Two office hours sessions, one late, one early

I will be holding two office hours sessions tomorrow and Wednesday, one late and one early in the day.

1. Tuesday evening office hours, 07/16/2013 9:00 - 10:30 PM
2. Early bird office hours, 07/17/2013 7:30 - 9:00 AM

Check the online office hours page in Webcourses2 for the link to each meeting.

Mini-quiz F, "Battlefield version"

I have just set up a "battlefield" version of mini-quiz F for next week's module F. It is meant to simulate "battlefield conditions" of a regular midterm exam:

1. Fast pace: avg. one minute per question
2. one question at a time

Use the regular mini-quiz F for leisurely studying. Use the battlefield version for testing your computer and ISP, to make sure that everything works well. Please be super paranoid about this: If it loads slowly, find another computer or internet service that runs fast and smooth.

Exam 2 scores are up.

You can now view your Exam 2 score on the My Grades page in Webcourses.

Exam 2 is running.

Your exam 2 is now running. You get one hour and must finish by 11:59 PM tonight.

Bonus points opportunity

Bonus point opportunity:
Post a question in Discussions, that you create, based on you notes, readings or other materials.

Here are the rules

1. Create a multiple choice question with four or five options.
   
2. Indicate the correct option with an * asterisk.
   
3. In the Subject box, type in a short phrase that decries your question.
   
4. Below your question's options, skip a few lines and type in the date of lecture or page in the textbook where another student can study up on the correct concept.
   
5. Dr. B and our TA Chloee' Hanks comment or maybe ask you to revise the question.
   
6. If your question is good enough to use on Exam 2, you will earn one bonus point.

The bonus questions can make a nifty study guide, too.

"Your Exam 1 score"

Because of the Americans with Disabilities Act, many semesters I must set up several versions of each midterm exam, all of them equivalent, to accommodate special conditions for one or more students in the section. This holds for lecture as well as this online section.

Webcourses allows me to assign the versions to specific students or groups of students, but the My Grades page does not allow me to display one version per student. For one student to see his score on his version, ALL students will see that row in My Grades, even though they have no data in that row.

As a result, on your My Grades page in Webcourses, you will see a few different rows of various versions of the first midterm exam. To resolve the ambiguity for students and to make grading easier for me, I have created one summary row for everyone, "Your Exam 1 score," in which everyone will have their version score displayed. So everyone will have two rows with a score:

1. "Your Exam 1 score" and
   
2. the score on the version of the midterm exam that you took.

Try to remember this when you look at your My Grades page. Confusing at first, but you will get used to it. I will try to make it more streamlined in later exams.

Exam 3 scores are up, and some bonus points.

Your exam 3 scores from yesterday are now viewable in Webcourses.

Also, a few of you earned bonus points by creating an acceptable question for the exam. Those bonus points are up, too.

Concept guide G, on the periodic table, is forthcoming.

Bonus question opportunity

The Discussions area for creating an Exam 3 question is now open for business. If I use your question on Exam 3, you will earn a bonus point.

Give it a shot.

Bonus points

I just posted bonus points for several of you who contributed questions to Exam 2 through the "Bonus question, exam 2" discussion area.

Speed Racer and Inspector Detector both say, "Good work!"

Exam 2 today

Your second midterm today will be available at approx. 12:05 PM. You will have one hour to complete it, and you can use any 60-minute block of time that ends before the closing time, 11:59 PM tonight.

P.S. Don't forget that, while I am putting last minute changes to things, the exam might temporarily disappear and reappear a few times between now and lunchtime. Do not panic!

Bonus points opportunity

I just activated the bonus points question area in Discussions, for Exam 2.

Your task: Create a new multiple choice question based on reading or podcast for exam 2.

1. Multiple choice format
2. Indicate the correct option with an * asterisk
3. At the bottom of the question, skip a few lines down and then type in where in the textbook, e.g., page number, another student can read up on the concept or calculation.
4. Subject: heading should be a short phrase describing the concept
5. Be creative!

