Undergraduate Teaching Assistants

Class Meetings

Class lectures will be given three times a week in Carroll Hall, Room 111, 1:00 - 1:50 pm, MWF. 

Recitation classes will be held once a week to review the material covered in lecture, the textbook, study guide questions, and generally assist your understanding of the course material.  All students in this course MUST be registered in one of the recitation sections listed below.  Any student not registered for a recitation section will be dropped from the course.

Textbook and Study Guide

The following are required for the course:       

Principles of Economics, Second Custom Version for UNC - Chapel Hill, Karl E. Case and Ray C. Fair, Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005.  

Study Guide to Accompany Principles of Economics, Second Custom Version for UNC - Chapel Hill, Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005. 

Course Compass Website 

The textbook combines print and electronic media via the internet. Follow the instructions given in the textbook to access the Course Compass website, or click on the Registration Instructions link below. This customized version is divided into two sections, Principles of Microeconomics and Principles of Macroeconomics, and a card is included with a student access code which enables you to register and log on to the book's website of interactive media including sample test questions, video examples, concept checks, exercises, interactive graphs, and poll questions. The placement of these links are noted throughout the printed version of the textbook. The website also includes supplemental material at the end of each chapter including a summary, practice quiz, key terms, problem sets, and exercises. 

The course ID is SCHWARTZ71232

REGISTRATION INSTRUCTIONS

Homework Assignments (HW)

Homework assignments are included in the course schedule below.  In general, the problem sets at the end of each chapter, which are given on the Activebook website under "Chapter Wrap-Up, End-of-Chapter Resources," are assigned as homework which will be reviewed in recitation.

In addition, "Application Questions" for each chapter in the Study Guide are assigned as a review of the important points in each chapter.  The answers to these questions are given in the Study Guide.  If you do not understand the answer to any of these questions, or any other question in the Study Guide, you should ask for an explanation in recitation, visiting your TA during office hours, or via email to your recitation TA.       

Grades and Exams

Course grades will be based on your recitation score, scores on two (2) midterm exams, and your score on the comprehensive final exam. Your recitation grade is the average of your highest four scores on five pop-quizzes given randomly to each recitation section throughout the semester. Recitation scores will be normalized across all recitation sections before calculating final course scores to correct for possible differences in the difficulty of quizzes in different recitation sections.

Your course score will be calculated using each of the following four different weighting methods: 

Recitation score is worth 10 percent, plus:

1. each midterm exam is worth 20 percent, and the final exam is worth 50 percent.

2. your highest midterm score is worth 30 percent, and the final exam worth 60 percent.

3. if you take at least one midterm exam, the final exam is worth 90 percent.

4. if you do not take either midterm exam, the final exam is only worth 80 percent.

The method that yields the highest score will be your overall course score.  Course scores will be curved prior to assigning course letter grades.

This method of calculating course scores has an advantage over a straight average because it gives you a chance to improve your score by doing well on the comprehensive final exam. If you do not do well on the midterms or do not take one midterm you can still recover by doing well on the comprehensive final exam.  Note, however, If you do not take either midterm exam there is a 10 percent course score penalty, so you can only partially recover by doing well on the final exam. The optimal strategy to maximize your grade under this system is to take both midterms exams. 

Exams and quizzes will consist of multiple choice questions very similar to those on the textbook website throughout each chapter, at the end of the chapters, and in the study guide. You should take advantage of these practice questions to prepare for exams and quizzes. Dates for each of the exams are given in the course schedule below. 

Grade Distribution:  For examples of typical final course grade distributions, click these links: 

Econ10 Spring 2003

Econ10 Fall 2003

Rules and Regulations

1. No make-up exams or make-up quizzes will be given, NO exceptions.

2. No "incomplete" course grades will be assigned.

3. No "extra credit" work will be assigned to anyone to improve grades.

4. These rules and regulations, grading system, and exam dates will not be changed this semester.

5. Students are expected to strictly adhere to the Honor Code.

Access to Exam Scores  

Students can access the ATN web site to get midterm and final exam scores after the exams have been scanned.  You cannot use this service if:  1) you do not have an email account, or 2) you did not properly code your PID number on the answer sheet.  If you cannot get your score, exam results will be available from your TA at your next recitation session. At the ATN exam score web page, enter your ONYEN and password. To go to the ATN Exam Scoring Reporting Service, click:

STUDENT CENTRAL

Course Schedule and Assignments

The following is a tentative course schedule and is subject to change, but the exam dates are firm.  Check the schedule often to make sure you are keeping pace with the reading, web exercises, study guide, lectures and recitation classes.  You may click the lecture title to download an outline of the material presented in class.   

Copyright © 2005, J. Brad Schwartz.  All rights reserved.