Math 150
Frequently Asked Questions

Every semester there are certain questions that come up again and again. All of them are already answered in the syllabus or in the help files, but we still keep on getting them. Here are the standard responses.

This page also mentions some known bugs in MyMathLab, and how to work around them.

Getting Into The Class

I really need to add this course, but it is full

There are many sections of this class. You can sign up for any one of them, and attend at any of the other times. Sign up anywhere you can find an open space. If all sections are full, you will have to wait until someone drops. We don't sign people in beyond the listed limit.

MyMathLab/CourseCompass/MathXL

Who is Pearson Publishing?

They are the parent company of Prentice-Hall and Addison Wesley, plus other publishers. Pearson provides the online content for all their sub-companies, including Prentice-Hall (which publishes our textbook).

What is the difference between MyMathLab, CourseCompass, and MathXL?

Technically, CourseCompass is the web site that hosts the class, MathXL is the system inside CourseCompass that administers homeworks and exams, and both of them together are called MyMathLab.

In practice, nobody pays any attention to the distinction, not even Pearson themselves, so all three names refer to the same thing. In Summer 2009 they also added MyPearson and MyCourseCompass to the mix.

I had another class that used MyMathLab before. Can I use my old account?

You can always use the login name and password from the old account. After you log in, look for the link Sign up for another class above the list of courses, and find our current class. The ID for the current class is listed on the course home page.

You may or may not have to buy a new access code. The access code is tied to the textbook, not the class. If you have taken Math 150 at ISU before, you can sign up for this semester without a new access code. If you have taken a different class in MyMathLab, you will need a new access code.

More details are in the Getting Started page.

Can you explain again how to sign up?

Take a look at one of the PowerPoint presentations: for new students, or for returning students (who have used MyMathLab before).

The bookstore is out of access codes

Look for the credit card symbols on the first page during registration. You can buy a code online. It might even be cheaper that way. In February 2009, the bookstore listed the access code as $71, the online price was $65.

I bought a new access code at the bookstore, but the system tells me it has been used before

This has happened several times. Take your access code to Prof. Keinert. You will receive a new one, and we will report this to Pearson Publishing.

It says I am registered for this class, but it won't let me in

The computers at Pearson sometimes get overloaded at the beginning of the semester, and take several hours to completely process a signup. It hits a few individuals at random.

Wait overnight. If it still doesn't work the next day, contact Prof. Keinert.

I signed up, but it won't let me in and says "you have no subscription to this site".

Short answer: That means that you have third-party cookies disabled in your web browser. Enable them, and it should work. This happens frequently with Safari on a Mac, since disabled cookies are the default there.

Long answer: Cookies are pieces of information that a web site stores on your machine. There are two types of cookies: cookies that belong to the web site you are visiting, and cookies that are for a different web site. Most of these "third party" cookies are for places like doubleclick.com, and are used by advertisers spying on your web surfing. That is why many browsers have a setting that will allow web sites to set cookies for themselves (so you can do online shopping), but not for other sites (so that doubleclick.com does not know what you bought).

In Firefox, go to Tools -> Options -> Privacy. In Internet Explorer, go to Tools -> Internet Options -> Security -> Trusted Sites, and add CourseCompass to the list of trusted sites. In Safari, go to Tools -> Options -> Security.

I signed up, but it won't let me in and says "Invalid Session Cookie ".

Sometime around Feb 2, 2009, they did something to CourseCompass that caused this message for some people. The following usually works:

Add the sites

*.pearsoned.com
*.mathxl.com
*.pearsoncmg.com
*.coursecompass.com

to the trusted sites in your web browser. I think they added some new ones, like mypearson.com, in Summer 2009. Look at your browser address line to see where it is trying to go, and let Prof. Keinert know if you have to add another site to the list.

I am trying to go to mypearson.com, and the browser seems to go into an infinite loop

This happened to me after they made some changes to CourseCompass in summer 2009. It is once again a cookie problem. I think I had to enable cookies for mypearson.com, then the problem went away.

Of course this only happens to people like me who have all cookies turned off by default.

I wish that Pearson would get their act together and produce relevant error messages for cookie problems.

Can we get the MathXL plugin installed in the library/the business building/my dorm?

That is up to whoever controls that lab. Find out who the lab supervisor is, and ask them to install the plugin. The Parks Library computer manager told me that you can install the plugin (or anything else) on any public library computer. They just wipe them every day, so you have to do this every time.

Homeworks

Which score counts, the latest or the highest?

For homeworks, there is only one score. If you redo a problem, you wipe out any previous scores.

If you want to redo a homework problem for practice, but without affecting your score, enter the homework through the Gradebook link instead of the Do Homework link.

A problem says Error! in it

If this happens on a homework: Take a screen shot and mail it to Prof. Keinert. Then click on "Similar Exercise", and it will generate new numbers for the same exercise. If you can't find that button, typing in a wrong answer 3 times will also force new numbers. If that doesn't work, email Prof. Keinert.

