Applied Calculus, Spring 2012
Info for First Exam


This Thursday (2/9/12) will be our first midterm exam.  It will cover sections 1.1 through 1.4 and 2.1 through 2.5.  Here are several important information items.

1.  Portfolio.  If you want to get credit for your course portfolio, you need to bring it to the exam for me to review.  Please review the instructions for assembling and organizing the portfolio.  Go to

http://www.dankalman.net/classesS12/appcalc/course%20info/portfolioQA.html    .

2.  Sample exam.  A sample exam has been posted, and will be discussed in class Wednesday.  NOTE: the sample exam is NOT a comprehensive review.  I constructed it by selecting relevant questions from a couple of sample exams used in prior semesters.  It is intended to give you a feel for what kinds of problems will be on the exam, how difficult they will be, and about how long the overall exam will be, although it is actually a little longer than I expect our exam to be.  

The sample exam makes no attempt to cover every topic, concept, or technique you are supposed to know for the exam.  For example, there are no problems on the sample exam that ask you to estimate the derivative of a function that is given by a table, or that give you a graph of a function and ask you to sketch the graph of the derivative, even though these would both be legitimate questions for the exam you will take.  I recommend you review all class notes, worksheets, and homework FIRST, and then look at the sample exam.  You can also use the sample exam to practice test taking skills, by working on the sample exam under conditions similar to those for a real exam -- limited time, limited references, etc.

3.  Calculator.  Be sure to bring a calculator to the exam.  It will not be permitted to share calculators during the exam.  You may not use a calculator that is built into a cell phone or pda.  Those kinds of devices will have to be turned off and put away out of reach during the exam.