Course info

Modern Physics

BMETE15AP59, 2026 Spring Semester

 

Lectures

Mondays 08:15-10:00, Room F3213

Wednesdays 12:15-13:45, Room F29

26 lectures from Feb. 16. to May. 27., except April 6-10 (spring break), April 15 (Dean's break) and May 25 (Whit Monday)

Lecturer: Gergely Zaránd

 

Practice Sessions

Wednesdays 16:15-17:45 

13 Practice Sessions from Feb. 18. to May. 27., except March 11, April 8 (spring break) and April 15 (Dean's break)

There will be an extra session to make up for March 11 on Tuesday March 17 from 16:15 (rooms TBA).

Group	Instructor	Room
T1	Dániel Varjas	F31SEM
T2	Angelo Valli	E502
T3	Gergő Dénes	E503

Contact person

The responsible contact person for the course is Dániel Varjas, please c.c. him (varjas.daniel@ttk.bme.hu) on any communication with the lecturer or the other instructors.

 

Textbook

Stephen T. Thornton, Andrew Rex: Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers

5th edition, 2019, ISBN: 978-1-337-91945-6

Chapters (in this order): 1, 3-8, 10.1, 2, 12-14

You can find a pdf on Teams.

 

Course Requirements

Attendance and conditions for signature

Attending at least 65% of practice sessions (9 out of 13) and passing both midterm exams separately (individual threshold: 40%) is necessary for signature. If you can't attend practice for a good reason (illness, other important unforeseen event) please let us know in advance, or as soon as possible, so we can credit your attendance.

Midterm exams

There are two written problem-solving tests during the semester, each for 50 points:

Test	Time	Place	Max. Score
Test 1	April 1 8:15-9:55	TBA	50
Test 2	May 20 8:15-9:55	TBA	50

 

There will be opportunity to retake each of the tests. There will be an opportunity to re-retake one of the midterms, this requires registering on Neptun and paying a fee.

Test	Time	Place	Max. Score
Test 1 Retake	April 17 8:15-9:55	TBA	50
Test 2 Retake	May 29 8:15-9:55	TBA	50
Re-Retake	June 4 10:15-11:55	TBA	50

Mini tests (bonus points)

There is a 5-minute mini test at the start of the Monday lectures covering the material of the lectures and practice on the previous week. The grading is only based on the final answer on a correct/incorrect basis, 2 points per test. Bring a calculator! The maximum obtainable score is 20 points, the actual total may be higher depending on the number of tests (10-12 tests). The mini test score will be added to the midterm score as bonus, and those who score at least 60% (12 points) will be exempt from the entry question of the exam, and will get their final grade rouned up. See the Evaluation section for details. There will be no retakes for the mini tests!

Homework

There will be no graded homework, we will give homework for recommended self-study. Some of the homework problems will be on the mini tests and the midterms with modified numerical values.

Final exam

• The exam (both written or oral) starts with an entry question from the published list. Only those who answer correctly can commence to the rest of the exam. Those with at least 60% mini test score pass the entry question automatically.

• The written exam will consist of theoretical questions and practical problems.

• The threshold for passing the written exam is 40%.

• Those who fail the written exam, or want to improve their grade, can take a repeat oral exam.

• The oral exam will cover randomly selected topics (1 main and 2 minor questions) from the published exam questions list. Satisfactory knowledge of all topics is required to pass.

• Students must register for the exams in the Neptun system.

   

Test	Time	Place
Written final exam	TBA (first week of exam period)	TBA
Oral final exams	TBA	TBA

Evaluation

• Those who pass the midterms will get their mini test score added to the total of the midterms as bonus (max 50+50+20 points), and will receive a grade using the percentage limits in the table below. The mini test score is bonus, so the percentage is calculated with 100 points in the denominator.

• The written exam is graded with the percentage limits below, the oral exam is graded at the discretion of the examiner.

• The final grade is the average of the two grades (midterms and exam). We will round up if the result ends on .5 and the mini test score is at least 60%, and round down otherwise.

   

Score (%)	Evaluation	Grade
0-39.9 %	fail	1
40-59.9 %	pass	2
60-74.9 %	average	3
75-89.9 %	good	4
90- %	excellent	5