Exams

Three "Hour Exams" will be given throughout the semester, covering about four chapters each. The dates of these are scheduled in advance, and will not be subject to change without a very good reason. If you have a known conflict with an exam, you must notify me before the exam to request an excused absence. One missed exam may be dropped with a valid excuse. Excuses will be granted after an exam only in the event of a documented unforeseen emergency. If you are too sick to take an exam, you should contact me the day of the exam, if possible.

The exams are designed to test your acquisition of problem solving skills and your conceptual understanding of the material, and do not reward memorization. Basic equations will be provided for each exam, and you may bring an equation sheet to the final, but you will need to know how to use them. The situations in the exam are inspired by the homework problems, and may not be identical, but should be similar enough to be recognized if you worked all the problems. The best preparation for an exam is practice. If necessary, do more than the assigned problems. Every odd-numbered problem has an answer in the back of the textbook, and can be used for additional practice.

You must bring a scientific calculator to the exams, and may not share them. The calculator should have trigonometric functions, logarithms, and powers, but need not have advanced features for solving equations or calculus. Advanced calculators may be used on exams, but the advanced functions, beyond trigonometry, logarithms, and powers, may not be used. Cell phones must be off and not visible during exams.

Last Year's Exams