8.901  Astrophysics I

Looks like I can't make the preliminary final grade visible to you.  Grr.  If you want to know, I can email it to you (and I will email it shortly to the students who have already asked).

scott

Dear class ---

Your preliminary grades should now be visible on stellar.  If you can't see them, please let me know.  There was a configuration issue that was keeping your grades hidden.  I think I fixed it, but we shall see.

scott

Dear class ---

I have now set preliminary final grades, which you can see in the Stellar gradebook.  I am going to wait until Tuesday (the deadline for classes with a May 22 final exam) before I submit the grades, just in case anything changes pending discussion with you.

On that note: department policy with respect to final exams is rather strict, so there are some rules we must follow.  In particular, I will not be posting a solution, and cannot return the graded exams to you.  In a few days, the exams will be taken to the academic programs office and archived.  If there is any concern about your exam in the future, you can request for it to be taken out of the archive, and you can then review it in the presence of a course staff member (ie, me).  This policy reflects the fact that final exams have a large weight on academic outcomes, and the physics department teaches several rather large classes.  One could argue that this is overkill for a small, advanced, specialized class like 8.901, but the policy is what it is.

Having said all that, you are very welcome to make an appointment to look at your final and the solution with me on Tuesday, before I submit the grades.  Please let me know, and we'll try to schedule something.  I have a few other appointments on Tuesday, so it might take an iteration or two before we find an opening, but we'll get there!

Thanks all for a fun semester.  With the astrophysics faculty search for the first half, the disaster of this past winter (hard to remember how many meters of snow used to be piled up outside my house...), and the effort it took to wrap up a student's PhD thesis, keeping on top of 8.901 has not been easy, but it's always a lot of fun going through this material.  Hope you enjoyed it too.

cheers,

scott

Dear class ---

I just finished grading the final.  You did fantastically!  I'm very pleased with the rather high scores I found.  You can see your score on stellar now.

I will have further comments when I do one more layer of processing and set the final grades for everyone.  I will probably do that this evening.  For now, I need a break, plus my wife has been at home with a rambunctious 3 1/2 year old for nearly four hours without any help, so I need to get home and go on daddy duty.

Until later,

scott

Dear class ---

See you at 9 am Friday morning in 32-144!  As a reminder, you may bring 4 double side pages of notes with you.  I will provide test booklets.

Get a good night's sleep, and good luck!

scott