SAUK VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Department of Business, Technology & Natural Science
Spring Semester 2008 - Syllabus updated 7 January 08
MAT 080 - Intermediate Algebra
Monday & Wednesday 6:30 - 8:15 PM Room 2D15
Tom Harrison, Instructor
Email: harrist@svcc.edu
Phone: to be announced
Office: 1L3
Office Hours: to be announced
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course assumes familiarity with material in MAT 074. Topics extended to an intermediate level include: real numbers and expressions, equations and inequalities, graphing methods, polynomials and factoring, rational expressions, radicals, quadratic equations, and systems of equations. New topics include: functions and their graphs, radicals and complex numbers, quadratic and rational inequalities, graphs of second degree equations and variation. This course requires a graphing calculator. Prerequisite: MAT 074 with a grade of C or higher or appropriate placement score, or one year of high school algebra with grades of C or higher.
TEXTBOOK AND MATERIALS REQUIRED: Intermediate Algebra, fourth edition, by Larson & Hostetler, Houghton Mifflin, 2005, ISBN 0-618-38826-5. A graphing calculator. OPTIONAL: Intermediate Algebra Student Solution Guide.
MATH 080 PROFICIENCY REQUIREMENT: All MAT 080 students must demonstrate course proficiency by satisfying one of the following:
Demonstrating proficiency is a requirement for earning a course grade of C or higher in MAT 080. Faculty are required to assign a course grade of D, F, or W to any MAT 080 student who doesn't satisfy the proficiency requiremnt, regardless of their performance in the course prior to taking the Compass Algebra exam.
ATTENDANCE:Attendance and punctuality will be considered in grading. Attendance means staying for the entire class period, not leaving at break. Chronic tardiness is disruptive to the class and limits the student's opportunity to learn. If the student is unable to be punctual, he/she should consider restructuring his/her schedule in order to attend, or withdraw. Chronic lateness will be considered as non-attendance. If a student must miss a class, he/she must tell the instructor why and be sure to ask about what was missed. When a student is absent for reasons of illness or emergency, he/she is responsible for course work missed and should consult with the instructor at the next meeting of the class. Class notes should be obtained from a classmate.
WITHDRAWAL FROM CLASS:Failure to attend class does not constitute student-initiated withdrawal. Guidelines for withdrawal and Forms for this purpose are available in the Office of Admissions and Records. Withdrawal from class becomes valid only after the proper procedure has been followed and the program change form has been filed in the Office of Admissions and Records. In order to drop this class, the student must initiate the process rather than simply disappearing from class. Students who received financial aid for class attendance will be expected to fulfill their responsibility to attend school. If they do not, they may lose their financial aid.
FINAL EXAMINATION:If a student is unable to appear for a final examination, it is his/her responsibility to inform the instructor before the scheduled examination time. When a student is unable to appear for a final examination and has informed his/her instructor, the student may be assigned an "I" as a grade in that course. An incomplete grade will be changed by the Office of Admissions and Records to an "F" after one semester, if the required course work has not been completed.
GRADE APPEALS AND RE-GRADES: All grades may be appealed. Appeals must be written and cite the appropriate pages, paragraphs and lines in the text, handouts or other course materials.
BEHAVIOR: You will be expected to behave like mature, responsible adults. If you cannot, you will be asked to reform. If you cannot,or will not, you will be dropped from the course or failed. A conference with Counseling or the appropriate Dean may also be utilized.
CELL PHONES: Please do not let your cell phone ring during class. Do not use your cell phone during a test.
CHEATING: All the work you submit must be your own. You will receive an "F" in this course if you submit someone else's work as your own or if you cheat. Crib notes, answer sheets,whispered answers, written answers on your hands, etc. -- are cheating. Cheating in any form will not be tolerated. Having a cell phone or other communication device in use during a test may result in an "F".
SAFETY: For the safety of other students and the instructor, please hang all coats and book bags out of the way on the coat hooks provided for that purpose. Also, in case of a fire or other emergency, we must keep the aisles clear at all times.
MAKEUP WORK/QUIZ/TEST: All assignments are due on or before the designated date. Any assignments turned in after due date may be penalized one letter grade or more.
All quizzes and tests must be taken at the assigned time. Any makeup allowances are at the discretion of the instructor. Any test or quiz taken outside of the assigned time will cover the same material, but may be in a different format.
TESTS AND GRADING: Students will have twenty-five minutes for quizzes and fifty minutes for tests. Because of the nature of the material, all tests and quizzes are cumulative. Anything previously discussed, in the textbook or in a lecture, may be on the test. Most of the tests and quizzes emphasize the material covered since the last test. The final exam is comprehensive. It includes questions from the entire semester's work. Students who pass the placement test at the end of the semester need not take the final exam. Questions are multiple choice, short answer, vocabulary, and problems to solve. Some problems will require a graphing calculator.
One hundred fifty total points are available for the course. Each of the five tests is worth twenty points. Each of the five quizzes is worth ten points. The final exam, if taken, will replace your two lowest test scores.
Grading Scale (percent):
90 - 99 A
80 - 89 B
70 - 79 C
60 - 69 D
00 - 59 F