HomePage for S. Smith's section of Math 121

Fall 2004

NEW as of 18nov04: some old finals to use as sample exams (see links at "Sample Exams" below)

  Welcome to the homepage for Prof. Stephen Smith's section of:

          Math 121:  Pre-Calculus Mathematics

  Lecture at 9am MWF, in D2 Lecture Center   (UIC call no. = 13002)


  Instructor:   Stephen D. Smith
  Office:       536 SEO
  Office hours: (tentative) 11am MF, 1pm W -- or call/drop by/make appt.
  Phone:        (312) 413-2165   (fax 996-1491)
  Email:        smiths@math.uic.edu

  Teaching Assistants:
           Katherine Bird +  Ilker Yuce   +      Davender Sahota
  Office:  623 SEO           723 SEO             334 SEO
  Office hour pool: Click on "Math 121" under "Math Labs" on the page:
      (pdf file of Math Labs) 
  Phone:   6-2709            3-9789              5-2873
  Email: kbird1@math.uic.edu ilker@math.uic.edu  sahota@math.uic.edu

  Discussion sections:  8 am TTh in 215 TH (call# 12965) Bird
                        8 am TTh in 309 TH (call# 12967) Yuce  
                        9 am TTh in 100 GH (call# 12972) Yuce  
                        9 am TTh in 208(now 212?) TH (call# 12973) Bird 
                       10 am TTh in 308 TH (call# 12974) Sahota     
			  (This 10am section links to Math 122 # 13013)
                       11 am TTh in 219 BSB (call# 12975) Yuce  
                       10 am TTh in 203 SH (call# 21744) Bird

Final Exams Thursday Dec 9, CHANGED EARLIER, to 3:30-5:30pm
ROOMS: A1 LC for our whole class

Further course handouts will be posted here, check regularly.

Course Syllabus (and other information)

General information about Math 121 (all sections) can be found in the "overall " Math 121 homepage:

overall Math 121 information and links (go to overall 121 homepage)

That page contains the course syllabus, including the daily homework assignment schedule. It also contains other information on course policies.

For example, it describes the grading system based on 100% broken down into: 50 % for the final exam; 40 % total from 3 midterm exams (sometimes the lowest is dropped); and 10 % for homework/quizzes. After the final, the instructors determine a common policy for scores on the final, and then for the course. I usually prefer to require the overall average to be roughly 60% for D, 70% for C, 80% for B, and 90% for A.

Homework: We will collect homework on a weekly basis, in the discussion sections. We do not expect to have funding for staff to grade homework in detail, so they will usually be graded as satisfactory/unsatisfactory. (Homework on the "review" of chapter 1 need not be handed in).

Quizzes: There will be a short quiz almost every week, determined by the TA for the discussion. It will usually be given in the Thursday discussion class. There will be no makeup quizzes, but one or two lowest quiz scores may be dropped.

It has become necessary to adopt the following no-tolerance policy for cell phones in class:

1) All cell phones are to be turned off during the entire class.

2) Violators will be sent out of class, and not allowed to return, for the entire semester. This includes an E in the course, unless the violator arranges with a dean to drop the course.

Other course handouts will be posted in this area during the course of the semester.

Sample Exams

Note that the sample finals below were from 2002, using a different book. A few of the problems may be of types NOT applicable in our upcoming final.

Here is a link to the spring 2002 final (I think problem 1 appears on the last page, not the first) (spring 2002 final, several formats)

Here is a link to the fall 2002 final (fall 2002 final, several formats)

Here is a link to SOLUTIONS for the fall 2002 final (fall 2002 final SOLUTIONS, several formats)

Here is a link (some corrections, as of 12noon) to Solutions for Exam3 (given today 12 November 2004): (actual exam3 solutions, several formats)

Here is a link to another sample Exam3 (actually given 15 November 2002): (this was using the previous text---so problems 6,7 are NOT of the type in our material for exam3, namely chapters 6,7 of the text) (another sample exam3, several formats)

Here is a link to a sample Exam3 (actually given 9 April 2004): (Note that problems 1-4 are review of exam2---so only problems 5-7 are really on the exam3 trig material of chapters 6/7) (sample exam3, several formats)

Here is a link to solutions for ACTUAL Exam 2, given 15oct04 (average 59): (12:30pm: corrected x-1 to x-i in #4 solution) (today's Exam 2 solutions, several formats)

Here is a link to solutions for ACTUAL Exam 1, given 17sept04 (average 69.25): (today's Exam 1 solutions, several formats)

The main (all-sections) Math 121 home page usually maintains a library of sample exams and solutions; this semester it seems to provide instead a "Study Guide" indicating sample problems.

Here is a link to an two old Exam 2's, from 2001: (old Exam 2's, several formats)

Here is a link to an old Exam 1 from Spring 04: (an old Exam 1, several formats)

URL for this page: http://www.math.uic.edu/~smiths/courses/m121
Last revised: 16 Aug 2004 by S. Smith