Final Exam

Exam parts

The exam will have two parts:

  1. A take-home part

  2. An in-class part

Take-home part

The take-home part will be similar to quizzes we have had this semester. You will log in to WebWork to see your questions. You will enter answers into WebWork, and also upload a PDF to Gradescope showing your work.

The take-home part will open on the Friday of the last week of classes, Friday, April 30, in the morning (tentatively 8am). It will be due on Tuesday, May 4, at 11:59pm (Boise time).

In-class part

The in-class part will be a WebWork exam that you complete during the class scheduled final exam time. You will log in to Zoom (using the same link that we have been using for regular class meetings). While you are logged into Zoom, you will log in to WebWork to see your questions, and answer them there. There will not be any Gradescope component in the in-class part.

You will not need to have your camera or microphone turned on during the exam. There will not be communication between students in the Zoom session. The purpose of being logged into Zoom is so that you can ask questions to me (the course instructor) if needed, and you can get any announcements from me, including amount of time remaining in the exam.

The in-class part will be during the class scheduled final exam time, which is Wednesday, May 5, 12:00-2:00pm (Boise time).

Exam rules

Both parts of the exam will be individual exams. Work on the questions without discussing with anyone else (except you can ask questions to me, your course instructor). You can use your notes, the textbook, and the videos and course notes from our course, but not any notes, videos, or websites from anywhere else. You might want to gather your notes, formula sheet, etc., before you start the exam.

You can use a calculator or computer for basic arithmetic and for simple steps such as row operations. However you have to show how you completed the steps of a problem, and if that includes using a calculator or computer, then you have to show how you used it. Your solution has to show that you understand the methods and procedures we learned in this class. If you use a computer to skip over all the steps and jump directly to the final result of a computation, then you have not shown your understanding.

Exam topics

The final exam will cover material from the last part of the semester, basically from the second midterm exam to the end. The second midterm exam was due March 11, 2021, but more exactly the final exam will cover material from March 8 to the end of the semester. Consult the calendar to see the topics: Matrix operations, matrix multiplication, matrix inverses, and so on.

The take-home part will emphasize conceptual understanding and explanation. The in-class part will emphasize straightforward computing or calculating problems.

All the problems in both parts will be similar to problems from homework, quizzes, and previous exams. You have seen problems with straightforward computations, as well as problems where you are asked to explain something. This final exam will be similar, just with those two emphasis areas divided up into the two parts of the exam.

Amount of time

Each part of the exam should take around an hour, more or less.

For the in-class part there is a very, very strict time limit of two hours. You will not be penalized if you use more than one hour, or if you use up to the full two hours. However you do have to finish by the end of the scheduled time.

For the take-home part there is no time limit (only the due date). If you need to take more time, or pause your exam work and pick it up again later, there is no penalty. (However please make sure to save your work and submit it in WebWork, so it doesn’t get lost!) The purpose of this is that for these questions you might want to have a little time to think them over, including thinking over how you want to write your explanations.

You are being given time for this exam so that you can fully demonstrate your understanding of course material. However you are not being required to spend a huge amount of time on this, because each exam part should take around one hour, more or less. It is my hope that they will not have an unfair impact on your study time for your other classes.

[Note: On Quiz 5, there is a question about time limits. It has two choices: the exam has time limits, the exam doesn’t have time limits. In the quiz you should choose the option that says “Has no time limit (only due dates)”. But no matter which option you choose, I’ll give you credit for this question. The question was badly written–there should have been three choices: both parts have time limits, neither part has time limits, one part does and the other part doesn’t.]

Using WebWork

This semester we have learned that using WebWork for exams can sometimes have hitches. If problems come up, I will do my best to ensure that: everyone has a fair opportunity to take the exams, everyone has a fair opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the course material, and everyone’s grades are determined in a fair way. But hopefully there will not be any problems.

Some reminders about how WebWork operates for exams:

  1. The exam will be listed in your WebWork home screen with a name such as “Take Final exam take-home test”. When you click that, it will create an individually-randomized exam with a name like “Final exam take-home (test 1)”.

  2. Make sure you submit your answers using the “Grade Test” button. You should submit your answers on each question as soon as you finish it, before you go on to the next question.

  3. You can stop working on a WebWork exam, log out, come back later, and continue working on it. (That is how it is set up in this class. Other classes might be different, if you have other classes that use WebWork.)

    If you’re planning that, then you should submit your answers on each question, so that they get saved in WebWork.

    Even if you’re not planning it, there can be unexpected surprises such as losing electrical power, losing internet connection, computer crash, etc. If that happens, you will be able to log back in and continue the exam. It will have all your saved answers, if you submitted your answers before disconnecting.

    This probably doesn’t help you much during the in-class part of the exam. You should not plan to stop and take a break in the middle of the timed exam! But if something comes up and you have to pause your work, that is part of the reason why you have two hours to complete a one hour exam.

    It is probably more important for the take-home part of the exam. You can read the questions and work on them for part of the time, stop your work, and come back to it later to complete the exam. This is encouraged, so that you can think patiently about the problems and not feel rushed. But then you will want to save your work before you disconnect from WebWork.

  4. You can submit answers as many times as you want. There is no penalty for wrong submissions or multiple submissions. Generally speaking, the last submission counts. (There are some circumstances where the best submission counts but you shouldn’t rely on that.)

  5. If you need to ask me a question about something on WebWork, please use the “Email Instructor” button. This will generate an email including a link that I can use to see the specific question you’re asking about.