December 8, 2011
The final exam will be on WEDNESDAY, December 14th from 8:00PM until 10:00PM in Farrell Agricultural Engineering Hall (FAE) room 116.
The exam will be handed out promptly at 8:00PM.
While the final exam is comprehensive, a little more weight will be given to the material covered after exam 3. Specifically, more points will come from this material than from any of the other individual homework sets and associated readings/lectures (e.g. more material will set 10 thank will come from say, set 3). As stated in the syllabus, *AT LEAST* 25% of the points on the final exam will come from modified* midterm exam problems or modified* homework problems from the last homework set. The modified problem could be a single response or a multi-response conceptual problem. *Modified could mean that if the original problem gave x and asked for y, the modified problem might give y and ask for x. For conceptual problems, modified could mean covering the same concept. Good places to concentrate your studying efforts for the final are the three midterms, the practice exams and the last homework set. There is now a small set of practice exam, problems taken from the material we have covered since midterm 3. Both the practice problems and the solution are now available in Lon-Capa.
The exam is closed book, but as stated in the syllabus, you are permitted to use four HANDWRITTEN 8.5 inch by 11 inch or smaller note sheets.
You should bring a few sharpened number 2 pencils, your student ID (or driver’s license) and a calculator (graphing calculators are OK). However, the use of cell phones, PDAs or computers for any reason is NOT permitted. Pencils and calculators will NOT be provided. Also as a courtesy to your fellow students, you should turn off all cell phones and pagers before entering the room.
When you enter the room, pick up a bubble seat – they will be on a hair at the room’s entrance and at the front of the room. Sit in the row assigned to you based on your last name (seating assignments will be displayed on the screen at the front of the room). The exam will be handed out once all students arriving promptly are in their assigned rows. DO NOT open the exam until you are told to do so by an instructor. You can complete the student information section of your answer sheet. Make sure you include your student ID number and your name on the answer sheet. Make certain that your exam has your name and picture on the cover sheet – if it does not, you have the wrong exam! When you are finished with the exam return both your answer sheet and your exam to an instructor or a TA.
The cover page for the exam will contain the same information as the cover pages on each of the midterm exams.
There are a total of 28 problems; some of them are multi-part with a total of 33 questions on this exam.
Richard Hallstein
November 30, 2011
You can now view your exam and your score in Lon-Capa. To see your score, select: “View current problem status and grading information” from the main menu. Next to EXAM 3 you will see your total points out of 50.
If a correction exam score is higher than the in-class score, then 30% of the difference between the correction exam score and the in-class exam score will be added to the in-class score as a bonus. For example, if an in-class exam score is 40 and the correction exam score is 50, then 0.3*(50-40)=3 will be added to the in-class score for an exam total of 43. So, 43 points will be used as the exam score for final grade calculation purposes. If the correction exam was equal to or lower than the in-class score, then the in-class score will be used for final grade calculation.
To review your version of the exam in Lon-Capa, click on Course Contents. Then open the folder labeled EXAMS near the bottom of the screen. Exam number three is inside a second folder labeled Exam 3. You can view an individual problem on the exam, including your response and the correct response by clicking on the problem.
You can prepare a printout of your version of the exam using the “prepare a printable document” option. This will show you how many points each problem was worth. On the in-class exam, you receive credit for every correct response.
If your exam score is not showing up, try exiting Lon-Capa, shutting down all windows of your internet browser and then re-logging into Lon-Capa.
While the final exam is comprehensive, a little more weight will be given to the material covered after exam 3. Specifically, more points will come from this material than from any of the other individual homework sets and associated readings/lectures (e.g. more material will set 10 thank will come from say, set 3). As stated in the syllabus, *AT LEAST* 25% of the points on the final exam will come from modified* midterm exam problems or modified* homework problems from the last homework set. The modified problem could be a single response or a multi-response conceptual problem. *Modified could mean that if the original problem gave x and asked for y, the modified problem might give y and ask for x. For conceptual problems, modified could mean covering the same concept. Good places to concentrate your studying efforts for the final are the three midterms, the practice exams and the last homework set. Also, as stated in the syllabus, on the final exam you are permitted to use four handwritten 8.5 inch by 11 inch or smaller note sheets (both sides).
Richard Hallstein
November 21, 2011
Dear PHY 231C students,
The location of the final exam will be in the same location as the midterm exams (FAE 116).
