Physics 3410/11 & 6750/51 Modern Optics I and II: Fall 2008

Instructors: Professor Brian Saam (saam at physics.utah.edu) and Mr. John Viner (jmv at physics.utah.edu).

Course Syllabus

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Announcements (Post-final exam)

30 December

• The Final Exams have been graded. They can be picked up in the main Physics Department office (room 201 JFB). Final grades have been posted.
• PLEASE NOTE (Phys 3410 students only): There was a spreadsheet error that I did not catch before making the final grade calculations. The formula below for counting up your points and getting your grade remains the same and is correct, but my spreadsheet did not do this calculation correctly due to my own error. This has caused me to have to adjust the table below that shows the grades given for various point ranges. The table as shown below is now correct and you should be able to calculate your own grade based on your scores. In several cases, grades were raised. In NO case was a grade lowered. Since the grading deadline has passed, I will be processing grade-change forms for those students affected. I realize that recieving grades is stressful, and I apologize for my error and for any inconvenience. Although I realize that the formulas and calculations get somewhat complicated, I am dedicated to the prospect of transparent grading. If you have any problem or question regarding how your final grade was determined, please feel free to contact me.
• 3410 students can determine their own final grade to compare with what is posted. Note that adjustments were made by section for both homework and lab report scores due to differences in the average grades for these given by the different TAs.
  1. Add up your 11 homework scores (max. possible score is 640) and multiply the total by:
     • 0.03281 if you were in Section 002 (Friday).
     • 0.02994 if you were in Section 003 (Wednesday).
     • 0.03191 if you were in Section 004 (Thursday).
  2. Add up your laboratory scores (max. possible score is 1000) and multiply the total by:
     • 0.03158 if you were in Section 002 (Friday).
     • 0.02923 if you were in Section 003 (Wednesday).
     • 0.03014 if you were in Section 004 (Thursday).
  3. Take your score on Midterm 1 ( the average of original and redo scores; max. possible score is 65) and multiply it by 0.1923.
  4. Take your score on Midterm 2 (max. possible score is 55) and multiply it by 0.2273.
  5. Take your score on the Final Exam (max. possible score is 90) and multiply it by 0.2778.
  6. Add together the results of steps 1 through 5 above. This number has a range of 0 to 100. Look up your score in the following table:

A	88 and higher		C+	66.0 to 68.9
A-	83.0 to 87.9		C	63.0 to 65.9
B+	76.0 to 82.9		C-	58.0 to 62.9
B	73.0 to 75.9		D	50.0 to 57.9
B-	69.0 to 72.9		E	less than 50

• Information on the final exam and grades can be found on the Final Exam Page. The final exam solutions have now been posted there. Remaining homework assignments, lab reports, corrected exams, etc. can all be retreived in the wall pocket outside of my office door (JFB 304).

• The slides from presentations by the grad students in Physics 6750 can be found here.

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