The test was graded out of 35 points with 9 bonus points (so the maximum possible score was 44).
43 students wrote the test.
The average grade was 19.6. The median was 20.
The three highest grades were 35, 34, 34.
How to interpret your score? The test contained some hard questions, but also some very easy ones. If you scored under 11 points, you probably do not understand the basics of group theory, and you are going to have a very hard time understanding anything in the rest of this course.
Below is what this page looked like before the test.
The first test for this course will take place on Friday, October 31.
Important logistics
The test will be 170 minutes long. Our regular class meets 10-12. You have three options:
You can write the test from 9:00 to 11:50.
You can write the test from 10:10 to 1:00
The deadline to request a different time to an academic conflict has passed.
You will write in our regular classroom ES B149.
Test structure and how to prepare
This is an "open textbook" test. This means you are allowed to bring:
the official course textbook (a physical copy, not an electronic one),
your handwritten notes
the course worksheets.
You are not allowed to use the internet or to bring other materials.
Think of the test as a regular Friday worksheet, except you will be working by yourself. At the top of the test we will give you the definition of a new concept that you have not seen before. Then there will be a series of questions about examples, about how this concept relates to everything we have learned so far, and about proving or disproving theorems about this concept.
In order to do well on the test, you need to understand everything we have learned so far, both the big picture and the details of how little proofs work. Specifically, the material "covered" is Chapters 0 through 4 (except section 4.5).
The only way to prepare for the test is to have worked regularly week after week.
Review your lecture notes and read the text sections after every class, and make sure to fill in any details you did not understand the first time through.
Each week, work all the corresponding homework problems (including the ones not to turn in). If you find yourself uncertain about one section, do extra problems from that section.
Since this may be an unusual format, I have prepared a practice test. But beware! Do not waste it. I strongly recommend that you do not click on the link yet and that you do not use this practice test to study. Instead, use this practice test as training only after you have finished your first round of studying for the test. In particular, you will need to have studied all of Chapters 3 and 4 (except section 4.5) first. Link.
Why are we doing this?
One of the main goals of this course is to train you to be a mathematician. I want you to get to the stage where, even if you have never heard of concept X, I could give you the definition of concept X, and then you could spend a bit of time thinking about it and figuring out all the main examples and theorems about this concept by yourself. If you can do that, and if you understand the big picture of group theory, then you have learned enough. It is not about how many proofs you have memorized, but about how many proofs you would be able to reconstruct by yourself, given enough time.
I have designed this test to match this learning objective.