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.
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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 every class, but it always seems that some students just don't believe me. 2 of you still think that magmas come from the Earth's outer core. 29% of you think that the most abundant element in the Earth's crust is something other than Oxygen. (This was a question I definitely told you would be on the exam).
Life or Death Questions Just one of you died in a tsunami because you waited for the Coast Guard helicopter which did not have enough time to get there. . 5 of you died in the pyroclastic flow generated by the Plinian eruption forgetting that such eruptions don't just consist of falling pyroclastic material. (Many more of you probably died in this event because you didn't know what a Plinian eruption is), 12 of you died from an eruption of the dormant volcano because you thought that it wouldn't erupt in a human lifetime. 8 of you died in the mudflow that occurred during a time when the volcano was not showing eruptinve activity. Watch for more life or death questions on the final exam. |