I have gotten dozens of emails, asking questions about the Practice Exam. I’ll give the answers to those questions here.

1. No, the Practice Exam does not count for a grade.
2. Yes, it has a due-date (4 pm Sep 26, in the case of the 1^st one).
3. Yes, the solutions are available, as soon as the due-date has passed (just as they are for the homeworks).
4. No, I’m not going to change the due-date. The class seems to be divided between those who have taken the practice exam — and want to see the solutions — and those who haven’t taken it. The due-date was chosen so as to give everyone the maximum opportunity to do the practice exam, while still giving folks the opportunity to also study the solutions.

Update:

As it turns out, Quest had a bug (fixed now) which prevented students, who had not taken the practice exam before the due-date, from viewing the solutions. The bug is fixed now – alas, too late for the the 1^st exam.