Special Assignment 2: Exam Preparation

(due by midnight Sunday end of Week 2)

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This assignment is intended to prepare you for your first exam. As I have explained, all of your exam questions will be based upon the topics listed in the competency matrix. Each topic is a potential question. Looking at the matrix, the second box is the potential question; and the last section of boxes provides a cross-reference to the text and other materials that you may find helpful in answering this question. The first box provides an alphanumeric designation (for example, A.3) that is cross-referenced in the lecture notes. Thus, the competency matrix ties it all together.

So let's put it to use. Pretend that you are preparing for Exam 1. Looking at the competency matrix, you will see that there is a potential question: Describe the interior of the Earth. (Competency A.3). Prepare for the test by answering this question. I expect about a page worth of material, including a labeled diagram. Note that I'm only interested in seeing the material presented in lecture, so don't just start copying stuff out of the textbook.

Make your page look nice and organized, think about the layout of your diagram. Handwritten is fine. Typed is OK if you want. Don't copy straight out of the book or my lecture notes. Put it in your own words, and try to pretend that you're actually studying for the exam. I want you to be able to explain it in terms that your fellow students would understand, but you must use the correct terminology. Try to get it on one page. If you're taking more than one hour to do this there may be a problem; many of you will require only 10-15 minutes.

FROM NOW ON: You should be doing this for every competency that we cover, bringing yourself up-to-date at least once a week, with regard to where we are in the lecture. Then right before the exam, you are really learning the material, not frantically trying to just get some buzzwords into your head.

E-mail to me or deliver to my office by the due date.