SECOND TEST THIS WEEK: To be taken in one sitting on either Tue 4/12 or Wed 4/13
Link will be provided on Tuesday morning by 8 am. Test taking window will close Wed night at midnight.

SECOND TEST: To be taken in one sitting on either Tue 4/12 or Wed 4/13
The test will cover material up to and including all assignments due the Sunday before (but not the current week's material). That means it will include Hawking book Chapters 4-7 and the topics of Quantum Mechanics, the readings from Feynman's book QED, readings about Madame Curie, readings about the Radium Girls, Particle Physics, CERN, Black Holes, Gravity Waves, merging neutron stars and Kilonovas, and the Thermodynamics of Black Holes. Although the emphasis will be on what was covered since the last test, many concepts in astronomy are cumulative and so there can be questions that relate to material from earlier in the course, but only incidentally. Best to focus on the new material.

The test will have 50 questions multiple choice and is to be taken in one sitting. This is an open notes, open book, closed friend, closed neighbor test! You are allowed to access any materials that are officially part of the course (like your notes, video lectures and the assigned readings), but not any other sources from the internet (sometimes these sources are wrong and will mislead students), and you are NOT to talk with or interact with anyone else in the class until everyone has taken the test. You will have 2 hours to work on it and it would need to be done either on Tuesday or Wednesday. The questions will be given to you one at a time and you will not have the option to go back to any previous questions. The test will be worth 10% of your grade. Those who take the class Pass/Fail do not need to take the test (but you must send me confirmation that you are signed up for Pass/Fail). The best way to prepare is to have watched all the lectures and have done all the reading. You can also visit the tutors and come to my office hours ahead of time to ask questions. I remind everyone of the Honor & Integrity policy spelled out in the syllabus. Since the test is not a huge percentage of your grade, you can fail this test and still get an A in the class (but I don't advise this approach, and it means you would have to do that much better with everything else).

ALL TEST DATES FOR SEMESTER: (All tests given on-line)

Test 1 is scheduled for Mar 1-2 (10% of grade, unless taking class Pass/Fail)
Test 2 is scheduled for Apr 12-13 (10% of grade, unless taking class Pass/Fail)
the Final is scheduled for May 10-11 (10% of grade, unless taking class Pass/Fail)
Note: If you are taking the class Pass/Fail, you are still required to "take" the final, but your score will only be used to help you, not hurt you).