The work you must do for this course includes
There will be two midterms and a final exam.
Questions on the exams may be close or even exact copies of homework problems, or similar problems, or problems that are less similar but on the same topic. They might be similar to exam problems from past terms, or perhaps different, or perhaps look generally similar but differ in critical details. We make no promises about whether you will or won't be doing a problem that you've seen before. Similarly, makeups and retake exams may use previously-seen problems and/or new ones. Therefore, when studying for an exam, concentrate on mastering general skills rather than memorizing specific solutions.
Reading assignments will be taken from the textbook and other materials (e.g., class presentations), and you are expected to read the assigned material before coming to class! Reading quizzes will be based on the assigned materials and will be due before the class begins in Moodle. The reading quizzes are intended to be straightforward if you've made a good-faith attempt to do the readings and are up-to-date with course material.
You should do the reading quizzes on your own, because the process of finding the answers helps you remember the answers. You may use other textbooks and the internet to help find answers, but be aware that some details vary from author to author and you must follow the conventions in this course.
We will drop your lowest reading quiz score in computing your reading quiz average.
Homeworks are an important part of the course, and will have a range of difficulty. You should start these homeworks as soon as you can, to see which ones are easy and which ones are difficult. It's advisable to seek help early if you're having trouble with some type of problem.
Moodle will not allow you to submit quizzes (or homeworks) late. Therefore, make sure to submit at least once before the deadline, even if your submission is incomplete (or even blank). If you were unable to submit a quiz on time for reasons beyond your control, or if you ran into technical issues with your submission, contact the instructor for help.
Collaboration policy: You are welcome to discuss homework problems with other students. However, if you do discuss the homework (or collaborate on solutions) you must list all these people on your homework solution. Furthermore, you must write up the solution yourself. Also, you are not allowed to provide your solutions to homeworks to anyone else. Working on homeworks together is quite different from doing the homework and telling someone else the answers you obtained. Thus, posting your solutions on facebook, in a dropbox, etc., is a violation of the academic integrity code.
Failure to follow these guidelines will constitute academic dishonesty, and evidence of actions that violate the academic integrity code will be reported to the department, and upwards in the university. Penalties for violating the academic integrity code will range from getting no credit on the specific homework or examlet, to failure in the course. Just don't do it.
Participation in discussion section is part of your grade, and is noted by your submission of work with your name on it. During discussion sections, you will work on problems in small groups. Each person must turn in their work for each problem (please make sure to write your name clearly on the submitted work, so you get credit). You may wish to obtain and use a carbonless-duplicate lab notebook (or something similar) to retain a copy for your own use, as the submitted copies will not be returned.