# 1617-257/Term Test 1

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### The Exam

Our Term Test 1 took place on Tuesday November 1, 5-7PM at BI 131. See TT1-1617-257.pdf.

### Results

100 students took the exam. The results so far, before appeals, are (median underlined):

100 100 99 98 98 97 95 92 91 89 88 85 85 83 83 83 82 81 81 80 80 78 78 77 77 77 75 75 75 75 75 74 74 73 72 71 71 70 70 70 70 70 70 69 69 68 67 67 67 67 66 66 65 65 64 63 63 62 62 61 60 59 58 58 58 57 57 57 57 57 56 55 54 54 54 54 54 53 53 53 53 53 52 51 50 49 48 44 43 42 42 41 40 37 33 33 32 32 25 24

The exams will be returned in class on Friday November 4.

The results are similar to what I expected them to be. As I said on day 1, it's a tough class!

How should you read your grade?

• If you got 100 you should pat yourself on your shoulder and feel good.
• If you got something like 90, you're doing great. You made a few relatively minor mistakes; find out what they are and try to avoid them next time.
• If you got something like 80, you're doing fine but you did miss something significant, probably more than just a minor thing. Figure out what it was and make a plan to fix the problem for next time.
• If you got something like 60 you should be concerned. You are still in position to improve greatly and get an excellent grade at the end, but what you missed is quite significant and you are at the risk of finding yourself far behind. You must analyze what happened - perhaps it was a minor mishap, but more likely you misunderstood something major or something major is missing in your background. Find out what it is and try to come up with a realistic strategy to overcome the difficulty!
• If you got something like 40, most likely you are not gaining much from this class and you should consider dropping it, unless you are convinced that you fully understand the cause of your difficulty (you were very sick, you really couldn't study at all for the two weeks before the exam because of some unusual circumstances, something like that) and you feel confident you have a fix for next time. If you do decide to drop the class, don't feel too bad about it. It is the hardest analysis class at UofT and of the thousands of students taking math here, very few have sufficient preparation to do well in it. The last day to switch to MAT 237 is this Monday, November 7.

Note that problems with writing are problems, period. Perhaps you got a low grade but you feel you know the material enough for a high grade only you didn't write everything you know or you didn't it write well enough or the silly graders simply didn't get what you wrote (and it isn't a simple misunderstanding - see "appeals" below). If this describes you, don't underestimate your problem. If you don't process and resolve it, it is likely to recur.

### Appeals

Remember! We try hard yet grading is a difficult process and mistakes always happen - solutions get misread, parts are forgotten, grades are not added up correctly. You must read your exam and make sure that you understand how it was graded. If you disagree with anything, don't hesitate to complain! (Though first consider very carefully the possibility that the mistake is actually yours). Your first stop should be the person who graded the problem in question, and only if you can't agree with him you should appeal to Dror (within a day or two).

Dror marked problem number 1 and did the arithmetic and data entry. Jihad Zerouali marked problem 2, and Jeffrey Im marked problems 3-5.

The deadline to start the appeal process is Friday November 11 at 3PM. Once you've started the process by talking to Dror or to Jihad or Jeffrey, it ends when a final decision is made, with no deadline.