Announcements:
- Announced 12/15/2010: The final grades will be posted by Friday. The grades are not for debate, I will not respond to email grade questions. I have been more than fair. The necessary scores to get a 2.5 were carefully scrutinized and any one below a 2.5 is not close to the line. The median is 3.0 and I have been leanient with the grades (we have a lot of 4.0, 3.9, 3.8, and 3.7's). So please don't be disrespectful and try to debate me on the grade scale.
- Announced 12/15/2010: The final exam statistics are as follows (remember that the exam was out of 80 points):
- Median: 64 out of 80 (80%)
- Quartiles: 52.75, 64 and 72 (66%, 80%, 90%).
- Here is the entire final exam distribution:
- Announced 12/2/2010: To help give you a little push to get ahead on the homework, here are a couple short hints on 20.1(c) and 20.6. These will make sense after Friday's lecture, but I thought I'd give them to you know to look at. Also, remember to get the Ch. 16-20 review sheet and the updated homework list.
- Announced 12/1/2010: Make sure to get the most updated homework problems list for the last assignment. Also note that I have posted a review for Chapters 16-20.
- Announced 11/24/2010: The university closed due to weather on Tuesday and Wednesday (Nov. 23rd and 24th). As a result the homework schedule has changed. You can find all these changes through the homework link at the right. I have also emailed the class all of these changes and announcements. In addition, you will find a trig fact sheet at the right of the page that I just posted.
- Announced 11/22/2010: Here are the solutions to exam 2.
- The statistics for Exam 2 are:
- Median: 40 out of 50 (80%)
- Quartiles: 34, 40 and 45 (68%, 80%, 90%).
- Midterm grades are on catalyst now. The median for the exam will coorespond to a 2.7 and I will give a rough correspondence to the rest of the grades in class.
- Here is the Exam 2 distribution:
- Announced 11/5/2010: Here is a review of chapters 13-16
- Announced 11/1/2010: Here is a review of chapters 7-12.
READ THE NOTE BELOW CAREFULLY, SO THAT YOU UNDERSTAND HOW TO USE THE EXAM ARCHIVE!
The second exam in Math 120 is Thursday Nov. 18th in quiz section.
Let me reitereate and add to what I will say several times in class: The exams from the exam archive before Autumn 2009 do not line up with the order that the material is being presented this year!!!
Here is how to study and use the archive:
1. First review problems from homework and lectures. You need to know how to do ALL the assigned homework problems.
2. If you need extra practice on a specific topic. Go the old exam correspondence sheet at the right this page. You should only study old exam questions that correspond to Chapters 7-16. Skip over material that isn't from these chapters.
3. Below I have taken several of the topics and listed problems from the Exam Correspondence sheet by topic which we have completed so far since the last midterm (in chronological order):
CHAPTER 7:
Conroy Exam 1 Spring 2009: PROBLEM 3
Conroy Exam 1 Winter 2009: PROBLEM 2
Loveless Exam 1 Fall 2008: PROBLEM 2
Loveless Exam 1 Fall 2007: PROBLEM 4
Conroy Exam 1 Spring 2008: PROBLEM 3
Conroy Exam 2 Fall 2008: PROBLEM 1
Final Fall 2008: PROBLEM 7
CHAPTER 8/9/13:
Conroy Exam 1 Spring 2009: PROBLEM 4b
Conroy Exam 1 Spring 2008: PROBLEM 4
Loveless Exam 1 Fall 2007: PROBLEM 2b
Conroy Exam 2 Winter 2009: PROBLEM 1
Loveless Exam 2 Fall 2008: PROBLEM 2ab
Final Winter 2009: PROBLEM 7
Final Spring 2008: PROBLEM 7 and 8
Final Fall 2007: PROBLEM 9
CHAPTER 10/11/12:
Final Winter 2009: PROBLEM 3
Final Fall 2008: PROBLEM 3
Final Spring 2008: PROBLEM 2
Final Winter 2008: PROBLEM 2
Final Fall 2007: PROBLEM 2
4. Once you review your homework and go through the problems listed above, you should be able to look at other old midterms and finals and be able to easily tell if a given problem is from material you know for the second exam. - Announced 10/27/2010: The final exam time and location are now known have been posted at the left of this page. The final is SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11th, from 5:00-8:00PM in KANE 120.
- Announced 10/25/2010: Here are the solutions to exam 1.
- The statistics for Exam 1 are:
- Median: 36 out of 50 (72%)
- Quartiles: 27, 36 and 42.25 (54%, 72%, 84.5%).
- I will put a midterm "grade" on catalyst by the end of the week. The median for the exam will coorespond to a 2.5 and I will give a rough correspondence to the rest of the grades in class.
