Section 0001 scantrons are UP.

Section 0001, your scantron scores are up, except for a few people who screwed up their PID or test form dots.

THis completes the final exam tally.

Average for combined sections = 56.2/80 on the final exam, which works out to about 70%, which'd be C+ if I gave letter grades on exams, maybe a teeny bit low, but considering that none of the SSG leaders took the final, it is OK.

Averages

Here are for a few regular pointage categories:

1. CPS, average = 21.6/24
2. HW, average = 13.7/16
3. COMBO CPS+HW, average = 35.3/40
4. 12 students earned the "CPS correct bonus" 4 points.

So on average, the CPS and HW combined for about the equivalent of a 35 point midterm exam.

Nice.

Section 0002 final exam scantron scores are up.

Afternoon section 0002, your scantron scores are up. Look in your My Grades page in Webcourses.

Morning section 0001, we are still waiting for your guys' data.

It will be a while until I get all the semester grades figured out, so do not bug me about grades for a few days.

Fiddling

When I am fiddling around with grades in Webcourses, you might see points etc. disappear momentarily then reappear a few times during the day. It is normal. So do not panic when you see this.

Semester points is live

I just activated the "Total semester points" row in your My Grades page.

It is still incomplete, though, because nobody has any final exam points on the books yet. But eventually, final exam points will be in there. At that point, the "Total semester points" will tell you how many out of 240 regular points you have earned for the semester grade.

ALSO: Bonus points are separate for now but eventually will be added in.

Afternoon section, good work.

Final exam for the after lunch bunch section 0002 is now sitting in the computer center, waiting to be scanned.

Your SMA points are up. Anything above 2 points in the "..Final exam SMA" row is bonus.

SO... section 0002, you are done for the semester. Good work.

Monday: students in the morning section 0001 are up to bat, for a tough final exam. Be ready!

Analysis

Just in passing, I noticed something about an old final exam in my files. There were questions from chapters 2-8, 11-13, 15, 20-23. Normal for a cumulative final exam.

However, there were more questions relating to chapters 3, 6, 7, 20 and 22 than to other chapters. Chapter 12 also had a good number of questions. Let's take a look at general topics of these chapters:

3. Newton's three laws of motion
6. momentum
7. energy
12. Bernoulli :)
20. Coulomb interaction
22. Electromagnetism

If exams are about what the instructor considers important, then the above list is a mini-snapshot of my mind, PSC1121-wise..... at least, for that semester.

What about this semester's final exam? We have a few chapter 19 and chapter 24 concepts beyond what that past semester covered. So...

It is just a passing thought. I cannot tell you what will be on this semester's final exam, but it might behoove you to look back to the past in order to prepare for the future. :)

Extra office hours for Rylee and Amanda

Here are some extra office hours for our two excellent TAs this week.

		M	T	W	Th
Amanda	Starbucks, UCF Bookstore			3:00 - 4:30 PM	2:00 - 4:00 PM
Rylee	Starbucks, UCF Bookstore	1:45 - 3:15 PM		1:45 - 3:15 PM	Noon - 2:00 PM

Chuck Norris Mega-Combo SMA review -- bring your CPS!

Monday in lecture, we will have a ginormulous SMA review handout, the traditional Chuck Norris Mega-Combo Review. I am preparing diagrams for it this morning, and it is going to be excellent.

Be ready for action, with CPS and fully charged fresh batteries, because this is the bonus points opportunity many of you need.

Chuck Norris mega-review homework is ON.

You can now go into the Chuck Norris mega-review homework assignment.

Note: On this assignment, I will be taking the AVERAGE of your several attempts, so make each one count!

SSG signups open at 6 PM

At 6 PM tonight, the SSG signups page will open up. Be ready.

Here is the rough schedule, for one last look before 6 PM opening time.

HW 26 oooops

I accidentally had one of the release settings on HW 26 set to "Chuck Norris" -- so the section 0002 students were not picking up HW26 in Webcourses.

I de-Norrised the assignment, and it should be available now in the normal manner.

P.S. Do not ask for an explanation of the Chuck Norris setting. It's complicated. ;)

ALL of the SSG sessions are now on schedule.

