The course may be taken either as Physics 20013 or Physics 20073. Under the old core system (UCR), the 20013 course satisfies the Physical Science (PS) requirement. The 20013 course consists only of the lecture, and your grade is determined exclusively from the lecture part of the course. Also under the old core system, Physics 20073 satisfies the Physical Science with Lab (PS-L) requirement. You are required to complete 10 labs outside of class during your scheduled lab section. Your final grade is a combination of 20% of the lab grade and 80% of the lecture grade.
Under the new core (HMVV), Physics 20013 counts as an elective. Physics 20073 counts as a Natural Science (NSC) course as well as a Global Awareness (GA) course.
Helpful definition: Epistemology - The branch of philosophy that studies the nature of knowledge, its presuppositions and foundations, and its extent and validity.
Previously, I had listed here all of the exams I've given since Fall 1996, but it was getting to be a very long list and too much to dig through. I've now put here a selection of questions for each of the main subject areas we will cover. These are meant to be representative of the kinds of questions I've asked on previous exams. Most of them I would consider fair game for future exams as well.
Please keep in mind that I cover a slightly different set of topics each semester, so there will be some questions in each subject area that are not relevant for this semester's exams. If you see a question on a topic we haven't covered in the study guide, then you don't have to worry about that one. If you aren't sure, feel free to email me the question, and I'll tell you whether or not something like it could be on the upcoming exam.
Each of the web pages below is anywhere from 2-10 printed pages long (depending upon how much you enlarge/reduce it for printing) and contains a variety of questions relevant to the subject area in the title. If you would like to work your way through some of these as a way to prepare for an upcoming exam, I invite you to send me both questions and answers. I'll be glad to let you know if you answered a question correctly. However, please keep in mind the overall limit on the number of questions you can ask in a day via email.