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 appointment 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. I give this advice in every class, but it always seems that some students just don't believe me. Only 1 of you still thinks that magmas come from the Earth's outer core. 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. 3 of you still think there is an instrument called the Richter Scale. 2 of you still think that the Katrina levee failures occured the day after Katrina made landfall. Life or Death Questions Just one of you died in a tsunami because you thought that the first wave as the largest and went back to the beach before the next larger wave came in. 8 of you (an astonishing 38% 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. |