All of the special study group sessions are now on the schedule. You can go take a look through the schedule and see if there are any that fit your schedule.

We will set up the signups to activate on this Friday, 6 PM.

Most of the SSG sessions are now on schedule.

You can now view the schedule for all but two of the SSG sessions. Look for the blue SSG icon on the Webcourses home page.

We will activate the signups mechanism this Friday.

Gloria's S.I. review sessions

Here are the specs for Gloria's special S.I. review for final exam prep.

Final Exam S.I. Review #1

Tuesday, December 7th

7:00-8:00 PM

Student Union, Cape Florida 316 ABCD

Final Exam S.I. Review, #2

Wednesday, December 8th

7:00-8:00 PM

Study Union, Pegasus Ballroom DEFGHI

As always, I highly recommend that you get your you-know-what over there to one of Gloria's reviews, with the objective being to CRUSH THE FINAL EXAM!

Two more SSGs on the schedule!

There are two more SSG sessions on the schedule.

3. Annette Spivy, 8:15 PM, Library, Wednesday
5. Christian Eissele, 6 PM, Tuesday, UCF Library cafe.

Look for the SSG signups page and look over the SSG schedule to see if any of them fit your exam week schedule.

SSG scheduling

You can start looking at the SSG schedule for next week. Right now there are two SSG groups with scheduling data in place:

4. Kyle Parker's group: Tuesday, December 7th, from 2:15 to 3:15, in the UCF Library
8. John Salisbury's group: Wednesday, December 8th at 7 p.m, in the UCF library

And more SSG leaders will post up their schedules in the next day or so.

Therefore, keep an eye on the SSG signups page, for a convenient session. When we open signups, maybe by Friday or so, you will be ready to pounce.

Homework running

Your homework due Wednesday is now active and running on Webcourses. Look in the red pickup truck folder for Homework 25.

Extra office hours for TAs

Here are additional office hours for the TAs Amanda and Rylee this week.

	Day	Time
Amanda	Tuesday, Nov. 30	11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Rylee	Wednesday, Dec. 1	1:45 - 3:15 PM

Final exam schedule

Our final exam schedule is the following:

	Date	Time
Morning section 0001	Monday, Dec. 13	10:00 AM, sharp
Afternoon section 0002	Friday, Dec. 10	1:00 PM, sharp

You can only take the exam with your section: section 0001 students on Monday only, and afternoon section 0002 students on Friday only -- no exceptions.

For the entire exam week schedule, all classes, look at the official final exam week schedule from the Registrar's website.

L40 discombobulation, morning section

The discombobulation of the morning section yesterday, Wednesday, lecture L40, led to only one CPS question being asked. Big disaster.

But we got recombobulated for afternoon section yesterday, and we asked all 5 questions.

So.... you guys in the morning class will have 4 extra questions in CPS on Monday morning, for warmups. By Monday morning, you will be caught up in the gradebook. YAY.

Have a nice day of thanksgiving.

Homework 24

Waves and diffraction! Homework 24 will go active at 4:30 PM this afternoon. It might help to skim the interference and diffraction sections in chapter 19.

GO! GO! GO!

Homework ready to go.

Lovely Homework #23 is ready to go. As you tackle the homework...

1. have chapter 23 ready to read through,
2. view the visual podcast "Rutherford model and Orange County" in iTunes U. It is in the tab labeled "Podcasts for both sections."

Best three midterms

Your scantron data is in, and the "best three" exam total is operating. The average of the best three midterms is 91 points. That is about 76%. Not too shabby.

No news on exam scantron scores yet.

OK, supper time has come and gone, and no data from test scoring on your scantron scores from Exam 4. Maybe tomorrow.

Exam 4 SMA scores are UP.

What a stressful Wednesday.

But all work is now finished.

1. Your scantrons are at test scoring. Good.
2. Your SMA points from today's test are UP in Webcourses. Good.
3. Time to relax now, and get some ZZZZZZZ. Good.

See you all for lecture on Friday, in which we will look right into the quantum world, starting with chapter 23.