This is a common final exam. As such, if you have another verified exam at this time or if you have three verified exams scheduled on this date you qualify to take an alternate final exam at 10AM on Tuesday, December 13th. Arrangements to take the alternate final must be made in advance, so please contact me prior to Thursday, December 8th if you need to attend this alternate session.
Richard Hallstein
November 21, 2011
Dear PHY 231C students,
Student Instruction Rating System (SIRS Online) collects student feedback on courses and instruction at MSU. Student Instructional Rating System (SIRS Online) forms will be available for your students to submit feedback during 11/28/2011 - 12/28/2011 or until class grades are posted.
You can find information concerning SIRS at https://sirsonline.msu.edu
You are required to complete the SIRS Online form OR indicate within that form that they decline to participate. Otherwise, final grades (for PHY 231C and for all courses using SIRS Online) will be sequestered for seven days following the course grade submission deadline for this semester.
Rating information collected by SIRS Online is reported in summary form only and cannot be linked to your individual responses. Your anonymity is carefully protected.
Richard Hallstein
November 16, 2011
The third exam will be on Tuesday, November 22nd from 6:10PM until 7:10PM in Farrell Agricultural Engineering Hall (FAE) room 116.
The exam will be handed out promptly at 6:10PM; students arriving after 6:10PM will not be permitted to enter the room until after the students who arrived promptly have started the exam.
The exam will cover everything covered in the course after exam 2. It will be based on the assigned readings, the online lectures and the homework (sets 8 and 9). As stated in the syllabus, the exam will also include one modified problem from the first exam and one modified problem from the second exam. These modified problems could be either single-part or multi-part. Some of the problems will be conceptual in nature and some will have numerical answers. There are 50 possible points on the exam.
The exam is closed book, but you may use one 8-1/2 inch x 11 inch or smaller sheet of original hand-written (preferred) notes and equations. You may use both sides of your note sheet.
You should bring a few sharpened number 2 pencils, your student ID (or driver’s license) and a calculator (graphing calculators are OK). However, the use of cell phones, PDAs or computers for any reason is NOT permitted. Pencils and calculators will NOT be provided. Also as a courtesy to your fellow students, you should turn off all cell phones and pagers before entering the room.
When you enter the room, pick up a bubble sheet and sit in the row assigned to you based on your last name (seating assignments will be displayed on the screen at the front of the room). The exam will be handed out once all students arriving promptly are in their assigned rows. DO NOT open the exam until you are told to do so by an instructor. You can however, complete the student information section of your answer sheet. Make sure you include your student ID number and your name on the answer sheet. Make certain that your exam has your name and picture on the cover sheet – if it does not, you have the wrong exam! When you are finished with the exam return both your answer sheet and your exam to an instructor or a TA.
You will have one hour to complete the exam.
We will assign the whole exam again as a homework assignment as a Correction Exam. The Correction Exam is optional. If you don't touch it, you will NOT lose any points from your in-class exam. If your performance is better on the Correction Exam than on the in-class exam, then 30 percent of this positive difference will be added to your in-class exam score. The best strategy is to solve the Correction Exam perfectly to maximize your gain. The Correction Exam will be available Wednesday, November 23rd in the afternoon and will be due on Monday, November 28th at 11:59PM. The results of the in-class exam will not be available until after the due date for the Correction Exam. Also, only students taking the in-class exam will have access to the Correction Exam.
The cover page for the exam will contain the same information as is displayed on the practice exam’s cover page. Some useful information is included on the cover page. Note: the exam cover page is for all of the mid-term exams and not all of the useful information listed here is applicable to this exam. There are a total of 12 problems, some of them multi-part totaling 16 questions on this exam.
A practice exam consisting of problems given on previous exams in this course is available. On Friday, November 18th the solution to this practice exam will be available. Like the solution to the third practice exam, it will be in the form of an online lecture.
Richard Hallstein
November 8, 2011
You can now view your exam and your score in Lon-Capa. To see your score, select: “View current problem status and grading information” from the main menu. Next to EXAM 2 you will see your total points out of 50.
If a correction exam score is higher than the in-class score, then 30% of the difference between the correction exam score and the in-class exam score will be added to the in-class score as a bonus. For example, if an in-class exam score is 40 and the correction exam score is 50, then 0.3*(50-40)=3 will be added to the in-class score for an exam total of 43. So, 43 points will be used as the exam score for final grade calculation purposes. If the correction exam was equal to or lower than the in-class score, then the in-class score will be used for final grade calculation.
