops have applied), the semester average grade will be pushed up by one level.

These considerations will not be available to a student who has not earned this status.

First class reminders:

o QUEST-system registration at https://quest.cns.utexas.edu/ . Read student instructions from the menu item: help. Down load homework-1, if available. TA session and instructor's informal sessions will start next week, i.e. the Tuesday after labor day.

o To take this course, you must enroll in 103M lab. No lab this week. Check with the lab supply room RLM8.316 (471-5352) for the lab schedule.

o One week after class-begins, also check the pre/co-requisites audit-list which will be posted outside of the lecture hall. If your name is on this list, please see undergraduate coordinator Pat Morgan in RLM 5.216

o I-clickers: Available at UT Coop. We will be using the clicker in “class quiz mode.” Remember enter your I-clicker serial number in the Quest system. Record your box number. Bring your clicker to every class.

o Instructor’s weekly informal sessions are intended give students additional help. Attendance on these sessions are optional.