Images: discrete spectrum of hydrogen; Claude Elwood Shannon

CPS study guides are up.

I forgot to post the CPS study guides from Monday, but they are now UP. Look in the William Hung folder.

Last chance for SSG

One more special study group, Last Chance SSG #12 led by Nichloas P., at the Library tonight, 7 PM. Sign up through Webcourses, asap!

Two more SSG sessions, both on Tuesday.

There are two more SSGs that you may join: #10 with Cassie T. and #11 with Angel R. Look to the blue SSG icon on the Webcourses home page.

Get on your SSG!

SSG signups will open for business tonight at 8 PM.

First come, first served.

As more SSG leaders report in, I will open up more groups, so be quick, but if you do not see a space that fits your schedule, check again later.

Homework is ON.

Your homework assignment #22 is now operating. Keep chapter 22 open as you work on it.

SSG signups getting ready

You can start looking at the special study groups (SSG) schedule and meeting places. Look for the blue SSG icon.

Right now we have four SSG leaders who have sent me their meeting data, and you can view their "time and place" specs, to see if thir SSG fits your schedule next week.

More SSG "time and place" data will be coming in this weekend, from more SSG leaders, so keep an eye open for the time and place that best fits your schedule.

I have set the group size to 1, so you can view "time and place" but not click to join. But on Sunday evening or so, I will change all the group sizes to 7 -- and THEN you'll be able to click and join. It works nicely.

Top students, exam points total = 108 or higher, please check your course mail, asap, for your SSG leadership invitation.

S.I. review, prep for Exam 4

Gloria Scott's S.I. review session next Monday to get everyone prepared for Exam 4:

Exam 4, S.I. Review

Monday, Nov. 15

8:00 - 10:00 PM

HPA112

Some hair trouble

Some of the Van de Graaff generator video (by Amanda) is on YouTube. More will be forthcoming. Link to our YouTube is also on Webcourses home page.

CPS status

Right now, there are 94 CPS questions on the books, starting with session L5 and up to today's session, L34. So under the CPS grading scheme, you need to have answered 85% of 94 questions to get all 24 points for class participation on your semester grade. That means 80 answered out of 94.... if I were to compute semester grades today.

As for the CPS correct bonus, you must answer 75% correctly. That would be 71 correct out of 94.

We should be over 100 CPS questions by Friday, and then more each day of lecture until the last day of classes. So we will get to exam week with at least 120 CPS questions on the books, and probably more.

Homework 21 is now ready!

After yesterday's delay with HW 21, I decided to get the homework up today and as early as possible. So look for it to go active at 4:30 PM, this afternoon!

GO GO GO!

No Homework

Sorry, no homework for tonight. See you in lecture tomorrow.

And read ahead into chapter 21, especially the first parts about batteries.

Homework 20

Homework 20, complete with brain burners, is ready now!

Homework 19 will activate in a few minutes.

Your homework assignment for Friday will activate in a few minutes. Go and give it a shot!

Standing waves

From today's lecture, a demonstration of standing waves, using a flexible coil spring.:

CORRECTION -- for students in morning section: You should add up the three time measurements and divide by 30, since they each measured ten full cycles. This moves the decimal point on space to the left in the answer you might have written down in your morning section lecture notes.

Fugitive version of HW 13?

Does anyone have a printout of Homework 13 that I can use to replace the content of missing HW 13? Better yet: a PDF of it? Unfortunately, HW 13 disappeared! I must have accidentally deleted it. We still have the scores for it, though.

But for study purposes, getting ready for the final exam, we could use a fugutuve version of HW 13. Send me a course mail message.

Homework 18 tonight

Your homework 18 assignment, on waves and interference, will activate this afternoon at 4:30 PM.

GO! GO! GO!

L25 CPS guide is UP.

I forgot to upload Gloria's L25 CPS data last week, but it is now UP and available in the WIlliam Hung (music megastar) folder in Webcourses.

SMA review answers

The answer sheet from yesterday's SMA review is now UP in Webcourses. Look in the William Hung folder.

Exam 3 prep sheet

I just updated the goal sheet for exam 3.

