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Exam Advice for PHY 303K 

 
Before the Exam Starts: Bubble sheet and the individualized exam printout.

• Seats in the lecture room are identified by version numbers. Lookup your version number posted. 
• As you sit down, check the bubble sheet on your table. It should have your name, UTEID and the exam version number pre-printed and bubbled in. Remember, a bubble sheet without the correctly bubbled-in UTEID and the exam version number cannot be graded. If your UTEID is wrong or mis-bubbled or your bubble sheet is damaged, tell this to proctors right away; do not wait until the exam begins. If a proctor gives you a blank bubble sheet to use instead of a bad pre-printed sheet, you should immediately write and bubble in your name, your UTEID and the version number of your exam.
• Two common ways in distributing the exam are the following.
• After everyone is seated,  a stack of individualized exam printouts will be passed out. Pick the exam printout which has the same version number as your bubble sheet.
• The alternative way is to layout the exam prints ahead of time, with the version number of the exam matched with the bubble sheet. In this case, you need  simply verify the exam printout and your bubble sheet has the same number.

• Keep your student ID with you during the exam – the proctors may spot-check ID’s to make sure the right students are being tested.
• It is desirable to organize your scratch paper: Use only one side to write up your work. Put up to 5 questions per page. Put the problem number(s) on the right upper corner of each page.
• Please remember that the scanner and the grading computer read your bubbles and not your mind – if you don’t bubble in your answer, it does not count. Use a soft pencil (No. 2 is recommended) to fill the bubbles and fill them completely. The scanning machine does not read ink.

• Do not delay bubbling-in your answers till the last minute of the test, as you may run out of time. It is best to bubble in each answer as soon as you are done with the question. And if you later come back to an already answered question and discover a mistake, use your eraser. Make sure to erase everything cleanly; otherwise, the scanning machine may still read it.

• If you finish answering all questions before the exam is over, use your time to check your answers and make sure they are bubbled in correctly.
• At the end of the exam, bring your bubble sheet to the proctors’ table. Bring your student ID with you – the proctors may check to make sure you are indeed the student whose exam you are turning in.
• Once the proctors announce the exam is over, do not delay turning your bubble sheet in. If you procrastinate, your exam will not be collected and you will get a zero score.
• The solutions to the exam problems will be available on the web in your Quest account shortly after the end of the exam. If the system runs smoothly the exam should be graded in less than one day.

• Most  exam problems are single-question problems, i.e. one question per problems.
• All exam questions are in multiple choice format. Regardless of the level of difficulty each single-question-problem worth 10 points.
• For multi-question problems, the default-setting is that each question worth 10 points. (Some instructors prefer to reduce total number of points assigned to these problems.)

• For multi-question problems, often (but not always) the questions can be answered out of sequence. So, if you have difficulty with the first part of a problem, don’t give up; instead, take a look at the second (or third, etc.) part and see if you can solve it first.

• Our exam grading policy is that both wrong answer and no answer are graded with 0 score. If you do not know an answer, it is to your advantage to guess an answer.
• Make sure you read all possible choices given for the problem (sometimes a few answers are printed on the next page) before answering the question.
• If there are 2 or more choices which are identical, you should call attention to the proctor. And you may proceed to choose any one of the identical answers. If you suspect that the Quest-system has graded your exam incorrectly please contact your TA.

• During the exam, you will be given a copy of the summary sheet(s) of the material tested, (e.g. summary1 for midterm1, summary1+2 for unit2, …., summary1 through summary4 for midterm4 and for the final.  During any exam, questions on the summary sheet(s) will not be answered. However, at other times your questions are surprisingly welcome.
• No crib-note cards will be allowed.
• Programmable calculator may be used during an exam. However, its memory needs to been cleared before using it. 
• Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated.

• We reiterate that you are graded by the number of questions you have answered correctly. For most cases, each question worth 10 points regardless the level of difficulty. Do not get stuck and spend too much time on one hard question while many easy questions remain un-answered. If you think a problem is too hard, move on to the next problem – or to any other problem you know how to solve. Your best strategy is to answer all the easy questions first, then go back to the medium-hard questions and leave the really hard questions for the last part of your exam.

• On numerical multiple-choice questions, the correct answer may be slightly (up to 1%) different from your result because of the round-off errors, and the use of slightly different constants in the problem.  You should select the answer that is closest to your result. Note that if your result is nowhere near any of the 10 answers provided on the problem sheet, then you are probably wrong. If you suspect that the exam problem is wrong please call attention to the proctor.
• On questions involving multiple choices of algebraic expressions, first, derive the correct expression, write it on the scratch paper, then compare it to the expressions given on the exam sheet. Select the expression that’s algebraically identical to your answer. Pay attention to equivalent expressions, e.g. 1/\sqrt(2)= 2/\sqrt(2). If none of the expressions fit, consult with a proctor. (Maybe you are wrong, but occasionally the problem may be misstated.)
• Some problems may be poorly written (you have already seen a few on your homework assignments). If you are confused by a question and are not sure what exactly are you supposed to calculate, ask a proctor to clarify; do not rush to calculate something wrong.

• If you need the value of a physical constant (eg., g= 9.8 m/s2) not proved. Ask the proctor to write it on the blackboard, or project it on the screen.