Hi,
I took the CLEP exam this friday for Precalculus and got 88% (71/80) in it.
But it made me more satisfied than getting 98% (79/80) in Algebra exam in
Dec.The reason is that Precalculus needed use of online graphin calculator
(link below) and I had never used any grahping (even scientific one) calc. till
3months back. I imagine that 99% of Indian math bachelors/masters grads never
use it either. Here they use it since they are 12 years old.
Online graphing calculator free download
http://www.infinitysw.com/link/ets/trial.html
CLEP Pre calculus
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/ex_pcal.html
Rose: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Rose.html
For me it was pretty stressful and I ended up using the online calculator
like ordinary one only - for arithmetic calculations and once for finding a
cosine value. I reverted to algebraic skills to solve the paper. Some questions
I later realized after racing my braomns all night --needed me to graph the
functions to get answers. Some answers I got even without knowing or solving
--just plugging the choices into the fucntion and solving.
No wonder it was perhaps the toughest paper I have attempted so far. If it
had not been for certain professional and personal pressures I would have takne
it much after the Calculus exam I am planning to take coming Friday.
Indians never use a graphing calculator -do they? Ofcourse, even in US better
test of analytical skills demands doing without the calculator. But thats
called PreCal. with Analysis.
There is no calculator use in Calculus exam.
Those who take SAT2 exam for admission to MIT etc must use graphing
calculator.No wonder few Indians get in at bachelors level.
Do they?
Umesh
Analogy:
I am as good at graphing calculator as a pony rider doing the trot (for
power, exponential, log functions) and even full gallop for linear, quadratic
and cubic functions --but this online one was like playing polo on an Arabian
thoroughbred -with reins (keyboard) in the left hand and trying to shoot the
ball in the goal with the stick (mouse) in right hand. And only 2 mins for each
question.
Umesh Sharma
5121 Lackawanna ST
College Park,
(Washington D.C. Metro Region)
MD 20740
1-202-215-4328 [Cell Phone]
Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
weblog: http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
website: www.gse.harvard.edu/iep
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