Three Exams (60%)
There will be two exams of 80 minutes in length. There will also be a final exam during the finals period. You will have 120 minutes to complete the final. You should have extra time to help you to relax. It will count the same as each of the prior two exams, so in terms of overall scores, it is counted as a third midterm. The date of the final exam is set by the MIT Registrar’s office, which strategically withholds announcing the exam dates until late in the semester so that you cannot pick your classes based on final exam schedules. Each exam will tend to focus on the new material since the previous exam, although of course you will need to understand the older material to apply the new material. The final will be comprehensive, from the beginning of the class, as the material is cumulative. This is a good time to review the course material. The exams will be based on the lecture notes, problem sets, assigned readings, classroom discussion, and TA sessions.
Performance on exams is highly correlated with performance on problem sets. If you miss an exam for an excused reason, I will offer a written makeup or an oral exam on a whiteboard online. Students typically find oral exams painful. But I will not write a new exam for only a few students—so an oral exam is likely.
