August 7 PHY 232C Final exam notice (2 of 2) Coverage, practice problems and studying
Dear PHY 232C student,
The final exam is cumulative and covers everything in the course(exception
below). 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 100 possible points on the exam and a total of 30
responses on this exam.
To further assist you in focusing your studies, last week I sent out a rough
breakdown of what will be on the exam and am copying it here for ease of reference:
Electric Force: 7 points
Electric Field: 7 points
Electric potential 7 points
Capacitance: 0 points(capacitance as it pertains to ch16&17)
Current, resistance and DC circuits: 4 points
Magnetism: 9 points
Electromagnetic Induction: 7 points
AC circuits and electromagnetic waves (may include capacitance here): 8 points
Geometric optics and optical instruments: 11 points Wave Optics: 7 points
Relativity: 4 points
Quantum: 8 points
Atomic: 10 points
Nuclear: 11 points
In general, and across all topics you are responsible for knowing units.
A copy of the exam's cover page is visible in the exam folder in Lon-Capa. 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.
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 Practice Exams folder. There
are two sub-folders with problems and solutions.
The first is the old practice exam folder. This folder contains practice exams
I made over five years ago and they are in the form of a static pdf. The
solutions are in the form of online lectures. All problems, except those
covering capacitance within chapters 16&17 are applicable to this exam. Even if
you correctly solve these problems, it is worthwhile going through the
solutions, as there is often additional information contained therein.
The second, contains every exam problem I gave on a midterm exams for this
course during the Fall 2016 and Spring 2017 semesters. The problems themselves
are coded in lon-capa in exam mode with no due date and correct/incorrect
feedback disabled. All problems, except those covering capacitance within
chapters 16&17 are applicable to this exam. The solutions to these problems
take on one of three forms:
1. A new online lecture if a very similar problem is not already present in the
course material.
2. A reference of where to find the solution to a very similar problem in the
online material.
3. A reference of where to find the solution to a very similar problem in the
required text.
When attempting these problems, use a draft of your exam note sheet and then
modify it as needed.
As always, click on the move button to inbox button below to keep this critical
message from continuing to pop up as you work on the course.
Richard Hallstein
August 7 PHY 232C Final exam notice (1 of 2) video proctor time will be for the 2 hour time slot you signed up for between 7PM on / and 5PM on 8/17
Dear PHY 232C 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 online via video proctor.
The final exam will be next week with your two hour exam starting between 7PM
EDT Wednesday, August 16th and 5PM EDT Thursday, August 17th (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 set up your Examity profile and/or
signed up for your online exam time, you should do so immediately.
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 two double-sided sheets 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. While taking the exam, no other notes
other than the single sheet of original handwritten notes may be used. If any
other pre-prepared notes are used, you will receive a penalty grade of zero on
the exam.
You will have two hours to complete the exam.
Richard Hallstein
August 7 PHY 232C Final exam notice (1 of 2) is at 5PM on Wednesday, 8/16 in CEM 138
Dear PHY 231C on campus exam student,
The final exam will be on Wednesday, August 16 at 5:00PM in room 138 Chemistry.
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 closed book, but you may use two 8-1/2 inch x 11 inch or smaller
sheets of original HAND-WRITTEN notes and equations; your note sheet will be
checked at least once during the exam. 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, 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 two hours to complete the exam.
Richard Hallstein
August 2 PHY 232C: Final exam coverage and practice problems/solutions
Dear PHY 232C student,
While our cumulative final is still about two weeks away, I wanted to give you
an idea of the topics on the exam. This advance notice should help you in
composing a good set of notes.
Here is the coverage:
Electric Force: 7 points
Electric Field: 7 points
Electric potential 7 points
Capacitance (DC only): 0 points(will not be on final)
Current, resistance and DC circuits: 4 points
Magnetism: 9 points
Electromagnetic Induction: 7 points
AC circuits and electromagnetic waves (may include capacitance here): 8 points
Geometric optics and optical instruments: 11 points
Wave Optics: 7 points
Relativity: 4 points
Quantum: 8 points
Atomic: 10 points
Nuclear: 11 points
Practice problems and solutions for all topics are now available in Lo-Capa. As
stated n the syllabus and in an earlier email, the solution to our midterm is
also available in Lon-Capa.
