Students should be able to:

• Work with functions represented in a variety of ways: graphical, numerical, analytical, or verbal. They should understand the connections among these representations.

• Work with polynomials rational functions; find solutions, and understand their properties

• Work logarithmic and exponential functions

• Work the fundamental concepts of trigonometry, trigonometric functions, and identities

• Solve systems of equations (Linear and non-linear)

• Work and solve systems of inequalities

• Work the fundamentals of the analytic geometry curves: straight lines, circles, ellipses, parabolas and hyperbolas

TI-Nspire Graphing calculators will be used in this course. You can check out one from the Math Department or School Library, depending on availability. You may have also a textbook assigned for your personal use. You have also an electronic copy available. It is extremely important that you be responsible of the items assigned to you. If one of these is lost or damaged, the Assistant Principal will determine the responsibility of the student to whom this calculator/textbook was assigned, and the corresponding replacement cost.

Your grade will be determined by your accomplishments in: Tests, Homeworks, Quizzes, Projects, and Class Work/ Class Participation. These areas have assigned the next weights in your final grades: Projects/Tests: 50%, Homeworks and Quizzes: 25%, Class Work/Participation: 25%.

Scores will be computed using: Total Points Achieved/Total Points Possible, and grades will be assigned according to the next scale:

A: 90% ≤ score B: 80% ≤ score < 90% C: 75% ≤ score < 80% D: 70% ≤ score < 75% F: score < 70%

Assignments are expected to be completed on time. These are an important part of your grade. Consistent progress in your assignments is imperative to your success in this class. Mastering concepts is not an easy process. Practicing problems is essential. Following along in class is not the same as doing it yourself. Working with other students is very helpful, but copying will not be accepted.

If by a good reason you miss a test, teacher must be notified as soon as possible to program a new extra class test, to get the corresponding grade.

Practice Problem Set’s are extremely important! Remember, this class will follow the same guidelines as a college level class, and at this level, one hour in class requires one or two hours of extra out-of-classroom work (studying and practicing). Your assigned Practice Problem Set (Homeworks) is your key to succeed in test and quizzes. For justified late class work or homework, ask to the teacher for a new due date. In this class there are not test corrections.

You will find On-Line Lectures linked in Teacher's WEB page to the website www.sophia.org. These video-lectures are additional material students have available 24/7 to help them understand concepts when teacher is not available. On-Line Quizzes and tests will be available at www.mathxlforschool, You will need to follow the instructions in the Home Page to set up an account and enroll in a class in order to access these assignments. The video lectures will be assigned regularly, and students must have to take them in the assigned days in order to do not struggle with the related classwork and practice. Also, the grade obtained in the on-line quizzes will be part of the overall grade. These are important assignments that students have to get used to accomplish; in College, students will be required to do on-line assignments regularly.

Final Exams are mandatory, and are an opportunity to improve your final grade. These exams will include all the subjects covered during the semester, but tests could have more emphasis on the last chapters, if these chapters are considered important. A request for a make-up final exam should be done to me and will be programmed extra class.

Alternatively, a Major Project can be given at the end of each semester, and these projects will be equivalent to a final test grade. The due date for these projects is the corresponding final test day.

Tutorials initially will be available Monday and Thursdays from 3:00 to 4:00 Any modification to this schedule will be announced during class. Tutorials in a different day or hour will be available by previous appointment.

On-line tutorials are available at the website www.sophia.org, These tutorials can be accessed through the links in the sub-page On-Line Tutorials under the entry PreAP PreCalculus. On-line Lectures (recorded on-line sessions) will be available for students at my Youtube Channel.

Make-up work has to be authorized by the Assistant Principal coordinating the AP classes. In case of authorized make-up work, students will have five (5) school days to complete it and turn it in.

It is expected that each student take responsibility for his/her own learning. It is expected honesty from every student. Integrity, once lost, cannot be easily regained. The work you submit for credit must be your own. Students who copy someone else’s work or allow someone else to copy their own work will be given zero credit for that assignment. Group learning and collaboration is encouraged; however, each student is expected to make a genuine personal contribution.