Question Objective State the type Number Number Number Summary of

# assessed of question of of of errors and

(i.e., students students students misconceptions
conceptual, earning earning earning
procedural full partial no credit
or problem credit credit
solving)
1a determine procedural/ 31 0 3 Student wrote
the limit of a conceptual the limit as -2
function confusing left
from looking and right limits.
at its graph 2 students
wrote DNE
showing they
arent clear on
one-sided
limits
1b determine procedural/ 32 0 2 Students wrote
the limit of a conceptual DNE possibly
function being thrown
from looking off by the open
at its graph circle.
1c determine procedural/ 32 0 2 Students wrote
the limit of a conceptual 3 as the answer
function showing they
from looking still dont
at its graph understand
what a limit is.
They thought it
was where
there was a
closed circle.
1d determine procedural/ 31 0 3 Student wrote -
the limit of a conceptual 1 as answer
function confusing left
from looking and right limits.
at its graph 2 students
wrote 2 as an
answer,
showing that
they think the
 limit is the
closed circle.
1e determine procedural/ 32 0 2 Students wrote
the limit of a conceptual 2 as an answer,
function showing that
from looking they think the
at its graph limit is the
closed circle.
1f determine procedural/ 30 0 4 Students wrote
the limit of a conceptual 2 as an answer,
function showing that
from looking they think the
at its graph limit is the
closed circle.
1g Know the procedural/ 33 0 1 Student wrote
difference conceptual DNE, possibly
between confusing it for
limits and a limit or not
evaluating a being able to
function at a read the graph
given x
1h determine procedural/ 33 0 1 Student
the limit of a conceptual possibly saw
function the open circle
from looking and wrote DNE
at its graph
2a determine procedural/ 29 0 5 Students
the limit/ conceptual thought the
one-sided limit was DNE
limit when it
evaluates to
infinity or
negative
infinity from
looking at its
graph
2b determine procedural/ 29 0 5 Students
the limit/ conceptual thought the
one-sided limit was DNE
limit when it
 evaluates to
infinity or
negative
infinity from
looking at its
graph
2c determine procedural/ 33 0 1 Student wrote
the limit of a conceptual infinity
function
from looking
at its graph
2d determine procedural/ 34 0 0
the limit of a conceptual
function
from looking
at its graph
2e Know the procedural/ 25 0 9 Students
difference conceptual thought the
between answer was 2.
limits and Possibly
evaluating a thought that
function at a there had to be
given x a value at that
x.
2f determine procedural/ 28 0 6 5 students
the limit of a conceptual thought the
function as x answer was
approaches infinity,
infinity/ possibly
negative confusing the
infinity by limit as where
looking at its x is
graph. approaching.
Another
student wrote
DNE.
3a determine procedural/ 32 0 2 Student may
the limit of a conceptual have thought
function the closed
from looking circle was
 at its graph where the limit
was.
3b determine procedural/ 34 0 0
the limit of a conceptual
function
from looking
at its graph
3c determine procedural/ 29 0 5 Students may
the limit of a conceptual have been
function thrown off by
from looking the word
at its graph exists or
thought that the
open circle
meant that it
didnt exist.
3d determine procedural/ 33 0 1 May have
the limit of a conceptual thought the
function limit didnt
from looking exist or was
at its graph one because of
the closed
circle.
3e determine procedural/ 32 0 2 Students may
the limit of a conceptual have thought
function the limit was
from looking where the
at its graph closed circle
was.
3f determine procedural/ 34 0 0
the limit of a conceptual
function
from looking
at its graph
4 determine procedural 31 3 0 2 students
the limit of a thought
function by
using direct Another
substitution student had a
 computational
error.
5 determine procedural 30 2 2 2 students
the limit of a mixed up sin
function by and cosine and
using direct thought sin0
substitution was 1 and cos0
was 0. 2
students didnt
show
substitution and
just wrote the
answer.
6 determine procedural 30 4 0 2 students just
the limit of a wrote that it
function equaled 0/0 and
algebraically went on to
by factoring factoring
without
showing the
substitution. 2
students forgot
the negative
sign in the final
answer. One of
those students
wrote limit
notation during
direct
substitution
after factoring.
7 determine procedural 20 14 0 Most students
the limit of a didnt know
function how to factor
algebraically the
by factoring denominator. 2
students didnt
show direct
substitution and
just wrote 0/0.
 5 students
divided out 3-x
and x-3 but
forgot that you
are left with a
negative 1
when they
divide out. 2
students didnt
simplify their
answer. One
student had
limit notation
during the
direct
substitution
after factoring.
8 determine procedural 27 7 0 One student
the limit of a didnt expand
function first and
algebraically instead divided
by factoring out 5h which
shows a major
conceptual
error. 3
students
expanded
incorrectly.
One had a
computational
error. 2
students just
wrote 0/0
without
showing direct
substitution and
going on to
factoring. One
student wrote
limit notation
 during direct
substitution
after factoring.
9 determine procedural 28 1 5 4 students
the limit of a distributed the
function by cosine which is
using direct a major
substitution conceptual
error. One
student thought
cosine of 3pi
over 2 was 1
and thus had an
issue
determining the
limit. One
student thought
cosine of 2pi
was 0.
10 determine procedural 26 8 0 1 student
the limit of a factored the
function denominator
algebraically incorrectly
by factoring having (x-2) as
one of the
binomials. 2
students had
computational
errors. 3
students didnt
simplify their
answer. 2
students just
wrote that it
equaled 0/0 and
went on to
factoring
without
showing the
substitution.
 One student
wrote limit
notation during
direct
substitution
after factoring.
11 determine procedural/ 24 0 10 4 students
what the conceptual wrote that the
limit of a answer was
constant is DNE. 5
students wrote
that the answer
was 0. Another
student wrote
that the answer
was just pi.
12 using their problem 21 6 7 5 students
knowledge solving created a limit
of limits to function that
construct didnt evaluate
their own to 5 and didnt
limit show direct
problem substitution. It
looked like
these students
just guessed. 2
students wrote
constants of 2
as the function.
One wrote a
binomial as the
function but
did the direct
substitution. 2
students
thought that
evaluates
meant that x
had to
approach 5 but
 did the direct
substitution
correctly. 3
forgot to show
the direct
substitution

After looking at the tests, it is clear that some students still have some misconceptions about
limits. Students are still thinking that when there is an open circle that the limit must not exist. Some are
getting left and right limits mixed up. It was clear that some students are having difficulty when the limit
evaluate to infinity or negative infinity graphically or if asked what the limit of a function is as x
approaches infinity. There were some major conceptual errors as noted above but those errors were on
things that students should already know and not related to limits. Overall the grades we very good and
it was clear (with the exception of one student) that students knew when to use limit notation and when
they needed to drop the limit notation (during direct substitution). There were 2 students that just
wrote 0/0 and didnt actually write out the direct substitution. The problem solving question gave some
students difficulty. We had done quite a few problems like this (through hw, classwork, their quiz) and
shouldnt have had some of the errors that they had. It would appear based on this exam that only a few
still need some help with limits but at least for the most part, students understood how to determine
limits both algebraically and graphically. By them doing the limits graphically, it shows they understand
conceptually what a limit is and how we can determine a limit. Thus, I would conclude that the main
objectives were met.