Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Random exam information

Earlier a student asked by email what they should do to study, etc. Here's my response with the original questions paraphrased [in brackets].

1) [What to study/read] I think you'd probably be just as well off reading the notes - start with the chapter on electric forces and fields, and continue through dc circuits. Most of my problems will be close to the treatment in the notes. I think the notes are worth a quick read to make sure you get the ideas down, but the best thing is probably to work problems. Look at the old HW and exam problems and try to work through some of those, that will be closest to the real thing.


2) [What to focus on?] Some things to focus on in particular are:


  • what is the E field from an arrangement of point charges, like a square?
  • what is the potential energy of a system of charges, like a crystal (like the HW problem)?
  • the equivalent capacitance of an arrangement of capacitors and the charge stored
  • the equivalent resistance and the current through each resistor
  • what is the power in resistors and how current relates to drift velocity and stuff (chapter on current)


3) [What to put on the formula sheet?] you'll have all the formulas you need on the test, so the best thing for the formula sheet is probably to have a few example problems and notes to yourself on when to use different formulas. A good example might be to have one of the crystal problems or equivalent resistor problems worked out so you'll know the steps if one of those shows up on the exam.


4) [When are you around?] I should be on campus by 10:15 and around my office, or at least I'll try to be. I will also try to leave a little time after class and end early so you can ask questions - I have a meeting at 1:15, but I can try to leave at least 12:30 or 12:45-1:15 free.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you post the exam answers ASAP please? I don't wanna forget my answers!

Anonymous said...

Can you post the exam answers ASAP please? I don't wanna forget my answers!

Anonymous said...

chill, he's got to grade them first.

I thought the same thing, but this is what I did. If you have them in instant recall this very moment, I suggest you write them down on a piece of paper. Then you can forget them, but still have them to resort to when viewing the solutions

pleclair said...

I may have them graded tomorrow ... but Friday for sure I think.

One student had to take the exam at testing services today, I just want to make sure that happened correctly before I go posting the answers ... but I will post them as soon as possible. I'll run through how to do them tomorrow in class too.