OverviewThe assessment for this module consists of three distinct elements:
To pass the module you must get an overall total of 40%. You are not required to pass each element separately: a mark of 35% in the exam, 50% in the progress tests and homework, and 60% in the directed reading exercise, would add up to 41% for the whole module and would be considered a pass. For this reason, it is important that you do as well as possible on the coursework part of the module, especially if you are finding it tough! The end-of-semester examThe aim of the end-of-semester exam is to test your knowledge and understanding of the course material. It lasts for two hours and consists of three sections as follows:
As you see, the paper is marked out of 50, though it actually accounts for 70% of the total module mark. Since it lasts for two hours, you should allow approximately 2.4 minutes per mark: this means that you should spend about 45 minutes on Section A and about 35 minutes each on Sections B and C (leaving 5 minutes at the beginning to read over the paper). This exam is the principal item of assessment. It is important to ensure that you do yourself justice here. Please read the guidelines on exam technique in the First Year Astronomy Guide. Outline answers to the 2008/9 exam, as discussed in last year's revision lecture, are available here as a pptx file. Please note that these are outline answers – you would normally expect to answer such questions in essay form, not as bullet points! Progress tests and homeworkThere will be two progress tests, one in week 4 and one in week 9. Each of these consists of 10 questions similar to those in Section A of the exam paper. They will be made available on MOLE for a 10-day period – you can take the test at whatever time within that period is convenient for you, but you're only allowed one attempt. Feedback on each test will be available on MOLE once the deadline for completing the test has passed. The homework exercise consists of three Section B style questions and one Section C question. It will be handed out at the beginning of week 9 and is due in at the end of week 10. These exercises are worth 5% each, but of course their main aim is to ensure that you are well prepared for the questions you will be asked in the exam. It is important that you read any comments, especially on the homework exercise - these will highlight any deficiencies in your approach to answering questions which may cause you to lose marks in the exam (for example, not writing enough, not focusing on the question, etc.). The Directed Reading exerciseThe aims of this exercise are to encourage you to read round your subject, to test your ability to learn independently from written material, and to give you an opportunity to practise your communication skills. All of these are important skills for your future university career, even if you are not an astronomy student yourself. The basic idea of this exercise is that you read, carefully and thoroughly, a popular book on an astronomical subject chosen from the list on this web page (see the menu for a link). To assess how well you have read and understood the book, you answer a set of 10 questions (download these from the same page, in Word format). Unless otherwise specified, each question is marked out of 5. The deadline for this exercise is the beginning of week 9, but of course you can do them at any time before then. |
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