NOTE: This syllabus may undergo minor changes up to the first day of the semester. The syllabus as it stands on the first day of the semester will be the final arbiter of all questions about the course, its assignments, its due dates, and its grading methodology. Small changes to the syllabus as it now stands might be made before the first of the semester. If you download this syllabus a substantial time before the beginning of the semester, I encourage you to check back to see if there have been any changes, such as deadline changes or grading changes, the first few days of class.
Instructor: |
JAMES SONDGEROTH |
Office: |
Rio Grande Campus(RGC)/Building 3000, 1218 West Ave 78701 |
Rm. 3139 |
RGC Phone: 512-223-3390 |
Messages: Please feel free to leave messages on Mr. Sondgeroth's voice mail at 223-3390. He will return the calls as soon as he is in the office again.
E-mail: jason@austincc.edu, Subject line must contain ECON 2301.81751.028.
Orientation for this course is done by taking a quiz over the course's syllabus. The document you are reading right now.
This Orientation Quiz must be taken and submitted before you can take any of the exams. The quiz consists of 20 questions. Students must make an 80% or better on it in order to gain access to the UNIT I EXAM. This exam also has a corequistie of a 65% or better grade on the Chapter 4 MyEconLab Quiz.
The learning objectives for this quiz can be found by clicking on Mandatory Orientation Quiz on the course's ACC Blackboard site.
Your course's ACC Blackboard site can be found at http://acconline.austincc.edu.
Blackboard:
Blackboard
is an on-line classroom management tool. It includes a gradebook, an announcements
page, and a facility for administering on-line tests and quizzes.
Course Announcements will be posted to Blackboard; midterm exams will be administered through Blackboard; and your course grades can be accessed through Blackboard. In addition to the email address given above (subject line--ECON 2301.81751.028), communication will be done through the Discussion Board that is part of the course's Blackboard site.
Blackboard's URL is http://acconline.austincc.edu. This is the URL for ACC's Blackboard site. Do not go to blackboard.com, the company's own site.
DON?T HAVE A USERNAME AND PASSWORD YET?
If you have not created your new ACC Username or Password through ACCeID Manager, then please go to this link: https://acceid.austincc.edu/idm/user/login.jsp.
Do not fill in your Username and Password on this page, since you do not have either yet. DO CLICK on ?First-Time Login.?
Your ACCeID will be the first letter of your legal, given, first name and your seven digit ACC ID number. For example, fictional student John Keynes might have this Username j0067701.
Once you submit this Username, just follow the instructions.
The first day students can access Blackboard is typically the day after regular registration ends.
Helpful Hint: Once you are logged into ACC's Blackboard site, the easiest way to navigate this course's Blackboard content is accessed by first clicking on the "Courses" tab in the upper left hand corner of the first Blackboard page that comes up. Then click on the name of the course: Course ID: 219U-81751-ECON 2301-028: Principles of Macroeconomics. You are then taken to the course's main Blackboard page. It is much easier to find the "Assignments" button, the "Course Calendar" button, and the "Exams" button, where the links to the on-line exams can be found, by doing this than if you try to navigate from the very first page that comes up when you log onto Blackboard
The purpose of this course is to familiarize the student with the generally accepted principles of macroeconomics. Though ultimately based on the actions of individual households and business firms, macroeconomics deals with aggregates--i.e., consumers as a whole, producers as a whole, exporters and importers as a whole, the effects of government spending and taxation, and the monetary policy of the central bank. Macroeconomics is concerned with such things as unemployment, inflation, and the business cycle.
Course Description, Rationale, and Common Course Objectives/Student Outcomes as established by the economics department:
1. Course Description- Principles of Macroeconomics deals with consumers as a whole, producers as a whole, the effects of government spending and taxation policies and the effects of the monetary policy carried out by the Federal Reserve Bank. Macroeconomics is concerned with unemployment, inflation, and the business cycle.
2. Course Rationale- This course is meant to give students insight into the dynamics of our national economy. The knowledge gained in the course will make students better informed citizens and allow them to follow the debates over national economic policy reported in the news media. This course is also a foundation course that will prepare students to be successful in upper division finance, marketing, business administration, economics, government, and social work courses.
3. Common Course Objectives/Student Outcomes.
Students who complete this course will be able to:
- critically evaluate GDP, unemployment, and inflation data;
- explain the business cycle and its phases;
- manipulate the basic Aggregate Supply, Aggregate Demand model of the macro economy;
- and to manipulate the basic Aggregate Supply, Aggregate Demand model of the macro economy;
- explain fiscal policy tools and defend and criticize the usage fiscal policy;
- describe how a fractional reserve banking system works;
- explain monetary policy tools and defend and criticize the usage monetary policy.
4. Discipline Program Student Learning Outcomes.
- PSLO 1: Socially Optimal Market Outcomes- Model and explain under what circumstances are capable of creating socially optimal outcomes.
- PSLO 2: Socially Suboptimal Market Outcomes- Model and explain under what circumstances markets are capable of creating outcomes that are not socially optimal.
- PSLO 3: Economic Policy -Defend and criticize the role of economic policy in a mixed market economy.
- PSLO 4: Economic Data -Critically evaluate economic data.
5. General Education Competencies.
- Civic and Cultural Awareness - Analyzing and critiquing competing perspectives in a democratic society; comparing, contrasting, and interpreting differences and commonalities among peoples, ideas, aesthetic traditions, and cultural practices.