As always, click on the move button to inbox button below to keep this critical
message from continuing to pop up as you work on the course.
Richard Hallstein
July 27 PHY 232C: contact please use email
Dear PHY 232C student,
The best way to contact me for this course is and always has been via email.
This should be sent to hallstein@pa.msu.edu
This is of particular importance now, as the phone system for the BPS building,
including my office is down. While they have a temporary work around for
administrative offices, the vast majority of the phones in BPS including my
phone are unavailable. This will is not expected to be repaired for several weeks.
So, for administrative class questions, please contact me via email at:
hallstein@pa.msu.edu
Richard Hallstein
July 25 PHY 232C score summary, final average/grade projection and exam solution
Dear PHY 232C students,
At the end of this message is your personalized summary of
your scores on the work you have completed through today's
Correction exam and homework set 5. In addition, I have
used this data, along with the course syllabus to give you a
final grade projection. The projection assumes your work in
all categories is represented by what you have done so far.
Below I am including: your MIDTERM post correction score (in
percent); your homework average through set 5 including the
bonus questions and the two bonus survey questions in
percent; your projected final exam score in percent (this is
your midterm PRE-correction score); your projected final
average in percent; and the corresponding projected final
grade based on the criteria outlined in the syllabus.
These projections assume ALL future homework (both regular
and bonus) and your final exam are represented by the work
you have done thus far. Clearly, if any future work in any
of these categories changes, your actual scores/grades in
some or all of these projected categories will change as well.
Thus far, we have had 104 regular homework questions and 24
bonus questions. So, there were a maximum of 128 homework
points you could have earned through set 5; but your percent
score is based on 104 points as stipulated in the syllabus.
Further, if you completed one or both of the three-point
survey questions offered in the first week of class, a bonus
percent is added to your homework average.
If you answered both, 2.5% was added to your homework
%score; if you answered one, 1.2% was added; and if you did
not answer any no points were added.
Here is the key to interpret my abbreviations below:
HW%: Homework percent (including bonus questions and the
bonus for the 3 survey questions offered in the first week)
MT%: Percent score on Midterm (including the correction exam)
PFE%: PROJECTED final exam score in percent (this is your
Midterm, pre-correction score)
PFA%: PROJECTED final course average in %
PFG: PROJECTED final grade
As an *example* of how your projections were calculated,
here is a calculated projection based on the current class
averages in each category (this calculation is based on the
class average, not your personal projection -- the bottom of
the email sent to your Lon-Capa account for your personal
projection):
The class average on the homework through set 5 is 114%.
The class average on the midterm, pre-correction is 64% The
average on the correction exam is 94%. The corrected
midterm average is 73%.
First, we need to find the post-correction midterm score for
our class average (only your post correction score is shown
below):
MTcorrected = 64% + 0.3*(94%-64%)= 73.0%
Using these averages, we can project a final average and
grade in the course. In this projection and in your
personalized projection at the end of this message, we'll
make these assumptions:
1. Assume homework and bonus point performance for the
remainder of the course remains as it has been thus far.
2. Assume the average final exam percent score is the same
as the average PRE-correction midterm percent score.
Again, if the actual performance differs from these
assumptions, the actual scores will change too.
Homework is weighted at 30%, the midterm at 30% and final
exam 40%. So, this average set of scores yields:
Projected final class average: 0.30*114% + 0.3*73.0%
+0.4*64%= 81.7%
Using the grading criteria in the syllabus, we see this
projected final average for this hypothetical average
student is 81.7%. While this corresponds to a projected
final grade of 3.0, it represents a high 3.0. This well
above the halfway point between the 3.0 and 3.5 cut offs;
this is significantly above the historical average in both
this course and its traditional equivalent.
Again, the above are all CLASS AVERAGES -- your personalized
scores are at the bottom of this message. Further, this
class average is above the long-term historical average for
this course and its traditional equivalent.
A solution to the exam is now available in Lon-Capa. The
form of the solution is one of the following:
1. A reference to a substantially similar problem worked out
in the online lectures.
2. A reference to a substantially similar problem worked out
in the required text.
3. A new solution video.
Richard Hallstein
July 11 PHY 232C exam results and correction exam availability
Dear PHY 232C student,
Your midterm exam score and the correction exam are both now available in Lon-Capa.
You can now view your midterm 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 MIDTERM you will see your total points out of 50.
