I (Politzer) didn't do well on Quiz 5 either. My troubles were with PROBLEM III. Indeed, I did the arithmetic wrong on the solution to part a). However, I harbored a profound misconception in writing the question. (So it ended up being a bit misleading.) And my solution to part b) was wrong, missing the essential point that I misunderstood. (The voltage accessible to a voltmeter is NOT the voltage across the ideal capacitor. Rather, it necessarily includes the super-cap internal resistance. Hence, for the given resistor values, the measured voltage with the switch open is only 1/3 the voltage across the "ideal" capacitor.)

Many students had trouble with PROBLEM II. I was not surprised, and, therefore, it was probably not really appropriate to have given it as a problem. There was nothing there that you could not have done in principle. It just required more attention to detail than students typically muster when taking exams. However, I had an ulterior motive. Among your Ph 1 Prac teachers, we often discuss what are and are not effective means of teaching and communication. This PROBLEM II was virtually identical to a handout that was given to all students who came to section. Sic transit gloria mundi.

It might help you to know that the letter grades given at the end of Ph 1c Prac (and the shadow grades for Winter term) are not done with an a priori formula connecting points accumulated to letter grades. What we actually do is review the difficulty of the tasks we set and the nature of the grading. This information is folded in with the all-too-many decades of teaching experience of your teaching staff. We try to arrive at final grades that are fair.