June 22
Dear Students in PHY 231C,
We are trying to obtain information on the conceptual preparation of our
incoming students for this class. To this end, we have prepared a timed
post-introductory physics course diagnostic consisting of multiple-choice
questions, which do not require any numerical calculations. In addition, we'd
like to you to participate in a survey meant to gauge students' attitudes about
physics. This second survey is untimed and there are no right/wrong responses.
You will get 0.5% extra credit counting towards your grade just for
participating for in each of these optional diagnostics/surveys (if yo do both
it is +1%). To emphasize, this is a participation bonus and is in no way linked
to your performance on the diagnostic. Please take up to 50 minutes to answer
these 30 conceptual questions this timed diagnostic, and please, complete the
entire test in one sitting without consulting any reference materials. You may
participate and receive each bonus even if you did not participate in the
pre-class versions given at the start of the semester.
The survey includes a permission form in which you can either consent we use
your responses or decline it. In either case, you can take the survey and
receive the participation bonus.
This diagnostic and survey will be available for you in Lon-Capa to take between
12:01AM Friday June 24 and Sunday, June 26 at 11:59PM.
Look for a folder called "Post-course diagnostic" in LON-CAPA inside the PHY
231C class and a second folder called "Post-course Survey".. You can click on
each folder anytime between 6/24 and 6/26.
Please take your time and read every question carefully. You are not expected to
be able to answer every question on the diagnostic. You submit your responses
just like you do on the third homework problem entitled "How to submit answers
to bonus" in set one. When you answer a question during the diagnostic, LON-CAPA
will not give you an immediate "Correct" or "Incorrect" message. It will just
simply say "Answer Submitted...". You will not have access to your score,
however next week I will send an email to your Lon-Capa mail confirming your
participation credit. You are allowed to go back and change your answer, if you
think you picked an incorrect answer. You will have 20 tries on each question.
All your submissions will be stored, but only the last submission will be used
for each question.
We value your input and want only serious attempts at completing the diagnostic.
If you don't know the answer to a question, then guessing is allowed. However,
simple submission patterns(like AAA..., or BBB...) or rapidly clicking on any
response throughout the diagnostic will be filtered out from the diagnostic or
the survey. Lon-Capa allows me to easily check the time spent on each problem in
the diagnostic. Any students having there submissions filtered out for the
reasons described above will also forfeit the participation bonus.
Thank you very much for taking the diagnostic and the survey!
Richard Hallstein
June 21 section 730 - on campus exam students
Dear PHY 231C section 730 student,
The final exam will be on Wednesday, June 29th at 5:00PM in room 1281 Anthony Hall.
Some streets in and around the campus are closed for construction, so you should
allow extra time to get to the exam location.
The exam will be handed out promptly at 5:00PM; students arriving after 5:00PM
will not be permitted to enter the room until after the students who arrived
promptly have started the exam.
The exam is cumulative and will cover everything in the course. 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 100 possible points on the exam. Roughly one quarter of the points on
the exam will come from the material covered prior to the midterm exam. The
other three quarters will come from the material we covered after the midterm exam.
The exam is closed book, but you may use TWO 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 sheets. If you show up to the exam with a set of notes that are not
original and handwritten, you will have to take the exam without notes. In
general, the questions will be in the order material was covered in the course
– this should help you organize your 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, apple watches, tablets, computers or any similar devices for
any reason is NOT permitted. If you have any of these devices out, you will
receive a penalty grade of zero on the exam. Pencils and calculators will NOT
be provided. As a courtesy to your fellow students, you should turn off all
cell phones 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, 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).
Leave a single empty seat between you and the next closest student on either
side, unless you are on an aisle, then the aisle counts as an empty seat.
The exam and scantron sheets 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.
You will have two hours to complete the exam. There is no correction exam
associated with the final exam.
The cover page for the exam will contain the same information as is displayed on
the midterm exam's cover page. Some useful information is included on the cover
page. There are a total of 30 responses on this exam.
Here are some study suggestions: review the readings, online lectures and the
homework problems; make a good sheet of notes for the exam.
There are practice exam problems available in the online lecture sub-folder
labeled Practice Exams. Use your note sheet to solve the practice exam
problems for this exam before looking at the solution videos; even if you
correctly solved the practice exam problems, watch the practice exam solution
videos; and modify your note sheet as needed. All of these are applicable to
the final exam.
To further assist you in focusing your studies, here is a rough breakdown of
what will be on the exam:
Motion in 1D (4 points): Focus on calculations based on graphs and constant
acceleration.
Motion in 2D (6 points): Focus on constant acceleration (including freefall).
Force and Newton's Laws of motion (8 points): Focus on Newton's Laws of motion
in both 1D and 2D.