S.I. Review for Exam 3

Gloria Scott's S.I. review session is set for next Monday:

Exam 3, S.I. Review

Monday, October 25th

8:00 - 10:00 PM

HPA112

Today's CPS

Today's CPS data are up now. Look in the My Grades page. Also, Gloria Scott's L24 CPS study guide is viewable in the William Hung folder.

Homework 14

Homework 14 is ready to go. Read all of chapter 11 and maybe look through chapter 12, too.

Exam 2 grades UP

Your exam 2 grades are now UP, the sum of "..Exam 2 scantron" and "..Exam 2 SMA" scores.

Also: the Exam 1 regrade is up to date.

Side note: Due to infiltration of space alien mental hypnosis, you did not have any homework due today. But we will dispel the space alien influence and have a nice big HW this weekend. Nice.

Your homework is running

Homework 12 is up and running, so go try out a few of the brain burners for the weekend.

See you all on Monday. We will finish up chapter 7 and dip into chapter 8 for a little bit. Last 20 minutes on Monday will be about 10 questions of SMA review, to prep for the exam.

Exam day parking plans

Morning section 0001, you will have to be very careful with parking on exam day next Wednesday. Here are the specs to be aware of:

Parking changes

Staff and faculty members and students who typically park in the C, D and E surface lots or in garages B, C, D and F should park in alternative locations on game day or be prepared to move their vehicles out of those areas no later than 12:30 p.m.

Other areas of campus -- including the A and H garages and the A, B and H lots -- will be open as usual for student and staff and faculty member parking. Vehicles parked in those lots will be allowed to remain there throughout the day.

Failure to find a parking space is NOT a valid excuse for absence on exam day.

S.I. exam review for Exam 2

Here are the specs for Gloria's S.I. exam review session:

Exam 2 Review

Monday, Oct. 4th
8:00 - 10:00 PM
HPA 112

Study guide

Study guide is available in SARC Lab, HPH113, Monday morning, for copies.

Homework 11

Homework 11 has been running since 4:30 PM. It is due on Friday, as usual.

Sec. 0002 will take Exam 2 next Friday.

Afternoon Sec. 0002, we will take Exam 2 next Friday.

Morning section 0001, you will take Exam 2 on Wednesday, same as in the syllabus.

CPS study guides

Several new CPS study guides from last week and this week are now UP.

Homework 10 is ready.

Homework 10 is ready for you now. For additional challenge, it contains a real brain burner of the Chuck Norris variety. Good.

Uploading data for afternoon section only

There were a few CPS sessions last week that the afternoon section had but not the morning section. These sessions were to make up for a Friday afternoon lecture before Exam 1. I am uploading the afternoon data now. So you guys in morning section 0001 will have zeroes in the "L11 (sec.0002) makeup" slots, but fear not: you are already ahead.

Homework, lovely homework

To augment your weekend pleasure and recreation, I have activated a momentum homework assignment, due on Monday. It is Homework #9.

I will have some green jello questions on HW #10, next Monday, so make sure to read up on chapter 6!

Doc cam PDFs are UP.

You can now view the doc cam PDF files from both Monday lectures. They are the guts of both lectures on Monday, and the iTunes U podcast is oriented to them.

I am still catching up on various grading chores -- CPS, exam 1 mess-ups etc. -- so bear with me.

Homework 7 is ready!

You have a quick homework assignment on elementary concepts of the theory of universal gravitation, as discussed in lecture on Monday. This homework assignment, Homework #7, is due on Wednesday at the beginning of lecture.

Your exam 1 scores are up.

In your My Grades page on Webcourses, you can now view both parts of your exam 1 score plus the exam 1 total.

Exam 1

..Exam 1 scantron

..Exam 1 SMA

The SMA and scantron subscores add up to the "Exam 1" total.

Note: if you messed up on PID or the clicker questions, you might temporarily have a zero in the "..Exam 1 scantron" or the "..Exam 1 SMA" row. We will try to get tht data double-checked and into your My Grades page in the next week or so.

No lecture today.

We are still waiting for our scantron results from Wednesday's exam, so let's take this Friday off.

No lecture today, both sections.