To review your version of the exam in Lon-Capa, click on Course Contents. Then
open the folder labeled for your section's exams. The midterm is inside a second
folder labeled MIDTERM. You can view an individual problem on the exam,
including your response and the correct response by clicking on the problem
(some problems you can only see your response by clicking on the "Previous
Tries" link at the bottom of the problem's page).
You can prepare a printout of your version of the exam by clicking on the
"print" icon in the upper right corner of the lon-capa window with any exam
problem displayed. This will allow you to generate a pdf of your version of the
exam and show you how many points each problem was worth.
As stated in the syllabus and in earlier emails, you may be able to improve your
exam score by completing the correction exam.
It is your overall score on both the correction exam and original exam which
determines your bonus added to your original score; so complete all problems on
the correction exam (not just the ones you answered incorrectly on the exam you
took with me or your online proctor).
If a correction exam score is higher than your original score, then 30% of the
difference between the correction exam score and your original exam score will
be added to your original score as a bonus. For example, if your original
midterm score is 40 and the correction exam score is 50, then 0.3*(50-40)=3
points will be added to Thursday's score for an exam total of 43 points. So, 43
points (or 86%) will be used as the midterm exam score for final grade
calculation purposes. If the correction exam is equal to or lower than your
original score, then the original score will be used for final grade calculation.
The correction exam is a different randomization than the original exam. So,
just like everyone receives different given values on homework problems, your
correction exam and your original exam will differ slightly.
The correction exam AND homework set 5 on magnetism are due next Tuesday, July
25 at 5PM EDT.
If your exam score and/or the correction exam are not showing up, try exiting
Lon-Capa, shutting down all windows of your internet browser and then re-
logging into Lon-Capa.
On Tuesday evening, after the due dates for the correction exam and homework set
5, I will send you a personalized score summary including your work to date in
the course. This summary will also include projections of your final
average/grade in the course based on your work to date and the grading criteria
in our syllabus. This report will include, as an example class averages in each
category of work.
Richard Hallstein
July 11 PHY 232C exam notice (1 of 2) to online video proctor students correction to title of email
Dear PHY 232C online exam student,
My earlier message for our upcoming midterm exam had the time limit of the exam
as 2 hours in its title. This is not correct. The correct time limit, included
in the syllabus is 1 hour.
Richard Hallstein
July 11 PHY 232C exam notice supplement for online web proctored students
Dear PHY 232C online exam student,
Prior to starting the midterm exam and later in the session the final exam,
please move all critical messages(like this one) to your inbox. You can do this
by clicking on the 'move to inbox button' just below this and any other unmoved
critical messages. You will need to do this for each critical message.
If you do not, these messages will continually pop up while you are taking the
exam and eat up valuable exam time.
Best wishes on the exam,
Richard Hallstein
July 11 PHY 232C exam notice (2 of 2) coverage, practice problems and studying
Dear PHY 232C student,
The midterm exam covers everything in the course from its start through and
including the material associated with homework set 4 due on Tuesday, July 18 at
5PM EDT.(exceptions below). 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 and a total of 17 responses on this exam.
To further assist you in focusing your studies, yesterday I sent out a rough
breakdown of what will be on the exam and am copying it here for ease of reference:
Electric force: 11 points
Electric field: 10 points
Electric potential 7 points
Capacitance: 4 points
Current and resistance: 9 points
DC circuits: 9 points
In general, and across all topics you are responsible for knowing units.
A copy of the exam's cover page is visible in the exam folder in Lon-Capa. 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.
Here are some additional 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 Practice Exams folder. There
are two sub-folders with problems and solutions.
The first is the old practice exam folder. This folder contains practice exams
I made over five years ago and they are in the form of a static pdf. The
solutions are in the form of online lectures. All problems, problems on old
practice exam 1 are applicable to this exam. Even if you correctly solve these
problems, it is worthwhile going through the solutions, as there is often
additional information contained therein.
The second, contains every exam problem I gave on a midterm exams for the topics
covered on our midterm exam in this course during the Fall 2016 and Spring 2017
semesters. This folder is labeled electricity practice exam problems. The
problems themselves are coded in lon-capa in exam mode with no due date and
correct/incorrect feedback disabled. Thus way, you can return to these problems
later to try them again without having the correct response highlighted from an
earlier correct attempt. There is a sub-folder within the new practice
electricity folder with correct/incorrect feedback enabled so you may attempt
these problems and get immediate feedback as to whether your response was
correct or incorrect.
