exam1

=Examination 1=

This exam assesses a few basic and critical components of a standard pre-calculus preparation (part 1 of exam), as well as a strong conceptual grounding regarding limit (part 2 of exam). Overall, students can expect that a strong showing on part 1 indicates good preparation of the algebraic skills required for an introductory calculus course -- and, conversely, a poor showing would suggest the need for more practice and review. Part 2 is specifically designed so as to be more conceptual in nature, with the intent to allow for assessment on the limit concept that is as independent of the pre-calculus, algebraic skill-set as possible. A strong showing on this part indicates a more robust understanding of the bedrock limit concept, and thus better preparation for the extensions upon it in chapters 3, 4, and 5. The two parts were given in order on two consecutive class days.

Performances didn't turn out as strong as I had hoped -- especially on part 1. My primary hypothesis for explaining this remains that this was the first examination in a course composed almost entirely of students for whom college-level mathematics is a very new thing. This seemed to garner support from the students when asked. The biggest difficulty students had on part 1 seemed to come from solving equations algebraically -- they seemed able to use graphical methods to find intersections and zeros with relative ease. Part 2 seemed to catch a few people off-guard with respect to the intersections of the limit concept and notions of discontinuity (problems 2 and 5), as well as the use of function notation in the grammar of limits (problem 4).


 * PDFs of Exam and key:**


 * Descriptive statistics regarding student performance on Examination 1:**

(n = 11, for both parts)

//Part 1//: (30 points)
 * Mean: 17.5
 * Median: 17
 * Mode: N/A
 * Standard Deviation: 7.4

//Part 2//: (70 points)
 * Mean: 57.8
 * Median: 59
 * Mode: N/A
 * Standard Deviation: 8.2