The purpose of the Derivative Gateway Test is to assure that you have the ability to take derivatives quickly and accurately. You may take the test as many times as is necessary to pass it, except that only one attempt per day is allowed, and you must pass it by a certain deadline.
Here are the specifics. Please read this information carefully.
 | The tests are computer-generated, so each version will be different from every other version, although the skills tested by all the versions are substantially the same. |
| Each test lists seven functions that you must differentiate. You must get at least six correct to pass. The time limit is twenty minutes. |
| No notes, books, or calculators are allowed for the test. |
| The test will be given for the first time in class during the week beginning Monday, October 25. |
| The last day to attempt the test is Friday, November 19. |
| The penalty for not passing the test by the deadline is a reduction in the final course grade by one-third of a letter. |
A PDF file containing three sample tests is available.
If the test is not passed on the first try, you will need to make further attempts in the Math Lab in B860 East Hall. Here is some information about taking the test in the Math Lab.
| The test will be first offered in the Math Lab on Wednesday, October 27. |
| There are spaces on the test in which you are to write your instructor's last name and your section number, so please have this information ready when you go to the Math Lab to attempt the test. Also, have your student ID with you. |
| To take the test in the Math Lab, present your student ID to the Math Lab manager at the front desk, who will trade your ID for a copy of the test and will give your ID back to you when you return the test. If the Math Lab is very busy and a crush of students is at the desk requesting tutoring and gateway tests for the various courses, it is easy for the manager to overlook giving you back your ID, so be sure you get your student ID back when you turn in the test. |
| Each copy of the test is date- and time-stamped to assure that each student makes only one attempt per day to pass the test. If additional attempts are made by a student in one day, then only the first one will count. The student managers in the Math Lab have no authority to change or waive this policy. In particular, if you turn in one copy of the test and request another, which you are then given, this does not imply that this additional attempt on the same day will count; it will not. Since statements made by the managers have, in the past, been misinterpreted as permission to retake the test the same day, it must again be emphasized that only the first attempt in any given day will count, and Math Lab personnel have no authority to change this policy. |
| In general, the Math Lab cannot honor requests for immediate grading. The standard procedure is for the tests to be put into a queue to be graded on a first-in first-out basis, and then returned to the instructors. |
| While the Math Lab makes every attempt to return gateway tests to instructors as quickly as possible, it can take up to two working days for the test to be graded and returned to the instructor, particularly when the Math Lab is exceptionally busy. In a worst-case (we hope) scenario, a test taken on Friday might not get returned to the instructor's mailbox until late Monday (since the Math Lab is not open on Saturday), and the instructor might not have a chance to retrieve it and record the score before an early Tuesday session of the class that meets Tuesday-Thursday-Friday, which means that the test taken on Friday might not be back in the student's hands until the following Thursday. (This is, again, our view of a worst-case scenario, but it can certainly happen.) Thus, the best strategy for passing the test as quickly as possible is to continue studying derivative rules that are causing you difficulty and retaking the test frequently until you learn you have passed it, and not waiting for the result of one attempt to be reported to you before making another. |
| With thousands of students taking various gateway tests in the Math Lab, there can be times that the facility is bulging at the seams, so please be patient if you arrive to find that there is a standing-room-only crowd. The Math Lab tries to find other space to give the tests when this happens, but that is not always possible. The very best time to arrive to avoid this problem seems to be about 11 am; the very worst is in the evening. In particular, if you arrive during the evening you could face a long line at the signin desk and a long wait for seats to become available before you can take the test. |
An answer on the test is counted wrong unless it is completely correct. There is no partial credit. Here are two common types of mistakes that will get counted wrong every time.
| Omitting parentheses. For example, if you are to differentiate sin(x5+2x+5) and you write 5x4+2cos(x5+2x+5) for your answer instead of (5x4+2)cos(x5+2x+5), the answer will be counted wrong (because it is wrong). Putting a multiplication dot between the "2" and the "cos" will not serve as a replacement for the parentheses, since multiplication takes precedence over addition. |
| Claiming that a function equals its derivative. For example, if you are to differentiate sin(x5+2x+5) and you write "=(5x4+2)cos(x5+2x+5)" after the "sin(x5+2x+5)" printed on the page, so that the result appears as "sin(x5+2x+5)=(5x4+2)cos(x5+2x+5)", then the result will be counted wrong since these two functions are not equal. It is the derivative of the first that equals the second. (Here is a quick quiz on exponentials: What functions do equal their derivatives?) You should just write the requested derivative on the page, without claiming that it equals the original function you are differentiating. |
| Print out the sample tests and take them to the Math Lab. In the Math Lab, give yourself twenty minutes to take one of them, then ask a Math Lab tutor to grade it. Have the Math Lab tutor help you understand each error you have made, even if there is only one. If you are confident that you have corrected all of your misunderstandings, then give yourself twenty minutes to take another of the sample tests and again have a Math Lab tutor grade it; if you are not confident that you have corrected your misunderstandings, then do some studying of the derivative rules either at home or in the Math Lab before trying another of the sample tests in the Math Lab. Continue until you have taken all three of the sample tests in the Math Lab and had tutors grade them and help you understand your errors. Make it your goal to get the third sample test completely correct. |
| Each time a graded copy of the test is returned to you, study the errors you have made and correct any misunderstanding you have. Remember that since there is no partial credit, there are no "sloppy" errors or "little stupid" errors or "just-got-in-a-hurry" errors on this test; there are only errors. Think about why you made each error and how you can avoid it on the next attempt. |
| Make it your goal to pass the test no later than Friday, November 5. Though the test is offered for two more weeks after that, it is generally assumed that students who do not pass it by the second Friday after the test is first offered are struggling with this material, so do not take it amiss if your instructor starts asking you about difficulties you are having with derivatives if you have not passed it by then. |
| Under no circumstances should you wait until the last week the test is offered before you get serious about passing it. This is a recipe for disaster (well, at least a recipe for losing one-third of a letter from your course grade). Since the time during which the test is offered is quite generous, there can be no waiving of the rule about only one attempt per day because a student has thought that he or she was too busy to take the test until near the deadline. Also, there is no good way to speed up the grading process as the deadline approaches, so you would quite likely have to take the test once per day that last week without quickly knowing how you did on previous attempts. To net it out, none of the rules or policies will change during the last week the test is offered just because the deadline is approaching. There is a sign that one often sees posted on secretaries' desks that says PROCRASTINATION ON YOUR PART DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN EMERGENCY ON OUR PART. That is, and must be, the policy for gateway tests. |