GRADING INFORMATION

Composition

The final score in this course will be based on quizzes, homework, midterm exams, and the final exam. Each of these items will count as follows:

Clicker Questions: 5%
Homework: 20%
Midterm 1: 15%
Midterm 2: 15%
Midterm 3: 15%
Final Exam: 32%
Note that the weights add up to 102%.

It should be evident that the final score will primarily reflect exam performance. The goal of the homework is to reinforce concepts introduced in the lectures and in the textbook and to provide practice opportunity ahead of the exams.

Given low scores on Midterms 1 and 2 a makeup option is offered. For more details see here.

Grades

The final grade in the course is planned to be tied to the score in the following way:

Grade ≥ 91% --- 4.0
82% ≤ Grade < 91% --- 3.5
73% ≤ Grade < 82% --- 3.0
64% ≤ Grade < 73% --- 2.5
55% ≤ Grade < 64% --- 2.0
47% ≤ Grade < 55% --- 1.5
39% ≤ Grade < 47% --- 1.0
Grade < 39% --- 0.0

Clicker Questions

Correct answer: 3 points. Incorrect answer: 1 point. Not present: no credit.

Homework Assignments

Weekly homework assignments, see the schedule, will be due at the Wednesday lecture, unless otherwise announced, for the material from the preceding week. Late homework may be accepted on individual basis only, for a reduced credit.

Exams

There will be three midterm exams and final. Exams will be closed book and closed notes. You will be expected to remember the important equations and how to use them. You should bring along a simple calculator, that has no capability of storing and recalling formulas. No other electronic devices can be used at the exams. Hats are not allowed at the exams either. Documented medical (or other) excuses for one midterm exam will be considered on a case by case basis. Resolution may involve a make-up written or oral exam. The MSU Final Examination Policy states that Students unable to take a final examination because of illness or other reason over which they have no control should notify the assistant deans of their colleges immediately and A student absent from a final examination without a satisfactory explanation will receive a grade of 0.0.

WORKLOAD

In the Federal Credit Hour Definition, the Higher Learning Commission specifies that students should dedicate a minimum of two hours to out-of-class work per week for a course per every hour of classroom instruction. That implies a minimum of 6h of the out-of-class work per week for our course.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Article 2.3.3 of the MSU Academic Freedom Report states: "The student shares with the faculty the responsibility for maintaining the integrity of scholarship, grades, and professional standards." In addition, the College of Natural Science adheres to the policies on academic honesty specified in General Student Regulation 1.0, Protection of Scholarship and Grades ; the all-University Policy on Integrity of Scholarship and Grades; and Ordinance 17.00, Examinations. (See Spartan Life: Student Handbook and Resource Guide and/or the MSU Web-site www.msu.edu .)

Therefore, except as explicitly specified below, you are expected to complete all course assignments, including homework and exams, without assistance from any source. You are expected to develop original work for this course. Also, you are not authorized to use or facilitate for others the use of the www.allmsu.com Web-site, to complete any course work in this course. Students who violate MSU rules may receive a penalty grade, including but not limited to a failing grade on the specific assignment or in the course.

You can seek and provide assistance concerning involved physics and strategies in solving homework problems. You can discuss details of a problem with others, as long as every party involved in the discussion significantly contributes to the discussion of that problem. At the end, however, every person involved in the discussion needs to write up own solution to the problem. Under no circumstances, you can give away, or seek others to give away, outright problem solutions, reducing the learning experience for the recipient of that solution to zero. Excessive similarities between submitted works will be flagged and scores for their submitters may be reduced to zero. Persistent offenders may be further subjected to a penalty grade as indicated above. If you are in doubt whether a particular form of assistance or cooperation is acceptable, ask the teaching staff for the course.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

As members of a learning community, students are expected to respect the intellectual property of course instructors. All course materials presented to students, such as lecture notes, quizzes and exams and their solutions, are the copyrighted property of the instructors. Students may not post materials online or distribute them to anyone not enrolled in the class without the advance written permission of those instructors. Any student violating the above may face academic disciplinary sanctions.