I set up a short concept guide for you on the gravitational concepts of chapter 5, so you can use it for reading ahead. It is on the Webcourses home page.

See you all on Monday for regular lecture, normal times.

Create a question for Exam 1, bonus points.

As a bonus points opportunity, there is a new area in Discussions, "Suggest a question for Exam 1 (bonus)," in which you may post a question of your own creation.

1. The post's Subject heading should be a short description of the concept.
2. It must be multiple choice format, covering a concept we have studied.
3. The correct option must be marked with an * asterisk.
4. Skip two lines below the question and type in the chapter and page number where a classmate can study up on this concept. Alternatively, you can type in the day in which lecture covered this concept.
5. If your question is good enough to use on Exam 1, you will get 1 bonus point.

We will be reading and commenting as you type in your questions, so make it a good one.

The entire set of suggested questions and comments will be a nice study tool for Exam 1.

Be creative!

Brace for impact

We will have a semi-lecture today, about 30 minutes, followed by a mini-review using our CPS devices. The mini-review will help you prepare for midterm 1.

Brace for impact.

CPS from Friday

I will be uploading the Friday CPS scores for morning Sec. 0001, but afternoon students, you will get those CPS questions on Monday. So for the weekend, you will temporarily have a zero in the "L8,L9" row on your My Grades page. It will get filled in normally after Monday afternoon lecture, L9.

Homework 6

Homework 6 will become active at 9:30 AM.

Both sections, you want to read through the second half of chapter 4, concerning projectile motion, to get some extra concepts in place for homework assignment #6. Also the Friday morning lecture in iTunes U is good.

No afternoon class today

Brueckner family emergency. Sorry, no lecture this afternoon.

Homework will be up by lunchtime, Saturday. Stay tuned for announcements.

Homework is GO for launch.

You may now try Homework 5, for some basic questions plus a few brain burners.

S.I. review for Exam 1

Next Monday evening, Gloria will hold a special S.I. review session for all PSC1121ers. Here are the specs:

Exam 1 Review
Monday, Sept. 13
7:00 - 9:00 P.M.
Location: Nicholson Communication, COMM101

Gloria will follow the regular S.I. schedule as well.

Homework 4

Lovely homework for your long weekend, HW 4 is now available for your brain-burning pleasure. It is due Wednesday at the beginning of lecture.

Which chapters to study, and when to study them?

We discussed chapters and so forth in Friday afternoon lecture, but the morning students also need the scoop. The syllabus does not have the entire semester scheduled out by chapter and so forth. Many instructors do that; I do not.

I always mention the new chapter in lecture. The other day I mentioned that we are in chapter 3 now. That is normally all that I do.

However, I can tell you the list of chapters:

1. 2-8
2. 11-13
3. 15 and 19 as mini-chapters -- i.e., we only dip into a subset of each of these chapters.
4. 20-22
5. 23-25 another set of mini-chapters.

Some of the chapters we will go through slowly, others rapidly.

For midterm exam 1, the questions will cover chapters 2-4 and maybe a bit of chapter 5, everything we get to in lectures up until 9/13.

So you can start reading ahead into chapter 4 if you would like to get a head start. We tackle it next week, and we now have most of the basic concepts down that we'll need for chapter 4.

Cold front vs. hurricane

You have heard about Alien vs. Predator?

Freddy vs. Jason?

Well, how about Jet Stream vs. Earle?





This cold front looks like it will not dip across Florida. So we are still vulnerable. But once the jet stream dips a little further south, and those cold fronts start sliding strongly through the FLorida peninsula, then we will be safe for the year.

But right now, yup, more storms being made off the coast of West Africa, a hurricane factory. The storm freight train of the North Atlantic rolls on.

Contact me only in Webcourses with course mail.

Please remember to use course mail in Webcourses to contact me privately. I do not use conventional email during the semester.

Homework 3 is ready.

As promised, HW assignment 3 is ready by lunch time today. It opens for business at 12:45 PM. Go make a few attempts and be ready for a brain burner. Look inside the red pickup truck icon on the Webcourses home page.

As with all assignments, this HW is due at the beginning of you nextr lecture, Friday. GO GO GO!