There will be 4 two-hour, in-class exams, on Thursdays, starting one hour earlier at 8:30am Unless otherwise noted, these will be roughly once in 3-4 weeks, on Sep 21, Oct 19, Nov 16, and Tuesday of Finals week.
All tests will be comprehensive of material covered until that point in that course. Test modality by default will be in person, in class.
Each test contributes 20% to the final grade. Pedagogically helpful interaction in class or piazza will contribute the remaining 12% of the grade. Since there are 14 weeks of class, this amounts to 0.9% per week. An additional 8% of the grade is set aside for student-improvement from start to finish. It will depend on the difference in performance (relative to the class) between the first and the last tests. Bonus points will be available with each test. They will be separately tallied and could help a borderline student move up at most one level of the letter grade. See also the "Bonuses and incentives" section of the webpage.
Sample exams and their solutions may be posted or gone over in class during the exam review sessions, if time permits.