MATH 251H Honors Calculus

What's the scoop on the gateway?

The gateway exam tests basic differentiation skills (i.e., use of the formulas in Chapter 3). The bonus to having a gateway is that there will be fewer plain differentiation problems on the exams, and no hard differentiation as parts of questions on the exams; once you've proven your skills on the gateway, you don't have to prove them to me again. On the other hand, the gateway is pretty tough to pass. The basic reason for giving the gateway is to make sure that students who complete a calculus course can take derivatives accurately and efficiently.

Rules:

• You are allowed 20 minutes in which to take the gateway.
• It has 7 questions; you must give perfect answers for 6 of the 7 questions.
• "Perfect" means no incorrect signs, all parentheses present, accounted for, and matching... you get the drift.
• "Perfect" also means that you use all mathematical notation correctly. For example, you must use the equals signs (=) appropriately. In particular, if a problem is given as y = x^2, then writing = 2x will be counted as wrong because it will appear that you are claiming that y = x^2 = 2x, which is not the case.
• You may not use calculators, notes, books, etc. on the gateway.
• There is no limit to the number of times you can take the gateway (except the number of days available on which to take it).
• You may take only one gateway exam per day.

The gateway exams are randomly generated from a database of problems, in such a way that essentially the same skills are tested in each gateway, so it's quite rare that there's a "hard gateway" or an "easy gateway." Almost everybody has to study hard and do lots of practice problems to pass the gateway. We'll take the gateway once, together, during class time. After that you'll have to come to my office to take it again.

• Here is a sample gateway, in .pdf form.
• Good practice problems can be found in the exercises in Chapter 3 of the text.
• More practice problems can be found in any other calculus text.

Here's an incentive for you to pass the gateway sooner rather than later... You'll receive

• 150 points if you pass the gateway before the last week of classes.
• 90 points if you wait until the last week of classes to pass it.
• 0 points if you never manage to pass it.
  

Here are some tips on how to pass the gateway, modified slightly from Bob Megginson's page on the topic (the Gateway Master): 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.

I encourage you to work to pass the test within two weeks of the first gateway exam. Though the test is offered after that, it is generally assumed that students who do not pass it by this time are struggling with this material; so do not take it amiss when I start asking you about your differentiation difficulties if you have not passed it by then.

Under no circumstances should you wait until the last week of classes before you get serious about passing the gateway. This is a recipe for disaster! 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. To net it out, none of the rules or policies will change during the last week of classes.

For further information on gateway exams in general, here's an excellent source.(Yes, it's a page of Bob Megginson's!)