Population Economics 01:220:477
Rutgers University, Professor Ira N. Gang, Email: gang at rutgers.edu  Please include 477 in the subject line

Assessments

General comments: There will be two (2) exams and one (1) exercise during the semester and a third (3rd) exam during the final exam period.
1. All exams are cumulative, however the emphasis will be on the material not covered in previous exams. Warning: If you have multiple exams
around he same time. plan your studying well in advance.
2. Note that the grading system gives you tremendous latitude. I am not planning on providing make-up exams. 
3. There is no way to ex poste improve your grade on an examination. Plan to do well on the required material.
4. Note that I reserve the right to alter the schedule during the semester.
5.
Please see the lecture schedule and Grading Syllabus web pages for details on material coverage and grading.

During the term: The two (2) in-term exams will be administered according to the following procedures:
1. They will be given online via Sakai tests and quizzes folder.
2. They will consist of approximately
30 multiple choice questions.
3. Once you begin the exam you will have 90 minutes to finish it.
4. On the exam date you can take the exam anytime from 12:05AM until 11:55PM. Once you click "Begin Assessment," you will have 90 minutes or until 11:55 PM whichever is earlier to complete this assessment. It will be submitted at 11:55 PM regardless of whether you have answered all the questions. You can submit the exam earlier if you like.
5. Once the exam is submitted you cannot go back to it.
6. 
You can proceed through the exam in order of the questions. If you want to skip around, clicking Table of Contents will bring you to the list of the questions, with the ones you have answered marked. You can also use this for moving around the exam. Until you submit the exam you can go back and change your answers.
7. This is and OPEN exam. You can use calculators, notes, etc. You cannot communicate with anyone during the exam.
8.
If issues arise during your taking the exam email both Altug Yildiz <ay319 at economics.rutgers.edu> and Prof Gang <gang at rutgers.edu>. We will not be on all 24 hours during which you may take the exam, but we may be and in that case we will get back to you. If we do not get back to you during the exam you will have registered the issue with us. In this case, after finishing the exam please email again saying how you handled the issue and what assumptions you made. We will certainly be monitoring our emails during the regularly scheduled class time.
9. Exam 1 will be given on Monday 04 October. Exam 2 will be given on Monday 08 November.

Final exam period: A third exam will be given during the final exam period. It will be administered according to the following procedures:
1. It will be given online via Sakai tests and quizzes folder.
2. It will consist of approximately 30 to 60 multiple choice questions.
3. On the exam date you can take the exam anytime from 12:05AM until 11:55PM. Once you click "Begin Assessment," you will have three (3) hours or until 11:55 PM whichever is earlier to complete this assessment. It will be submitted at 11:55 PM regardless of whether you have answered all the questions. 
4. The final exam is on Monday 20 December. The officially scheduled time Monday 20 December 04:00PM - 07:00PM, which is included within our 24 hour period.
5. Once the exam is submitted you cannot go back to it.

6. You can proceed through the exam in order of the questions. You can return to questions that you have finished, as long as you do so prior to submitting the exam. If you want to skip around, clicking Table of Contents will bring you to the list of the questions, with the ones you have answered marked. You can also use this for moving around the exam. Until you submit the exam you can go back and change your answers.
7. This is and OPEN exam. You can use calculators, notes, etc. You cannot communicate with anyone during the exam.
8. If issues arise during your taking the exam email both Altug Yildiz <ay319 at economics.rutgers.edu> and Prof Gang <gang at rutgers.edu>. We will not be on all 24 hours during which you may take the exam, but we may be and in that case we will get back to you. If we do not get back to you during the exam you will have registered the issue with us. In this case, after finishing the exam please email again saying how you handled the issue and what assumptions you made. We will certainly be monitoring our emails during the officially scheduled exam time.
9. If you have an officially recognized conflict during the final exam period, and the procedure just described is problematic, you must inform me and provide the required and appropriate documentation.
10. Summary: Yo
u have three (3) hours to complete the exam once started. This means you need to find three (3) continuous hours within the 24 hour period to take the exam. This time period includes the officially scheduled time for this final exam (which is Monday 20 December 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM).
111. After the final exam I will calculate your course grade and post it on SAKAI. An announcement will be made at the time as to where you can find it. I will also submit your grade to the registrar.

 
Some Advice and Hints
1. Students often ask what material should they study. The simple answer is everything and more.  The idea is to develop an understanding of the subject of this class. I, like most  professors, tend to lecture and test on what I think is most important. So, the frequency of questions on the exams that come from what I lecture on will be higher than other sources. However, I attempt to design the exams so that you can reveal your understanding of all the assigned material.  This includes the lectures, the reading, suggested problems, old exam questions, everything, and your ability to integrate the material. Also recognize that this course has prerequisites that I take quite seriously.  Exam questions may also be built in the material you should have mastered in these prerequisites.
2. If you are having problems, please seek out help early. Email me and we will arrange a day and time to meet through our course software. In meeting, please be prepared, having gone over the lectures and other material. If you have missed any classes, make sure you have made up the work.  Often students find it useful to form small study groups.
3. Some students slack off. The readings, after all, seem pretty minimal. They aren't! Economics is deceptive. The only way to learn it is to keep going over it, work  problems, and THINK about what you are doing at each step. I suggest that you first read through all the material. This will help you to begin to think about economics. Go over the lectures and think about what problems I raise and what problems are raised in the readings. Pace yourself throughout the semester. A good exercise is to pick up the newspaper and come up with alternative explanations of various "business" and "economic" news. Furthermore, let me urge you to read as much of the material as possible early on in the course. You will find this will help you develop a perspective on the course material and lead to a better understanding of the material.
4. Study ahead. Do not wait until after I have lectured on something to read the material work on it yourself. Come to class  prepared! Otherwise, you are fooling yourself.
5. The emphasis in this class is on developing your ability to apply analytical techniques and on your understanding of fundamental concepts. Exams will emphasize this. They will assume you have a complete understanding of all the material, and will ask you to apply what you have learned to "new" circumstances. In approaching the multiple choice questions on the exams, answer the question (i.e., solve the problem) before looking at the choices.
6. The course material builds on earlier work. It is essential that you master every part of the material. I will integrate the material as we go along, but you will be ahead of the game if you make extended efforts to learn and integrate it yourself.
7. The University has established severe penalties for cheating. The Univeristy’s policy on academic integrity is found at http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/integrity.shtml