Work and Energy(7 points): Focus on: conservation of mechanical energy; work
along with the conservation of total energy.
Momentum (6 points) Focus on conservation of momentum and collisions.
Oscillations (11 points): Focus on analysis of graphs of objects undergoing
simple harmonic motion; mass-spring systems; systems involving a simple pendulum.
Rotation: (14 points) Focus on the relationship between linear quantities
(speed, velocity and acceleration) and angular quantities (angular speed,
angular velocity and angular acceleration); torque; objects in static
equilibrium; energy conservation; and conservation of angular momentum.
Orbits, gravity, solids and fluids (13 points): Focus on Kepler's Laws;
buoyancy; moving fluids.
Waves, sound, ideal gases and temperature (10 points): Focus on the laws
governing ideal gases; thermal expansion of solids and calculations involving
the decibel scale.
Heat (11 points): Focus on Phase changes and conduction.
Thermodynamics (10 points): Focus on the first law of thermodynamics and how it
relates to processes involving ideal gases; entropy.
In general, and across all topics you will be responsible for knowing units.
Richard Hallstein
June 21 section 731 - off campus video proctored exam students
Dear PHY 231C section 731 online video proctored exam student,
You are receiving this message because you are in the online exam section and
you WILL take your final exam online via video proctor.
The final exam will be next week with your one hour exam starting between 7PM
Wednesday, June 29th and 5PM Thursday, June 30. You should have already signed
up for your exam time. If you have not registered your Examity account and/or
signed up for your online exam time, you should do so immediately. Details how
to do this are in the syllabus found by clicking on the 'details here' link near
the top of the opening page of the syllabus:
http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/2016summer/PHY231C/ ; also in multiple emails
sent to you earlier in this session. Copies of these can be found in the
Announcement section of the syllabus here:
http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/2016summer/PHY231C/Announcements/Announcements.htm
No accommodations will be made if your preferred online exam time is no longer
available, as slots fill up on a first come first serve basis, and most students
have already signed up.
If your uploaded picture in examity is not a complete government issue or
student ID with your name clearly visible, you will not be permitted to take
the exam.
The exam is closed book, but you may use TWO 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 sheets. If you log on to take your exam with a set of notes that are
not original and handwritten, you will have to take the exam without notes. In
general, the questions will be in the order material was covered in the course –
this should help you organize your note sheets.
In addition to a calculator and two double-sided sheet of original hand written
notes, you will be permitted to have a drink on your desk during the exam and a
printout of the instructions for getting started/taking your exam on exam day.
These instructions are specific to connecting to Examity (your online proctor)
via Lon-Capa. The instructions are in place and viewable now in your exams
folder in lon-capa. I suggest downloading the pdf, opening it with your pdf
reader of choice and printing it out. No other notes may be placed on this
double sided set of instructions.
The exam is cumulative and will cover everything in the course. 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 100 possible points on the exam. Roughly one quarter of the points on
the exam will come from the material covered prior to the midterm exam. The
other three quarters will come from the material we covered after the midterm exam.
You will have two hours to complete the exam. There is no correction exam
associated with the final exam.
The cover page for the exam will contain the same information as is displayed on
the midterm exam's cover page. Some useful information is included on the cover
page. There are a total of 30 responses on this exam.
Here are some study suggestions: review the readings, online lectures and the
homework problems; make a good sheet of notes for the exam.
There are practice exam problems available in the online lecture sub-folder
labeled Practice Exams. Use your note sheet to solve the practice exam
problems for this exam before looking at the solution videos; even if you
correctly solved the practice exam problems, watch the practice exam solution
videos; and modify your note sheet as needed. All of these are applicable to
the final exam.
To further assist you in focusing your studies, here is a rough breakdown of
what will be on the exam:
Motion in 1D (4 points): Focus on calculations based on graphs and constant
acceleration.
Motion in 2D (6 points): Focus on constant acceleration (including freefall).
Force and Newton's Laws of motion (8 points): Focus on Newton's Laws of motion
in both 1D and 2D.
Work and Energy (7 points): Focus on: conservation of mechanical energy; work
along with the conservation of total energy.
Momentum (6 points) Focus on conservation of momentum and collisions.
Oscillations (11 points): Focus on analysis of graphs of objects undergoing
simple harmonic motion; mass-spring systems; systems involving a simple pendulum.
Rotation: (14 points) Focus on the relationship between linear quantities
(speed, velocity and acceleration) and angular quantities (angular speed,
angular velocity and angular acceleration); torque; objects in static
equilibrium; energy conservation; and conservation of angular momentum.
