Wed, 22nd Nov, 2017, 18:11 Thanksgiving Day

My students,

According to our records, almost all of you have submitted the third
programming lab, and hopefully you are now enjoying the holiday weekend.

I just wanted to take a moment to wish you a great holiday weekend, free
from EE306 (AFTER lab 3 is done!).  Enjoy the holiday, eat too much, relax,
and come back on Monday, ready for the last couple of weeks of the course.

I know that many of you were disappointed with your performance on the
second midterm.  Please know that it is not the end of the world.  There
is still plenty of opportunity to show just how much you understand the
material in the course.  You have two more programming labs, one dealing
with data structures, the other having you write an interrupt service
routine.  And the final exam.  The final exam is your opportunity to
demonstrate what you know at the end of the semester, which is the most
important time for me to evaluate your understanding of the whole semester.

For those of you who are just hoping to pass EE306 and move onto EE319K
in the Spring, I want to make sure I made myself clear in class on Monday.
The final exam will be in two parts, Part A (50 points) and Part B (80 points).
I will use Part B to separate the As from the Bs from the Cs.  Although I hope
you will tackle the more challenging problems in Part B, you can pass EE306
even if you leave Part B completely blank!  Part A will not be challenging.
BUT it will test essential fundamentals that you really need to know to move
on to EE319K in the Spring.  If you do not understand the concepts tested in
Part A, it would be a mistake to have you take EE319K in the Spring.
Therefore, if you score at least 45 out of 50 on Part A and you have
demonstrated some skill in the programming labs, you will pass the course
and move onto EE319K in the Spring.

So, again, enjoy the holiday.  You have worked hard, and earned a little
time off.  I look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Yale Patt