Ground Rules for MA 165 Fall 2026 PIN

Version: August 19, 2026

1. Structure of Lectures and Recitation Classes

(1) Lectures

The lecturers

  • Kenji Matsuki, 9:30 AM–10:20 AM, LE 100
  • Eddie Price, 12:30 PM–1:20 PM, IO 105

deliver in-person lectures Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

We take attendance using the iClicker, starting with Lesson 4 on Monday, August 31, and ending with Lesson 33 on Wednesday, December 2. The detail of how to use the iClicker toward the attendance will be explained later.

You can see the more detailed schedule of lectures and the contents of each lesson in the files:

  • Assignment Sheet
  • Lecture Plan
Note

We will post (the links to) the supplemental videos of the lectures (made by Matsuki) on Brightspace to help students understand the lectures better. However, watching the supplemental videos will not substitute for attending the lectures in person.

(2) Recitation Classes

There is a Recitation Class every Thursday, administered by your own Recitation Instructor. Attendance to the Recitation Class in person is also required.

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2. Information

All key information will be posted in the announcements of the following Brightspace files:

  • Fall 2026 MA 16500-334 LEC for Kenji Matsuki
  • Fall 2026 MA 16500-339 LEC for Eddie Price
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3. Schedule

You can find the detailed schedule for lectures, homework, quizzes, and exams on the Assignment Sheet, posted in the announcement of the file Fall 2026 MA 16500-334 (or 339) LEC on Brightspace.

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4. Textbook

The textbook for MA 165 for Fall 2026 is Calculus with Early Transcendentals by Briggs, et al., Pearson, 3rd edition. For more information on the textbook, see the "Quick Student Guide to MyLabMath," posted in the announcement of the file:

  • Fall 2026 MA 16500-334 LEC for Kenji Matsuki
  • Fall 2026 MA 16500-339 LEC for Eddie Price
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5. MyLabMath

  1. It is absolutely crucial for the student to have an account in MyLabMath, where all records — including homework, quizzes, exams, and lecture attendance — are kept throughout the semester.
  2. The student should buy an access code to MyLabMath. For more details on how to buy an access code, refer to "Quick Student Guide to MyLabMath."
  3. All questions and inquiries regarding MyLabMath should be directed to your Recitation Instructor, not to your Lecturer (Matsuki).
  4. Overriding erroneous grading by computer: If you think the MLM computer made an error grading your homework or quiz and did not recognize your correct answer as such, please contact your Recitation Instructor, not your lecturer. They will look at your answer, and if it is correct, they will override the computer grading. For any other inquiry about homework or quizzes assigned on MyLabMath, contact your Recitation Instructor first, not your Lecturer.
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6. Homework

  1. Format: Homework is given as an assignment in MyLabMath, corresponding to each lecture.
  2. Deadline: Usually the deadline to turn in MyLabMath homework is 11:59 PM on the day of the following lecture. For example, if the material of the homework is discussed in the lecture given on Monday, the deadline for that homework is 11:59 PM Wednesday of the same week, when the following lecture is given. Difficult problems from the assignment may be picked up and discussed during lecture, if time permits. The specific deadline for each assignment can be found in MyLabMath. No extension of the deadline is allowed, except under special circumstances.
  3. Score dropping: The two lowest scores of the homework assignments will be dropped at the end of the semester.
  4. Piazza Forum: A Piazza Forum will be set up, and students can post questions regarding homework there, starting the 2nd week of the semester. Details about the Piazza Forum will be announced later.
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7. Quiz

(1) Format

  1. Every Thursday you are expected to work on a quiz, given as an assignment in MyLabMath, and submit your work online. The materials covered in each quiz can be found in the Assignment Sheet. Your Recitation Instructor (TA) will help you with the quiz during the in-person recitation class.
  2. The actual time you can work on the quiz is 120 minutes.
  3. You have an infinite number of attempts allowed to work on a quiz. However, every time you renew your attempt, all past answers you submitted will be erased, and you have to start from scratch.
Physical attendance required

We will take attendance at the Recitation Class. If you do not attend the Recitation Class, then the score of the quiz you submit online will be brought down to 0 manually by your Recitation Instructor.

(3) Collaborative nature of the quiz

Our quiz is not a test, and you are encouraged to discuss the problems with your peer students and with your Recitation Instructor.

(4) Deadline

The deadline to submit your work on the quiz is 11:59 PM on Sunday, following the Recitation Class (Thursday).

(5) Score dropping

One lowest score of the quizzes will be dropped at the end of the semester.

(6) No Piazza Forum

Students should not use the Piazza Forum to post questions regarding quiz problems.