Orbits, gravity, solids and fluids (13 points): Focus on Kepler's Laws;
buoyancy; moving fluids.
Waves, sound, ideal gases and temperature (10 points): Focus on the laws
governing ideal gases; thermal expansion of solids and calculations involving
the decibel scale.
Heat (11 points): Focus on Phase changes and conduction.
Thermodynamics (10 points): Focus on the first law of thermodynamics and how it
relates to processes involving ideal gases; entropy.
In general, and across all topics you will be responsible for knowing units.
Richard Hallstein
May 26 section 730 - on campus exam students
Dear PHY 231C on campus exam student,
The midterm exam will be on Wednesday, June 1st at 5:00PM in room 1281 Anthony Hall.
Some streets in and around the campus are closed for construction, so you should
allow extra time to get to the exam location.
The exam will be handed out promptly at 5:00PM; students arriving after 5:00PM
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 Work and
Energy (homework set 4). It will be based on the assigned 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. If you show up to the exam with a set of notes that are not
original and handwritten, you will have to take the exam without notes. In
general, on this exam and the final exam, the questions will be in the order
material was covered in the course – this should help you organize 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, apple watches, tablets, computers or any similar devices for
any reason is NOT permitted. If you have any of these devices out, you will
receive a penalty grade of zero on the exam.
Pencils and calculators will NOT be provided. Also as a courtesy to your fellow
students, you should turn off your stored away cell phone 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, 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).
Leave a single empty seat between you and the next closest student on either
side, unless you are on an aisle, then the aisle counts as an empty seat
The exam and scantron sheets 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.
You will have sixty minutes 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 or off-campus proctored exam score. If your
performance is better on the Correction Exam than on the in-class exam or
proctored exam, then 30 percent of this positive difference will be added to
your original exam score. The best strategy is to solve the Correction Exam
perfectly to maximize your gain. The Correction Exam will be available Friday,
June 3 at 10AM and will be due on Tuesday, June 7th at 5:00PM EDT; homework set
5 on momentum is also due at this time. Only students taking the original 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 contains information for all exams and not all
of the useful information listed here is applicable to this exam. There are a
total of 18 responses on this exam.
Here are some study suggestions: review the readings, online lectures and the
homework problems; make a good sheet of notes for the exam.
There are practice exam problems available in the online lecture sub-folder
labeled Practice Exams. Use your note sheet to solve the practice exam
problems for this exam before looking at the solution videos; even if you
correctly solved the practice exam problems, watch the practice exam solution
videos; and modify your note sheet as need. Of these exams, only the first two
have problems relevant to the midterm exam. The first set labeled Practice Exam
1 is comprised entirely of problems given on exams in previous versions of this
course or its traditional equivalent. Practice Exam 2, questions 8, 9 and 13
are from material you are responsible for on the midterm exam.
To further assist you in focusing your studies, here is a rough breakdown of
what will be on the exam:
Motion in 1D (12 points): Focus on calculations based on graphs and conceptual
interpretation of graphs; constant acceleration (including freefall).
Motion in 2D (12 points): Focus on constant acceleration (including freefall),
relative velocity and circular motion.
Force and Newton's Laws of motion(15 points): Focus on Newton's 2nd Law in 1D,
Newton's Law 1st Law in 2D, Newton's 2nd Law in 2D specific to circular motion
and in general, Newton's 3rd Law.
Work and Energy(11 points): Focus on: conservation of mechanical energy; work
along with the conservation of total energy.
In general, and across all topics you will be responsible for knowing units.
Richard Hallstein
May 26 section 731 - online video proctored exam students
ear PHY 231C section 731 online video proctored exam student,
You are receiving this message because you are in the online exam section and
you WILL take your midterm online via video proctor.
The midterm exam will be next week with your one hour exam starting between 6PM
EDT Wednesday, June 1st and 5PM EDT Thursday, June 2 (the time slot in Examity
adjusts your time to your local time). You should have already signed up for
your exam time. If you have not registered your Examity account and/or signed
up for your online exam time, you should do so immediately. Details how to do
this are in the syllabus found by clicking on the “details here†link near the
top of the opening page of the syllabus:
http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/2016summer/PHY231C/ ; also in multiple emails sent
to you earlier in this session. Copies of these can be found in the
Announcement section of the syllabus here:
http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/2016summer/PHY231C/Announcements/Announcements.htm
No accommodations will be made if your preferred online exam time is no longer
available, as slots fill up on a first come first serve basis, and most students
have already signed up.
