The final grades were submitted on Fri. Dec 12, around 10:30am. The class average is 75%. I wish you best of luck with all your other exams, and with whatever comes after them.

Here are the solutions. I will post more information here as soon as the final grades are approved and submitted. Good luck with your other exams!

The final exam is scheduled for Fri. Dec. 5, at noon in Angus 435. Please try to arrive a few minutes earlier, so we can start on-time. You must bring your student ID or some other official form of identification that has a picture of you on it, because I am required to verify that you are indeed yourself. Cell phones must be turned off and put away with your belongings (your cell should not be on your person, so that there is no possible way to receive/transmit information during the exam). All work should be done on the exam notebooks that will be provided to you.

The exam will be 2.5h long, and it will consist of 5 problems, one of which will be identical to a hmw problem. All material is covered, except for the additional topics discussed in the last few lectures (ask me if you need more details). I will give you some formulae with the problems, as discussed, but I will not tell you beforehand what these formulae will be. You are allowed to bring a piece of paper (identified with your name and your student no.) with up to 5 equations on it. An equation is a single equality of the type A=B which appeared in the notes or was written on the blackboard at some point during the course. If you are not sure if I will provide a specific equation or not, email/ask me and I'll let you know -- there's no point in wasting some of your choices on equations I will give. The final exams from the last two years are posted here and here. This should give you an idea of what types of formulae I may give, and what I think is a reasonable workload for a 2.5h exam. I think I gave you all these problems as homework problems, so you can find the solutions at appropriate places.

Extra office hours:
Wed., Dec. 3, 9:00-11:00am and 2:00-5:00pm (I have other meetings 11-1)
Thus., Dec. 4, 9:00-1:00pm and 3:30-5:00pm (I have other meetings 2-3:30)
If you want to meet with me outside these office hours, email me and we will try to find a suitable time. I will let you know when the final homework is graded and ready for pick-up.

In preparing for the exam, you should try to understand the underlying logic of the various solutions discussed in class and in the problem sets. Study carefully the solutions I posted for the various homeworks and the various posted notes, and make sure your solutions agree with these. If they do not, come to office hours so we can settle the differences before the exam.

Talking to or looking at a neighbor's work is not allowed, under any circumstances. All questions should be addressed to the invigilators. Attempts at academic misconduct will be severely penalized.

Each midterm problems was graded out of 5, so that the final grade is out of 20. The grades were divided as follows: Problem 1: (a) 2; (b) 2; (c) 1. Problem 2: (a) 1; (b) 3; (c) 1. Problem 3: (a) 1; (b) 1; (c) 2; (d) 1. Problem 4: 2.5 for the correct sign of hopping between atoms on the same rung, 2.5 for figuring out that there is no nn hopping between atoms on different rungs.

The midterm class average was 76%. There will be a voluntary 10 min test on Thus., Nov 6, which will have a problem very similar to one of the problems in the midterm, and which will increase your midterm grade by 5% (if you take the test and solve it correctly, of course).

The midterm is scheduled on Tue Oct. 28, during the regular lecture time (it will be 60 mins long). It will consist of several short problems, covering the material up to (but not including ) Xray scattering. All relevant problems from the last two years' midterms were given in the first three homeworks from this and last year's sets. If you want me to post them here separately, let me know.

Because the midterm is on the day when hmw 3 is due, you can and should ask me any questions you have about the solutions of those problems, since similar ones may well appear on the midterm.

Additional office hours: Mon. Oct 27 from 1-5pm. If you have questions during the weekend, email me and I will answer asap. If you want to meet on Mon and these hours do not work for you, email me your availability after 1pm (I am not free in the morning) and I will add more hours to the list.

No cheat sheet is allowed. I will give you some formulae that I think are relevant (for example, the Lennard-Jones potential if there is a question about van der Waals bonding) but I will not tell you beforehand what these formulae are. I will certainly provide a copy of the table of elements, so don't worry about knowing atomic numbers for various elements by heart. In preparing for the exam, you should try to understand the underlying logic of the material covered, and the various problems from the in-class worksheets and problem sets (including the older ones. If you need more practice, try to invent new problems: ask yourself what sort of bonds stabilize well-known molecules or crystals, draw various crystals and try to figure their lattice and basis and find their Brillouin zone, or figure out their cohesion energy, or think about a simple model and what sort of parameters would be needed (for example, positive or negative hopping integrals) etc., etc. This sort of exercise where you challenge yourself to create more and more complicated problems is really the best way to see how much you know and how far it can be used.

Talking to or looking at a neighbor's solution during the exam is not allowed, under any circumstances. All questions should be addressed to me. Attempts at academic misconduct will be severely penalized.

Cell phones must be turned off and put away with your belongings, out of arm's reach (your cell should not be on your person, so that there is no possible way to receive/transmit information during the exam). I will provide you with exam booklets so all you need to bring with you are pens -- all work must be written with pens, not pencils. If you make a mistake, just cross out (with a big X) the offending paragraph. If you change your mind and decide that the crossed-out work was actually correct, make a note near it "this is correct" and continue with the solution. Don't waste time trying to make things look nice -- of course, I prefer to see nicely written exams, but the essential aspect is that they are correct, the "messiness" will not affect the grade (provided that the solution can be deciphered).