To review your version of the exam in Lon-Capa, click on Course Contents. Then open the folder labeled EXAMS near the bottom of the screen. Exam number one is inside a second folder labeled Exam 2. You can view an individual problem on the exam, including your response and the correct response by clicking on the problem.
You can prepare a printout of your version of the exam using the “prepare a printable document” option. This will show you how many points each problem was worth. On the in-class exam, you receive credit for every correct response.
As stated in the syllabus, one problem on the third midterm will be a modified* problem taken directly from this exam. The modified problem could be a single response or a multi-response conceptual problem. *Modified could mean that if the original problem gave x and asked for y, the modified problem might give y and ask for x. For conceptual problems, modified could mean covering the same concept.
If your exam score is not showing up, try exiting Lon-Capa, shutting down all windows of your internet browser and then re-logging into Lon-Capa.
Richard Hallstein
November 4, 2011
The correction exam is now open for you to complete as a homework assignment. The correction exam is in a separate folder labeled correction exam. If the correction exam folder is not showing up in lon-capa, exit lon-capa, close down *all* windows of your web browser and then re-log into Lon-Capa.
Only students taking the original exam either here on the MSU campus or off-campus with a proctor will have access to the correction exam.
As with any of the regular homework assignments, you can post discussion on any of the problems and are encouraged to do so. The correction exam is due on Monday, November 7th at 11:59PM. 30% of the *positive* difference between the correction exam score and the original exam score will be added to your original exam score as bonus. The correction exam can only help your score on the exam and under *no* circumstance will your performance on the correction exam lower your exam score. So, it is in your best interest to take this opportunity to add points to your midterm exam score.
The results for exam 2 will not be available until after the correction exam’s due date.
Homework set 8 is due on Wednesday, November 9 at 11:59PM.
Richard Hallstein
October 31, 2011
As a review for the second exam, the solution to the practice exam is now available in the practice exam folder. I strongly advise making a first draft of your exam notes sheet and using it to work through the practice exam prior to reviewing the solution lectures. As stated in the course syllabus and in the email notifications sent last week, the exam will be Thursday, November 3rd at 6:10PM. The exam will be in FAE 116.
If the solution is not showing up in Lon-Capa, log out of Lon-Capa, close down all windows of your web browser and then re-log onto Lon-Capa.
Richard Hallstein
October 31, 2011
The following part of the exam announcement with respect to the exam coverage is incorrect:
"The exam will cover everything covered in the course after exam 1. It will be based on the assigned readings, the online lectures and the homework (sets 4 through 7)."
The correct statement is:
"The exam will cover everything covered in the course after exam 1. It will be based on the assigned readings, the online lectures and the associated homework (sets 5 through 7)."
October 28, 2011
PHY 231C exam 2 correction
There are a total of 12 problems, some of them multi-part totaling *16* questions on this exam.
Richard Hallstein
October 28, 2011
The second exam will be on Thursday, November 3rd from 6:10PM until 7:10PM in Farrell Agricultural Engineering Hall (FAE) room 116.
The exam will be handed out promptly at 6:10PM; students arriving after 6:10PM will not be permitted to enter the room until after the students who arrived promptly have started the exam.
The exam will cover everything covered in the course after exam 1. It will be based on the assigned readings, the online lectures and the homework (sets 4 through 7). As stated in the syllabus, the exam will also include one modified problem from the first exam. This modified problem could be either single-part or multi-part. Some of the problems will be conceptual in nature and some will have numerical answers. There are 50 possible points on the exam.
The exam is closed book, but you may use one 8-1/2 inch x 11 inch or smaller sheet of original hand-written (preferred) notes and equations. You may use both sides of your note sheet.
You should bring a few sharpened number 2 pencils, your student ID (or driver’s license) and a calculator (graphing calculators are OK). However, the use of cell phones, PDAs or computers for any reason is NOT permitted. Pencils and calculators will NOT be provided. Also as a courtesy to your fellow students, you should turn off all cell phones and pagers before entering the room.
When you enter the room, pick up a bubble sheet and sit in the row assigned to you based on your last name (seating assignments will be displayed on the screen at the front of the room). The exam will be handed out once all students arriving promptly are in their assigned rows. DO NOT open the exam until you are told to do so by an instructor. You can however, complete the student information section of your answer sheet. Make sure you include your student ID number and your name on the answer sheet. Make certain that your exam has your name and picture on the cover sheet – if it does not, you have the wrong exam! When you are finished with the exam return both your answer sheet and your exam to an instructor or a TA.