In addition to a calculator and a single double-sided sheet of original hand
written notes, you will be permitted to have a drink on your desk during the
exam and a printout of the instructions for getting started/taking your exam on
exam day. These instructions are specific to connecting to Examity(your online
proctor) via Lon-Capa. The instructions are in place and viewable now in your
exams folder in lon-capa. I suggest downloading the pdf, opening it with your
pdf reader of choice and printing it out. No other notes may be placed on this
double sided set of instructions.
The exam will cover everything through and including online lecture 5 Work and
Energy (homework set 4). It will be based on the assigned 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. If you log on to take the exam with a set of notes that are
not original and handwritten, you will have to take the exam without notes. In
general, on this exam and the final exam, the questions will be in the order
material was covered in the course – this should help you organize 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, apple watches, tablets, computers other than the one needed
to take the exam or any similar devices for any reason is NOT permitted. If you
have any of these devices out, you will receive a penalty grade of zero on the
exam. If you leave the exam folder and use your computer to browse around
outside of the exam folder, you will receive a penalty grade of zero on the
exam. Remember, the online exams are recorded (both you and your computer's
monitor).
You will have sixty minutes 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 or off-campus proctored exam score. If your
performance is better on the Correction Exam than on the in-class exam or
proctored exam, then 30 percent of this positive difference will be added to
your original exam score. The best strategy is to solve the Correction Exam
perfectly to maximize your gain. The Correction Exam will be available Friday,
June 3 at 10AM and will be due on Tuesday, June 7th at 5:00PM EDT; homework set
5 on momentum is also due at this time. Only students taking the original 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 contains information for all exams and not all
of the useful information listed here is applicable to this exam. There are a
total of 18 responses on this exam.
Here are some study suggestions: review the readings, online lectures and the
homework problems; make a good sheet of notes for the exam.
There are practice exam problems available in the online lecture sub-folder
labeled Practice Exams. Use your note sheet to solve the practice exam
problems for this exam before looking at the solution videos; even if you
correctly solved the practice exam problems, watch the practice exam solution
videos; and modify your note sheet as need. Of these exams, only the first two
have problems relevant to the midterm exam. The first set labeled Practice Exam
1 is comprised entirely of problems given on exams in previous versions of this
course or its traditional equivalent. Practice Exam 2, questions 8, 9 and 13
are from material you are responsible for on the midterm exam.
To further assist you in focusing your studies, here is a rough breakdown of
what will be on the exam:
Motion in 1D (12 points): Focus on calculations based on graphs and conceptual
interpretation of graphs; constant acceleration (including freefall).
Motion in 2D (12 points): Focus on constant acceleration (including freefall),
relative velocity and circular motion.
Force and Newton's Laws of motion(15 points): Focus on Newton's 2nd Law in 1D,
Newton's Law 1st Law in 2D, Newton's 2nd Law in 2D specific to circular motion
and in general, Newton's 3rd Law.
Work and Energy(11 points): Focus on: conservation of mechanical energy; work
along with the conservation of total energy.
In general, and across all topics you will be responsible for knowing units.
Richard Hallstein
May 19
Dear Students in PHY 231C,
We are trying to obtain information on the conceptual preparation of our
incoming students for this class. To this end, we have prepared a timed
pre-introductory physics course diagnostic consisting of multiple-choice
questions, which do not require any numerical calculations. In addition, we'd
like to you to participate in a survey meant to gauge students' attitudes about
physics. This second survey is untimed and there are no right/wrong responses.
You will get 0.5% extra credit counting towards your grade just for
participating for in each of these optional diagnostics/surveys (if yo do both
it is +1%). To emphasize, this is a participation bonus and is in no way linked
to your performance on the diagnostic. Please take up to 50 minutes to answer
these 30 conceptual questions this timed diagnostic, and please, complete the
entire test in one sitting without consulting any reference materials.
The survey includes a permission form in which you can either consent we use
your responses or decline it. In either case, you can take the survey and
receive the participation bonus.
This diagnostic and survey will be available for you in Lon-Capa to take between
12:01AM last tomorrow,Friday May 20 and Sunday, May 22 at 11:59PM.
Look for a folder called "Pre-course diagnostic" in LON-CAPA inside the PHY 231C
class and a second folder called "Pre-course Survey". You can click on each
folder anytime between just after midnight tonight and 5/22.
Please take your time and read every question carefully. You are not expected to
be able to answer every question on the diagnostic. You submit your responses
just like you do on the third homework problem entitled "How to submit answers
to bonus" in set one. When you answer a question during the diagnostic, LON-CAPA
will not give you an immediate "Correct" or "Incorrect" message. It will just
simply say "Answer Submitted...". You will not have access to your score,
however next week I will send an email to your Lon-Capa mail confirming your
participation credit. You are allowed to go back and change your answer, if you
think you picked an incorrect answer. You will have 20 tries on each question.
