Grading and Course Policies

Attendance: 

You are expected to attend all meetings of the class. If you are absent from class, you are responsible for the material covered; arrange to copy another student's notes for that day. Any changes in this syllabus or in the scheduling of exams or quizzes will be announced during class meetings. Missing an Exam without an advance valid excuse presented to the Instructor will result in a score of 0 pts. No makeup exams are given. Commercial travel schedules are not excuses. There will be no makeup or excused Quizzes or problem set assignments.

Reading:

Reading the sections of the lecture notes and suggested textbooks corresponding to the assigned homework exercises is considered part of the homework assignment. It will be expected that you read the assigned material in advance of each lecture. Furthermore, you are responsible for material in the assigned reading whether it is discussed in the lecture or not.

Calculator

You will need a graphing calculator for this course. We recommend the TI-83. Models like TI-83 plus, or the TI-84, or the TI-86 are fine. Other equivalent calculators (some HP’s, Casio, Sharp) may be used. You are responsible for knowing how to use your calculator. Bring your calculator to all class meetings. You may not use a TI-89 or TI-92 or any laptop or palmtop computer in this course.

Lecture Homework: 

Homework will be assigned on the course homework page and should be completed by the indicated due date. Homework will not be collected. Completing the assigned homework is vital to your understanding of the subject material. You should make every effort to complete the homework assignments and seek help with problems you have not been able to solve.

Quizzes and worksheets.

There will be seven quizzes given in recitation on Thursdays without exams. The two lower quiz scores will be dropped. No early, late, or makeup quizzes will be given. The two dropped quizzes will accommodate quizzes missed for any reason. There will be graded worksheets, usually assigned  and written during Tueasday recitations. No early, late, or makeup worksheets will be accepted.

Gateway Exam:

The Gateway Exam is a 12-question multiple choice test consisting of basic material that you will need for this course and calculus. You can take the exam in a computer lab B-100E Wells Hall. A passing score on the Gateway Exam is 10 correct out of 12. You may re-take the exam several times in order to get a passing score, as often as once per day. The Gateway Exam schedule is posted at here. Not taking the gateway exams means -10 points of your total score at the end of the semester. Taking and failing the gateway exam means no modification in your total score. Taking and passing the gateway exam means +10 points in your total score.

Exams: 

There will be five exams given in recitation on Thursdays and a uniform final exam; see the homework page page for the dates of the exams.  You will be allowed fifty (50) minutes to complete each exam.  Each exam will have around five problems. You are allowed to bring your TI-83 calculator to the exams. No notes, or books will be allowed in the exams. A missed exam will receive a grade of 0 unless a valid excuse is presented before the time of the exam.

Final Exam:  Monday, December 14, 10:00 - 12:00 noon. Place to be announced.

A TI-83 calculator allowed in the final exam. No notes, or books will be allowed.  Bring your personal photo ID to the exam. Any student having another final scheduled during the time of the uniform final exam time or having two other final exams scheduled the day of that exam may take the make-up exam, which will be given the next day. If you qualify for the make-up final exam, in order to take it you must fill out a request in A212 Wells Hall no later than Friday, December 11 and provide a recent copy of your schedule as documentation. You will not be allowed to take the make-up final without registering. Students taking the make-up final exam must have a pictured ID.

Grading:

Your course grade points will be determined as follows: Five Exams  500 points. Final Exam   200 points Quizzes         50 points Worksheets    50 points Total:           800 points. Your total points will be converted into percentage. Final grades will be assigned based on the following scale: 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.0 [100, 90] (90, 85] (85, 79] (79, 73] (73, 65] (65, 60] (60, 55] Below 55

Academic Dishonesty: 

Academic dishonesty is considered a serious offense at MSU. Students caught cheating may face failure in the course and an administrative sanction which may include suspension or expulsion from the university. For more information se here.