The solutions to these problems take on one of three forms:
1. A new online lecture if a very similar problem is not already present in the
course material.
2. A reference of where to find the solution to a very similar problem in the
online material.
3. A reference of where to find the solution to a very similar problem in the
required text.
When attempting these problems, use a draft of your exam note sheet and then
modify it as needed.
As always, click on the move button to inbox button below to keep this critical
message from continuing to pop up as you work on the course.
Richard Hallstein
July 11 PHY 232C Midterm exam notice (1 of 2) is at 5PM on Wednesday, 7/19 in CEM 138
Dear PHY 232C on campus exam student,
The midterm exam will be on Wednesday, July 19th at 5:00PM in room 138
Chemistry. 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 closed book, but you may use one 8-1/2 inch x 11 inch or smaller
sheet of original HAND-WRITTEN notes and equations; your note sheet will be
checked at least once during the exam. 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. having any other
notes out other than the original handwritten notes will result in a penalty
grade of zero on the exam and an official report of academic misconduct sent to
the university.
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 one hour to complete the exam.
Richard Hallstein
July 11 PHY 232Cexam notice (1 of 2) video proctor time will be for the 1 hour time slot you signed up for between 6PM EDT on 7/19 and 5PM EDT on 7/20
Dear PHY 232C 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 online via video proctor.
The midterm exam will be next week with your one hour exam starting between 6PM
EDT Wednesday, July 19th and 5PM EDT Thursday, July 20th (the time slot in
Examity adjusts your time to your local time). If you have not set up your
Examity profile and/or signed up for your online exam time slot, you should do
so immediately. Slots will fill on a first come, first serve basis.
In addition to a calculator and a double-sided sheet of original HAND WRITTEN
notes, you will be permitted to have a drink on your desk during the exam, 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 and some blank pieces of scratch paper. 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. While taking the exam, no other notes other than the single sheet of
original handwritten notes may be used. If any other pre-prepared notes are
used, you will receive a penalty grade of zero on the exam.
You will have one hour to complete the exam.
Richard Hallstein
July 11 PHY 232C, online exam section midterm exam time slot scheduling is now available via Examity
Dear PHY 232C online web proctored exam student,
You can now schedule your midterm exam via the Examity link in Lon-Capa. To do
this, you must have already created an Examty profile -- this profile creation
process is covered in an earlier message and in the syllabus.
In Lon-Capa, open your Examity Dashboard via the Examity Dashboard link. Click
on the "Schedule Exam" picture and select a time slot the Midterm exam is one
hour long and you can schedule your exam start time anytime between Wednesday,
July 19 at 6PM eastern time and Thursday, July 20 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 now,
well in advance of each exam.
As stated in the syllabus and in earlier messages, scheduling for our final exam
will be available on July 28.
Richard Hallstein
July 10 PHY 232C, Move critical messages to inbox
Dear PHY 232C student,
Each message I send you is sent via Lon-Capa's mail system and I send them all
as critical messages to ensure you see them. However, unless you click on the
"move to inbox" button at the bottom of each message, the message will
continually pop up as you work in lon-capa. Moving these important course
announcements to your inbox will stop the messages from popping up while you are
working and you will still have access to the message in your Lon_Capa inbox.
It is of particular importance that the online exam students do this prior to an
exam, otherwise these pop-up critical messages will eat away at time better used
to take the exam.
Richard Hallstein
July 10 PHY 232C, section 731 web proctored exam sect. midterm exam sign-up, coverage and notes
Dear PHY 232C student,
Our midterm exam is next week between 6PM EDT on July 19 and 5PM EDT on July 20.
As stated in the syllabus and in an earlier email, you can set up your Examity
profile now, but exam time slot reservations are not yet available. I will
open up midterm exam reservations via Examity earlier than stated in the
syllabus. You will be able to do this tomorrow afternoon. Final exam time slot
reservations will not be available until July 28.
On the midterm exam, you are permitted one 8.5inch by 11inch or smaller double
sided sheet of original, handwritten notes. Your proctor will check these
notes;having any other types of notes(i.e. typed/computer generated) on or near
your desk during the exam will be considered academic dishonesty and a penalty
grade of zero for the exam will be given. You will also be permitted to use and
have on your desk several blank sheets of scratch paper for calculations.