All your submissions will be stored, but only the last submission will be used
for each question.
We value your input and want only serious attempts at completing the diagnostic.
If you don't know the answer to a question, then guessing is allowed. However,
simple submission patterns(like AAA..., or BBB...) or rapidly clicking on any
response throughout the diagnostic will be filtered out from the diagnostic or
the survey. Lon-Capa allows me to easily check the time spent on each problem in
the diagnostic. Any students having there submissions filtered out for the
reasons described above will also forfeit the participation bonus.
At the end of the session (6/24 through 6/26), a post course diagnostic and a
post course survey will be given for another 0.5% participation extra credit for
each of them. This too, will be a participation bonus and not linked to your
performance on the post course diagnostic. Any results produced by this study
will not contain your name or any other personal information about you.
Thank you very much for taking the diagnostic and the survey!
Richard Hallstein
May 19 online video proctored exam section 731
Dear PHY 231C, section 731 online proctored exam section student,
You can now set up your account with Examity and schedule both your midterm and
final exam times. The process you should follow is in the syllabus, but I am
copying it below as well for ease of access.
If the "Go to Examity Dashboard(for online exam students only)" link in Lon-Capa
is not active/available, you will need to log out and re-login to Lon-Capa.
If you need assistance with the setup/scheduling with Examity, they have 24/7
tech support via phone (1-855-EXAMITY (1-855-392-6489) select option 1; email
and live chat. The email and chat options are linked on every examity webpage.
Instructions from the syllabus for initial setup of your Examity user account
and scheduling of your exams. Once you complete the initial setup, you can
schedule both your midterm and final exam times. I suggest you do this now, as
the number of proctors is limited and slots will fill up on a first come, first
serve basis.
Online exams will be proctored by an online proctor/monitoring service called
Examity (www.examity.com). All access to Examity and your exams will be done in
Lon-Capa. In order to arrange for your online proctored exams, you will need to
do an initial set-up of the Examity Dashboard. Initial setup involves two steps
as follows:
In the "Contents" of the course in Lon-Capa, click on "Go to Examity
Dashboard(for online exam students only)"
Click on the "Initial Setup of Examity" link. This will bring you to your
Examity dashboard where you must create a profile. (You will use this link later
to access your account and to take your exams)
Click on the "My Profile" icon to create a profile. Here you will: Identify your
time zone upload a scan or photo of a picture ID, such as a driver's license or
student ID
Select three security questions from a given set and provide answers to them
Enter your biometric keystroke signature. All you have to do is enter your first
name -- use your legal first name(no caps), your last name (no caps) and your
first and last names (no caps or spaces)
Later, when you take your exams, your identity will be verified with your
uploaded picture (you will need to re-show via your webcam to your online
proctor) and one of your security questions (please remember your responses).
Finally, you will be asked for your biometric signature.
If you receive all three green check marks, you are done setting up your Examity
account. You can click logout now.
The next step is to schedule your exams
Scheduling your exams(must have already created a profile)
In Lon-Capa, open your Examity Dashboard (as above)
Click on the "Schedule Exam" picture and select a timeslot
The Midterm exam is one hour long and you can schedule your exam start time
anytime between Wednesday, June 1 at 6PM eastern time and Thursday, June 2 at
5:00PM eastern time.
Final Exam is two hours long and you can schedule your exam start time anytime
between Wednesday, June 29 at 7PM eastern time and Thursday, June 30 at 5:00PM
eastern time
The granularity is 30 minutes, meaning you can choose start times on the half
hour or the hour.
Examity has a large number of exams to proctor each day, but a finite number of
employees and a finite amount of computational resources to do so. Please be
patient and have several time slots ready on your schedule when selecting a
start time. Times slots are filled on a first come first serve basis.
If your exam is scheduled successfully, you will receive a confirmation message
from Examity.
If you scheduled your exam more than 24 hours in advance of the exam, you will
not be charged any proctoring fee. The MSU Physics department will pay this
cost. However, if you schedule it less than 24 hours in advance of the exam, you
will have to pay the cost of the exam as an on-demand proctoring fee. There is
no reason to wait this long, as the scheduling will be available to you weeks in
advance of each exam.
Richard Hallstein
May 13 and May 16 (3 of 3) on campus exams section 730
Dear PHY 231C, section 730 summer session 1 on campus exam student,
You are receiving this email because you are enrolled in section 730 of PHY 231C for the first summer session and I want to make sure you are enrolled in the correct section. No worries if you are not, as there is plenty of room in both sections and it is easy to switch sections if you need to via schedule builder here: https://schedule.msu.edu/
First off, there are two exam folders in Lon-Capa. Each folder currently contains only the cover sheet for our midterm exam (useful constants and information). However, you will only be able to access the on campus exam folder.