You will have one hour to complete the exam.
We will assign the whole exam again as a homework assignment as a Correction Exam. The Correction Exam is optional. If you don't touch it, you will NOT lose any points from your in-class exam. If your performance is better on the Correction Exam than on the in-class exam, then 30 percent of this positive difference will be added to your in-class exam score. The best strategy is to solve the Correction Exam perfectly to maximize your gain. The Correction Exam will be available Friday, November 4th in the afternoon and will be due on Monday, November 7th at 11:59PM. The results of the in-class exam will not be available until after the due date for the Correction Exam. Also, only students taking the in-class exam will have access to the Correction Exam.
The cover page for the exam will contain the same information as is displayed on the practice exam’s cover page. Some useful information is included on the cover page. Note: the exam cover page is for all of the mid-term exams and not all of the useful information listed here is applicable to this exam. There are a total of 12 problems, some of them multi-part totaling 15 questions on this exam.
A practice exam consisting of problems given on previous exams in this course is available. On Monday, October, 31st the solution to this practice exam will be available. Like the solution to the first practice exam, it will be in the form of an online lecture.
Richard Hallstein
October 3, 2011
As a review for the first exam, the solution to the practice exam is now available in the practice exam folder. I strongly advise making a first draft of your exam notes sheet and using it to work through the practice exam prior to reviewing the solution lectures. As stated in the course syllabus and in the email notifications sent last week, the exam will be Thursday, October 6th at 6:10PM. The exam will be in FAE 116.
If the solution is not showing up in Lon-Capa, log out of Lon-Capa, close down all windows of your web browser and then re-log onto Lon-Capa.
Richard Hallstein
September 29, 2011
The first exam will be on Thursday, October 6th from 6:10PM until 7:10PM in Farrell Agricultural Engineering Hall (FAE) room 116.
The exam will be handed out promptly at 6:10PM; students arriving after 6:10PM will not be permitted to enter the room until after the students who arrived promptly have started the exam.
The exam will cover everything through and including online lecture 5 (homework set 4). It will be based on the readings, the online lectures and the homework. Some of the problems will be conceptual in nature and some will have numerical answers. There are 50 possible points on the exam.
The exam is closed book, but you may use one 8-1/2 inch x 11 inch or smaller sheet of original hand-written notes and equations. You may use both sides of your note sheet.
You should bring a few sharpened number 2 pencils, your student ID (or driver’s license) and a calculator (graphing calculators are OK). However, the use of cell phones, PDAs or computers for any reason is NOT permitted. Pencils and calculators will NOT be provided. Also as a courtesy to your fellow students, you should turn off all cell phones and pagers before entering the room.
When taking the exam, all baseball caps or brimmed hats must be removed or turned backwards. Furthermore, all caps or hats covering the ears must be removed.
When you enter the room, pick up a bubble seat and sit in the row assigned to you based on your last name (seating assignments will be displayed on the screen at the front of the room). The exam will be handed out once all students arriving promptly are in their assigned rows. DO NOT open the exam until you are told to do so by an instructor. You can however, complete the student information section of your answer sheet. Make sure you include your student ID number and your name on the answer sheet. Make certain that your exam has your name and picture on the cover sheet – if it does not, you have the wrong exam! When you are finished with the exam return both your answer sheet and your exam to an instructor or a TA.
You will have one hour to complete the exam.
We will assign the whole exam again as a homework assignment as a Correction Exam. The Correction Exam is optional. If you don't touch it, you will NOT lose any points from your in-class exam. If your performance is better on the Correction Exam than on the in-class exam, then 30 percent of this positive difference will be added to your in-class exam score. The best strategy is to solve the Correction Exam perfectly to maximize your gain. The Correction Exam will be available Friday, October 7th in the afternoon and will be due on Monday, October 10th at 11:59PM. The results of the in-class exam will not be available until after the due date for the Correction Exam. Also, only students taking the in-class exam or off-campus with an exam proctor will have access to the Correction Exam.
The cover page for the exam will contain the same information as is displayed on the practice exam’s cover page. Some useful information is included on the cover page. Note: the exam cover page is for all of the mid-term exams and not all of the useful information listed here is applicable to this exam. There are a total of 12 problems, some of them are multi-part totaling 17 questions on this exam.
