The more calculating students, having studied last year's coursework and end test (given as mocks) may have noticed that 100% of the marks on last years, and this years, coursework and 70% of the marks in the end test are on the first 6 weeks of lectures. This accounts for 85% of the mark, which is a good first. Furthermore, these are all questions for which the answer can be used to generate the question for checking purposes.
This means that the (arguably more difficult, more useful) material on calculus at the end of the course is only actually accounting for 15% of the mark, yet it covers 5 of 11 weeks of teaching.
I will, of course, not be telling my students this. But I wonder if any have realised. I could change the end test; there is still time as I haven't written it yet. But whenever for the past 3 months students have asked what will be on the end test I have said "look at the mock" so this may be unfair. I will have to have a think.
The students I am seeing in class seem keen to learn. Whether they don't realise this or realise it and know they might need to know the material for future courses (i.e. are not purely assessment-driven), I am not sure. But a couple of them have commented on examples in this course that they have seen in other science modules.
