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 Monday, February 22, 2016

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 focuses on material in Chapter 2 of the text (through 2.7), 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 allowed us to use some chapters from his AP Calculus book:

You can watch the video of a review session from last spring. While this was last spring, the material covered is pretty much the same.

You should be able to do the problems on the exams from previous semesters that you see below. (A few of these have material from later sections; this is noted on the exam.) 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: 63.9 median: 66 high score: 111 possible score: 111

range letter grade 90-111 A-, A 65-89 B-, B, B+ 45-64 C, C+ 35-44 C- 20-34 D, D+ 0-19 F

There were three different versions of the exam. Here is the mango version (and the solutions), the papaya version (and its solutions), or maybe the passion fruit 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 Thursday, April 7, 2016

The second midterm will cover the material we have covered since the first exam: Sections 3.1-3.8 and of the text, on the various methods of calculating derivatives, as well as some applications from sections 4.1 and 4.2.

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

You can watch the video of a review session from spring 2015. This doesn't include material on related rates or max/min of functions, but will be helpful anyway.

Here are some old exams (or sample problems) from previous semesters to help you prepare. Some of these occured a bit earlier in the semester than ours did, so some of the later material may be missing. In other cases, some of the earlier material may be missing.

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

low score: 0 mean: 49.7 median: 52 high score: 85 possible score: 86

range letter grade 73-86 A-, A 50-72 B-, B, B+ 30-50 C, C+ 25-30 C- 10-25 D, D+ 0-9 F

As before, there were three versions of the exam. Choose your preference, as you wish: Miracle Max (solutions), Fezzik (solutions), or Inigo Montoya (solutions).

Final Exam: during the week of April 25, and 8 am on Wednesday, May 11, 2016

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 Frey during the week of April 25. You will need to register for a time to do it outside of class (possible times TBA)
  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 one additional opportunity to take it again, during the scheduled time of the final (8am, May 11).
• Part II will consist only of more challenging questions, and will be graded 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 11. Note that if you passed part I and are happy with a C, you do not need to take Part II.

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 more problems that would be appropriate for Part I of the final can be found here (and the solutions). See also the Spring 2015 final, below.

As before, David Kahn put up another chapter from his book to help you get ready. Other chapters listed above are also relevant, of course. Certain aspects of each 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 the only one of these that has Part 1/Part 2 structure is the one from Spring 2015.

Here are some recorded review sessions that may help you prepare for the final. While they were last year, the material is the same. Remember that there are videos of all the material for the class on the class schedule page.

• May 4, 2015
• May 6, 2015
• Final Review Session, May 11, 2015