If you look around, you'll see how much I put into the course, and into Orientation. Yet my office hours are still underattended, though I usually get high marks for what I do there.
I feel like making a little sermon. It is your responsibility to make use of these things. It is not, as some students seem to feel, "the instructor does more, so that the student needs to do less." I will not lower expectations to help ensure that you "do well" in the course. I want you to do well---i.e., without the quotation marks---, to learn the material well according to Hopkins-level standards and aspirations, which is something that virtually all of you can achieve. But it is your responsibility to do it.
If you find the above at all "exotic", I urge you to look---I hope it's again---at the academic orientation material for mathematics and the sciences, and perhaps also my statements from Week 1 of the course.
You will likely find the material of Weeks 5-9 to be relatively straightforward.
You will likely find the material of Weeks 10-13 to be coming from another planet.
How can I say that with such confidence? I know how 160 or so students fared in my course last year; I also know how students in other semesters felt about the material, having heard from students (even one's getting A grades in Calc III) and instructors alike.
I will not condone poor performance on "Exam 3" (a subsidiary of the final) coupled with poor attendence in lecture at the end of the semester.
----------------------
The distribution of scores in the class is not the only factor that determines the course grades. I leave it to you to envision circumstances that might raise or lower the median course GPA. At bottom, your grade will be a reflection of how well you have demonstrated command of the material, relative to expectations of performance that come from JHU students in this and previous years.
The median score on Exam 1 was reported by the TA's to be about 69. I felt the exam was somewhat harder than last year's, but that you had a better idea than last year's students of what I might ask.
To help you assess your performance, I offer the following scale. It is not subdivided by + and -, so use you head. Your score, not the letter grade, will be kept in the course records. Also, keep in mind that I expect you to persist in trying to grasp the more difficult material of the course (failing to do so is a subtraction from your command). There is good reason why the Department of your major requires this course.
81-110 A
61-80 B
46-60 C
36-45 D
0-35 F
If your score was 50 or below, I recommend that you see me in my office. I
will hold office hours Wednesday 2:30-4:00, and also on Friday 2:30-4:00.
(Contact me if these times are unsuitable.) Freshmen in
this situation may be getting a gentle reminder from Academic Advising as well.
If your score was 30 or below, you have a lot of catching up to do.
If a student doesn't know how he or she did, or doesn't care, ... I'm sorry, but it's outside my domain.
-----------
Steven Zucker