1. Instructor: Roberto Vega, Office: FS 102, (214)768-2498

	Office hours: MW 12:00-1:00 PM, W 3:00-4:00 pm.
	You may contact me through email: vega@mail.physics.smu.edu

2. Course materials:

	Textbook: Serway and Faughn, College Physics, 4th or 5th edition.
	Reference: IQ-library:(linked to the homepage of this course): IQ-questions  (computer based self-paced conceptual questions) pi-questions (Questions taken from the book "Peer Instruction" by Mazur) Optional references: Study guide and Student Solutions Manual accompanying the current text. "Thinking Physics" by Lewis Carroll Epstein. Conceptually guGuided Questions on E & M by George Mathew

	Homepage of this course: (The URL is at the top of this page). This page is a convenient home base. From here one may go to: the Homework Service, IQ-library, Instructor comments, and Discussion board.
	Discussion board/email: Please submit your queries and physics discussions on the discussion board. The board will be monitored by your TA twice a week, times to be announced.

4. Homework/Tests/Final: See your handout, which is also on the web on the homepage.

	Homework: There will be 10 to 12 homework sets. The homework service (linked to our homepage) handles the distribution and the collection of the homework using the Web. No late homework will be accepted.
	Tests and Final exam: There will be 4 partial exams and a comprehensive final exam. See the handout for details. During any of the exams,  You will be allowed to drop one test grade. a fresh course summary sheet will be given to you. No crib-note card will be allowed. Programmable calculators may be used for numerical calculations only.

Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated.

5. Grading policy:

	Homework (drop 2) 10%
	Tests 45%
	Final 20%
	Lab  grade 25%

Good effort: Definition HW>80%,  and   attendance > 80%. The following considerations will be applied to students who have earned the "good effort" status:

	If the final exam letter grade (determined by the default cutoff) is higher than the letter grade of semester average (including the final), the semester average letter grade will be pushed up by one level.
	For the borderline case, where student's scaled score is within 10 scaled score points to the cutoff, the next higher grade will be assigned to the student.

First class reminders

	Homework Service Registration: Go to "Homework Service" (from our homepage). Read students' instructions to get you started. Do the homework service registration and download homework 1.  Do this before the second class so that we may solve any unexpected problems.
	Homework due time: HW1 (12 midnight,  Monday 4 Sept 2000).