Below is a chart showing the distribution of scores on the midterm exam.  Also shown is a curve for the exam from which I determined a letter grade corresponding to the scores.  Note that the letter grade is for informational purposes only.  For your final grade I do not average letter grades, but use the total number of points scored in the class to determine a curve for the final grade.  Note also that I consider any grade below 50% to be a failing grade.  I am available most of the time on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to discuss the exam and I encourage you to send me an email to make an appoinment to come in for a discussion, ESPECIALLY IF YOU DID POORLY ON THE EXAM.

 

 

Some General Comments about the Exam

When a professor says something is definitely going to be on the exam - BELIEVE THE PROFESSOR!!!!!  Some of the most missed questions were ones that I said in class would definitely be on the exam. 

3 of you (5.5% of the class, still think that magmas come from the Earth's core.   They do not. 

29% of you think that the most abundant element in the Earth's crust is Carbon, water (not an element), or CO2 (not an element).  In fact the most abundant element in the crust is Oxygen. 


14 of you (25.5% of the class) still think that there is an instrument called a Richter Scale.  Please tell me what I have to do to convince you that this is not true.


6 of you died in a tsunami by not climbing up the hill or getting hit by a second more powerful wave.  (Actually, it may not be 6 of you, some of the 6 could have actually died twice).

23 of you (an astonishing 41.8% of the class) died in the pyroclastic flow generated by the Plinian eruption forgetting that such eruptions don't just consist of falling pyroclastic material.