By
Jose Ceja
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Failing grade could cause students to be dropped from course
Future second-semester calculus students could be faced with a do-or-die test next fall to prove they are ready for the class.
The Gateway Exam, a 12-question test evaluating students' knowledge of the previous semester of calculus, may soon become integrated into every UA Math 129 class to ensure student preparation, said Dan Madden, associate professor of mathematics and acting associate head of the math department.
Students who miss more than two questions would be dropped from the course, although they may be able to retake the test, Madden said.
Students in scientific and technical majors are required to pass Math 129 to graduate.
Many students are not prepared for second semester calculus though, usually because they don't review what they've already learned, Madden said.
"We have heard from instructors of later courses, both inside and outside mathematics, that some of the instructors are unhappy with the students' ability to do some of the calculations associated with calculus," he said. "Like any skill, someone who doesn't keep up practicing the skill loses it."
Currently, only one instructor is giving his students the test in the form it will assume next fall, but since the test is still in an experimental stage, his students can miss two and still pass - a number that may shrink to one next semester.
Andrew Charney, a biochemistry sophomore who is in the class that took the test yesterday, said the exam is too severe and maybe even pointless.
"If you pass the class before it, then you should be ready for this class," he said. "I don't see what dropping you from the class will do."
Charney said he was confident that he passed, but he said that many students were concerned.
Students in mathematics professor John Palmer's class don't have to take the test - at least for now.
While grading papers yesterday, Palmer said he agreed that students are often unprepared.
"It doesn't do students in the course any good if they come to the course unprepared," Palmer said. "Whether the Gateway test is the best way to do that is another matter, but that is not for me to decide."
Madden said the University of Arizona is following the example of schools such as the University of Michigan and the University of Nebraska, both of which experienced success with such exams.
Students at the University of Michigan, Madden said, had to correctly answer 20 out of 20 questions - a number only one student did not achieve in a five-year period.
If UA implements such a test, which Madden said appears likely, students will know well in advance and will have access to sample exams over the Internet.
"We wouldn't put an obstacle in front of students that they wouldn't be able to pass," he said.
