MTH 163 - Precalculus
Professor - Margaret Roberts
Syllabus
[Introduction] [Your Responsibility] [Syllabus] [Assignments] [Quizzes] [Exams] [Resources]
Syllabus |
Communication:
How to Contact Me:
I am here to help you succeed in this course. Although we will interact regularly on your assignments and exams, occasional questions or problems may arise. Here's how to contact me when they do.
- BY EMAIL: mroberts@nvcc.edu
- BY CAMPUS TELEPHONE: (703) 323-2150
- BY ELI TELEPHONE: (703) 323-3347
- MY OFFICE HOURS: Please see Online Logs for current office hours
Your Email Account:
You have been assigned a VCCS email address for use in this and other courses that you take through NVCC or other colleges in the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). The VCCS requires that you use this email account for any course-related email communication so that we can insure your privacy as required by law. If you don't know your VCCS email address, go to the Start Page and search for your address.
To log on to your email account and check for mail, click the Student Email tab near the top of this page. Enter your complete email address as your user name. Use the same password as you first used to log onto Blackboard (either the birth date you gave when you registered, or the last 4 digits of your student number). If you need help using the email account, go to the Email Login Page and click the link to "online documentation".
Please check your email regularly. That is how I will inform you of grades, approaching due dates, or other private, course-related information. I will also reply to your emails at your VCCS account. I will not accept or respond to email sent by you from any account other than the one provided by the VCCS.
Discussion Forums:
In addition to email, you, I, and the other students in the course will communicate using discussion forums. Discussion forums allow you to post your ideas and comments and read and respond to the ideas and comments of others, without having to be connected to the course at the same time.
To access the discussion forums click the DISCUSSION BOARD button. At this point you will be presented with a list of all the discussion forums. Click on the forum that you wish to access. Click the ADD NEW THREAD button at the top of the page to create a new message. You can also click the subject of any message to read it, or click the REPLY button to write a response to a message.
There is an Introductions Forum, where we introduce ourselves, and an Open Forum, where you can ask questions or post comments about anything in the course.
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Course Summary :
MTH 163 is a unified course in precalculus designed to prepare you to take MTH 271 (applied calculus for students in science, business administration or social science). The prerequisite is three units of high school mathematics, and a placement exam is given to be sure that your math skills are adequate to enroll in MTH 163 . Credit cannot be awarded for both MTH 166 and MTH 163 .
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Prerequisites and Objectives:
The prerequisite is three units of high school mathematics, and a placement exam is given to be sure that your math skills are adequate to enroll in MTH 163 .
Course Objectives
If you successfully complete this course, you will be able to:
1. Solve problems involving equations, inequalities, and systems of equations.
2. Operate on functions (addition, multiplication, composition, and inverses).
3. Graph linear, quadratic, exponential, and logarithmic functions.
4. Factor polynomials and find zeroes of polynomials.
5. Use matrices to solve systems of linear equations.
6. Use a graphing utility as an aid in problem-solving.
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Books and Materials :
Required Texts
The required textbooks for this course are:
• Larson, Hostetler, Edwards, Precalculus, A Graphing Approach, 4rd edition, Houghton Mifflin Co., 2005 (will be shrinked wrapped with Study and Solutions Guide, and Eduspace ).
• A Scientific Notebook CD with 180 day license is available through the NVCC campus bookstore for about $30. A permanent CD is available from MacKichan Software for about $99.
• A graphing calculator: TI83 or TI83 plus recommended.
You may order your books and materials from the NVCC bookstores. See http://eli.nvcc.edu/books for complete directions.
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Course Progress:
ELI is designed for students with busy and sometimes irregular schedules. Most ELI courses do not require fixed assignment due dates. However, research shows that students are most successful with independent study when they start their course work on time and make steady progress. To help you do this, we suggest that you try to follow the timeline below. Base the months on your specific enrollment dates.
Month 1 |
Chapter P, Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Quiz 1 Chapter 1, Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 Quiz 2
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Month 2 |
Review, take Exam 1 Chapter 2, Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Quiz 3 Chapter 3, sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
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Your Last Withdrawal Date falls approximately 9 weeks after your enrollment begins. |
Month 3 |
Quiz 4 Review, take Exam 2 Chapter 4, Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Quiz 5
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Month 4 |
Chapter 9, Sections 1, 2, 3 Quiz 6 Review, take Exam 3 Complete Course Evaluation
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Your End of Enrollment Date falls approximately 4 months after your enrollment begins. By this date, you should have completed all work for the course. If you have not, but you have satisfactorily completed approximately 75% of the course work, you may request a grade of Incomplete (I). See the section on Incomplete Grades for more information. |
Withdrawal from this course
You may withdraw yourself from this course at any time until your Last Withdrawal Date. You must withdraw before the Last Refund Date to receive a refund. For your specific course dates, refer to the Quick Start Syllabus mailed to you by ELI. For additional information, see Enrollment Dates and Withdrawal Policy.