Take a look at the example question I have set up.

The TAs and I will comment on your question, maybe make a suggestion or so. If we use your question on Exam 2, then

1. you will earn one bonus point,
2. you will already know the answer to one of the questions on the exam, and
3. so will anyone else who studies this discussion thread!

So get organized and post up a good question, try to earn a bonus point. They come in REALLY handy at the end of the semester!

Exam 1 scores are now released.

You can now view the overall score for Exam 1 on your My Grades page in Webcourses.

Also, the Assessments page will let you view your "attempt" on Exam 1. We never publish the verbatim questions, obviously, but you do have a short blurb for each test question that describes the gist of the question. Each blurb will help you re-study any mistakes when you prepare for the final exam.

Exam 1 today

Exam 1 today

Available between 12:05 PM and 11:59 PM.

You will have 60 minutes to complete the exam.

50 points, approx. 50 questions.

Exam 3 scores are up.

Your Exam 3 score is now released.

I will be working on grades etc. for the next day or so. Being as how that is the case, do not be surprised or worried if rows appear and disappear in your My Grades page. It is a sign of me working and organizing in the gradebook.

Ten

Since I have not had time to write up an iTunes U "pop" test, I am giving everyone a 10/10 on that test. Next test is our last test, tomorrow, Exam 3, 50 points.

Also: I have updated the "Regular points subtotal for semester" row. Your subtotal is now out of a possible 150 points: 2 regular exams, reading exam, iTunes U exam, 14 mq participation for a total of 150 points possible.

So divide your regular points subtotal by 150 and look up the percentage on the grades table in &Quot;Basic structure" in the home page.

Any bonus points go on top of the regular points but I normally do not add them til the last exam is finished, but you can sure add them in, yourself.

Your version of the reading exam

Majority of class took version A of the reading exam, before 1 AM today, but a good number of you took version B, after 1 AM today. For this reason, your My Grades page has two extra rows:

1. Reading exam version A
2. Reading exam version B

The Kepler-10b reading exam score is simply your score for version A or version B, whichever you took. It is the one row I had wanted to present to everyone, to keep the gradebook looking simple, but that was not possible.

You should all be able to view your attempts now.

By the way, this was a 12 point exam, with a possibility of earning all 13 points. One person actually did bag a 13/12. However, Webcourses knows nothing about my bonus points, so it says "(out of 13.00)" by version A and version B scores. Do not let this trip you up.

Readings test score up; view attempt

You can now check your readings exam score in Webcourses, on the row named "Kepler-10b reading exam."

Also, you can view each question and correct answer by clicking the "View submission" option in your Assessments page. Normally, I do not publish exam questions verbatim, but no part of this exam will not be used again, so here you have it.

Readings exam scores

I will release the readings exam scores at about 1 PM today, when everyone has had their chance to tackle it.

How the "pop" tests will work.

We have two "pop" tests coming up.

1. pop iTunes U test, over concepts covered in one or more of the mini-podcasts (10 points), and
2. pop readings test (12 points), over concepts in the reading assignment.

You do not know the day.

But you shall know the day as soon as I announce the pop test here in Announcements.

1. I will create the test and activate it in Webcourses;
2. immediately I will announce it here in Announcements;
3. it will be available for 24 hours, so
4. be alert and make sure you are studied up.

And I will not announce it in the middle of the night, but sometime during the day. Be ready.

Semester subtotals; Exam 2 score released

I have just released your score on Exam 2.

In addition, I activated two new rows in the My Grades page:

1. "Regular semester points subtotal" and
2. "Bonus points subtotal"

These two rows will help you see approximately where you are, grade-wise, going into the end of the semester. For the precise point totals for each semester letter grade, refer to the Basic structure of PSC1121-AW59 page linked in our home page.

Remember: we still have another 50 points coming in Exam 3, plus a slough of mq participation points in the next two weeks.