I hope that you are reading this on Monday or Tuesday ...

How did you do on the midterm?  

Did you score 40 or above?  If so, you did well and you should feel good aboout your work in the class.  Keep doing what you are doing.

Did you score in the 30's?  If so, you did OK, but you've got a few gaps.  You need to find out what you missed on the test and understand it thoroughly.  You are doing OK in the class  At the present rate, you are heading for a B or a C.   If you want an A in the class, you will need to work harder.

Did you score in the 20's?  If so, you didn't do so well. What's the problem ... Are you not taking the exercises and/or assignments seriously?  Are you getting too much "help"?  Are you a poor test taker?  Are you (seriously) doing CodeLab?  Do you ask Joe for help (or do you get it from another source)?  Do you need to ask for help?  Do you need to show up for class early so you can get some help?  Do you need to start assignments (an exercises) earlier?  Do you get stuck on a programming problem - if the answer is "No", then you are not coding enough?  What are you doing in the class?  Are you involved?  With this midterm score any grade, A though F, is still (probably) within reach.

Did you score less than 20?  If that's the case, then it is decision time.  How bad do you want to succeed in the class?  What is your goal?  Are you working toward you goal?  Even if you scored 0 points on the midterm, it may be possible to pull a B in the class.  But only if something seriously changes.  You obviously have some catching up to do.  Is it doable?  In my opinion - "yes".  But only if you are willing to put in real time and real effort.  There are resources available to you.  It's up to you.

Solutions

• Use the time before class - 7:30 to 8:30 to get help or ask questions.  Especially between 7:30 and 8:00, it's a good time to get individual help.  After class if you are free, that's a good time also, for help.
• Pay attention in class.  Be involved.  If you are really involved, you will have a question now and then.
• Do the exercises and assignments early.  Start working on the exercises on Mondays.  Start working on the assignments on Wednesdays.  Ask for help (email) when you are stuck.  Get stuck & work toward a solution.  Ask for clarification of the assignment if something is not clear.  Sometimes assignments or exercises are "kicked back" (to be resubmitted) if you miss an important point, but only when it is submitted early enough.  There is a strong correlation between the assignment grade and when it is submitted - usually the earlier it is submitted, the higher the grade.
• If you are a poor test taker, ask Joe for practice problems, especially before the final.  Work some practice problems and ask for feedback.  
  
• Use CodeLab.  The problems are good and you can ask for help with any problem that you get stuck on.
• You need to be a "dog on a bone".

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The three most important topics is the class are loops, functions, and arrays.  

This week's topic, functions, is essential if you are going to become a real programmer.  Designing, writing and using functions is a fundamental skill in programming that you must master.  

Functions are used

• to perform repetitive tasks
• to divide your application into smaller parts
• for a wide variety of problems

You are advised to review many examples containing functions, and to try to write functions often and for different purposes.  And make sure that you learn to write functions with different arguments and different return types.