Midterm #1 answers and curve

The answers to midterm #1 are here.

Here's the curve (do read below for what this means):
0-20 F
20-30 D
30-40 C
40-50 B
50+ A

Yes, it was a hard exam; no, it wasn't that hard to get an A on.

The final grade will not be computed by averaging letters together. It will be computed by adding up numbers (book HW + Matlab HW + midterm 1 + midterm 1 + final).
If we say "40 was a B on midterm 1, 60 was a B on midterm 2" etc. and you get B,B,B,B,B then you'll get a B.

People ask "Is there hope for me to pull up my grade?" Absolutely! This is a very important benefit of having the numerical grades closer to 50 than to 90 -- there's much more room at the top. If the averages are 95 and you get 60 on one test and 99 on the next, the 99 doesn't help much. If the averages are 20 and you get 0 on one test, the second test gives you a lot more chance to get back on top.