Sat, 16 Oct 2021, 23:03 The exam last Wednesday

My students,

A few comments on the exam last Wednesday.  

We have completed grading the exam, and we will hand them back at the end 
of class on Monday.  If you are still attending class via Zoom, I will 
arrange for you to pick up your exam at a convenient place.

The solution sheet will be posted sometime this weekend.  When you get back
your exam, please check it against the solution sheet.  It is important to
know where you made mistakes in order to understand the concepts we were
testing, since we will be building on those concepts throughout the rest of 
the semester.  

In addition, although we do not make mistakes in grading often, we are not
perfect, so if you feel we made a mistake in grading, I want to be sure to
correct it.  The process for doing so is for you to first bring it to the 
attention of any one of my TAs.  If he feels there was no error in grading, 
he will explain it to you.  On the other hand, If he thinks it may be a 
mistake in grading, he will bring it to my attention and I will deal with it.  
Bottom line: if there was a mistake in grading your exam, I will correct it.

Finally, an important comment on your grade.  The grades ranged from a low
of 1% to a high of 100%.  The median grade was in the 50's, which means a lot
of students earned a grade far below what they were used to getting in
high school.  I have told you this before, but it is worth saying again.  
Any one of you, even the half-dozen or so students who earned grades less 
than 10, can still earn an A in EE306.  Yes, a poor grade on this exam
will lower your average for the whole semester.  But as I have already told
you, at the end of the semester, when I have to assign grades, I exam your
record on all the work of the course.  Some students do poorly in the beginning,
often because they focus on memorizing (which you are all very good at) instead
of understanding, figure out what the problem is, and then do fine.  I am much 
more interested in how much you have mastered at the end of the semester than 
how much you have mastered thus far.  In fact, I tend to pretty much disregard 
the first exam grade if your record for the entire semester warrants it.  
So, if you did not do well on the first midterm, this is not the time to 
give up.  It is rather the time to figure out how you go from where you are 
to succeeding in 306, and putting out the effort and energy to make it happen.
If I or any of my TAs can help, please do not hesitate to let us know.  

I have been doing this for a very long time.  I know that almost all of you
can succeed in EE306, and I hope you will.  I am very willing to meet with you 
in my office or over Zoom if you think it will help.  

Good luck.  Stay safe.
Yale Patt