The official web page for this course is
http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/Spring08/Itnw1351WebPage/ITNW1351.htm
This document may be modified as the semester progresses in order to incorporate new instructions or clarify existing instructions. Therefore, you should review the instructions immediately before submitting each exam to confirm that you are in compliance. I will modify the revision date given above whenever I make changes to the document so that you will know when it has been modified.
Four written exams
You will be given an opportunity to submit four written exams for this course. (Your final grade will be based on your best three scores on the four exams.) The submittal deadlines for the exams are specified in the Syllabus.
Each exam covers three chapters in the textbook.
Early submittal is OK, late submittal is not OK
You may take your exams early, but you may not take them late. Because you will be allowed to complete and submit your exams early, there will be no grace period and no makeup possibility. Barring a genuine emergency (such as an extended stay in the hospital) failure to submit an exam by the deadline will result in a maximum allowable score on the exam of zero.
Online study guides are available to help you to prepare for the exams. The study guides can be accessed by clicking the following link: Study Guide Index.
Each exam consists of 25 questions selected at random from the study guides for the chapters covered by the exam. It is strongly recommended that you prepare yourself to successfully answer all of the questions in the study guides for the corresponding chapters before taking an exam.
Time limit
Each exam must be completed in 50 minutes or less.
Closed-book exams
Each exam is to be completed in a closed book environment. You will not be allowed to use any aids such as notes or crib sheets while taking the exams.
Location and times for taking exams
All students must complete the exams at the Northridge Campus under the supervision of Prof. Baldwin or his designated representative.
Fifty minutes of classroom time will be set aside for the completion of each exam on the submittal deadline dates given in the Syllabus.
In addition, you may complete the exams early during Prof. Baldwin's office hours, but you should make arrangements in advance via email or telephone. It will also be possible for you to arrange with Prof. Baldwin to take the exams at other times as well.
If you take the exams early, be sure to arrive early enough to complete the exam before the expiration of the specified time period.
Every exam is different
Prof. Baldwin will be prepared to score your exam and tell you your score when you finish the exam if you will allow for a few minutes following the completion of the exam and the expiration of the time period.
You might be wondering what would keep a student who takes an exam early from showing the results to other students who have not yet taken the exam to help them achieve a better score when they do take the exam. There is nothing to prevent that from happening. However, it wouldn't be useful because every student will receive a different exam.
Each exam is constructed from a random selection of 25 of the questions contained in the Online Study Guides discussed above. Therefore, there will be little or no value in one student seeing an exam that has been completed by another student. In fact, that could prove to be detrimental. The best way to study for the exams is to study the textbook and to use the Online Study Guides to help solidify your knowledge of the material in the textbook. If you were to depend on what you see in an exam taken by another student, that could easily cause you to ignore much of the information required to answer the questions on the exam that you will be given.
Are the exams ready yet?
Prof. Baldwin will post a notice on the Official Web Page for this course when the exams are ready to be taken.
Possible errors in online study guides and exam answers
The online study guides were created using a test generator program and a bank of test questions provided by the author/publisher of your textbook. I have found several errors in the questions (and the corresponding answers) in the study guides, and have begun compiling an Errata page that is available from a link on the Study Guide Index. If you find other errors in the study guides, I would like to hear about them so that I can add them to the Errata page.
Exam questions to be taken from the study guides
As mentioned earlier, each of the exams will consist of 25 questions taken from the study guides for the corresponding chapters. I will avoid using questions for which I have identified errors in the study guides. However, because I may not have identified all of the errors in the study guides, I can't guarantee that I won't select a question from the study guides that contains an error.
Will score using answers from the test generator
I will score your exam using the answers provided by the test generator. If your answer for each question matches the answer in the study guides, you will get credit for the question, even if we agree that the answer in the study guides is incorrect.
You may challenge an answer
If you elect to challenge any of the study-guide answers for the exam questions, you must do so in writing providing clear evidence to support your challenge. If I agree with your challenge, I will give you credit for the question even if your answer doesn't match the answer in the study guide. I sincerely request, however, that you don't waste our time by mounting frivolous challenges. Before you mount a challenge, please make absolutely certain that you are correct in your assessment.
No challenges on last day of class
Note that I will not respond to challenges after I have submitted your grade for recording at the end of the semester. Therefore, you must complete your fourth exam sufficiently far in advance of that date to make it possible for any challenge that you may mount to be resolved by that date.
Failure to Meet the Exam Submittal Deadline
The submittal deadline for each exam is provided in the Syllabus. If you fail to submit the exam by the deadline, you simply won't get credit for that exam.Before you ask, let me tell you that business travel, problems at work, extreme work pressures, divorce, depression, receipt of a "Dear John letter", automobile repairs, flat tires, computer problems, power failures, total eclipses, extremely high outside temperatures, high pollen count, broken lawnmowers, the Super Bowl Schedule, and other assorted and interesting circumstances are not valid excuses for failing to meet the submittal deadline. About the only excuse that I might be willing to accept would be something on the order of extended hospitalization or extended serious illness on the part of you or an immediate member of your family. If your excuse is not on that order of magnitude, I really don't want to hear it.
-end-
File: ITNW1351ExamInstr.htm