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 Precalculus, 3rd edition by Lial and Miller, |
| The focus of the EPGY Precalculus course is the study of functions. The course covers much of what is normally taught in high school trigonometry and analalytic geometry courses. Completion of the course enables a student to begin study of calculus. The course is designed to take about 22 weeks to complete on average. |
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The course is divided into several lessons,
which all include a series of short lectures presented as digitized audio
accompanied by either handwritten or formatted text. View detailed lesson contents.
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After most lectures, students are asked to try some sample
questions about the new material. Once they have
some practice, they take graded online quizzes.
Each week, students report their exercise and quiz scores to their instructor, who keeps detailed student records and identifies special problem areas.
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 A sample quiz screen |
Students use the derivation system to solve
problems using the basic rules of arithmetic |
Additionally, students are given problems to solve using EPGY's unique
derivation system. The derivation system
provides students with a symbolic computation environment
that forces them to not only find the correct answer but
to know exactly what steps were involved in deriving that solution.
By using specific rules to transform the given equations, students construct solutions to problems in the manner of an arithmetic proof. |
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Every lesson has a homework assignment from
the textbook. Student homework is evaluated in online homework
checks. The results are submitted electronically in
the reports students are expected to send to
their tutor each week.
Students should expect to spend between 5-10 hours per week completing all the online and offline course assignments. |
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 A sample examination answer entry form |
At the end of each chapter in the text, students complete
exams. Exams are first done on paper, then entered
into an exam page like the one shown at left. Students get immediate
feedback on their answers.
Exam results are submitted electronically to the course tutors, who monitor student performance. Some exams require that certain questions be mailed in to the tutor. Students are expected to retake exams if they score less than 85%. At the end of the course, students take a final exam. Students are required to score over 85% on this exam or retake it. The course grade is largely based on the final exam grade. |