These are a few of the questions and situations I come across repeatedly throughout each semester.  These questions are all valid questions to ask and that is why I have answered them here.  Please feel free to ask me any question that is not on the list below.  If you ask me one of these questions, my friend Mo might poke you in the eye.  Thank you for your consideration.

* Click here for some fundamental Q & A about math classes in general.

•Hey JP,  when will I ever use this?

Whenever you choose to.  In fact you may use it in every thought you have for the rest of your life.  Consider the following scenarios:

There are lots of high school graduates that learned to read and write, graduated from high school, got a job flipping burgers or digging ditches, and spend the rest of their time watching reruns of lousy television shows.  The only time they read or write is when they sign their name on their credit card receipt or read subtitles on PlayStation games.  Did they “need” to learn to read and write?  I think so.  Not because they chose not to use it, but because they should have the opportunity to use it.  If you know it, you may use it, if you don’t, you can’t (not won’t).

Think about the person that goes to the gym everyday.  Will He/She ever “need” to bench press 150 pounds 15 times in a row?  Not unless they become a professional weightlifter.  The point is that they are developing muscles that they can apply to anything they want.  Think of Math class as mental calisthenics.  You’re developing a muscle that you can use for anything you want.  The formulas and equations we learn in Precalculus may not be the most important thing to know (except to those who will be “professional weightlifters”), but the problems solving perspective you’re developing will strengthen your mind in ways that can be applied to any train of thought you may have.

Remember, it is not necessarily the equations and definitions that are used the most, rather the logical perspective you’ll acquire by developing a mind that can think critically.  This question really deserves its own page.

•Hey JP, my HWK/Quiz/Exam/Extra Credit has a # grade.  This is lower than someone else's I know who did less work than me.  Or - The grade I have is not fair because.....

Everyone has the same graders and are graded with the same bias.  You are all liked/disliked by the graders equally and therefore will have no relative effect on your semester letter grade since it is based on class averages.  If you have a legitimate concern then please email me or come see me during my office hours.

•Why are your exams and quizzes so hard?

Although my exams are difficult, they seem more difficult than they actually are.  I do not give questions that you will already know the answers to.  I teach problem solving skills and therefore I expect you to be able to figure out how to do a problem rather than memorizing answers to questions that you will never be asked in real life.  This takes time and I expect you to utilize your exam time wisely.  Looking at a problem for 30 seconds and saying to yourself, “Hell, I don’t know”, and then guessing will merit a failing grade in Precalculus.  You’re not supposed to already know the answer.  You’re supposed to have developed the problem solving skills from doing homework problems (think about the problems as you work them) and studying that will give you the insight as to how to find the answer.  So think about what you’re doing when you do homework.  The answer is meaningless unless you know WHY that’s the answer.

“The Exam problems aren’t anything like the homework problems”, is a common whine.  Just like going from the examples to the homework, you won’t see the connections from the homework to the Exam if you don’t understand the homework problems.  Getting the answer is not important unless you understand why that is the answer.  Understand the homework and the connections to the Exam problems will be clear.

•Hey JP, when will the grades be posted?

Grades will be posted as soon as the graders put them into WebCT.  You’ll know before I do.  Grades from Parscores will be posted as soon as the Parscore office puts them into WebCT.  Again, you’ll know before I do.

•Hey JP, I'm a CAP student and you just have to give me a # grade.... Or, “I’m PreMed and you just have to give me a # grade”... etc.

Congratulations for being a CAP student or whatever!  Unfortunately your grades are not any more special than anyone else's.  Save me 20 seconds by leaving out that sentence when speaking to me (or any other professor).  Thank you for your consideration.  Other professors will appreciate this as well.

•Hey JP, how many problems are on the exam?

Guess.

•Hey JP, will the final exam problems be exactly the problems from the midterms or will you change them?

I can't give the same problems twice.  Students memorize problems just in case I do this.  Even if I was, why would I tell you?

•Hey JP, can I meet with you in your office during office hours?

Yes, if necessary.  If you have questions about Precalculus then you should ask me in class, because everyone else has the same question and is too scared to ask it in front of everyone else.  I simply do not have the time to explain each concept to each student individually.  I need these questions asked in class so I know what students are understanding and what they aren’t.  Otherwise I waste my time and yours teaching over your heads.  Also, you have many resources, Supplemental Instruction, Thomas Rivera Center, Math Tutoring Lab, the Internet, and other students in the class.  Please, if possible, utilize these resources before coming to my office because I have many, many students and I don’t think you will all fit in my office - especially the day before a big exam.

Also, don't come to whine about your grades.  I have no compassion for whiners.  If you have a legitimate concern then please come see me or email me.  (Email is preferable and you’ll get the same response either way).

•Hey JP, how do I know where I stand in the class?  Can I still make an A/B/pass?

Look in WebCT for the Graph/Chart for each grade you have.  This gives you class averages and lets you know how you look compared to the rest of the class.

•Hey JP, will the Parscore (Scantron) machine mark this question wrong because the eraser smudged the pencil mark on my exam Parscore?

I don’t know.  I’m sure it depends on how smudged it is but I’m not the person who runs the Parscores through the machine nor am I a Parscore expert.

•Hey JP, what happens if I get the question wrong because the Parscore reader got confused because my eraser doesn’t work very well?  Do you check the Parscores afterward to make sure they didn’t mark anything wrong that should be right?

You must be joking.  I get a stack of 500 Parscores for each exam.  We use Parscores so that I don’t have to check every question by hand.  We made a machine to do this for us.  It makes less errors even with poor erasing than a teacher would make doing it all by hand.  I suggest always having an extra Parscore with you during an exam just in case your eraser is lousy or a mouse jumps out of a hole in the wall and eats a hole in your Parscore when you aren’t looking.  Don’t just be prepared.  Be extra prepared when it really matters.

•Hey JP, I want you to figure out my grade so far, etc., blah blah blah.

I am not your mother.  You should be able to figure out weighted averages by now.  If you don’t know how then look it up on the internet or in a book, ask another student in class, go to the tutoring lab or re-take junior high math, etc.  Don’t ask any of your professors this question.  It is a sign of intellectual laziness.

•Hey JP, I don’t understand...

I need a more specific question.  “I don’t get it,” is not an acceptable question to ask your professor unless you are simply wanting to try his/her patience.  Study.  Think.  Learn.  If you don’t get anything, then read some more, research online, go to the tutoring lab.  Figure out enough to ask a coherent, specific question if you really want an answer.  The only answer to “I don’t get it,” is “Too bad.”  This question is another product of intellectual laziness.  Get to work.

•Hey JP, math is just not my thing and....

Unfortunately, Math is just not the United States’ thing.  Pull your head out before we’re all doomed.  There were more physics majors in the U.S. in 1954 than there are now even though we have 6 times as many college students today.  Our Math and Science scores are amongst the lowest in the world, outscoring only Siberia and South Africa.  At this rate we won’t be the “Leader of the Free World” for long.  Something is devastatingly wrong with our culture.  I hear, “I can’t understand what my teacher is saying because he has an Indian/Chinese/Foreign accent blah blah.”  There is a reason why most of the science professors are from other nations.  Get used to the foreign accents and get off your ass and study.  Then maybe you can some day teach science in straight English the way you want it taught to you.

•Hey JP, I can’t stand you.

I’ve been a student for 12 years here.  I know that for some of you, when you see me on campus carrying my tablet, you’d like to run by and knock it out of my hands and run away laughing.  This feeling is mutual.  Fair is fair, Chuck.