Midterm Examination Information

Date: Friday May 9, 2008
In Class

Last Updated: May 13, 2008

Examination booklets with space to show your work will be provided.

Midterm Coverage: Lessons 1 through 7 in the course text and all related material covered in class, in recitation, or in the suggested homework.

Midterm cover page (with important information about taking the midterm exam)

Study Tips for Midterm Preparation:

  1. Review the Goals for each Lessons mentioned above and be sure you have achieved them.
  2. Review all the assigned homework and make sure you understand the strategy for solving each problem. In many cases you should be able to just review mentally the method you would use to solve a problem. You should not need to write down all the steps.
  3. Take some time to review the main ideas covered in the text and in our classroom discussions. Compare and contrast the different approaches and ways of thinking about the same topic. Decide which way is most natural for you.
  4. Form a study group, if you haven't done so already, and practice asking each other to explain the main ideas covered so far. Ask your study partners how they think about solving problems that are hard for you.
  5. Use the midterms and finals in the back of the Study Guide and the review problems in Lesson 8 for practice, but don't expect the midterm this term to be virtually the same as any old exam. The old midterms and finals in the study guide have distinct similarities but they also have distinct differences. (The midterms and finals at the back of your text were given when series were covered first and matrix methods second. So the matrix problems on the final exams are relevant for you midterm review.)

Results and Advice Concerning the Midterm Exam

For class average information click on this table link. To see your weighted average score click on my weighted score. The my weighted score table is arranged by OSU IDs listed in decreasing order. The weighted score is (4/7)(your midterm + Q1, Q2, and Q3 % score) + (3/7)(homework average % score). The weights were chosen to reflect the relative importance of these two scores as part of your overall course grade before the final is taken into account. My experience is that this approach gives good advice about what to expect in terms of a course grade.

I will happy to speak individually about withdrawal decisions or questions about grading of your exam.