I will withdraw you from the course if you have not shown progress at key checkpoints during your enrollment. You must have met the requirements listed below to stay in the course:
Inactive Students Dropped
You must submit at least one graded assignment before this date or I will withdraw you from the course without refund.
Last Withdrawal Date
You must submit at least 50% of the course before this date or I will withdraw you from the course without refund.
Incompletes
The incomplete grade is used for verifiable unavoidable reasons. If you have made significant progress in your course, your end date is near, and you have reasons that can be documented as unavoidable, you may request a grade of Incomplete. To request a grade of Incomplete for this course, you must:
- Have satisfactorily completed 75% of the course.
- Explain your extenuating circumstances to me in writing.
- Provide a plan for completing the remaining assignments in writing.
Course Evaluation:
Please take time to complete the Course Evaluation survey at the end of your course. This is a short, online survey that provides valuable feedback to ELI and its instructors. You will have an opportunity to complete the survey when you go to the Testing Center for your final exam. Or, if you have a computer with Internet access, you can complete the survey anytime online.
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Grading Scale :
The course grading criteria are listed below: |
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Assignments |
Possible Points |
% of Final Grade |
3 Exams |
300 |
83% |
6 Quizzes |
60 |
17% |
Before you take any exam, two quizzes are due to your instructor. These quizzes are designed to prepare you for the exams. Final grades will be based on the following scale: A = 90–100% = 324 to 360 points B = 80–89% = 288 to 323 points C = 70–79% = 252 to 287 points D = 60–69% = 216 to 251 points F = Below 60% = Fewer than 216 points |
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NOTE: For MTH 166, you must submit all quizzes and take all four exams in order to pass this course, regardless of how well you do on the other assignments. Please keep a personal record of all your grades so that you can compute your own course grade. Withdrawal from this course I will withdraw you from the course if you have not shown progress at key checkpoints during your enrollment. You must have met the requirements listed below to stay in the course: Inactive Students Dropped Last Withdrawal Date Incompletes
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ELI Policy and Proceedure:
The ELI Web Site will answer many general questions about ELI and the courses available through ELI. Please also read ELI Policies and Procedures for the policies that govern your enrollment and the services available to you.
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ELI Exam Passes:
You are expected to take your examinations at one of the NVCC campus Testing Centers. Be sure to allow enough time to complete your exam before the Testing Center closes; Testing centers have specific policies relating to the administration of ELI exams. Testing Centers will NOT let you take an exam if you bring your children. This is an issue of liability.
For Testing Center locations, hours of operation and policies, click here .
At all Testing Centers, you will be required to show photo identification to take your examination. This may be an official driver's license, a DMV ID, or a military ID. You will also be required to provide the appropriate Exam Pass, which is located on your course web site or in the Syllabus, and your NovaConnect ID (also called your Student Number and EmplID). To look up your NovaConnect ID before you go to the testing center, go to http://www.nvcc.edu/novaconnect /.
If you have received a W grade, you must have written permission from your instructor to take exams. Be sure to take this permission with you to the Testing Center to take the exam.
Campus Learning Resource Centers
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Using Technology:
All NVCC students automatically receive a student email account through the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). If you use email for course-related correspondence, you must use this account (instructors will not reply to non-VCCS accounts). For information on how to set up and access your account, go to www.nvcc.edu/ithd/studentmail.html , or call the IT Help Desk at (703) 426-4141. |
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Video Programs |
In addition to the textbook(s) and Course Site, this course includes a series of videos* you will be watching. (Requires broadband connections) *Not recommended for dial-up connections. If you are using a dial-up connections please review the alternative options for viewing the video below: The videotapes are on reserve for your use in the NVCC campus Learning Resource Centers (LRCs). Before you go to view a tape, be sure to call the LRC to make sure of the hours of operation. Please note that there are a limited number of tapes and playback machines in the LRCs. There are 13 comprehensive videotapes keyed to the text by section. Also, an instructional graphing calculator videotape will be available to use throughout the course. It is a good idea to view these tapes after you have studied the instructional material from the text or when you are having difficulty with a particular math concept. The sections contained in each tape are as follows:
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Software |
Scientific Notebook is the mathematical software required for this course. Version 5.0 was just released, but any previous version will also work. A Scientific Notebook CD with 180 day license is available through the NVCC campus bookstore for about $30. A permanent CD is available from MacKichan Software for about $99. |
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