In some courses I have chosen to make the homework a recommendation rather than for a grade. Sometimes I have changed the policy midway through the semester for various reasons.

If you have recommended homework this means I assume that you will work all problems and attempt to check out the solutions. I will post the solutions (in the normal place in the Physics and Engineering Office) and you should check your work with these solutions.

I have made the statement in classes many times that if you do not do the homework then performance on exams will suffer. The way I produce and grade exams and the level of exams are unchanged whether homework is graded or recommended.