Your exams will be given in person on MSU’s campus on June 1 and June 29.
If *ALL* three of the following conditions are met, you can have your exams proctored via webcam, but you’ll need to switch sections:
1. You are living greater than a 1 hour drive from MSU
2. Regardless of how far you are living, you are not enrolled in another course meeting on MSU’s campus in East Lansing (if you live close enough to come here for class, you are close enough to come here for our two exams).
3. Your computer hardware and internet connection meets the criteria outlined in the syllabus.
If *ALL* of these conditions are met and you wish to use online video proctoring, you must enroll in section 731. Students using online video proctoring will be watched/video recorded for the duration of each exam via student provided webcam and the computer screen will also be recorded. If any of these three conditions are not met or you wish to take your exams at MSU even if they are met, you are enrolled in the correct section (730) and no further action is required.
Richard Hallstein
May 13 and May 16 (3 of 3) online video proctored exam section 731
Dear PHY 231C, section 731 summer session 1 online video proctored exam student,
This email contains much of the same information the earlier message sent out on 5/10 contained, but some additional important sign up for your exam information is at the end of this message.
You are receiving this email because you are enrolled in section 731 of PHY 231C for the first summer session and I want to make sure you are enrolled in the correct section. No worries if you are not, as there is plenty of room in both sections and it is easy to switch sections if you need to via schedule builder here: https://schedule.msu.edu/
Students in this section(731) will have their exams proctored via student provided webcam and microphone. You will be watched/recorded via your computer’s webcam for the duration of each exam and your computer’s screen will also be recorded.
If *ALL* three of the following conditions are met, you are enrolled in the correct section and will have your exams proctored via webcam:
1. You are living greater than a 1 hour drive from MSU
2. Regardless of how far you are living, you are not enrolled in another course meeting on MSU’s campus in East Lansing (if you live close enough to come here for class, you are close enough to come here for our two exams).
3. Your computer hardware and internet connection meets the criteria outlined in the syllabus.
If *ALL* of these conditions are met and you wish to use online video proctoring, you are enrolled in the correct section (731). If any of these three conditions are not met OR you wish to take your exams at MSU even if they are met, you must enroll section (730) and take your exams at MSU on June 1 and June 29.
If you remain in this section, you will need to set up an account with Examity, the online video proctoring service. This is covered in detail in the online proctored exam section of the syllabus. Links to this part are both on the opening page of the syllabus and in the exam section, go to the opening page of the syllabus here: http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/2016summer/PHY231C/ then click on the ‘details here link in the box at the top of the page. You will be able to set up your account later during the first official week of the sessionweek after open add ends. Most likely Friday(5/20), but possibly late Thursday(5/19). Once you have done this, you can schedule a time for your exams – I encourage you to do this early, as time slots will fill up on a first come first serve basis.
If you need technical support for Examity, you can contact their 24/7 support via: phone 1-855-EXAMITY (1-855-392-6489) select option 1; email or chat -- both of these are linked on every Examity webpage.
Lastly, there are two exam folders in Lon-Capa. Each folder currently contains only the cover sheet for our midterm exam (useful constants and information). However, you will only be able to access the online video proctored exam folder.
Richard Hallstein
May 13 and May 16 (2 of 3)
Students will, at times ask at the end of the semester about doing extra work to get a higher grade. In this class, there are plenty of extra credit opportunities offered throughout the semester and I encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities. The time to start accumulating this extra credit is now (not at the end of the semester, as then it is too late). These bonus opportunities have limited windows of availability and strict due dates. Other than what is outlined below, no other extra credit will be given. Please take advantage of each of these opportunities, as they can significantly help your final grade in the course. Much of this is in the bonus point section of the syllabus. Here are all of the bonus point/extra credit opportunities available in the course:
Bonus homework survey questions due 5PM on Wednesday, May 18 (and will add 1% to final average if completed in full). This one, frankly should not take you more than a minute to complete. Here are the details:
There are three bonus homework survey questions in the homework folder. These three survey questions have no right or wrong answer and are weighted as three regular homework points each. One of them is about the section you are enrolled in. These are necessarily due at 5PM on Wednesday, May 18 to allow students enrolled in the wrong section time to switch into the correct section. These bonus questions are different from the bonus questions outlined below and embedded with the online lectures.