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8. Exam

  1. Midterms: We will have 3 midterms, each 1 hour long. The specific date of each midterm can be found in the Assignment Sheet.
  2. Final Exam: We will announce the date and place of the Final Exam as the time gets closer.
  3. Study Guide: For each exam, we will provide a Study Guide with Example Problems. Most of the problems in the real exam will be extracted, possibly with different wording, numbers, and modifications, from the Example Problems.
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9. Office Hour

The lecturer will announce their own office hour.

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10. Grading Scheme

(1) Total score and weights

The course grade will be determined by the Total Score, calculated with weights as follows:

Weights for the Total Score
Category Points
Lecture Attendance 30 points
Homework 200 points
Quizzes 100 points
3 Midterm Exams 3 × 100 = 300 points
Final Exam 200 points
Total Score 830 points

We have 33 MyLabMath homework assignments (the two lowest of which will be dropped) and 11 quizzes (the lowest of which will be dropped), all of which will be graded. The scores will be rescaled and calculated to fit into the weights announced above.

Remark

In order to make the MLM score display time-sensitive, we would like to assign 200 ÷ (33 − 2) = 6.45 points to each homework assignment. However, the MLM computer does not accept decimals. To avoid this technical issue, we assign either 7 or 6 (integer) points to each assignment. As a result, at the end of the semester you may see the total score of the homework category slightly above 200 (it may equal but will never fall below 200). You should consider these extra points a bonus to your advantage.

(2) Cut-off points

The letter grades will be determined according to the following cut-off points:

Letter grade cut-off points (Total Score out of 830)
Letter Grade Score Range
A+790–830
A750–789
A−720–749
B+690–719
B660–689
B−630–659
C+600–629
C570–599
C−540–569
D+510–539
D480–509
F479 or below
Note and warning
  1. At the end of the semester, if the distribution of letter grades is far off from the traditional one, we may lower the cut-off points above. We will never raise the cut-off points.
  2. The MLM score display is designed to exclude past-due assignments from the calculation by default, while their scores will be counted as zero at the end of the semester. We will try to manually adjust the scores of past-due assignments to zero in the middle of the semester. However, we strongly warn that if you have many past-due assignments, the displayed score of your performance in MLM may be deceptively higher than your actual score.
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11. Late Registration and/or Transfer

If you have not yet registered for the course but intend to, you should ask the TA of the section you are attending to get you a MyLabMath account, and you should start submitting the assignments. There is a two-week trial period for the MyLabMath account. After that, you will have to pay the (nonrefundable) access fee.

If you want to transfer from one section to another, you will have to ask permission from the lecturer and notify the TAs of both the old section and the new one of your transfer.

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12. Academic Adjustments for Students with Disabilities

Purdue University strives to make learning experiences accessible to all participants. If you anticipate or experience physical or academic barriers based on disability, you are welcome to let us know so that we can discuss options. You are also encouraged to contact the Disability Resource Center by email at drc@purdue.edu or by phone at 765-494-1247.

If you have already been certified for academic adjustments by the Disability Resource Center (DRC), or are awaiting certification, please follow the procedures below for your mathematics course.

Share your Course Accommodation Letter (CAL) with your instructor(s); instructions to do this can be found at purdue.edu/drc/students/course-accommodation-letter.php.

For all in-class accommodations, see your instructor before class, after class, or during office hours to discuss your accommodations for the current semester.

For all exam-related accommodations, Stephanie Foster will email your Purdue email account within the first 2 weeks of class with instructions on how to schedule your accommodated math exams. If you do not receive an email after 2 weeks, first search your email for “foster80,” as the email may have gone to your spam folder. If you do not have an email from Ms. Foster, contact her at foster80@purdue.edu. Math exams will be administered by either the Department of Mathematics or Purdue Testing Services, depending on the type of accommodation required.

Attendance Flexibility Plan

This plan allows a certified student to be excused up to six (6) disability-related absences, including lectures and Recitation classes together, during the semester.

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13. Important Dates

To find important dates, visit: purdue.edu/registrar/calendars.

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14. SMART Center

In Fall 2026, graduate TAs teaching recitation (Recitation Instructors) for MA 165 will have one common office hour per section they teach, held in the SMART Center (Science and Math Academic Resource and Tutoring Center). The SMART Center is located in the ET building. Most TAs teach 2 sections and so will have 2 hours in the center.

The director of the SMART Center, Julie Lang (lang154), will be in touch with more information. The center will be staffed by undergraduate hourly workers and graduate TAs.

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15. The Use of AI

  1. The student may use AI while working on homework assignments and/or quiz assignments, as long as its use is to enhance the learning of the student and not to copy the answers provided by the AI directly. The student should make sure that he or she can solve the problem even without the help of AI, after understanding the problem and the concepts behind it.
  2. A student may use a calculator while working on homework assignments and quiz assignments.
  3. No calculator or AI is allowed at the time of the exam.
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