- Here is the Exam 1 distribution:
- Announced 10/13/2010: Here is a little discussion of absolute values that I give to my calculus 1 students but may be helpful to you as well. Ignore the limit example on the top half of page 4 (that will not appear in our class), but the rest is appropriate for you to look through.
- Announced 10/11/2010: I have posted a few hints for homework 2 and two examples from chapter 6 (cake and pizza cutting examples). In addition, note that EXAM 1 IS THURSDAY, OCT. 21 IN QUIZ SECTION! The exam covers Chapters 1-7. Here is a Review for Exam 1. You should make sure you go back and understand how to do all the homework problems and then try some of the exams in the exam archive (I also sent a previous email with advice about studying for the exam). In addition,
here are some tips for using the archive while studying for the first midterm exam:
- Begin your studying by going over all of the assigned homework first. Make sure that you understand how to solve all of the assigned homework before diving into the exam archive.
- In the archive, concentrate on the exams written by Dr. Conroy and me (the ones marked "Conroy" or "Loveless"). The order of presentation of some material changed in Fall 2009 (last year), so exams from Fall 2009, Winter 2010 and Spring 2010 correspond well with the current presentation of material. Exams from previous years may have problems that are not relevent to the chapters we have discussed. Here is a quick discussion to help you sort through older exams:
- One topic that appears on some old midterm 1 problems that you need not worry about (for this exam) is function composition. If a problem involves an expression like f(g(x)), you may safely skip it. Problem 4 on some of my spring exams are this sort of problem (e.g., problem 4b on my Spring 2009 midterm 1). For the last 10 exams, I have made a page that shows you which chapter corresponds with which problems on old exams. You don't need to worry about the problems marked chapter 8.
- Uniform linear motion problems do not appear on old midterms prior to Fall 2009. So, to supplement those midterms, take a look at the following exams:
- Announced 10/1/2010: I have posted two hints for homework 1.
- Announced 10/1/2010: ADVICE TO MATH 120 STUDENTS! Many students find the first two weeks to be the most difficult in this
course. It is an adjustment and I do believe that you will get more used to it.
My main advice is as follows:
- Start the homework as early as possible.
- Try all tutoring options including: the math study center, CLUE (in Mary Gates Hall Commons, 7:00 pm - midnight, Sunday - Thursday), use quiz section wisely, visit your TA's office hours, and visit my office hours
- HOMEWORK COMPLETION STRATEGY:
- First, work through each problem systematically as we have done in class (that is, visualize, find equations for curves, translate the question, and solve for what you can). If you do all this and still get stuck, then look at examples from lecture and from the textbook. If you still are stuck, then make a note of the problem and move on to the next one. I don't want you to spend more than 15-20 minutes on your own on one problem (don't come to me upset that you spent 4 hours on a problem, because you should have found help way before you ever reached 4 hours).
- When you have completed the problems that you can do, then you can go back and look at the problems where you were stuck. Perhaps you will have fresh ideas after working on the other problems. If not, then you need to first discuss the problem with a classmate. Then ask a question during quiz section. Then visit the math study center or CLUE. In this way you can be efficient with your time. Again this does not work, unless you start the homework as early as possible.
- Please note that our grading policy on the homework allows for a little bit of flex. I select 3 problems at random to be graded carefully (out of 3 points each). I also give 6 points for overall completion and presentation. So if you occasionally cannot complete one or two problems on a given homework assignment, then it will likely not have a great impact on yourgrade. As long as you show some attempt on all the problems, then your homework scores will likely be in the 12-15 out of 15 range. So if there is one or two problems on this first assignment that you absolutely cannot finish, it's okay. Just don't make it a habit.
- If you are worried that you will have difficulty on the exams. It is a good idea to start looking at old midterm exams. If you see a certain type of problem on several old exams, then it is somewhat likely that a related problem will appear on your exam. So if you know the appropriate techniques for such a problem, then you can almost guarantee yourself a certain amount of partial credit.
- Announced 9/22/10: Welcome to Math 120 A, Autumn quarter 2010. Announcements and other useful things will be posted here during the
quarter, so check this site frequently.
Textbook: The textbook for this course is Precalculus, by Collingwood and Prince, the 2010-11 edition. The book can be purchased at Professional Copy and Print, located at 1414 NE 42nd St. It is not available at the UW bookstore.
You do not have to purchase the textbook. It is available electronically on the Math 120 Materials Website (link at right).
It is necessary that you use the 2010-11 edition. Many changes were made from the 2008-9 to the 2009-10 edition, and there will be much confusion if you try to use the 2008-9 or earlier editions (the 2009-10 edition is very similar to the 2010-11 edition).
- The statistics for Exam 1 are:
- The statistics for Exam 2 are: