Assessment

The general approach I hope to use is outlined in this paper [PDF] by D.J.C. Mackay.

The assessment on work for my lessons is based not on correctness but on effort. The reasons are several. First, it would be absurd to grade on correctness since being wrong in physics is good for learning. Second, effort is something over which you have full control, whereas correctness is much harder to control. I therefore want to remove any anxiety based on the thought, Did I get it right or will I get slapped down with a bad grade? It interferes with learning a useful and enjoyable subject.

Prep problems

The effort-based grading scale is P/D/F, with the following meanings:

P	Decent effort
D	Indecent effort
F	No effort

If a question has one or a number of * before it then it contains points which are inherently difficult and which will be met more generally in subsequent years.

To make a reasonable effort on preps, give a coherent one- or two-sentence explanation or reasoning for each problem. If you cannot solve a problem in a reasonable time (I don't want you to lose sleep!), don't worry: Make a guess and use the explanation box for the basis of your guess. If you solve a problem, use the explanation for what John Wheeler recommended: Write down what you could tell your earlier self in order to make finding the solution smooth sailing. By the exam you will have built a library of useful problem-solving ideas.

Hand-in and deadlines

Completing assignments on time helps you to stay abreast of the material and thereby learn it well. To binge at the end is an ineffective way to learn, so I have tried to create structures that make it easy to do effective things.

You will be required to submit a completed prep assignment every Monday. The completed assignment must be submitted (by Short Break) to my wooden pigeonhole, just outside lab P2.

Your weekly assignment will be uploaded to the course website one week before it is due to be submitted. Usually the assignment will be an examples sheet comprising a set of topic-specific problems. You will be required to print out your own paper copy of the examples sheet, should you want.

The purpose of the problems is to practice doing physics. No doubt you will find some of them tricky, and they might even highlight gaps in your knowledge; if you have a specific issue with an aspect of your assignment, I encourage you to take the opportunity to resolve it in advance of the assignment deadline. Please bear in mind: it is no use contacting me on the Friday or Saturday before the hand-in day: I am busy and enjoy my weekends. Office hours are on Thursday.

My advice, therefore, is for you to have attempted all questions of the prep assignment by Wednesday. This should allow you sufficient time to address/fix/resolve any issues in advance of the deadline. The diagram below explains the timetable. You should aim to have attempted all questions for the first assignment by the Wednesday of week one, and the deadline is five days later, on the Monday of week two. This pattern repeats for the rest of the year.

Late work

The world is messy. Difficult circumstances arise. Therefore, with a note from your tutor or a doctor's note, I shall postpone any deadline, no questions asked, for as long as seems reasonable in the circumstances.

In addition to this unlimited license, you may take three free, 48-hour extensions on the preps. It is not neccessary to apply for this extension! Don't mail me to ask for one! There is no need to prearrange or tell me which prep it is. Handing work in between the nominal and extended deadlines is itself treated as an application for an extension and will be automatically granted. Just submit it within the extra time.

Note that extensions beyond the extended deadline, even by seconds, will never be granted. Nine days is more than enough time to get help and get the work done. Similarly, acts of God (power outages, the physics department was locked, my computer died, my social's wifi was down) in the period of the extended deadline are immaterial. The extension facility is there to allow for the possibility that such things happened prior to the nominal deadline. Going beyond the nominal deadline means you are on borrowed time. Good time management is a skill that this course rewards. By being given the prospect of "automatic" extensions, you are being given freedom that could allow you to shoot youself in the foot. Don't allow this to happen.

Feedback

As far as possible, the work will be returned with annotations to show which parts are substantially correct, and indicate where errors have crept in, or how to approach an answer. It is hoped that these will prove useful.

Sometimes, solutions will be provided to examples sheets, which may provide additional insight, show how to set out examination-style questions, or provide alternative methods of solving the problems. However please note that to find out whether you understand the solution, you need to try to solve the problem by yourself without refering to the solution. Only if you can solve the problem do you understand the solution.

Feedback for me!

Please feel free to give me some feedback on the questions (or the lessons) as we go along. I aim to make the problems interesting, useful, quite difficult, a good test of understanding, allowing opportunities to demonstrate learning, and also develop and consolidate knowledge outside of lessons, giving room for problem solving, with some open-ended tasks. Let me know when I fall short of these goals for you! Also, I should be particularly grateful if you could email me if you spot typographical or factual errors, unanswerable questions or mistakes, as this will allow corrections to be made and might save everyone a lot of time.

Self-assessment

It is hoped that you will get better and better at self-assessment as the course continues. This is an essential skill for independent learning and for life. Only you know whether you understand the material; there are many problems in the textbook and online which you can use to test and improve your understanding.

Mock exams / exam questions

Unfortunately, there are public examinations in physics for which we are preparing you, and so occasionally I will give you feedback based on marking against AQA mark schemes.You should use this contructively as self-evaluation (and I should encourage you to self-assess by marking your work in this way).

Practicals

The practicals are going to be looked at.