Physics 303L – Spring 2009 (MWF 12-1, Pai 4.42)
Homepage: http://www.ph.utexas.edu/~itiq/303L/chiu/
UT registration Unique numbers: 58295(primary),
58300, 58305, 58310
For your QUEST-account: please use primary
unique number 58295, not the others
1. Instructor: C. Chiu, Office: RLM 10.206, 471-1707
TA: Matt Haley (See 303L TA homepage). See also coaching service : RLM 5th level.
2. Course materials:
3. Interactive
quiz sessions
We
plan to intersperse the lecture with interactive quiz sessions on a fairly
regular basis. Iclickers
will be used for these sessions. Iclickers are
available at UT-coop. Many questions
given in these sessions will be the taken from the PQ-library.(Available
online) Good understanding of PQ-questions will help you to understand the physics
of this course.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Grading policy:
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:
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 it.
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 all of the other three midterms.
7. 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.
8.
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.
i.
Homework score
(after 2-drops) >80%
ii.
TA sessions score
>80%,
iii.
Iq-score (after announced drops) > 80%. See the link
“iq-score grading policy” on the homepage of the
course.
Following
special considerations will be applied to any student who has achieved the “gp-status”.
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 “help”, and FAQ in “help”. Download hw1. TA session and instructor's informal
sessions will start after the first lecture.
o
To take this
course, you must enroll in 103N 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. Enter your I-clicker serial number under the
menu-item: “my profile”in
the Quest system. Record your box number.
Bring your clicker to every class. Since clicker questions are taken
mostly from the PQ-library, we recommend students to preview the PQ questions
of the corresponding chapter (see syllabus) before the lecture.
o
Instructor’s
weekly informal sessions are intended to give students additional help. Attendance
on these sessions is optional. For those of you who would like to attend and
cannot attend due to schedule conflict, you should consider to borrow notes
from those who can attend.