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Contact Info

039 Rankin Science West
572 Rivers Street
Boone, NC
28608
(828) 265-8680
FAX: (828) 262-6503

johnsonne@appstate.edu
 

 

 

Questions Frequently Asked by Intro (1101, 1103) Students

  • What about class attendance?
    • There is no formal attendance policy for the lectures, but I do discuss topics in the lectures that are not in the textbook. It is axiomatic that attending every lecture does not guarantee you a good grade, but missing a lot of lectures does guarantee you a bad one. You should also be aware that the Geology department does have a strict formal attendance policy for the weekly laboratories.

  • Do you post lecture materials on the Web?
    • No. Because I use Keynote (Apple's presentation software) rather than Power Point, the lecture files aren't going to be accessible to everyone. Converting the Keynote files into pdf files (Adobe Acrobat) is prohibitively time-consuming. Furthermore, since I make use of a large amount of graphics, and since most of them are copyrighted by others, I cannot legally post them.

  • How much studying should I do per week?
    • A good rule of thumb is to spend a minimum of one hour per week per course hour. For a class that has three hours of lecture per week, that is three hours of your time per week in reading the text and going over your notes. At a minimum.

  • Is there something I can do for extra credit?
    • Short answer: There are occasionally extra credit questions on exams, but other than that, no.
    • Long Answer

  • What are your exams like?
    • Typically, they run between 50 and 60 questions total, made up of roughly one-third multiple choice, one-third matching and one-third true/false. The number of questions per topic is roughly proportional to the amount of time spent in lecture on the topic.

  • What is the best way to study for your exams?
    • The lectures I present are drawn from a number of sources and don't come straight out of the textbook, even though much of the same material is in the textbook. I also make extensive use of graphics from the book (and to a lesser extent from other books). So, my suggestion is to work with both the notes you have taken in lecture and the textbook simultaneously, topic by topic. When the lecture notes and the text discuss a topic in detail, expect to see this emphasized on an exam. Ditto for when the lecture and book focus on a figure to explain something. When the notes describe something that isn't focused on in the book, rank that as second in importance. Where the book mentions things that aren't in the notes, consider that of the least importance.

  • Do you hold review sessions before exams?
    • That's up to the class as a whole. Generally about a week before the exam date, I poll the class to see if students want a review session, and if so, when to hold it. If you want a say in this decision, then come to class.

  • What are the review sessions like?
    • I normally begin a review session by describing the exam features (what chapters are covered, how many questions total and of each type). Next, I display a list of sample questions and go over them one by one. These are questions that are similar to the ones on the exam (in fact, I select them from the same master file of exam questions), but for whatever reason, they didn't make the cut this time. Finally, I open the floor for questions and answer student questions for as long as desired. On average the session lasts about an hour, although some run longer and others shorter.

  • Do you offer study sheets for your exams?
    • Short answer: No, there are so many different interpretations of "study sheets" that it isn't practical to try and prepare them.
    • Long Answer

  • Do you offer make-up exams?
    • Yes, but a missed exam must be made up before the day/time of any subsequent exam. Otherwise, you will get a zero. Note that if you do miss an exam, it is entirely your responsibility to make the exam up. I will not hound you over it, nor will I take exceptional measures to accomodate your schedule. It's your degree, it's your grade, it's your responsibility.

  • Why don't you hand back the exams so we can study from them?
    • 1) Re-read your syllabus. None of the exams are comprehensive, so you will not need an earlier exam to study for any subsequent exams. 2) Writing good questions is challenging, and I can only prepare a few new ones (one or two dozen) per term. Writing bad questions is easy; I could fill a room with bad questions, even without using those supplied by the textbook vendors. In general, a test made of bad questions leads to bad grades, something we all want to avoid. Because of this, I prefer to hoard my limited supply of good questions so that I can reuse them.

  • Some of the questions on the exam weren't covered in class!

    • This is a comment that occurs from time to time. I work very hard to make certain that all of the questions on any given exam are derived from the relevant material, be it my notes, the book, figures, or other material we have covered in class. I make no claims to infallibility, however, so I have a standing offer for just such a concern. If a student feels certain that a question or questions on the exam were not covered, then they should come in during my office hours and we'll compare the test and the relevant lectures. If we find a question that isn't covered in the lectures, I will immediately give everyone full credit for that question (this effectively turns it into an extra credit question: those who got it right are rewarded, but those who missed it are not penalized).

      To date, no one has has been able to do this. Why? Simply put, I write the exams with the lecture notes in front of me, so it is nearly impossible for an exam to have questions not covered in the lectures.

      Therefore, the most likely way this concern can be raised is a three-part process:

      • 1) Student does not attend lecture(s), resulting in incomplete notes.
      • 2) Student forgets that notes are incomplete, and gets blind-sided by questions on exam that were covered in missed lecture(s).
      • 3) Student becomes indignant.

      Fortunately, there is a guaranteed solution to this dilemma. Attend class.


  • You've posted the final grades and I didn't get the grade I was hoping for. Is there anything I can do?
    • Short answer: Unless there has been an error of some kind, no. If you aren't happy with your final grade, the time to do something about it is before you get it.
    • Long Answer

  • Are your average final grades really a C?
    • The Appalachian State University Undergraduate Bulletin defines a C as the grade appropriate for average quality work performed by a student in a given course in a given semester (scroll down to the "Grades and Grade Points" section under "Academic Regulations"). Although there is nothing that forces me to have a C average in intro courses, historically they have fallen into that range.

  • Ohmigawd! I've never gotten a (insert unexpectedly low grade here) before!
    • Take a deep breath; this is not the end of the world. The first step in improving will be to come in during my office hours so we can go over your exam. Perhaps one particular type of question tripped you up, or maybe you weren't as familiar with one of the topics as you thought. An After Exam Report like this can go a long way to improving your results on the next exam. If you want to go further, when you are reviewing your notes between exams (you are spending at least three hours on this lecture every week, right?), use a highlighter to note sections that are not as clear as they might be. Then come by my office with your notes perhaps 3 or 4 days before the next exam to get these points cleared up.
    • Finally, you should note that in coming to college, you have moved up a level, and the competition gets stiffer as you move up. The work that earned A's and B's at the last level might only be worth a C here.
      An Interesting Analogy...

  • But I only missed a (insert preferred grade here) by (insert fraction here) of a point!
    • Short answer: A percentage point over the course of a term is not just a single point on a single exam. Crediting you with one more percent than you earned isn't fair to everyone else in the class.
    • Long Answer

  • But I've always been a (insert higher than earned grade here) student!
    • Short answer: Keep in mind that it's just a college course. Some people perform well, some people perform poorly, most people perform at an average level. It isn't an indication of your qualities as a person.
    • Long Answer

  • I e-mailed you but you didn't respond in time!
    • When I am in my office during a normal day, the e-mail client software I use checks for new messages about every 30 minutes or so. I try very hard to respond to these messages as quickly as I can, particularly when they are from students asking about class matters. But when I leave campus (either at the end of the day or over the weekend or during a scheduled break or conference), I simply don't access the campus e-mail system that frequently. In everyday terms, this means that an urgent request for help sent after 5 PM probably won't be seen until the next morning. This is the way the real world works.

This page last updated at 9:19 AM on Thursday, March 20, 2008.