Since the first homework was due last night, I will re-emphasize some of the
study suggestions I give in the syllabus pertaining specifically to your note
sheet.
While the material from this first set is fresh in your mind put together a
short set of notes for the topics covered with this set. You know now what you
found straightforward and what gave you difficulty. Going forward, I suggest
doing this for each homework set; this will make putting together good, useful
set of notes for taking the exam. This exam (and the final) will be organized
in the order we covered material within the class. You'll likely want to set
up your note sheet to match this organization, thus minimizing the time you'll
need to find the information.
To further assist in your exam preparation, here is the point distribution, by
topic on our midterm exam:
Electric force: 11 points
Electric field: 10 points
Electric potential 7 points
Capacitance: 4 points
Current and resistance: 9 points
DC circuits: 9 points
Total 50 points
Richard Hallstein
July 10 PHY 232C, section 730 on campus exam sect. midterm exam coverage and notes
Dear PHY 232C student,
Our midterm exam is next week on Wednesday, July 19 in CEM 138 at 5PM.
On the midterm exam, you are permitted one 8.5inch by 11inch or smaller double
sided sheet of original, handwritten notes. During the exam, these will be
checked; the use of any other types of notes(i.e. typed/computer generated) will
be considered academic dishonesty and a penalty grade of zero for the exam will
be given.
Since the first homework was due last night, I will re-emphasize some of the
study suggestions I give in the syllabus pertaining specifically to your note
sheet.
While the material from this first set is fresh in your mind put together a
short set of notes for the topics covered with this set. You know now what you
found straightforward and what gave you difficulty. Going forward, I suggest
doing this for each homework set; this will make putting together good, useful
set of notes for taking the exam. This exam (and the final) will be organized
in the order we covered material within the class. You'll likely want to set
up your note sheet to match this organization, thus minimizing the time you'll
need to find the information.
To further assist in your exam preparation, here is the point distribution, by
topic on our midterm exam:
Electric force: 11 points
Electric field: 10 points
Electric potential 7 points
Capacitance: 4 points
Current and resistance: 9 points
DC circuits: 9 points
Total 50 points
Richard Hallstein
July 7 PHY 232C, section 731 online exam section setting up your profile
Dear PHY 232C, section 731 student,
You are receiving this message because you are enrolled in section 731 of PHY
232C and booth of your exams will be proctored online via your computer's webcam
and microphone.
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 your Examity Profile. this is now available. 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.
Click on the "My Profile" icon to create a profile. Here you will:
Identify your time zone. Within EXAMITY only, your self selected exam times will
show up as your local time based on the time zone you enter in this step. All
other times associated with this course a published as Eastern time (i.e. in
Lon-Capa and in this syllabus)..
Upload a scan or photo of a picture ID, such as a driver's license or student
ID. This must be the complete ID not just a picture.
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 (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 of your photo ID(you will need to reshow 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.
Reserving you exam time slot:
On Tuesday, July 11 after 5PM you will be able to schedule your midterm exam
time slot via examity. On Thursday, July 28, scheduling of your final exam time
slot will be available via examity. When this each of these are available, I
will contact you via lon-capa mail with a copy sent to your MSU email address.
Richard Hallstein
July 7 Homework set 1 is due 11:59PM on 7/9 for all sections
Dear PHY 232C student,
It was recently brought to my attention that the due date for students in one of
the sections was set to 11:59PM on Sunday, July 9. I had this incorrectly set
at the section level in Lon-Capa and it was not immediately apparent to me. Our
due date was supposed to be tomorrow,Saturday, July 8 at 5PM. However, students
could reasonably have seen this due date in Lon-Capa and assumed it to be
correct. In fairness to all, I have reset the due date for homework set 1 and
the associated bonus questions embedded with the online lectures to Sunday, July
9 at 11:59PM.
Thank you to the students who have brought this to my attention.
Richard
July 7 Homework set 1 and this weekend's optional items
Dear PHY 232C student,
The first homework set is due tomorrow, Saturday, July 8 at 5PM. This is the
only set due on a Saturday. I have made it due on this date, rather than
earlier this week to accommodate students adding the course prior to this
evening's open add deadline.
