Pre-lectures | Due at 9 am before the corresponding lecture starts

Post-lectures | Due at midnight the day of the corresponding lecture

Challenge Homeworks | Due on Fridays at 11:59 pm

Quizzes | In-class at the beginning of Mondays (not the first Monday!)

Final Exam | In-class on last day of term (August15th)

Late penalties | Please note that there are effectively no late penalties in this course! There are "on-time bonuses" for your pre-lecture and post-lecture work. However, due to the rapidity of the summer term, it will be very difficult to catch up if you fall behind. Please reach out to your LAs, TAs, and/or instructor if this happens!

How to approach the course | Your teaching team has developed a strong support structure for your this summer. After every class period, you are **strongly** encouraged to attend the Learning Assistant Homework Help Hours (LAHHH) to complete that day's assignments. There, you can also get a head start on your challenge homework and complete the next day's pre-lecture work. Keeping up with your assignments is the best way to stay on top of the quick pace of the course. Each assignment is designed to address common preconceptions and teach you the tools you will need to succeed.

To further incentivize you to attend these work / help sessions, your instructor will be hosting their office hours during LAHHH

After LAHHH each day, the Wormhole will open at 2 pm. The Wormhole is a help center staffed by graduate physics TAs. It is a great place to work with classmates (and to find classmates to work with). The TAs will be happy to assist you when you get stuck or have questions.

If you see any mention of "Quizbits" in the syllabus or elsewhere, you can ignore them.

Most recitation meetings will center around the completion of a quiz (formerly called quizbits). Your performance on these quizzes will not directly impact your course grade. Your score for recitation will be based on attendance and completion of the recitation activities.

Your answer to the Recitation Quiz will be "graded" by your TA and turned back to you with feedback the next recitation period. This "grade" has no impact on your course grade! It is purely for formative feedback purposes. The idea is that you will use these quizzes as practice for the midterm exams. You will gain a better understanding of the exam structures, question types, how well you are able to explain your understanding of the material, and how the grading for this course works. The "grade" you get can inform whether your current study practices are working. If they aren't, please reach out to a member of the teaching team! This could be your favorite Learning Assistant, your lab or recitation TA, and/or your instructor. We are all very motivated to help you learn!

During recitations, you will also have the opportunity to work in a small group to solve problems. This is a great opportunity to discuss with, learn from, and teach your classmates. Many years of physics research has arrived at the conclusion that solving problems with peers under the guidance of an expert (your TA!) is the most efficient way to learn physics.

This summer there will be three quizzes and one final exam. If you have DAS accommodations, please contact your instructor. Please arrive a few minutes early to each exam so that you will have time to get settled and comfortable before the exam starts.

Quizzes | Each quiz will be 40 minutes long. The quizzes will emphasize the most recent material, but the nature of physical concepts is that they build on each other. As a result, please expect each quiz to rely on every previous quiz. 

Final Exam | The final exam will be 110 minutes long. The final exam will be comprehensive, covering all the material covered in PH201.

Exam Rules | The exam rules will be as stated in the syllabus. Click here for a link to the exam rules. You will be allowed 1 page of notes for the first quiz, 2 pages for the second quiz, 3 for the third, and 4 for the final exam. You may write, draw, or print whatever you would like on each page.

Grades in this class are broken down in terms of percentage contribution to your overall grade. We do not use a point system so that we can vary the points for various exercises to match the granularity we need in grading that assignment. Below is the grade breakdown for this course.

* Full credit is given for over 85% correctness of pre, post, and lecture questions. Live lecture questions are given full credit regardless of correctness. When combining live and asynchronous lecture points, consideration will be taken to how many questions were gotten to during the live lectures as this will not be every question. Late work will lose 5% per day until it reaches a cap of 15% credit lost. Meaning if you answered all questions correctly, you would receive 85%. This means you always have an incentive to do work late, even many many days after the due date. There is effectively no penalty for late pre/post/lecture homework, but there is a bonus if you get it done on time.

** Late challenge homework assignments are accepted on Gradescope. There will be no penalty for a late challenge homework assignment or two. If you turn in many late assignments over the term, you may receive a late penalty on them.

***You must also complete all labs to passing quality to receive a grade in this course.

The above calculation will be done in tandem with a separate one that only includes the exams - you will receive the higher of the two grades. This is to accommodate students who have already mastered, or feel they can master, the material without formal practice and assessment. I do not suggest anyone attempt this approach as I have statistics on how poorly it typically works out.

Here's a grade calculator that will help you estimate your course grade: Grade Calculator Excel Spreadsheet