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Problem Sets

Nine problem sets will be assigned, but only the first eight will be handed in and graded. They will be due in Room 4-339B, by 4:30 p.m. on the due date shown on the Course Calendar. The graders will read your answers to one or two questions on each problem set, and they will check whether the other problems have at least been handed in. Unfortunately, we will not be able to grade late problem sets. The lowest of the eight scores for each student will be dropped in computing the final average.

Recitation Quizzes

There will be five Recitation Quizzes during the term, but the lowest score for each student will be dropped. The Recitation Quizzes will count 16% of the final grade, so each of the quizzes that are not dropped will count 4%.

Since the Recitation Quizzes will be written and graded by the recitation instructors, they will presumably vary both in their level of difficulty and in the style of grading. In an effort to compensate for these differences, the Recitation Quiz grades will be adjusted by a process that we call "renormalization". Each instructor will be calibrated by comparing the Recitation Quiz grades of his/her students with their 50-minute Exam and Final Exam grades (which are team-graded).

50-minute Exams

The three 50-minute Exams will count a total of 36% toward the final grade, so each exam will count 12%.

Make-up Exams

After each 50-minute Exam Prof. Farhi wil announce a target score - a level that is comfortably above the passing line, which we would like all students to attain. Students who fall below the target score will have the opportunity to take a Make-up Exam, which will be given on a Tuesday evening at 7:30 pm, at least one week after the original 50-minute Exam. If you take the Make-up Exam and receive a score that is lower than your original Exam, you keep your original score. However, if your score improves (as we hope), then you will be given a combined score that is the average of the original 50-minute Exam and the Make-up Exam, up to a maximum of the target score.

Credit for Tutoring Attendance

Students who fall below the target score can also bring their grades up to the target level through attendance at tutoring sessions. From the time of any 50-minute Exam until the next 50-Minute Exam, any student who fell below the target grade can increase his or her Exam grade by one point for each 25-minute tutoring session attended, up to a maximum of 2 sessions per week, and up to the maximum of the target grade. (The tutor, however, can withhold credit if the student is mainly sleeping, reading email on his cell phone, or in some other way is not mentally present.) Before the first 50-minute Exam, any student can receive one point credit towards her score on the first 50-minute Exam for each 25-minute tutoring session attended, up to a maximum of 2 sessions per week, but with no limit on the total score.

Absences from Exams

There will be no make-up Recitation Quizzes, so in the case of excused absences, the remaining grades will be averaged. For conflicts between a Recitation Quiz and an athletic event, an excused absence is appropriate. To requst an excused absence for a Recitation Quiz, see your recitation instructor. A grade of zero will be assigned for any missed quiz that is not excused.

Excused absences for the 50-minute Exam must be requested from the Course Administrator, Prof. Alan Guth. Please make such requests in advance of the exam whenever possible. Acceptable excuses include verifiable and significant medical problems, religious holidays, and also serious personal situations. For conflicts between exams and athletic events, Prof. Guth will try to make alternative arrangements for the student to take the exam.

Excused absences for the Make-up Exams should also be requested from Prof. Guth. There are no make-ups for the make-up, but in such cases we will make every effort in our final grading analysis to compensate the student for the missed opportunity.