Exam Information for Math 125

As it says on the course syllabus, there are two midterms and a final in MAT125, which count for 25%, 25%, and 35% of your grade, respectively. No Make-up exams will be given. If you miss an exam due to a documented medical or family reason, that score will be replaced by the grade on the balance of the course. If you miss more than one exam for such reasons, you should probably withdraw from the course.

First Midterm: 8:45 pm on Thursday, February 26, 2015

Bring a photo ID. No calculators will be allowed. Bring a pen to the exam: while you may do the midterm in pencil (or crayon), you can only contest grading of problems done in non-erasable ink. Sorry.

The midterm covers the material in Chapter 2 of the text, with knowledge of chapter 1 and Appendix A, B, and C assumed as background.
Doing all of the homework problems prior to the exam is a very good idea. Doing additional problems from the text can be helpful.

In order to help you review and prepare, David Kahn has kindly posted some chapters from his book:

In addition, there will be a Review Session held on Sunday, February 22 from 5-7pm in ESS 001. This session was videotaped, and posted on the class video page.
The lectures on Wednesday and/or Thursday will almost certainly be review/problem sessions as well.

You should be able to do all the problems on the exams from previous semesters that you see below. Note that our exam will have different problems, in possibly different formats, from any of these old exams. Still, they should give you an idea of the range and difficulty to expect.

Results: Below is a graph of the score distribution on the exam.

low score: 3 mean: 38.2 median: 38 high score: 69 possible score: 69

range letter grade 55-69 A-, A 40-54 B-, B, B+ 25-39 C, C+ 17-24 C- 10-16 D, D+ 0-9 F

There were three different versions of the exam. Here is the vanilla version (and the solutions), the chocolate version (and its solutions), or maybe the lemon chiffon version (solutions) is your pleasure. They are pretty similar, despite the flavors. If you see any typos, let me know.

Second Midterm: 8:45 pm on Tuesday, March 31, 2015

The second midterm will cover the material we have covered since the first exam: Sections 3.1-3.9 of the text, on the various methods of calculating derivatives.

As before, David Kahn has kindly posted some chapters from his book to help you prepare:

Here are some old exams (or sample problems) from previous semesters to help you prepare. All of these occured a bit later in the semester than ours did, so a few problems on each cover material we haven't done yet. These problems are noted.

David Kahn will be holding a review session on Sunday, March 31 from 5-7pm in ESS001. If you miss it, the video will be up on the class video page late on monday.

Results: Below is a graph of the score distribution on the exam.

low score: 6 mean: 37.6 median: 38 high score: 78 possible score: 78

range letter grade 55-78 A-, A 40-54 B-, B, B+ 23-39 C, C+ 15-22 C- 10-14 D, D+ 0-9 F

If you want to relive the magic, you can grab a copy of the midterm and go wild. The exam came in three tropical flavors: mango (solutions), papaya (solutions), and pineapple (solutions).

Final Exam: during the week of April 27, and 8 am on Wednesday, May 13, 2015

The final will be cumulative, covering everything that we have done in the class.

The final will be given in two parts, as described below.

• Part I will be pass/fail, and focus on the more basic material in the course. It consists of 12 very straightforward questions, with passing being 9 or more correct. This will be given in recitation during the week of April 26.
  If you pass pass Part I, you are guaranteed a C or better on the final and hence in the course.
  If you fail Part I the first time, you will have additional opportunities to take it again, including during the scheduled time of the final (8am, May 13).
• Part II will consist only of more challenging questions, and can be taken only if you pass Part I. It will determine what grade better than C you get on the final. This will be held at the scheduled time of 8 am on May 13. Note that if you passed part I and are happy with a C, you do not need to take Part II.

the answers.

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To prepare for Part I of the final, you might find doing the practice problems for part 3a of the math placement exam. These are drawn from a test bank, so you will get slightly different problems if you do them again. Note that some of these problems could be a little harder than part I, but are also multiple choice (Part I will not be multiple choice).

Some problems that would be appropriate for Part I of the final can be found here (and the solutions).

As before, David Kahn put up some chapters from his book to help you get ready. Other chapters listed above are also relevant, of course. Certain aspects are relevant for either Part I or Part II of the final.

Here are some finals (or sample finals) from previous years to help you study. Keep in mind, however, that these do not have the Part 1/Part 2 structure. Please work the problems before reading the solutions, or they won't do you any good.

Results: If you took part 2 of the final, you know that there were no "easy" problems. For people who did not quite pass part 1, their grade on the final was either F, D or C-; people who passed part 1 have grades on the final of C or higher.
Below is a graph of the score distribution on the final. This includes people who passed part 1, but chose not to do part 2, which is why the bar for C is so high.

low score: 0 mean: 30.1 median: 30 high score: 71 possible score: 76

range letter grade 45-74 A-, A 21-44 B-, B, B+ 0-20 C, C+

You can check your grade in the Grade Center on blackboard.