Placement Exam

The Mathematics Placement exam will be available starting on July 4, 2012.

The mathematics placement exam has been put in place to help us give you better advice about which calculus course to take, and to help each teacher adjust his or her course to the backgrounds of students in the course.

The Math Placement Advising Session: Monday,  January 14, 2013 from 8:30 am through 4:30 pm in Room 432 DL.

Bring the printout of your exam (or a device to display your exam) to all math placement advising sessions, both group sessions and discussions with individual teachers.  At these sessions you will receive permission to enroll in the level of calculus course appropriate to your preparation.  Section selection DOES NOT happen during advising. Section selection is done at the websites Math 112, Math 115 and Math 120 between 4:30pm and 7:30pm  on Monday, January 14, 2013. On that site rank-order the section times of the course for which you have permission. The Registrar's software will assign sections, informing you of the section to which you have been assigned.

• Log in with your NetID at http://classesv2.yale.edu.
• Under "My Workspace" click "Membership" and then "Joinable Sites."
• In the search box on the right side of the screen, type "Math Placement" and then click “Search.” You will see the Math Placement site and under it the word “Join” that you should click.
• If you then see the disconcerting message that there are no joinable sites matching your search of “Math Placement” you’ll know you have now successfully joined the site.
• Click the Tab for "Math Placement" either on the top of the screen or under the "My Active Sites" tab.
• The site will provide directions for proceeding with the exam.

The goal of the placement exam is to get an accurate assessment of your mathematical skills. For example, having a senior math major take the exam for you will not serve your placement needs.

Who should take the placement exam?

• If you have not taken a calculus class (math 112, 115, 120) at Yale and plan to take one of these, you must take the placement exam.
• If you have passed math 112 at Yale, you can take math 115 without doing the placement exam.
• If you have passed math 115 at Yale, you can take math 120 without doing the placement exam.
• The placement exam is not required to take any math class other than 112, 115, and 120.

How will the exam results be used?

The exam results will help us find the calculus course best-suited to your background.

• Bring a print-out of your exam results to the mathematics department advising session on Monday, January 14, 2013, from 8:30am to 4:30 pm in 432 Dunham Lab.
• All calculus courses, 112, 115, and 120, are starred. You will need a card signed by one of the advisors in order to enroll in the course. At the first class meeting, give that card to the instructor of the section to which you have been assigned. 
• If you miss preregistration, bring the print-out of your exam results when you talk with the instructor of the section you wish to take. If the instructor agrees that you may enter the section, the instructor will fill out and keep a card admitting you to that section.
• If you need to change sections, retrieve the card from your assigned instructor and give it to your new instructor

The exam results will help your instructor adjust the course to the backgrounds of the students in that section.

• When the registrar complies class lists, each instructor will receive a chart of how many students in his or her section made what kind of error.
• This is aggregate data only. Your instructor will not be able to tell which answers were yours.
• Your instructor will adjust the course, providing additional background on topics for which mistakes were common.

Must I answer all the questions?

General information questions, Part 1 (questions 1 through 4):

• Please answer all four questions, even if some answers are none.
• In particular, answer No to question 3 if you did not take an AP exam.

Parts 2 through 21 (one question per part):

• Answer each question as best you can, but do not guess.
• The purpose of the exam is to give some information about the skills you bring to calculus classes. The goal is a realistic assessment of your skill.
• If you do not know how to solve a problem, select the answer I don't know how to do this problem.

How often should I save my answers?

• It is a good idea to save your work every half hour or when you take a break from the placement test. Simply scroll to the bottom of the Math Placement test page and click "Save for Later" which will save your work and allow you to return to it later.

How do I print my exam answers?

• Immediately after submitting the assessment, you'll be able to see your score which is out of a possible 100 points. Under "Submitted Assessments" click "Math Placement Test" and the entire assessment will be displayed with your answers. Under each answer you will either see "Feedback: Correct" or "Feedback: Incorrect."
• You should then print the entire assessment.

How to print:

• Be sure your cursor is in the window where the answers are displayed.
• Windows: Right click and print frame.
• Macintosh: Control-click and print frame.
• Select "Print Preview" to be sure that you will print the entire assessment.

Whom do I contact with questions about the exam?

• Questions about the mechanics of taking the exam ("My browser won't let me click Save Answers." "I can't access the exam.") should be directed to classes2@yale.edu.
• Questions about the content of the exam ("What do the symbols -> infinity mean?") should be directed to michael.frame@yale.edu.