CONSIDERATIONS FOR AN OPTIONAL FINAL



  1. Make sure you have the right information before making a decision. You need to know what your grades are going in. That's why I compute your course grade without the final and post it. If you have an A in the course you shouldn't take the final. At the least it'll waste time that could be better spent, and at worst you'll pull your grade down. (I actually had somebody do this years ago.) If you're not sure about your grade ID email me with part of your UF ID in the email and I'll send it to you.
  2. If your course grade without the final is 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, or 85 you probably shouldn't take the final. Remember that the final can hurt your grade or help it. From a purely mathematical standpoint you're more likely to lower your grade than raise it to the next grade up when you're at the breakpoints. I would say that standing pat is especially important at 60 and 70 -- 60 because it's passing, and 70 because it's a C which you might need either for avoiding deficit points or because the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences may require at least a C for its basic distribution requirement. To a lesser extent these considerations apply to 61 and 62, 71 and 72, and 81 and 86.
  3. If your grades on the hour tests have been very much up and down you might not want to take the risk. It just depends on how risk-averse you are.
  4. You must consider what other final exams you have to take and when you'll be taking them. If you have another final that's really hard coming up around the same time you might want to skip this one. On the other hand, if you don't have any other finals and if your course grade is such that the final might help you then you should consider taking it. Keep in mind that you can show up and even work on it without being committed to having it count. If you don't want it to count you can just tell me that when you turn it in.
  5. When you're weighing the other demands on your time you should consider the fact that the final in this course covers only the topics that were covered on the hour tests. As a matter of fact, when I'm putting together the final I start with the hour tests. I cut out about one-third of the questions, and I change some of the rest. The changed questions are on the same subject as the original but are modified in some way. For instance, a question that asked about the vernal equinox might be changed to the autumnal equinox or the summer solstice. Or a question might be turned around so that it asks what Hipparchus discovered instead of asking who discovered precession. The point is that if you take the final you'll be studying from the hour tests rather than the notes or the text or even the study guides. It's somewhat less material to cover. By the way, I'm talking about the hour tests for this semester, not the old ones.
  6. While I'm on this subject, if you do take the final you should be careful reading each question. Don't pick out a couple of words that remind you of an old question and pick the answer from that question. You should always read each question carefully and understand it before choosing the answer. If you aren't reading the right question you're unlikely to get the answer right!
  7. Lastly, although I'm at great pains to state it in the syllabus, there are always some people who aren't paying attention. So I'll spell it out here one more time: I DON'T DROP ANY TEST GRADES! This is true even if you do take the final.