Announcements

Important:  Please also follow the course moodle page for the announcements. 

   Exams and Grading

The grading will be based on in-class discussions, midterm exams and final exam. 4 midterm exams but the three highest grades will count each 20% towards the letter grade.

                                                      Exam Dates

   Midterm 1 March 11th Wed   Crystal Lattices, X- ray Diffraction                          TESLA KB-123  17:00   

   Midterm 2 April 15th   Wed    Crystal Binding, Lattice Vibrations                         TESLA KB-123 17:00

   Midterm 3 May   6th   Wed    Free Electron, Nearly- Free Electron Theory         TESLA KB-123 17:00

   Midterm 4 May 13th   Wed   Semiconductors, Fermi Surfaces, Energy Bands   TESLA KB-123  17:00

   Final  TBD  %40

• All exams will be closed book & closed notes.

• Calculators/cell phones/laptops are not allowed.

• In all exams you must show your work explicitly and you must use the proper units.

• Attempting to cheat in any of the exams in the university is a serious crime and if caught any disciplinary action can result in being unable to work in or for any state institution for the rest of the career..

• For symbolic calculations with no units, it is strongly recommended to check the dimensions in the final answer.

• All symbolic answers must be in terms of the parameters given in the problem statement  and universal physical constants.

• Students can not leave the exam room in the first 15 minutes of the exam and those who are more than 15 minutes late to the exam will not be admitted to the exam.

• All exam grades will be announced on the course moodle page.

• An objection date/time and place will be announced on the moodle page. Students can only see their exams during this time interval. Do not ask to see your paper some other time as the exams will be immediately sent to archive after the objection.

• There is no option for objection via email. You have to be physically present during the objection time.

Students with a total midterm grade below 10 (out of 40) cannot take the final exam!

 No need based grading!!! This means the following answer to common questions:

-" I am expecting a CC or CB letter grade but I want to repeat this course so could you please lower my grade to DC?" or

" The grade that I will receive from this course will result in the loss of my financial aid since my GPA will be below a critical value. Is it possible to push my letter grade up a notch?" or

" If I fail this course it will cost me one more year and I won't be able to do my internship. Could you please let me pass?" or

" One of my relatives is seriously sick or has just passed away. Therefore, I can not  concentrate in the exams so please do me a favor and let me pass the course even if I performed poorly in the exams"

- No. It is illegal to change a letter grade and such unlawful behavior is "usulsüzlük" which can lead to several months of imprisonment. Furthermore pushing the course instructor to break the course rules by showing up in the office and sending irritating messages is a type of harassment, which can result in disciplinary action against you.

The final letter grades will be determined according to the distribution of cumulative grades.

  Textbook

Solid State Physics, 9th ed. By Charles Kittel

TOPICS TO BE COVERED

 Chapters 1-9 

 Attendance and Class Participation

Students are highly encouraged to come to class on time and be ready to discuss the lecture material.