18.600  Probability & Random Variables

exams

I will be in my office from 3:30 to 4:00 p.m. today and again fro 3:30 to 4:00 p.m. tomorrow in case anybody wants a quick look at their final exam. The final exam itself and the solutions are posted on the public course webpage.

To be perfectly clear: coming in to discuss your exam will have no impact on your exam score or your final grade (except in the rare case of an obvious mistabulation) so you are at no grade disadvantage if you have a plane to catch or are otherwise unable to stop by. I hang on to all the exams (the exams themselves are not returned to you) so you can also stop by during any of my office hours next year if you are curious.

I hope to have the actual grades released by Thursday evening.

Announced on 18 May 2016  9:40  a.m. by Scott Roger Sheffield

exam grades

Exam grades are up and the exam average was about 69, meaning the final was actually a bit harder than the second midterm, and the grading will of course fully take that into account.

We still have several students who are taking conflict exams that need to be graded, so you may have to wait a couple more days before all the scoring and grading is finalized.

Thanks for taking the course and thanks for your patience!

Announced on 17 May 2016  6:54  p.m. by Scott Roger Sheffield

course feedback

Please fill out course evaluations.

I will absolutely read everything you write.

I spent a lot of time this semester trying to make the problem sets more educational and memorable, so any specific ideas for improving those (e.g., problems that you think should or should not be used in future years, ideas for additional problems) would be particularly welcome. The course serves a diverse population, and it can be tricky to find problems that are useful for everyone.

Think also about whether there are capital investments that you think would do more good than harm to the course. Should we use MITx? Should we record the lectures? Should we add an optional recitation? If we had the budget to pay a graduate TA to spend a semester just revising and improving course materials, what specific improvements would be most worthwhile? Extra lecture notes? Better links to existing online resources (and if so what resources)? Glitzier (or less glitzy) lecture slides? (There is some pedagogical debate about the optimal level of detail for slides.) Another textbook? More practice problems? A more polished web page?

Note: I'll be teaching 18.600 again in spring 2017 and a newly arriving MIT professor (Elchanan Mossel) will teach it in fall 2016.

Note: For anybody who wants a more intense and theoretical probability experience, I will also teach 18.175 in fall 2016.

Thanks!

Announced on 13 May 2016  11:01  a.m. by Scott Roger Sheffield

Check grades on Stellar

Hi everyone,
All grades are available now in Stellar. Please take a moment to look at them and let me know by email if there is anything not right about them (e.g., you got a zero even though you turned in a pset).
Good luck on the final,
Cesar

Announced on 12 May 2016  10:07  a.m. by Cesar A Cuenca

pick up problem sets and midterms tomorrow

Quick reminder that Cesar and I are going to arrive at lecture tomorrow a little after 9:30 a.m. with a whole semester's worth problem sets and midterm exams (which together probably weigh more than I do).

So to all of those who haven't been picking up problem sets and exams... this is your moment.

Set an alarm, come early, and see if you can help us quickly sort through the enormous pile. Think of it as a little party.

You can choose the music.

Announced on 10 May 2016  5:13  p.m. by Scott Roger Sheffield