Diagnostics and surveys (different from the survey mentioned above) will be available first weekend of session (5/21-22) and last weekend of semester (6/25-26). If all four are completed will add 2% to final average. Here are the details:
Over the first weekend of the semester, there will be an optional pre-course diagnostic given in Lon-Capa and an optional pre-course survey. At the end of the semester on the weekend just before the final exam, there will be a second, optional post-course diagnostic and a second post-course survey. A 0.5% participation bonus will be added to the final average of any student who makes a serious effort to complete these four assessments/surveys. If you seriously participate in all of these optional assignments, 2% will be added to your final average; if you seriously participate in three of them, 1.5% will be added to your final average; if you seriously participate in two of them, 1 % will be added to your final average, if you seriously participate in one of them, 0.5% will be added to your final average. If you don't attempt a diagnostic (or survey) or don't give a serious effort, no bonus will be added. Simple submission patterns (like AAA..., or BBB...) or rapidly clicking on any response throughout the diagnostic (or survey)are not considered serious efforts and no bonus will be given.
Available now and due with associated homework assignments throughout the session. There are about 250 regular homework problems and about 50 additional bonus homework problems. Homework is weighted at30%, so attempting these bonus problems could add 6% to your final average. Here are the details:
There are bonus questions in the online lecture folders. You should be able to answer these after completing the assigned reading from the required text and watching the online lectures. These bonus questions are programmed to look like exam questions, as such, they are all multiple choice. In addition, some of these bonus questions are questions used on previous exams for this course and its traditional equivalent. Lon-Capa's feedback option is disabled, so unlike regular homework problems, Lon-Capa will not tell you if you have the correct answer until after the due date. In addition, the discussion board on these questions has been disabled. These questions are meant for you to work out yourself after having read the assigned reading and watched the online lectures. All points earned here will be added to your total homework points as a homework bonus (so, homework scores over 100% are possible). Hints and/or solutions to the bonus questions will not be provided.
Correction assignment for the midterm exam done online as a homework assignment can increase your midterm score and thus, you final average. It will be available from on Friday, 6/3 and is due on Tuesday, 6/7 along with homework set 5. Here are the correction assignment details:
The midterm exam will have a correction exam assigned as a homework assignment in Lon-Capa. 30% of the positive difference between the correction exam and the in-class (or proctored) exam will be added to your in-class exam score as bonus. As such, the correction exam homework assignment can only add points to your midterm exam score. Only students taking the original exam will have access to the correction exam. The correction exam will be available at noon two days after the scheduled exam and will be due at the regular homework due date/time the following week.
Richard Hallstein
May 13 and May 16 (1 of 3)
You are receiving this message because you are enrolled in PHY 231C section 730 or section 731. All online course material will be delivered using Lon-Capa. You can log in using your MSUnet ID and password (same as your email) here: https://loncapa.msu.edu/ This message will be resent today via lon-capa’s mail system and again on the official start of class, Monday, May 16 using both the Registrar’s system and Lon-Capa’s mail system. I apologize in advance for these duplicate messages, but it is necessary for me to make all reasonable attempts to contact all enrolled in the course.
You are receiving this message because you are enrolled in PHY 231C section 730 or section 731.
I realize this message is long, but you should read it carefully and in detail as it is part of the syllabus and it is copied in the announcement section of the syllabus for your reference. You will also receive two additional emails today. One is a section specific email about our two exams. The other is an outline of all available extra credit (bonus points) available to you in this course. There are some opportunities only available in the first week, so review this promptly!
We will cover all material usually covered in a fifteen week course in a little over six weeks. This course runs only in the first summer session starting on May 16 and finishing with the final exam at the end of June. In general, there are two homework sets due each week. Every week during the session will require a significant online time commitment with a reliable high speed internet connection. Extensions of the homework due dates will not be given.
There are two exams. The midterm exam and final exam are traditional, multiple-choice paper and pencil type exams taken either here on the MSU campus (must enroll in section 730) or off-campus via your computer/web-cam for qualifying students (must enroll in section 731). Qualifying means all three of these conditions must be met: 1. You must live greater than a 1 hour drive time from where you are living to MSU. 2. You cannot be enrolled in any other course requiring you to drive to MSU during the session (if you are close enough to attend class here, you are close enough to take your two exams here). 3. Your computer and internet connection meet all of the requirements outlined in the off-campus online proctored exam part of the syllabus. Of course, if you meet all of these requirements and wish to take your exams at MSU, you can do so, but need to be in (or change to) section 730.
On the Friday following the midterm exam, a correction exam will open up in homework mode. The correction exam is completed online just like all of the regular homework assignments. This correction assignment allows you to do the same exam again with a different randomization for your assigned values. 30% of the positive difference between your correction exam score and your original exam score is added to your original score as a bonus. The correction exam can only help your score on the exam; do nothing and your original score stays as-is.
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, D2L or the Mastering Physics add-on to the textbook in this course. Since this is an online class, you are not required to purchase an i-clicker.
