Homework is an essential component to build skills for this course.  Problem sets range from around 4-8 questions each and are assigned approximately every two weeks.  The problems are closely related to material given in the lectures and expounded on in the textbook "Introduction to Electrodynamics," by D.J. Griffiths.  Students are encouraged to attempt homework problems before tutorial sessions where solutions to similar problems will be discussed in detail.  

Extensions:  Late assignments may be accepted with persmission from the lecturer. Marks may be deducted for late submissions in the absence of an approved extension. 

The University Examination period for Second Half Year 2013 is from Monday 11 November to Friday 29 November 2013.  You are expected to present yourself for examination at the time and place designated in the University Examination Timetable.  The timetable will be available in draft form approximately eight weeks before the commencement of the examinations and in final form approximately four weeks before the commencement of the examinations.  Exam timetables are available at http://www.timetables.mq.edu.au/exam.

The only exception to not sitting an examination at the designated time is because of documented illness or unavoidable disruption.  In these circumstances you may wish to consider applying for Special Consideration.  If a Supplementary Examination is granted as a result of the Special Consideration process the examination will be scheduled after the conclusion of the official examination period.

Return:  To the extent that it is possible, marked assignments will be returned no later than two weeks after they have been handed in by the students.

You are advised that it is Macquarie University policy not to set early examinations for individuals or groups of students.  All students are expected to ensure that they are available until the end of the teaching semester, that is, the final day of the official examination period.

The University Examination period for Second Half Year 2013 is from Monday 11 November to Friday 29 November 2013. You are expected to present yourself for examination at the time and place designated in the University Examination Timetable.  The timetable will be available in draft form approximately eight weeks before the commencement of the examinations and in final form approximately four weeks before the commencement of the examinations.  Exam timetables are available at http://www.timetables.mq.edu.au/exam.

The only exception to not sitting an examination at the designated time is because of documented illness or unavoidable disruption.  In these circumstances you may wish to consider applying for Special Consideration.  If a Supplementary Examination is granted as a result of the Special Consideration process the examination will be scheduled after the conclusion of the official examination period.

You are advised that it is Macquarie University policy not to set early examinations for individuals or groups of students.  All students are expected to ensure that they are available until the end of the teaching semester, that is, the final day of the official examination period.

Laboratory work will begin in week 1 for the Friday class and in week 2 for the Monday class.  Each experiment is allotted two weeks for completion and you are expected to complete 5 experiments. 

You must keep a laboratory log book, in which you keep a record of all activities.  In addition you will be required to write a full report on one experiment of your choice.  Some notes about laboratory log books and report writing are included in an appendix at the end of this outline.

The purpose of the laboratory work is to expose you to a range of physical concepts and experimental techniques which spread beyond the coverage of the lectures.  In addition we hope that your ability to maintain a written record of your laboratory work and to write reports on your work will develop further.  To this end, the laboratory will be assessed in the following way:

(i) Your laboratory log book will be marked each fortnight.  If it is less than satisfactory, it will be returned to you for correcting, and then re-marked.  All relevant calculations must be done, the appropriate graphs drawn, and uncertainties assessed where appropriate.

(ii) You are required to submit a full report on one two-week experiment of your choosing from the first three experiments that you have completed.  This report will be submitted in draft form initially.  It will be marked and returned to you with comments for its improvement.  When the report is resubmitted, your first attempt should also be handed in for comparison.  The mark awarded for the report will be that obtained in the second marking.  (However, if you obtain more than 7 out of 10 for the initial submission, then handing in the final version is optional.) This strategy gives you the opportunity to use the feedback from staff to help you develop professional report-writing skills before your work is finally graded.

The draft report is to be submitted by the end of week 10 with the final version by the end of week 13.

Permission may be granted for late submission of laboratory reports if the request for consideration is made prior to the due date.  Reports submitted late may be subject to a marking penalty of one-half mark (out of ten marks) for each working day that the report is late, unless a valid, extraordinary, substantiated reason for late submission is presented to the Unit Convenor.

An increasing number of students are choosing to submit laboratory reports in word-processed form.  This is a good procedure, however there are some points which need to be kept in mind.  If you are not accustomed to using a word processor, the process can take much longer than writing a report by hand.  In addition, problems with hardware can arise which cause delays and frustration.  As a general rule we are not sympathetic to late reports caused by computer faults. 

If you are planning to word-process your report it may also be advisable to bring a memory stick to the lab sessions.  Some experiments have data recorded on PCs which can be saved direct to your memory stick, then included in your report.

The relative weighting of the components of the laboratory assessment will be

Laboratory log book 14%

Report 6%

TOTAL 20%