← Back to the College Algebra outline The Course Maker
← College Algebra outline
Week 8 · Midterm exam

Midterm Exam — Instructions

College Algebra Free sample edition
The midterm exam's instructions page, as students read it before they start. The exam's questions and its answer key ship only inside the course's .imscc (Classic QTI); a scored exam's items are not published on this public page.

Overview

This is the scored midterm for College Algebra. It checks the first half of the course, Weeks 1 to 7: the rules that never change, solving for the number that makes a statement true, functions and lines, systems of two equations, polynomials, and quadratic equations.

The midterm has 25 questions, and every question counts the same. Most questions ask you to select exactly one option (18 questions). Three ask you to judge a true/false statement, two ask you to enter a short accepted response, such as a whole number, and two ask you to select every applicable option.

Every question practices a skill you have already used in the weekly quizzes, tutorials, and Model/Build Studios. Nothing on the midterm comes from outside Weeks 1 to 7.

Coverage and scope

The midterm covers Weeks 1 to 7 and six of the course objectives. Here is how the 25 questions divide among them:

  • Real numbers, exponents, and expressions (4 questions). Taught in Week 1 and used again in Weeks 3 and 6. Expect sorting numbers into the real-number sets and the order of operations, including −aⁿ against (−a)ⁿ. Expect the exponent rules, the coefficient against the exponent in a term like 3x², and evaluating an expression at a negative input.
  • Linear equations and inequalities (3 questions). Taught in Week 2. Expect solving a linear equation and checking it, the flip rule for a negative divisor, interval notation, and absolute-value equations and inequalities.
  • Functions (5 questions). Taught in Week 3 and used again in Week 4. Expect what makes a relation a function, on a graph as well as in a rule, and evaluating at numeric and algebraic inputs. Expect domains of rational and square-root functions, operations on functions, and composition.
  • Lines and systems (6 questions). Taught in Weeks 4 and 5. Expect slope from two points and from an equation, slope-intercept, point-slope, and standard form, and parallel and perpendicular lines. Expect solving a system by substitution or elimination, and naming a system that has one solution, no solution, or infinitely many.
  • Polynomials and factoring (3 questions). Taught in Week 6. Expect polynomial vocabulary such as degree and leading coefficient, multiplying, and factoring, including trinomials with a leading coefficient.
  • Quadratic equations (4 questions). Taught in Week 7. Expect reading a, b, and c with their signs, the discriminant and what its sign predicts, and the quadratic formula with an exact result.

Lines and systems carry the most questions, with functions close behind, so give Weeks 3 to 5 the most review time. The sixth objective also names quadratic functions and their graphs, the vertex and the maximum or minimum. That part starts in Week 9 and is not on the midterm. Week 8's habit of choosing a method is not scored on its own, but it helps on every question.

These notes map the skills the midterm checks. The questions themselves are drawn from the course's question bank and are not listed here.

Instructions

  • Attempts: one. The midterm is a single scored attempt.
  • Time limit: there is no time limit. Take the time you need, as long as you submit before the exam closes.
  • Window: the midterm opens in the Week 8 module and closes at the due time your instructor sets. Start early enough to finish comfortably inside that window.
  • Navigation: the questions appear one at a time, and once you move on you cannot go back to an earlier question. Settle each one before you click to the next.
  • Materials: scratch paper and a basic calculator are allowed. Every question gives you what it needs, and the numbers are chosen so the arithmetic stays short. Unless your instructor announces otherwise, the midterm is closed-note.
  • After you submit: Canvas shows your score. The keyed responses stay hidden so the midterm stays fair for every student.

Academic integrity

The midterm is an individual, scored assessment, and it is closed to AI. Do not use a chatbot or any other AI tool, do not get help from another person, and do not share or post the questions during or after your attempt. These rules come from the course syllabus, which explains why: the midterm confirms that you personally can carry out the procedures and interpret the results.

The honest way to prepare is open to you. The study guide, the practice exam, and the exam-prep tutorial rehearse the same skills with fresh variants, and nothing on them appears on the midterm word for word.

Built with The Course Maker · samples.thecoursemaker.com