There will be two midterms that will cover specific parts of the course (see schedule page for dates) and a comprehensive final on Wednesday, Dec 11, starting at 7:45am, in CIP 115 (aka the International Center).
There will be separate versions of the final: For PHY422 students, the final will be two hours (7:45-9:45am), while the PHY820 version will be designed for three hours (7:45-10:45am).
The PHY820 final exam functions as a subject exam within the departmental graduate degree requirements. To this end, a separate grade based on this subject exam alone will be provided as well.
Exams will be closed book and closed notes. In general, you are expected to remember essential equations and how to use them. A formula sheet will be provided and posted online before the exam. You should bring along a simple calculator that has no capability of storing and recalling formulas. No other electronic devices are allowed during the exams. Hats are not allowed at the exams either.
Documented medical (or other) excuses for midterm exams will be considered on a case by case basis, and may involve a written or oral make-up exam.
The MSU Final Examination Policy states that
Students unable to take a final examination because of illness or other reason over which they have no control should notify the assistant deans of their colleges immediately.
and
A student absent from a final examination without a satisfactory explanation will receive a grade of 0.0.
The formula sheet provided with the subject exam can be found here. It contains more information than you will need. Please let me know if you find typos or other mistakes.
The Department of Physics & Astronomy maintains a collection of previous subject exams here.
To limit access, the solutions to the practice problems will only be available through the GitLab materials
repository. Please do not distribute these materials.
Also note that the length of these problems is not a proper indicator for the length of problems on
the actual exams.