General comments on preparing for a test

• Read "Doing physics problems in a systematic way" in the first part of General Comments.
• Use the course summary sheet as your study companion. Remember a fresh course summary sheet will be handed out to you during the exam.
• What to review?
• 1. Homework problems.
• 2. Textbook examples especially those which cover the comparable materials as those in 1 and 2.
• 3. IQ questions including the Extras
• Concentrate on those questions covered in class and comparable questions in the iq-library.
• 4. Lecture notes, especially the last lecture of each unit (i.e. Unit-Review).

IQ questions and Homework problems cover various nuances of the course material. When you study them make sure that you understand the physics behind the solutions of these problems. Whenever in doubt go back to read your textbook to review the physics involved. During the semester, keep a record on physics questions you have entered. Make sure all of your questions get answered, either by yourself, or by classmates, or by the TA or by me, before each exam.

Read Section V through VIII: in the Student's Instructions of the Homework Service. (click the “hs”-link toward the end of 303K/chiu homepage: http://www.ph.utexas.edu/~itiq/303K/chiu/index.html ). For example you need to know and how to use a bubble sheet and you need to bring a #2 (or softer) pencil, how homework service grades multiple-choice questions, etc.

Remarks on taking a computerized Test

1. Cautions:

· The exam questions are all in the multiple choice format. For each question, negative points will be assigned to an incorrect answers. If you try to beat the exam by guessing, randomly negative points from wrong answers will almost perfectly cancel the few you get right through luck. For example, for a multiple choice question with N=5 choices, an incorrect answer scores –1/(N-1)=-25% of the full credit.

· 1% rule: The numerical answer at which you arrive at might not be exactly the same as one of the choices given in the printout. As a rule of thumb, if your answer comes to within 1% of one of the choices, and you believe that the physics is sound, you should proceed to make the selection.

· Since our exam is a closed book exam, programmable calculators may be used for numerical calculations only. No display of formula on the screen is allowed.

1. At the beginning of an exam:

· Please check your version number on your printout. It must agree with that on your bubble sheet. Also check the completeness of the exam set which you just received.

· Organize your scratch paper: Use only one-side to write up your work. Put problem number(s) on the right-upper corner of each page.

2. During an exam:

· Multipart problems: Some problems in the exam have several parts. Typically for a given problem, working out the latter part does not require the answer of the former part. As a rule of thumb, if you cannot do one part of the problem you should still proceed to do the next part.

· For a textual multiple choice question which involves an algebraic expression beware of the fact that different choices may look similar. Pay close attention to different powers, a factor of 2, etc.

4. After an exam: Our plan is to post the exam solution and the exam grade before midnight after the exam.