Monthly Schedule

(Honors AP Calculus, Period C)

M 1/7/08

HW due: Prepare for your midterm examination, and be prepared to present oral and/or written evidence (in a 1-minute personal interview) that you have undertaken some organized form of study. For example, a logbook showing the problems you have worked in an AP review book would suffice. Your textbook is also a large source of practice problems.

The material to be covered on the midterm examination includes everything discussed in class and everything in the textbook through §8-4. For more ideas, please see the sample exam from 1999 and the 1/16/08 calendar entry.

Note: The sample exam shows the level of difficulty you can expect to see. However, the format will be different this year, and since any exam by necessity can cover only a percentage of the topics that are fair game for inclusion, you cannot use the sample exam as your sole means of preparing for the midterm.

In class: Two practice “instant feedback quizzes.”

 

T 1/8/08

Instant Feedback Quiz (no calculator).

 

W 1/9/08

Instant Feedback Quiz (with calculator).

 

Th 1/10/08

Instant Feedback Quiz (no calculator).

 

F 1/11/08

Before school: Optional Multiple-Choice Test in LJ-302, Mathplex North. I said last fall that if you managed to squeeze in four test scores during the quarter, I would drop the lowest. Therefore, here is your chance. In recognition of the hard work everyone has put in, which has not yet paid dividends in all cases, I have agreed to construct many of the questions as “retreads” from recent quizzes, with numbers changed.

Schedule change: The optional test was originally scheduled to begin at 7:00 a.m., but that is simply too early for me. Let us begin at 7:15 instead. There will be 16 questions: 10 without calculator and 6 with calculator. Total running time is therefore 38 minutes. Scoring will be on an AP-style curve.

Instant Feedback Quiz (with calculator). Today’s quiz will be a class quiz. I will monitor the arguing, and if it is of good quality (i.e., not merely listening to one person’s suggestions and adopting them), then everyone in the class will earn the same score, which will presumably be 34. The four instant feedback quizzes for the week, with the lowest one dropped, will be merged into a single test score based on 100 points. There were 34 points possible each day, for a maximum of 102 points.

 

W 1/16/08

Midterm Exam, 8:00 a.m., LJ-300 (Mathplex South).

The exam will last 2 hours. It will be a scaled-down version of the AP exam, which has 4 parts (IA, IB, IIA, and IIB) organized as follows:

Part IA: Multiple choice, no calculator, 28 problems in 55 minutes.
Part IB: Multiple choice, calculator required, 17 problems in 50 minutes.
Part IIA: Free response, calculator required, 3 multi-part problems in 45 minutes.
Part IIB: Free response, no calculator, 3 multi-part problems in 45 minutes.

During Part IIB, the student may continue to work on the Part IIA problems if desired, but of course without calculator.

Your scaled-down exam will be organized as follows:

Part IA: Multiple choice, no calculator, 15 problems in 30 minutes.
Part IB: Multiple choice, calculator required, 10 problems in 30 minutes.
Part IIA: Free response, calculator required, 2 multi-part problems in 30 minutes.
Part IIB: Free response, no calculator, 2 multi-part problems in 30 minutes.

The AP rule described above (regarding working on Part IIA during Part IIB) will apply.

Questions will be drawn from a variety of sources. Here are some good ideas for studying:

 

  • Visit the AP website (using the link I have provided).
  • Review your textbook.
  • Review your class notes.
  • Take the sample exam from 1999, even though the format does not match this year’s format.
  • Work practice problems in commercially available AP review books.

 

For the types of questions that you will not find in any review book, two examples are provided below.

Which of the following are true about ODEs?
     I.        No derivative can ever appear to a fractional power.
     II.       No derivative can ever appear to a power greater than 1.
     III.     Such ODEs can be solved if and only if they are separable.

(A) I only
(B) I and II only
(C) III only
(D) II and III only
(E) I, II, and III are all false

Which of the following are true concerning Euler’s Method?
     I.        In general, a larger step size results in more accurate estimates of the dependent variable.
     II.       The step size must always be nonzero.
     III.     Euler’s Method estimates based on a chaotic slope field are never of any value.

(A) I and II only
(B) II only
(C) II and III only
(D) I, II, and III are all true
(E) I, II, and III are all false

 

Th 1/17/08

Extra Credit Deadline, 3:30 p.m. Since the second quarter ended almost a week ago, and since there is a limit of 10 Mathcross bonus points per quarter, and since your grades have to be turned in tomorrow to the registrar, I have no choice but to set a deadline. Congratulations to those who earned extra points. Any submissions after the deadline will be applied to the next quarter’s grades.

 

M 1/21/08

No school (holiday).

 

T 1/22/08

No school (faculty meetings). If you did not receive an e-mail message with your quarter and semester grades, please contact me.

 

W 1/23/08

Start of second semester.

 

Th 1/24/08

HW due: §8-3 #12, 19; §8-4 #10, 14, 16, 18.

 

F 1/25/08

HW due: §8-5 #1, 2, 6, 8, 11. Draw a careful sketch for each problem, showing a “representative sample slice.”

 

M 1/28/08

HW due: Read §8-6 and finish up any gaps you may have left from last week. All 11 problems should be in a reasonably complete and accurate state. Be sure to check your answers for the odd-numbered problems.

 

T 1/29/08

HW due: Write §8-5 #26, §8-6 #7. Do #7 two ways: both by washers (as in the previous section) and by cylindrical shells. Which method is easier?

 

W 1/30/08

HW due: Read §8-7; write §8-6 #8, 16, 20, 23.

 

Th 1/31/08

HW due: Read §8-9 (we are skipping §8-8); write §8-7 #14, 21, 22. If you have forgotten how to calculate the particular parabola (for #21 and #22) passing through 3 given noncollinear points, review your precal textbook or perform a Web search. This is the sort of thing that you are supposed to know how to do.

 

 

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Last updated: 01 Feb 2008