If this happens on a test: Take a screen shot if you can. Skip that problem. Email Prof. Keinert afterwards to get credit. Usually the error is still visible to the instructors later, so a screen shot is not that critical.

I spent an hour on this problem, and now it changed on me

That happened to a student once. She wrote down a long problem, got help, but when she wanted to finish it, her session had timed out, and the problem changed. A known work-around is to print out the problem, then it will stay put.

I skipped a homework, and now I can't get to it

That is a known bug, and we asked for that to be changed. If you do a homework, you can look at your answers later, and you can do some more similar problems (without credit) in preparation for an exam. However, if you never do a homework, and the deadline expires, it is unreachable for you.

The only work-around is to go to the corresponding section(s) in the online textbook and do some of the exercises there. They really are the same ones; all homeworks and exams are built from these same exercises.

Two ways of getting to the homework

There are two different ways to enter the homework section of MyMathLab. They are not the same, so make sure you use the correct one.

If you click on Do Homework, whatever you do will be done for credit. If you choose to do a problem for which you already have a score, the old score will disappear. You can only get to homeworks this way whose deadlines have not expired yet.

If you click on Gradebook and enter a homework from there, whatever you do will not be recorded. Use this method if you want to look at your results, or to practice before an exam without changing your score. You can continue to re-do old homeworks even after the deadline expires, but it won't count for anything.

 

Exams

How many times can I repeat the quiz? How many tries do I have left? If it says "due Feb 14", what time is it due on Feb 14?

All that information can be found by clicking on "Do Homework" or "Take A Test".

Can I take the quiz twice in one day?

Yes.

What is the password for the quiz?

Nice try. For all the practice tests, the password is "practice". The lab monitors know the other passwords, and will type them in for you.

Which score counts, the latest or the highest?

For quizzes, it is the highest score that counts.

A problem says Error! in it

If this happens on a homework: Take a screen shot and mail it to Prof. Keinert. Then click on "Similar Exercise", and it will generate new numbers for the same exercise. If you can't find that button, typing in a wrong answer 3 times will also force new numbers. If that doesn't work, email Prof. Keinert.

If this happens on a test: Take a screen shot if you can. Skip that problem. Email Prof. Keinert afterwards to get credit. Usually the error is still visible to the instructors later, so a screen shot is not that critical.

The computer is acting up

Maybe several problems are broken, or the computer acts up in other ways.

Talk to the lab monitor. Depending on the nature of the problem, they can let you restart the same exam, let you save your partial exam and continue on a different machine, start you out fresh, etc. They also have the capability to give you an extra attempt at the exam, if you lost one attempt because of computer problems.

If you try a second machine, and it also has problems, give up for a while, and try again an hour or more later. Our computer manager speculates that sometimes your login info on the MyMathLab server is messed up, and you have to wait until some cache expires before it works again.

It won't let me get into the exam

The system is set up so that if you forget to have an exam graded, it won't let you do any more exams until you get that fixed. You can ask any lab monitor or any of the TAs of course coordinators to submit your old exam for grading. Next time, grade your exam before you leave.

I forgot my calculator

The lab monitors have a calculator or two available to check out, courtesy of Lost and Found.

The lab monitor won't let me use my calculator or Excel

Pull up the course web site and show the lab monitor where it says that you can do that. Report this to Prof. Keinert afterwards (with room number and time/day). The lab monitors are supposed to know this stuff.

I have the right answer, but the system wants it in some slightly different form. Can I get credit?

I have the right answer, but I made a typo when I entered it. Can I get credit?

We would love to set it up so that if the answer is 2+4x, the answer 2(1+2x) counts as correct, or vice versa, but we don't have this option. All you can do is to observe during the homework which format the system wants, and use the same format during the exam. The homework problems and the exam problems come from the same pool.

Since we are well aware of this problem, we let you take the exam multiple times. If you lose points on one attempt, you will know what the system wants on your next one. Overall, we think you will get more extra points from having multiple attempts than you lose from incorrect formats.

The same reasoning goes for typos: we think you will get more extra points from having multiple attempts than you lose from getting marked down for typos.

Grades

I am 0.02% away from the next higher grade. Can you round that up?

In a class of 20 or 30 students, most instructors look for a reasonable gap as a grade cutoff. If three students have scores of 81%, 89%, 90%, the instructor would most likely put the cutoff for an A or A- at 89% instead of 90%.

However, Math 150 has anywhere from 500 to over 1000 students. There are no gaps in the scores. There will always be someone just a fraction of a percent below the cutoff. If we move one person up to the next category, the next person below them will come and ask.

The only way to move up is to earn more points. Can you redo an assignment to get a few extra points?

Why don't you give D+?

The registrar's current rules say that we have to give straight Ds for midterm grades, and then we can give D+/D/D- for final grades. We are not set up for two different grading systems. If and when the registrar switches to the D+/D/D- scheme for all grades, we will switch.


last updated: Saturday, August 22, 2009