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.
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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. I give this advice in ever class, but it always seems that some just don't believe me. 2 of you , still think that magmas come from the Earth's core. They do not. 23% 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. More than half of the class still think that the most likely place for earthquakes to occur is where there are faults rather than where earthquakes have occurred in historic time. There are billions of faults on earth and most of them are not active faults (i.e. they haven't had an earthquake in hundreds of millions of years). Remember, if a disaster has occurred in historic time, it is highly likely that it will occur again in the same place.
Just one of you died in a tsunami by not climbing up the hill, but 5 of you died when the tsunami hit the east coast because you did not heed the warning because you thought that tsunami were not possible on the east coast. 12 of you (an astonishing 30% 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. Watch for more life or death questions on the final exam. |