Physics 218 Introduction to course Instructor: Prof. Rupak Mahapatra
Today s Lecture Structure of the class Syllabus Instructors, textbooks, meeting times, grading, homework Best strategies to do well Chapter 1 Units Vectors Vector addition
Physics 218: Basics Content: Introduction to Classical Mechanics Concepts, Problem Solving, and Labs Requires introductory level calculus Structure: Lectures: MWF 1:50-2:40, MPHY 205 Recitation and Lab (1 per week; see course website for schedule)
Instructor and course info Course information: http://faculty.physics.tamu.edu/mahapatra/teaching.html Contains information on the course, syllabus, schedule, lecture notes, and announcements. You are responsible for all information and announcement posted on the website. Lectures : Instructor: Rupak Mahapatra Email: mahapatra@physics.tamu.edu Please put PHYS-218 first in the Subject line!!! Office location: MIST 417, 979-845-8624 Office hours: Wed, Fri 10-11am, or by appointment if there exists an schedule conflict with other classes Recitation and labs: TA s will provide contact info at your first meeting First meeting on the upcoming week No lab or recitation this week!
Grading Grading will be based on the following scales: Exam1: 75 Exams 2&3: 100 each Final: 200 Lab: 100 Recitation: 100 Homework: 75 Total 750 Points Usual grading scales A (100-90%), B(89-80%), C(79-70%), D(69-60%), F (59-0%) You must pass three parts of this course separately in order to pass the course: Lectures (3 midterm exams, final exam, recitation quizzes); Laboratory (with a minimum score of 70%) Homework (with a minimum score of 70%)
EXAMS (a) The exams are held in the evening (see Schedule for times and location) (b) Formula sheets will be provided for each exam and the final. (c) If you miss an exam due to an authorized excused absence as outlined in the University Regulations, then you should attempt to contact me prior to the exam, but no later than the next working day following the missed exam to arrange for a makeup exam. There may be a single course-wide makeup exam for those missing an exam.. Note: Very few conditions qualify as an authorized excused absence, so avoid missing an exam at all costs. (d) You must bring your student ID with you to all exams for identification purposes, a pen and a pocket calculator capable of evaluating trigono-metric functions (sin, cos, tan), exponentials and logarithms; these will not be supplied. Any hand-held calculator is acceptable.
Exams 3 midterm exams: administered during regular class meeting times General structure: Problem 1: about 10 multiple-choice problems Problems 2-4: full size problems Different in difficulty, but at least one typically harder than others (similar in quality to the more difficult problems from the homework assignments). Final exam: 2 hour long, schedule set by the University 6-8 full size problems covering entire course.
Homework Weekly assignments on Mastering Physics web-site: Need to get >70% Homework average score to pass the course Each late portion of HW gets 10% reduction in score PER DAY, so if you tend to be 3 days late, you are done with this class. Important: There is an option to give up on a problem in MP. Don t use it! If you give up on problems, it s irreversible and it can bring your score below 70%! Instead, move on to another problem and go back to this problem later (you don t have to do them in order) Important: start working on HW problems early!!! Typical average student s score is about 90% (75 points maximum towards final score) Register on www.masteringphysics.com Course ID: MPMAHAPATRA218FALL12
Recitations Quizzes You have to do most of the work on your HW before the recitation At recitations, you will have a chance to ask questions about the HW problems Your instructors will walk you through 2-3 problems that attracted most questions In the last ~10 minutes you will take a quiz Usually one of the problems in the current HW (typically one of the difficult ones) Average score from last year ~80 out of 100
Labs Lab policies are uniform and set by the Department Implementation is in the hands of your TAs and they will inform you of all the details at your first session. As a general rule, no labs are to be dropped and you need an officially recognized excuse to re-do a lab You need to get at least 70% for labs to pass the course If you are re-taking this course and have received 80+% for labs on your last attempt, I may accept your old score. You need to submit a written request (talk to people at Physics Front Office Window, 1 st floor of the office wing of MPHY) Even if approved, you still need to attend recitations, do quizzes etc.!!! Average score for lab is about 85 points out of 100 (last year)
Schedule We will generally follow this sequence: Week 1: material X is covered in the lecture Week 2: material X is covered in recitation Week 3: Monday at noon full HW assignment on material X is due Read material before the lecture and prepare for reading and lecture quizzes Start working on your HW early, definitely before recitation
What to Expect: PHYS 218 Be prepared that this is one of very hard and time consuming classes Need typically 10 hours of hard work a week besides classes Inter-relation and intensity of the material makes it harder: You miss one thing, but it will come and bite you several times as the same concepts repeat throughout the course If you can t afford that much time, take this class next semester
How To Do Well in PHYS 218 Maximize scores in all categories that you can control Labs, recitations, and HW. Do your best on the exams They are what really matters most to your final grade!!! You won t do well on exams unless you train yourself in solving HW problems Do problems yourself: if someone explains you the solution and you understood it, that s not good enough If you are stuck, ask for help with a similar problem; if you had to get help with a HW problem, solve 5 more similar ones from the book yourself Really helps to go beyond HW assignments and do more problems from book