What to do if you miss an exam

If you miss an exam, see pertinent information in your class notes or click here. Generally, makeup lecture and labortory exams are not given except under exceptional circumstances, such as a death in the immediate family, a serious illness, religious beliefs, observances, and practices, and formal participation in scheduled activities of officially recognized groups, such as athletic teams. However, for all but the first two circumstances, the student must inform the instructor(s) of the conflict within one week of being informed of the examination schedule. That is, within one week of the beginning of the course since that was when the syllabus was distributed.

If you are forced to miss an exam:

• provide us with a written statement explaining the reason for the absence and supply supporting evidence.
• if health related, a note from your physician is required.

If a makeup is warranted, a well-researched term paper may be substituted. Or, your remaining lecture and/or laboratory exams will be worth more. See Prof. Robertson for more information.

How to prepare for exams

There are many ways in which you can prepare for our lecture and laboratory exams. These are:

• Come to lecture!!! It is assumed that you are attending every lecture and you will be responsible for the material covered in them. Based on past experience, you will miss 5-10 points on exams for every lecture missed! If you missed a lecture, get notes from a friend or classmate. Remember, you are responsible for the material covered in lecture (or assignments and other materials distributed during that time). It is up to you to find out what you missed! We have observed that some students not only skip lectures but they also don't bother reading the web pages.
• Do the lecture assignments and quizzes. The questions in these assignments and quizzes were selected because students have had difficulty with them on past exams.
• Study your lecture notes. Do not rely solely on the information presented on our web pages but, rather, on what's presented and emphasized in class.
• Use the terms and definitions provided in your class notes as a study guide. Know their meanings and their interrelationships. Quiz yourself or a study partner.
• Study the appropriate sections in your laboratory notes. While lecture exams will strive to cover only that material covered in lecture, many concepts, terms, and materials are discussed or illustrated in lab. Similarly, when studying for laboratory exams, read your lecture notes.
• Use the Digital Flowers program. This program contains a wealth of information. View the slides, read the legends, and quiz yourself or a partner. If you haven't yet used this program, DO SO! It is there to help you!
• Look at our web pages! Extensive web pages exist for many of our lectures. These pages also indicate those pages of your text(s) that you should read.
• Have a look at other WWW links offered by systematic courses at other universities. Access to these WWW pages is available from our webpages.
• Use the glossary and other illustrations in your texts. Many other introductory texts are available in the library and can help you prepare for the exam.

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