Term Test

Before.

The material is everything covered in the closed interval between September 6 and October 11. At the time of the writing of these notes I have not yet written the test, so even if I wanted to, I cannot tell you what's in it. Yet here's how I usually plan my exams:

• I look at old exams that I wrote, such as the one at http://drorbn.net/index.php?title=10-327/Term_Test, to get inspired. I almost never look at exams written by others.
• I usually put in some questions or parts of questions that involve repeating class material almost verbatim: "prove theorem X as it was proven in class". The critics would say that this makes the test, or a part of the test, about memorization rather than understanding. That's nonsense. There are so many theorems and lemmas and details (and so many of them were skipped yet you are expected to be able to complete them), that there is no way to "memorize" everything without making sense of it first. And making sense of it is what's called "understanding".
• I usually put in something from the homework and maybe something that was left for you to complete, to give you an incentive to do the homework and to think about class outside of class time.
• I usually put in a bit of fresh exercises, as a further test of understanding.

There will be additional office hours as follows:

• On Monday October 15 from 5PM until 8PM with Clovis Hamel at either the round lounge area on the sixth floor of the Bahen building, or at the small lounge area next to my office, Bahen 6178.
• On Tuesday October 16 from 10AM until noon, with me at or next to my office, Bahen 6178.

During.

After.

100 100 100 100 100 99 99 99 99 97 97 95 94 94 94 92 91 90 90 89 87 87 85 85 84 83 80 80 79 79 77 76 75 74 74 72 71 70 69 69 69 69 68 67 66 66 66 65 65 65 64 61 61 57 57 56 56 56 54 52 52 51 51 49 49 46 46 46 45 45 37 36 33 32 32 28 24 24 17 13

The exams will be returned in tutorial on Monday December 22 and in class on Tuesday December 23.

The results are similar to what I expected them to be. As I said on the first day of classes, it's a tough class, and as I said at the end of the exam, it was a hard one!

How should you read your grade?

• If you got 100 you should pat yourself on your shoulder and feel good.
• If you got something like 90, you're doing great. You made a few relatively minor mistakes; find out what they are and try to avoid them next time.
• If you got something like 80, you're doing fine but you did miss something significant, probably more than just a minor thing. Figure out what it was and make a plan to fix the problem for next time.
• If you got something like 60 you should be concerned. You are still in position to improve greatly and get an excellent grade at the end, but what you missed is quite significant and you are at the risk of finding yourself far behind. You must analyze what happened - perhaps it was a minor mishap, but more likely you misunderstood something major or something major is missing in your background. Find out what it is and try to come up with a realistic strategy to overcome the difficulty!
• If you got something like 30, most likely you are not gaining much from this class and you should consider dropping it, unless you are convinced that you fully understand the cause of your difficulty (you were very sick, you really couldn't study at all for the two weeks before the exam because of some unusual circumstances, something like that) and you feel confident you have a fix for next time. If you do decide to drop the class, don't feel too bad about it - it's one of the most abstract classes here at UofT, and it really is difficult. The last day to drop this class without it appearing on your transcript is Monday November 5 (within reading week).

Note that problems with writing are problems, period. Perhaps you got a low grade but you feel you know the material enough for a high grade only you didn't write everything you know or you didn't it write well enough or the silly graders simply didn't get what you wrote (and it isn't a simple misunderstanding - see "appeals" below). If this describes you, don't underestimate your problem. If you don't process and resolve it, it is likely to recur.

Appeals. Remember! We try hard yet grading is a difficult process and mistakes always happen - solutions get misread, parts are forgotten, grades are not added up correctly. You must read your exam and make sure that you understand how it was graded. If you disagree with anything, don't hesitate to complain! (Though first consider very carefully the possibility that the mistake is actually yours). Your first stop should be the person who graded the problem in question, and only if you can't agree with him you should appeal to Dror (within a day or two).

Dror marked problem number 3 and did the arithmetic and data entry. Jamal Kawach marked problem 1,2,4,5. The deadline to start the appeal process is Tuesday October 30 at 4PM. Once you've started the process by talking to Dror or to one of the TAs, it ends when a final decision is made, with no deadline.