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                Information about the second mid-term exam
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The second midterm examination is on Thursday, February 26, 1998, and 
will carry a 30 percent weight.  Here are some guidelines for it.

WHAT TO STUDY:
You are responsible only for the topics covered in class.  Although
earlier topics are fair game, the main focus of the exam will be on
the measurement of precision (standard errors), goodness of fit, 
hypothesis testing and confidence intervals.  I WILL NOT post any
sample exam questions because there are several of those in the text
book.  Do the exercises on hypothesis testing and confidence intervals
in Chapters 2 and 3, the ones marked with a dagger. Their answers are
in one of the Appendices.

WHAT TO BRING:
1) Pen(s) to write.  If you use a pencil, you forfeit the right to
   complain about the grading, unless you pick up the exam from the
   TA's office and take care of grading complaints before leaving
   his/her office.  You need not bring paper or blue book because you
   will be writing the answers on the paper itself.
2) A SINGLE 4 inch by 6 inch index card or paper on which you should
   copy down all formulas and any other information you think you would
   want to reference.  Note that the index card should be handwritten
   and not photo copied from the book.  The idea is that, in the
   process of deciding what to copy and actually copying, you would
   have learned the material and wouldn't need to look at the card
   except for messy formulas.
3) A calculator that does basic arithmetic functions.  If you bring a
   solar calculator, sit below a light.

TIME LIMITS:
You are not allowed to turn the cover page to look at the exam until
everyone has received the papers and I signal that you may start
writing.  Also, you must stop writing when asked to.  You will,
however, be given a two-minute warning so that you can wrap things up. 
TEN POINTS WILL BE DEDUCTED FOR EACH MINUTE OF EXTRA TIME IT TAKES YOU
TO STOP WRITING.

If you need help with difficult material, feel free to ask for help. 
Remember what I said, "One person can lead a horse to the water, but 20
cannot make him drink." There is no sense in going to the exam feeling
frustrated about materials you haven't understood.  In this course you
will not be able to study the day before an exam and expect to do well. 
You should be in constant touch with the material, the messages, and
all the assignments posted on the computer.  We are here to help as
much as possible, but you should do your part.  Doing the homeworks
will be of great help.  Don't expect any sympathy from me if you don't
turn in homeworks.
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