# Written midterm - 2013

 Due date(s): 24 October 2013 (PDF) Midterm questions (PDF) Midterm solutions

The midterm will be on 24 October 2013 and will cover all material in the course, up to and including Reverse Osmosis (membranes section).

The midterm will start at 19:00, but be at MDCL 1309 at 18:45.

• You may bring in any printed materials to the midterm; any textbooks, any papers, etc.
• You may use any calculator during the midterm.
• You may answer the questions in any order in the answer booklet.
• If anything seems unclear, or information appears to be incomplete, please make a reasonable assumption and continue with the question.

How to prepare for the midterm

• Understand the concepts being learned. My courses are not about applying the correct equation and solving.
• As you've seen, there are only 5 to 6 equations we have learned in the past 7 weeks. Understanding how to use these equations, and how to interpret them, is important.
• Check that your answers are reasonable (can you really have a flow rate of 1050 $$\text{m}^3.\text{s}^{-1}$$ through a pipe?)
• Read the questions carefully: they are usually worded precisely. The biggest point where students loose marks is to answer only part of the question.
• Questions that you did on computer in the assignments: make sure you can repeat them by hand. Obviously not where you have to draw an entire plot, but make sure the calculations to draw that plot can be done for at least one or two points on the curve.

Midterm solutions

The main issues with question 3 and 5 (longer questions), were a lack of

• stating the aim
• exploring the equations and concepts related to the question
• planning a strategy
• executing the strategy
• checking whether the solution is reasonable.

This is despite the fact that we've used this approach in almost every class example. About 5 out of 70 people wrote out a plan. Unfortunately, by not doing so, most of you obtained a jumbled collection of thoughts, then wrote down any equation and terms you could think of; and still did not actually end up solving the problem.