There are two midterms in this course:

  • Midterm #1: Thursday, January 29 or Friday, January 30
  • Midterm #2: Thursday, March 12 or Friday, March 13

The midterms will take place in your normal classroom at the normal class meeting time. (Therefore your midterms will be on Thursdays if your class meets on Tuesdays/Thursdays, or Fridays if your class meets on Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays.)

  • Midterm #1 will cover Sections 5.1–5.5, 6.1–6.2, and 6.4 from Stewart's book (the material from WeBWorKs #1–3).
  • Midterm #2 will cover Sections 6.5, 7.1–7.4, 7.7–7.8, 8.3, 9.3, and 11.1 from Stewart's book (the material from WeBWorKs #4–8).

You should bring your UBC student ID to the midterm, as well as something to write with. (Pens are preferred, but pencils are allowed as long as they write darkly enough to be easily read. Red pens are not allowed.) The midterms are completely closed book: you cannot bring any books or notes of any kind with you. Also, you cannot use calculators on the midterms. (So, you might want to get used to not using calculators when you do the homework assignments.) You will not be allowed to have pencil cases or electronic devices out while taking the midterms, nor will you be allowed to use headphones or earbuds.

Practice midterms will be posted on this page as the semester progresses; the format of the actual midterms will be extremely similar to the format of the practice midterms, although it's impossible for practice midterms to cover all possible topics or questions. While the Math Exam / Education Resources wiki has final exams but not midterm exams, the problems have been according to topic, and hints and solutions are included as well; thus it is a good place to get practice content. Solutions and marking schemes for your section's midterms will be posted on your section's web page a few days after the exam.

We have written detailed solutions to the practice midterms so that they are a good resource for your studying. Your solutions on the timed midterm won't need to be as verbose. That being said, don't be afraid to use words in addition to clearly written mathematics! The better we can see your thought process, the more partial credit we will be able to give if the final answer isn't exactly right.

What happens if I miss the midterm? There are no make-up midterms in this course. Missing a midterm normally results in a mark of 0 for that exam. Exceptions may be granted:

  • with prior consent of the Instructor in Charge, who will consult with the section instructor, and with official documentation supporting the student's reason for missing the exam. An example of a valid reason is travel to play a varsity sport (the correct documentation in this case would be a letter from the coach). An example of an invalid excuse is travel for personal reasons.
  • in the case of a medical emergency, in which case the section instructor must be notified within 48 hours of the missed exam and presented with a physician's note immediately upon the student's return to UBC (within 7 days of the missed exam). A physician's note must specifically state that the student was medically unfit to write the missed exam on the date of the exam. Absense of this exact information, or not providing this notifaction and documentation within these time limits, will result in a mark of 0.
In the case of a missed exam for medical reasons, the weight of that exam will be transferred to the final examination (which will thus count for 70% of the student's grade in the course). Note, however, that it is not possible to miss both midterms and have their weights transferred to the final exam. Students who miss both midterms are generally advised to speak to the advising office in their Faculty about a late withdrawal from the course.

What do I do if I think there was a mistake in grading my midterm? If you find a numerical error on the grading of your midterm (a number of marks miscopied from the problem itself to the front of the exam, or an addition error in totaling your problem grades to yield your overall grade), you can simply write a note to that effect on the back of your midterm paper (be specific!) and hand it to your instructor, who will verify and correct the error and record the corrected grade.

If, after your midterm is returned to you, you feel that your grade on an individual problem deserves to be reconsidered, you can request a regrade from your instructor—but only by following these steps:

  • First, check your answer carefully against the solutions and grading scheme posted on your section's web page. The majority of the time, doing so will help you realize why the problem was graded the way it was.
  • If you still believe that the problem wasn't graded correctly, state your specific argument in writing (on the back of your midterm, or by attaching a note on another piece of paper). "I think my solution to #4 is right" is not a specific argument; it would have to be something like "I only received 1 mark on problem #4, but the grading scheme has 2 marks for the correct initial equation and 2 marks for an attempt at integrating by parts, and I did both those things in the bottom left part of the page." Requests for regrades that are not specific, or not in writing, will not be accepted. Remember that we can grade only what you wrote, not what you were thinking at the time.
Occasionally some students try to cheat by changing their answers to midterm questions and then requesting a regrade. Such an action, of course, is a serious violation of UBC's Academic Misconduct policy, as well as a breach of personal integrity. We will scan a random sample of all midterm papers as an additional way to detect these rare cases of cheating.