The PHYS 114-115-116, PHYS 121-122-123, and PHYS 141-142-143 series all have two 60-minute midterm exams and a 1 hour 50-minute final exam (except for Summer Quarter).
All the exams are closed book (a sheet of relevant formulas will be provided with the exam booklet).
Students with DRS accommodations should see the instructions at the end of this page.
Exam Dates
All sections of a course have common midterm exams in Kane Hall on the following nights:
- PHYS 114, 115, and 116 exams start at 5PM on a Tuesday
- PHYS 121, 122, and 123 exams start at 5PM on a Thursday
- PHYS 141, 142, and 143 exams start at 5PM on a Thursday
Each section of a course has a separate final exam. They are administered in the regular lecture classrooms during finals week.
See your course syllabus for the dates of these exams.
Required Materials
- Pencil
- Eraser
- Calculator
- optional straight-edge, ruler, or protractor
Prohibited Materials
- Your personal notes or scratch paper
- Devices capable of communicating with others
- Earphones
- Baseball caps, hats, or sunglasses that obscure the view of your eyes
Midterm Seating Charts
The 1xx administrative assistant will send an email with special seating requests and room announcements about one week before the exam.
Your instructor will send out an email or Canvas announcement with your assigned seat about a day before the exam.
If you forget your assigned seat, a copy of the seating chart will be available at the front of the exam room.
Midterm Exam Procedures
- Doors are locked to student entry until setup is complete. Wait outside the correct classroom. Note that the monitors in Kane Hall are not correct, so use the room announced with the seating chart.
- When instructed, you enter the room, pick up an exam and a bubble sheet at the front of the room, and take your seat. Note that there may be exams from other courses or sections in the exam room, so be sure to pick up an exam from a box labeled with your section.
- Print your name and UW Net ID on your bubble sheet. Print and sign your name, write your UW Net ID, and your seat number on the front page of the exam booklet, but do not open the booklet until instructed to begin.
- When instructed please write your UW Net ID on all pages of the exam booklet before you start the exam.
- For a multiple-choice problem, fill in your bubble sheet carefully and darkly. Make no stray marks. If you must erase, erase completely. Also circle your choices directly on the exam booklet for later reference.
- Space for long-answer problems will be provided in the exam booklet. If you need more space, use the back side of the same page to complete your answer. Clearly indicate to the grader that you used the back side.
- For a long-answer problem, show your work in enough detail so that the grader can follow your reasoning and your method of solution. Circle your answers, and state units if appropriate.
- If you have a question to during the exam, raise your hand. The instructor or TA will clarify exam problems but will not give hints or clues.
- If you finish the exam more than 10 minutes early, you can deposit your exam and bubble sheet into the appropriate box as you leave the room. Otherwise, remain seated until the end of the exam.
- When time expires, you immediately stop working and remain seated. When instructed, students in each section take turns and pass their exams along to the nearest aisle where the exams are collected by the TAs or instructors. Late exams will not be accepted.
Exam Rules
Your answers and explanations on the exam must be your own work.
You cannot communicate with others during the exam.
If you are suspected of violating these rules, you will be reported to the Student Conduct Office. Being found responsible for such a breach by the Student Conduct Office would not only be dealt with by that office but would also result in a score of zero for this examination, and this zero score would not be dropped in the grade calculation.
DRS Accommodations
If you have a disability that requires accommodations, please contact the DRS office to get your accommodations approved well before the exams.
Once you have met with the Disabilities Resources for Students counselors and have exam accommodations, your professor and the 1XX program coordinator (phys1xx@uw.edu) should receive an email with your testing accommodation requests, along with a link to fill out a testing contract. After the testing contract has been filled out by the 1XX program coordinator, you can schedule your exams for the quarter.
You will take midterm exams in the Physics building, unless you have an accommodation that cannot be met in the Physics building. TAs will proctor the exams and have a list of your testing accommodations. The 1XX program coordinator will send an email with the details of the exam rooms etc. about a week before the exam.
For final exams, you must schedule your exam at least TEN business days in advance in order to guarantee a spot.
If you have any questions about disability resources, please contact the DRS office at 206-543-8924 or uwdrs@uw.edu, or check out their website: http://depts.washington.edu/uwdrs/.