Two optional items are open and available for you to complete over this weekend.
One is a timed conceptual test meant to asses your conceptual understanding of
some of the topics covered in this course. The second is an un-timed survey
meant to measure your beliefs about doing physics. While neither of these offer
any credit, we plan to use the results to help make future versions of both this
course, and its traditional equivalent better.
Richard Hallstein
July 5(and June 30) PHY 232C, section 731 online video proctored exam section
Dear PHY 232C, section 731 summer session 2 online video proctored exam student,
You are receiving this email because you are enrolled in section 731 of PHY 232C
for the second 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 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 the MSU 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 July 19 and
August 16.
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 of the syllabus are
both on the opening page of the syllabus and in the exam section of the
syllabus. For convenience, here is a link to the syllabus:
http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/2017summer/PHY232C/index.htm You will be able
to set up your account later during the first official week of the session --
after open add ends. Most likely Saturday, 7/8. At this time, you will be able
to schedule your midterm exam via your Examity account as well. Scheduling for
the final exam will be available via your Examity on July 28. Time slots will
fill 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
July 5(and June 30) PHY 232C, section 730 on campus exams
Dear PHY 232C, section 730 summer session 2 on campus exam student,
You are receiving this email because you are enrolled in section 730 of PHY 232C
for the second 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 the MSU campus on July 19 and August 16.
If *ALL* three of the following conditions are met, you can have your exams
proctored via webcam, but you will 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 the MSU 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 microphone; 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
July 5(and June 30) PHY 232C Bonus point/extra credit
Dear PHY 231C student,
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 session 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 session, 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 17 (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 two bonus homework survey questions in the homework folder. These two
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 Friday, July 7 to allow students enrolled in
the wrong section time to switch into the correct section. One of these two,
three point bonus homework questions will be re-asked for bonus homework credit
at the end of the course and will be due with the final homework set. The length
of class bonus question will be asked again over the weekend preceding our final
exam, this will also be weighted as 3 homework points.
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 at 30%, 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, 7/21 and is due on Tuesday, 7/25 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.
No other extra credit will be offered or given in this course.
Richard Hallstein
July 5(and June 30) PHY 232C is now available
Dear PHY 232C student,
This message and the two subsequent messages were originally sent to all
enrolled on Friday, June 30.
Welcome to the summer session of PHY 232C.
You are receiving this message because you are enrolled in PHY 232C 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, Wednesday, July 5. 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.
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 second summer session starting on
July 5 and finishing with the final exam on August 16. 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 2.
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 232C, Summer 2017" 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/2017summer/PHY232C/index.htm 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 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.
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 SATURDAY, July 8th at 5PM (this is the only set due on
a Saturday). 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 two extra credit survey questions
due Friday, July 7at 5PM; one of them addresses your enrollment in the proper
section and this due date is necessary as open add ends at 8PM on 7/7; if
you're in the wrong section you can change sections.
Further, both of these bonus questions are weighted three times a regular
homework question. It should not take you more than a minute to answer all three.
There is also a folder with practice exam problems. One set of these are older
in the form of a static pdf, but still applicable to our course and these
include video solutions. These problems were given on exams in previous
versions of the course or its traditional equivalent. The other set of practice
problems include every single problem from midterm exams I gave in the previous
academic year (Fall 2016 and Spring 2017). These problems are coded in Lon-Capa
and appear in exam mode for zero credit (no due date is set and
correct/incorrect feedback is disabled to allow you to return to the problem
later). The solutions to these problems take on one of three forms:
1. A refernce to a very simialr problem in the required text.
2. A reference to a similar problem worked out in the online lectures.
3. A new video solution.
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.
Currently, only new practice problems applicable to the midterm exam are
available. Others will be made available in a couple of weeks.
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 July
5, the help room will be open for this course on Mondays and Wednesdays from
2:00PM-8:00PM; Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00AM-5:00PM. On Friday, July 7,
the help room will be open and will follow the usual Tuesday-Thursday schedule.
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 TAs 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 July 7 - 9 there will be an optional pre-course
concpet test offered and a pre-course survey. A similar concept test and
survey will be offered over the weekend preceding our final exam (August 11-13).
While there are no points associated with either of these items, I cencourage
you to complete them, as they will be used to help make future versions of this
course and its traditional equivalent
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 10, 2017