Whenever you finish using Lon-CAPA you should *ALWAYS* log out. Staying logged in for an extended period of time will prevent you from seeing any new material added to the course i.e. correction exam, exam results, practice exam problems. In addition, leaving Lon-Capa idle for a long time can cause access errors (i.e. getting a message when trying to answer a problem stating the system is not available). No extensions will be given for such preventable errors.
Please visit www.loncapa.msu.edu and log in using your MSU Net ID and password.
Select the "PHY 231C, Summer 2016" 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/2016summer/PHY231C/ Read all sections of it carefully. This is the official syllabus of the class.
The next item is a folder containing the lectures for the course. The Online Lecture folder contains the lectures specifically designed for this online course; they are in the form of narrated PowerPoint presentations with example problems and some lecture demonstrations. 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.
Embedded within the online lectures are bonus homework questions. These questions are optional and can only help your score in the course. Most of these questions, relate at least in part to the assigned reading and/or the online lecture immediately preceding the question. These questions are programmed in exam mode (multiple choice) with correct/incorrect feedback disabled; the correct answer will be available after the due date. The discussion board on these bonus questions is disabled and so. In addition, hints and/or solutions to these extra credit bonus questions will not be provided.
Also within the online lecture folder are some practice exam problems with video solutions. These problems were given on exams in previous versions of the course or its traditional equivalent. You are encouraged to use these to help prepare for the exams.
Try solving the problems first before watching the solutions. Even if you answer the questions correctly, as you may find some additional useful information in the solution.
The next folder will contain the homework for the course. There are homework sets that are due, in general every Tuesday at 5PM and Thursday at 5PM. The first homework set is due FRIDAY, May 20th at 5PM (this is the only set due on a Friday). All homework sets are currently available, so if you know you have a conflict at some point in the semester, you can work ahead. Additionally, you should not wait until the last minute to do the assigned homework -- extensions on homework will not be granted. There are three extra credit survey questions due Wednesday, May 18 (this Wednesday) at 5PM – one of them addresses your enrollment in the proper section and this due date is necessary as open add ends at 8PM on 5/18; if you’re in the wrong section you can change sections. Further, each of these three bonus questions are weighted three times a regular homework question. It should not take you more than a minute to answer all three.
You are encouraged to come to the help room (BPS 1248) with your questions.
Our Teaching Assistants are more than happy to answer your questions. Starting May 16, the help room will be open for this course on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8:00AM-8:00PM; Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:00AM-5:00PM. During these help room hours, there will always be at least two TAs in the help room assigned to this course. One is assigned specifically to provide online help using the course discussion board. While this TA will be in the help room, the online support TA’s first priority is to give online assistance. Only after all online questions are answered is this TA permitted to assist students in the help room.
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. Please do not send questions about the homework via email – the discussion board should always be used for this purpose. 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 a question, just post your answer. Don't forget: The best way to learn is to teach.
Working and understanding the homework problems is a very important part of understanding the material. While, you can likely find a quick, easy formula derived by someone else in the class that will yield the solution to a homework problem, going straight for this type of solution will not help you learn the material. If you are faced with a similar problem that does not use the same end formula, that quick and easy homework solution would be of little help.
However, if you understand the underlying concepts and the process that went in to finding that end formula, that similar problem should not be difficult to solve. Rather than using a quick and easy formula that someone else put the work into finding, a better course to follow is attempting to work the problems yourself after completing the assigned readings and watching the online lectures. Only after an honest attempt at the problems should you seek further assistance. Yes, this is more work, but my belief in the importance of working through the homework yourself to your success in the course is both emphasized and rewarded by its relative weight in determining your final grade.
Lastly, over the weekend of May 21-22 there will be an optional pre-course diagnostic offered and a pre-course survey. If you give an honest effort a 0.5% participation bonus will be added to your final average for the diagnostic and a 0.5% participation bonus added for the survey. We value your input and want only serious attempts at completing the diagnostic.
If you don't know the answer to a question, then guessing is allowed. However, simple submission patterns(like AAA..., or BBB...) or rapidly clicking on any response throughout the diagnostic will be filtered out from the diagnostic.
Lon-Capa allows me to easily check the time spent on each problem in the diagnostic. Any students having there submissions filtered out for the reasons described above will also forfeit the participation bonus. A similar diagnostic and survey, each with an additional 0.5% participation bonus will be offer over the weekend preceding our final exam (June 25-26). More details on each of these will follow.
To reiterate, two additional emails will follow this one. Please read them both promptly.
Richard Hallstein
(BPS 1253, (517) 884-5509, hallstein@pa.msu.edu)
Last updated: March 8, 2016