Attendance and participation. I strongly encourage you to attend every day to keep up with the material. We will hold weekly, in-class quizzes on Thursdays to focus on problem solving skills, and your participation will be critical. You will be held responsible for all material presented in class, as well as that from the assigned readings. If three assignments are not turned in and you have not contacted me about your circumstances, or if you do not take the midterm examination, I will assume that you are no longer attending class and will apply an administrative drop.

Courtesy. Class time is critically important; it is the only time available to us for the discussion of material as a group. Because of this, we have set a few ground rules to make sure that your time, and mine, is not wasted.

• Arrive promptly for class, and do not leave before the session is completed. A late entrance is extremely distracting. Students who are repeatedly late or leave early, without prior arrangement, with be asked to drop the course.
• Turn off mobile phones and beepers when you enter the classroom, unless your partner is expecting a baby, you are an on-call fire fighter, or you anticipate a call from the Nobel Prize committee.
• When you are speaking, project your voice and speak clearly so that everyone in the room can hear you.
• When you are listening, give the speaker your full attention, be he or she the professor or another student.

Homework assignments. Homework assignments will be issued on Tuesdays, and come due eight days later (by noon on Wednesday, in my mailbox). If you need to turn one in late, come see me well before it is due. You will get one free late homework -- if you turn it in by Friday morning, I'll accept it without penalty. Subsequent late assignments get penalized as follows:

One day late:	25% deduction
Two days late:	50% deduction
Later than that?	Don't bother ...

Exams. The exams are scheduled at the beginning of the semester, and the dates are posted on the syllabus page. If you know that you will miss a certain exam, arrangements can be made in advance (for valid reasons!) for a session at a time and date prior to the scheduled time. Plane ticket reservations will not be accepted as a valid excuse.

Grading. The final course grades will be on a curve, but if you have more than 90% of the total number of points available you will receive an A, 80 to 90% at least a B, and 70 to 80% at least a C. You must earn a C or better to receive a Satisfactory rating if you have opted for the S/U option.

An appropriate adjustment will be made between ASTR405 and ASTR505; students taking the class at the 400-level (e.g., undergraduate physics majors) will be held to an approximately 80% standard.

Students who are not associated with the astronomy department and who do not have access to adequate computing resources are invited to discuss their situation with me. Programming assignments may be waived on a case by case basis, according to need.

An incomplete will be given only when a student has a C grade or better at the time the incomplete is requested and cannot complete the class due to circumstances beyond her/his control. These circumstances must have developed after the last day to withdraw from the class. Appropriate circumstances include a documented illness, death or crisis in the student's immediate family. Job-related problems are not appropriate grounds.

You have one week from the time an assignment or exam is returned to bring up any perceived errors. There are (rarely!) occasions when grading errors occur, so you should review your returned work.