Send comments or questions to: ldurand@hep.wisc.edu           

 

General comments:

The exams are designed to test your comprehension of the material covered in lecture, the assigned reading, and the homework problems. They give you a chance (which you may not want!) to demonstrate that you understand the material and can apply it at the appropriate level.

The exam questions typically involve some mixture of calculation -- or the setting up of calculations -- and explanation or description of methods of solution and the associated physical phenomena. The descriptive/explanatory parts can be somewhat open ended. I want to find out what you know and can explain cogently, not what you don't know.

Many students find it much easier to calculate than to explain what they are doing or to describe the physics of a situation, but the ability to do all three is crucial for success in research level activities, and is highly sought after in technical employment. You will help yourself develop facility in description and explanation if you do both in writing up your homework: state briefly what a problem is about and the method you will use to attack it before starting the calculation, then explain the results at the end. So, practice! Description and explanation are important and are tested.

The calculational questions on the exams are usually short if you understand how to approach the problem, i.e., understand what the problem is about and the methods which are useful in solving problems in that class. I provide a summary of the basic equations you may not remember initially -- but should before the end of the course. It is up to you to use them!

In keeping with my philosophy of trying to find out what you know rather than what you don't, I am happy to give hints when you are stuck on some point in an exam. So ask for a hint if you need one! The exams are long enough for an hour period that you can't afford to spend lots of time unable to start a problem or make progress on it.

Finally, the grades: the grades on the exams generally come out with a median of 80-83 (high B), with most people in the interval 70-90. Grades in the 60s are not disasterous individually, but indicate that serious work is in order on the material that caused problems. Physics, of course, is cumulative, and methods and approaches learned early in the course are the basis for later developments.

Sample exams:

Copies of the exams from 1997 are included to give an idea of the material covered and the level.

EXAM 1:

EXAM 1, 1997

EXAM 2:

EXAM 2, 1997

EXAM 3:

EXAM 3, 1997

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