Exam Information for Math 307

As it says on the course syllabus, there are two midterms and a final in MAT307, 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: during class on Wednesday, October 2, 2013

The midterm covers Chapter 1, 2, and 4 of the text.
Doing all of the homework problems prior to the exam is a very good idea. Doing additional problems from the text can be helpful. Here is a list of topics you should know.

If you wish to use a calculator on the exam you may, although it is by no means necessary and unlikely to be of any help: all problems may be readily done without one.

Sample exams Here are two exams given in MAT307 over the past couple of years. Solutions will arrive later, to help encourage you to do the problems on your own.

Fall 2010 [last time I taught this course]; here are the solutions On this test, the mean was 53 out of 74(a B-); the A,A- grades were 65 and up. Students needed at least 40 for a C.

Fall 2011 [given by Prof. Anderson]; here are the solutions. I don't know what the grade distribution was like, but this seems to be about of comparable difficulty to the other test. I would guess the mean was about 65 (out of 90) and the pass line around 45 or 50.

Results: I probably should have made the exam a little harder, since quite a few people (3) had a perfect score. Unfortunately, a few people did very poorly.
Below is a graph of the grade distribution on the exam.

low score: 15 mean: 51 median: 53 high score: 75 possible score: 75

range letter grade 60-75 A-, A 50-59 B-, B, B+ 40-49 C, C+ 30-39 C- 20-29 D 0-19 F

You can check your grade here.

Here is a copy of the exam so you can relive the magic. Also, here are the solutions to the exam.

Second Midterm: in class on in mid November (probably)

The second midterm will cover the material we have covered since the first exam: chapters 5 and 6, and the beginning of chapter 7.
Maybe this exam will be a bit more challenging than the first exam. As on the first midterm, a calculator is allowed but almost certainly of little use. Sample exams Here are two exams given in MAT307 over the past couple of years. Solutions will arrive later, to help encourage you to do the problems on your own.

Fall 2010 [last time I taught this course]; here are the solutions On this test, the median was 65 out of 90(a B); the A,A- grades were 75 and up. Students needed at least 45 for a C.

Fall 2011 [given by Prof. Anderson]; It is unlikely I will be able to post the solutions.

Results: Some people did well on the exam, but many did much less well. Three people had no points taken off.
Below is a graph of the score distribution on the exam.

low score: 5 mean: 74.4 median: 81.5 high score: 100 possible score: 100

range letter grade 90-100 A-, A 70-89 B-, B, B+ 50-70 C, C+ 40-49 C- 20-39 D 0-14 F

You can check your grade here. If you got a C- or lower on the exam, you will need to make some significant changes if you expect to pass the course, even if you are getting an A on homework (a lot of people are).

Here is a copy of the midterm.

Final Exam: 8:30pm on Tuesday, December 10, 2013

The final will be cumulative, covering everything that we have done in the class. However, extra emphasis will be on material since the second midterm (material in chapters 7, 8, and 9).
As on the midterms, you can use a calculator if you want, but I really don't see the point.

Sample exams Here are two final exams given in MAT307 in the past two years, both by Prof. Anderson. There is some overlap in the problems, and both have Stokes theorem questions; we won't have Stokes theorem, but expect at least one Green's theorem question.

Final from Fall 2011.
Final from Fall 2012.

Aurélien will hold a review session Monday, Dec 9 from 5-6:30pm in Physics P113. I will have office hours on Tuesday, Dec 10 from 9:30-12:30 and 2:30-3:30 for last-minute questions.

List of topics for final. The final will cover everything we have done in the class, with an emphasis on the material since the second midterm (that is, integration, vector fields, etc.).
Make sure that you know:

• stuff about vectors (dot and cross products,vector valued functions, vector fields) and matrices; how to calculate with them, including products, inverses, etc.
• equations of lines and planes in several variables.
• curves in the plane and space; derivatives an tangent vectors, arc length, curvature.
• functions of several variables, both graphs of functions of several variables and parametric surfaces.
• partial derivatives, tangent planes, the derivative matrix, implicit differentiation.
• max/min of functions of several variables (including Lagrange multipliers), locating and classifying critical points.
• multiple integrals; calculating volumes. Polar, spherical, cylindrical coordinates, as well as general change of variables (ie, Jacobi's theorem). Imporper integrals.
• Vector fields: line integrals, divergence, curl, Green's theorem, potential functions, conservative vector fields and independence of path.
• While you won't be asked to use Stokes' theorem or Gauss' theorem, you should know what the divergence and the curl of a vector field in the plane and in space is.