MATH 110 College Algebra

Tips for Success

If you’re new to online courses, or if you just need a quick refresher, be sure to take a look at these video tutorials!

Prerequisites

BYU Course Learning Outcomes

2. Students will demonstrate a qualitative and basic quantitative understanding of the fundamental chemical laws which govern the material substances in our universe and which express how one variable in nature depends on another.

3. Students will demonstrate the ability to manipulate quantitative descriptors of natural phenomena expressed both in the form of equations and of proportionalities, and solve chemistry problems using these skills.

Course Materials

These items are available in different formats and packages, so read the following carefully.

b. Printed copy with Smartwork5. You can buy the printed text bundled with the e-book and Smartwork5 from wwnorton.com (https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393697353) in hardback, paperback, or loose-leaf (if available).

2. A basic scientific calculator (required; graphing not needed).

Library Access

With your registration for this course, you have access to EBSCO, JSTOR, and other databases of online articles and information.

Go to the Harold B. Lee Library home page (https://lib.byu.edu/), click the LOGIN button, and enter your NetID and password (the same ones you use for this course).

Assignments

You will complete these assignments during the course.

“Learning is defined as stabilizing, through repeated use, certain appropriate and desirable synapses in the brain.”

Learning chemistry requires repetition, so to learn the material in this class it is essential that you participate in all the learning activities as outlined below (even if they seem repetitive!).

Lessons

ChemTutor

• use the link found in the lesson, or
• search online for “ChemTutor BYU YouTube” to find the YouTube version.

Lectures

Reading

Virtual Labs

Homework (Recitations)

Practice Sheets

Each practice problem is accompanied by a parallel problem and its key. The parallel problem is similar to, but not identical to, the practice problem. The expectation is that if you are having trouble with a practice problem, the example problem will provide enough hints to help you. You would be wise to review the parallel problem and key before trying each practice problem. Something similar to a parallel problem could pop up on an exam.

You will submit your practice sheet answers to be graded. Write out your answers to the practice problems on paper or on screen in stepby-step fashion so that the grader can easily understand your logic. Your work will be graded primarily on the logic you use to get your answer, and only partly on the answer you get. You will get credit for the problem only if you show your work clearly. If you prepare your answers on paper, you will scan or photograph the pages in high resolution and submit them electronically to be graded. Practice sheet scores will be prorated to the appropriate amount to contribute to your final grade.

Problems and keys to the practice sheets are available after you submit them so you can study them in preparation for the exams. 

Smartwork5

Extra Problems

Some students need extra practice in mastering the concepts. Your textbook contains many good practice problems with detailed keys sprinkled through the chapters. In addition, there are many end-of-chapter problems with answers in the back of the text, and you may choose to purchase the student’s solutions manual, which contains detailed answer keys to these problems. If you have access to the BYU campus, copies of the solutions manual are available to use in the Harold B. Lee Library Course Reserve and the CHEM 105 Walk-in Tutorial Lab.

Lecture Quizzes

Micro-Exams

These online quizzes will test your mastery of the vocabulary, concepts, and problem-solving skills. They will also provide practice for taking the macro-exams, which make up most of your final grade. Each micro-exam is designed to take approximately 60 minutes to complete and will cover primarily the material since the last micro exam. If you have completed and mastered the practice problems and Smartwork5 problems, and have carefully studied your notes from the lectures, ChemTutor, and the textbook readings, you should do well on these micro-exams.

The micro-exams are formative assessments, designed primarily to help you learn the material rather than to rate your mastery. For this reason, you may retake each micro-exam without penalty as many times as you wish. When you are happy with your score, select “Submit” to record it in the gradebook. The micro-exams are designed to simulate the macro-exam experience, so they are closed-book (on your honor) while you are actually at the computer terminal. The only materials you should have on hand are scratch paper, a copy of the periodic table, and your calculator. But between attempts, you may look at any written or computer materials to help you on the next attempt. You may not consult with any other person about how to do the micro-exam problems. If you miss a micro exam problem, you will be given hints to guide you the next timeyou try it. Use  these assists sparingly—you need to struggle with the problem a little to maximize your learning.

Note: Don’t give in to temptation and simply guess answers on micro-exams until you get the right one. If you do this, you will simply be cheating yourself out of a needed learning opportunity— an opportunity which will enhance your performance on the macro-exams. Maximize the benefit from the micro-exam: make a note of the problems you get right and those you missed, go away, study,work it out in your mind, dig for the correct answer and go back and try again. Remember, learning is what the micro-exams are all about! More important than knowing the right answer is knowing why it is the right answer.

Exams

Macro-Exams

Macro-exams are the most important contributor to your grade and you should prepare for them vigorously. Multiple-choice responses require that you be able to complete a complex problem without making any errors. As a CHEM 105 student, you are probablypreparing for a profession like engineering or medicine in which even small errors can have dire consequences. For example, as a doctor you wouldn’t get partial credit for only a couple mistakes while doing heart surgery. (Indeed, you would get negative credit if the patient died!) And you don’t get partial credit as an engineer ifonly part of the plant blows up. You must develop the skill to complete multi-step problems and arrive at an answer which is not almost correct, but exactly correct. These exams will test your ability to do just that.

Final Exam

Grading

Your grade in this course will be based on these assignments and  exams.

Grading Philosophy

On occasion, students ask at the end of the course if they might do extra work or make-up work to improve their grade. Others ask that certain exam or assignment scores be ignored because they are out of line with the rest. Please be aware from the beginning that the grade formula is not flexible or negotiable in any way. Instructors must be as fair as possible in assigning grades that are in line with your performance and that of the class as a whole. Without exception, the only way to earn a specific grade in this course is to achieve the point levels shown in the ways described, through your assignments and tests—you cannot pick and choose which will count and which will not. Furthermore, arguments for higher grades to keep scholarships or to graduate at a certain time can have no bearing on your grade and are highly inappropriate; they would violate the criteria of fairness.

Grade Scale

Course Policies