The due date for Homework set 5 is Wednesday, October 12th at 11:59PM.
Richard Hallstein
September 26, 2011
The practice exam for exam 1 is now available. There is a folder in Lon-Capa containing a practice exam with exam problems given in previous PHY 231/231C courses here at MSU.
Preparing a note sheet is a good way to study for exams. Preparing this sheet helps you to organize your thoughts in terms of what is and what is not important from each chapter; and how the various concepts are related.
Before opening the practice exam, make a rough draft of your note sheet. Work out the practice exam using only the rough draft of your note sheet and a calculator. Try not to give in to the temptation of peeking at the exam before you are ready to start working on it with your note sheet and calculator. This method will give you an idea of what is good about your note sheet and what areas may need more emphasis.
A review in the form of an online lecture solution to this practice exam will be available in the practice exam folder on Monday, October 3rd. I strongly advise making a first draft of your exam notes sheet and using it to work through the practice exam prior to reviewing the solution lectures.
The first exam will be on Thursday, October 6th from 6:10PM until 7:10PM in Farrell Agricultural Engineering Hall (FAE) room 116. The cover page for the exam will contain the same information that is displayed on the practice exam’s cover page. Additional information on exam 1 and correction exam 1 will follow next week.
Richard Hallstein
September 5, 2011
Dear PHY 231C students,
Beginning tomorrow (Tuesday, Sept. 6) the help room (1248 BPS) will have a TA assigned to PHY 231/231C each week through Dec. 7 during the following hours:
Mondays 2PM to 9PM
Tuesdays 1PM to 9PM
Wednesdays 1PM to 9PM
My scheduled walk in office hours will be Wednesdays from noon to 1PM in the help room (1248 BPS). I will also meet with students, by appointment in room 1253BPS.
Richard Hallstein
August 31, 2011
Welcome to the fall 2011 session of PHY 231C.
You are receiving this message because you are enrolled in PHY 231C section 730 or section 731.
The required text book is Rex & Wolfson: Essential College Physics, Volume 1. It is sold at the MSU bookstore and at SBS on Grand River.
This class will use LON-CAPA. LON-CAPA is a computerized homework and exam management system developed right here at MSU. We will NOT use Angel whatsoever in this course. Since this is an online class, you are not required to purchase an i-clicker.
Please visit www.loncapa.msu.edu and log in using your MSU Net ID and password. Select the "PHY 231C, Fall 2011" class. The first item on the top is the syllabus. You can also review the syllabus without logging in to Lon-Capa here: http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/2011fall/phy231c/ Read it carefully. This is the official syllabus of the class.
The next item is a folder containing the lectures for the course. The “Online Lectures” folder contains the lectures specifically designed for this online course; they are in the form of narrated PowerPoint presentations with example problems. A high speed internet connection (i.e. not dial-up) and a computer with the ability to view flash video are required. All of the online lectures for the course are currently available.
The next folder will contain the homework for the course. There are weekly homework sets that are due on Wednesdays at 11:59PM. The first homework set is due next Wednesday, September 7th at 11:59PM.
If you are living or traveling far from the MSU campus at the time of the exam, beyond a reasonable commuting distance, or if you are traveling with an MSU-sponsored program, you may be able to arrange a proctored off-campus exam. Arrangements must be made well in advance of the exam – requests made after the deadline will not be accommodated and you will have to take the exam at MSU. For arrangement details and arrangement deadlines: see the link in the exam section of the syllabus.
You are encouraged to come to the help room (BPS 1248) with your questions. Our Teaching Assistants will be more than happy to answer your questions. Starting next week, the help room will be open for this course on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; when the help room hours have been set, I will post them on the course syllabus: http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/2011fall/phy231c
You are also encouraged to use the discussion board inside LON-CAPA. If you don't understand a problem or you need help, just click on the "Post discussion" link and post your question. If you are seeking electronic help on a homework problem, use the post discussion option. More likely than not, others will have the same question and unlike email, everyone can then benefit from your question and subsequent response(s). If you know the answer to somebody else's question, just post your answer. Don't forget: The best way to learn is to teach. (Doscendo discimus).
Richard Hallstein
(BPS 1253, (517) 884-5509, hallstein@pa.msu.edu)
Last updated: August 23, 2011