Questions about administrative stuff for Econ 102, Section 100, Winter 2006: Apr 26 > On the final exam, are we going to be tested on (online and wsj) reading > that was assigned before the second exam? Thanks. Yes, I certainly wrote questions on that material, though fewer than on the readings since the second exam. I don't recall whether the questions I wrote actually made it onto the final draft of the exam, though. Apr 26 > I was wondering how the grading of he exams are scaled. The syllabus > says that each midterm is worth 20% and the final is 40%, but I also > remember you saying that if we demonstrate improvement with every exam we > take, you may be able to give us more credit and boost our final grade. > I received a C on the first midterm and a B+ on the second midterm. How > will these be scaled/weighted? Thank you! I first calculate the grades based strictly on the scores and the announced weights (though the scores are first adjusted to make them comparable across exams), and I curve the results to assign letter grades. Then I go through and look at all students who are just a bit below the next higher letter grade. If they have improved during the course, I move them up. Mar 15 > Will the topic of Net Present Value be covered on the exam? As I stated in class and on the website: "while there will be a few questions on the material from the first exam, most of the emphasis will be on material since then." Mar 15 > Is the assigned Wall Street Journal article "Jobs Data Suggest Economy > Picking Up Steam" from March 6-11 elligible to be on tomorrows exam? No. Mar 14 > on some of the practice tests there are multiple answers for the multiple > choice questions. to get credit for these types of questions do we need > circle just one of the correct answers or both. (an example of this is > the 05 practice test #1) We never intend for there to be multiple answers. But occasionally we realize later that a question was poorly written, and we have to give credit for two. In that case, students who answer either get full credit. Mar 10 > I know you mentioned this > in lecture today, but I wasn't sure if I heard it correctly or not. We > are only responsible for WSJ articles and online readings AFTER the > midterm 1, right? No, you are responsible for them from the beginning. But it is likely that the emphasis on this exam will be on the ones from after midterm 1. Mar 4 > Which topics are covered on quiz 2? I don't really know, since I haven't seen it, but I presume it will touch on money/banks/inflation and on international/deficits. In other words, the topics that we've done lately. Feb 17 > Are there different versions of the test because I'm confused about my > answers. For example, the third from last question, online it says the > answer is d and in the string you sent me the answer I put was d. Yes, of course. That's what the form numbers are. The questions are arranged differently on different tests. Once you get back your test, you can see what questions you got wrong and look up their answers on the form that's posted. Feb 12 > I got a 74.5 on the exam. The C range is 63-74 and the B range is 75-85. > I was wondering which range a 74.5 would put me in. Hard to say. As I say on the website, this curve is just approximate, to give you some idea of how you are doing. The actual grade for the course will be calculated at the end from all the different components. So I guess the answer is that you are on the borderline between B and C. Feb 6 > According to "What's covered on the first midterm exam" under the Exam > Information section on the website, we only are responsible for chapters > 5-9 in Mankiw. Is this correct? Should we worry about chapters 1-4 and > the pages assigned in Chapter 15? Thank you! That's basically right. Chapters 1-4 are just review. As for the pages in Chapter 15, all I really care about is what I did in lecture that day. Feb 6 > I just a have a question regarding the midterm. I noticed as I am doing > the practice exams, that the chapter on unemployment is on the exams, > which is chapter 10...is this going to be covered on the exam as well? > You may have answered this in class..but I just thought that the exam > will be from chapters 5-9. Also, is that the only chapter we should focus > on? Or will 1-4 be covered as well. If you can let me know at your > convenience, I'd appreciate it. Just 5-9, as it says on the Exam Information page. Feb 3 > I remember that you told us not to bring a graphing calculator for our > 1st mid-term exam. > My question is that, will there be any compouding problems? > If so, I don't think we can solve such questions without a graphing one. There won't be any compounding problems except what you can do with the Rule of 70. So you won't need to do anything fancy, just arithmetic. (In fact, I'm sure that there are plenty of non-graphing calculators that do lots more than arithmetic, but you won't need that.) Jan 26 > You may have already said, but where are the solutions for HW #1?? I can > not find them anywhere, or maybe they have not been posted yet, but it > would be helpful to study for the quiz tomorrow. They are posted on the same page as the questions, in the column labeled Answers. Jan 18 > I was just curious as to where I can find the online readings and more > specifically a schedule of when to read each one. Your help is > appreciated. The syllabus has both: the things you should read for each class, and links ("online") to each. Jan 15 > While doing the first homework, I noticed that the link to look up the > CPI for the question 3 is no longer available. I tried to look myself on > the website, but it was hard, since there were many different versions of > CPIs. They have apparently changed something. Use the link that I gave you, but append "?cu" to the end of it. That is, use Then select "U.S. All items, 1982-84=100" and Retrieve data. It will come up with data for just the last ten years, but you can Change Output Options to get the years that you want. Jan 4 > I have a question about the Wall Street Journal subscription. > I have the Mankiw textbook, but I am not sure what I should do with the > WSJ. > Can I just read the articles on www.wsj.com? Or should I subscribe the > paper version individually? See the syllabus, which explains how we will use the WSJ. You are not required to subscribe to it, as long as you read it and can do the assignments. As far as I know, www.wsj.com requires a subscription. Jan 4 > Is the 1998 version of Gregory Mankiw's textbook similar to the required > 2004 textbook? Yes, it is similar, but whether it is similar enough not to put you at a disadvantage, I have no idea. Of course it also does not include the subscription to the Wall Street Journal.