- Critical Thinking - Gathering, analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating and applying information.
- Quantitative and Empirical Reasoning - Applying mathematical, logical and scientific principles and methods.
- Written, Oral and Visual Communication - Communicating effectively, adapting to purpose, structure, audience, and medium.
The UNIT EXAMS in this course are based on learning objectives composed by the instructor that you can find by clicking HERE. The learning objectives for each chapter assigned and for each UNIT EXAM and for the Final Exam can be found in UNIT and Final Exam folders on the course's ACC Blackboard site. Read these objectives carefully before you read the corresponding chapter in the textbook. The learning objectives are correlated exactly with the questions on the UNIT EXAMS.
In general, after studying each chapter, you should be able to:
The learning objectives are there to help you focus your mind on the important concepts and theories discussed in the unit. The exams will test your knowledge of and ability to apply these learning objectives. Knowing this will help you efficiently allocate your mental energies.
Required:
|
1. Economics
Today: The Macro View plus MyEconLab plus eBook 1-semester Student Access
Kit, 19/E, by Roger LeRoy Miller (Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2017).
There are several alternatives/formats available. If you have paind your
tuition for this course and you have not opted out of the First Day Access
textbook program, then you should already have access to this eText through
the course's Blackboard site. If you did opt out of the First Day Access
program, then see additional discussion about how to buy and to use this
book below by clicking HERE. If you are purchasing the textbook outside of the First Dat Access program be careful. The cover of
Economics Today: The Macro View is almost identical to the
cover of
Economics Today: The Micro View. |
Economics Today: The Macro View plus MyEconLab plus eBook 1-semester Student Access Kit, 19/E:
REQUIRED TEXT:
Economics Today: The Macro View with
MyLab Economics, 19th edition, Miller
A discounted charge of only $105.54 (includes tax) has been added to your tuition and fee bill for the cost of the course materials used in this course.
By participating in the First Day program, you will gain access to the eText and MyLab Economics through your instructor?s Blackboard site.
You will also be eligible to purchase a low cost print upgrade in the bookstore for only $26.70 + tax in the ACC Bookstore at Highland Learning Center.
Registration Instructions:
Need help? For help with MyLab & Modified Mastering with Blackboard, go to:
http://help.pearsoncmg.com/mylabmastering/bbi/student/en/index.html.
For First Day questions, go to:
https://customercare.bncollege.com/hc/en-us/categories/360000142447-First-Day-Inclusive-Access-FAQs.
If you do not wish to participate in the program you have until July 10 to "Opt Out". If you "Opt Out" of receiving and paying for your materials via this program, you will be responsible for obtaining those on your own. These are required materials for the course.
The textbook mentioned at the beginning of this section is a traditional introduction to macroeconomics college textbook. If you buy this text new, an access kit granting students access to the on-line homework site, MyEconLab, and the associated eBook has been added.
Some version of the textbook, new, used, or eBook, is required. So is access to the course's MyEconLab site.
You can buy the eBook and MyEconLab together as a package without the hardcopy of the textbook if you so desire. Instructions on how to do so can be found below.
You can buy used copies of this text also. In fact, I see no reason why you couldn't use the 17th edition if you can find it. (Hint: Search engines. I have posted the table of contents for the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th editions on the course's ACC Blackboard site.) However, you need to be careful here, because in all probability you will not receive an access kit that has not been used, even if you buy a used 18th edition. So, if you do buy used, you will most likely still need to buy access to MyEconLab. Instructions on how to do this can also be found below.
WHERE TO PURCHASE:
Students benefit when they start an exam confident and prepared. MyEconLab is the only online assessment system that gives students the tools they need to learn from their mistakes right at the moment they are struggling.
Personalized Study Plan
A Study Plan is generated from each student's results on answering Study Plan questions, by taking the Sample Tests, and by completing the instructor's assignments. Students can clearly see which topics they have mastered-and, more importantly, which they need to work on. The Study Plan links to additional practice problems and tutorial exercises to help on those topics. (When you click on the "Study Plan" link in the left control column, it only opens up to a tutorial on how to use MyEconLab. Look for the link "View all chapters" to find access to all the Study Plan questions.)
Unlimited Practice
Many Study Plan and instructor-assigned exercises contain algorithmically generated values, ensuring students get as much practice as they need. Every problem links students to learning resources that further reinforce concepts they need to master. The Study Plan questions can be taken over and over again; the instructor assigned Homework Assignment can be retaken as many times as a student wants right up to the deadline for taking it. The Chapter Quizzes can be taken three times before the deadline. The highest score is used for grading the Chapter Quizzes.
Learning Resources
In the upper-right corner of each practice problem is a link to the eText section discussing the very concept being applied. Students also have access to guided solutions ("Help Me Solve This"), animated graphs, audio narratives, and flashcards on many of the problems. MyEconLab has a suite of graphing tools for practice and current news articles that tie chapter topics to everyday issues.
Test and Other Assignments
MyEconLab comes with two pre-loaded Sample Tests for each chapter so students can self-assess their understanding of the material. Instructors can assign these Sample Tests or create assignments using a mix of publisher-supplied content and their own custom exercises.
As a student you should:
Reading the textbook thoroughly is the key to doing well in this Distance Learning course. Distance Learning courses have no lectures to help you understand the material being covered. You must rely almost completely on the textbook to help you understand the material. This is why reading, and re-reading the text is so essential.
I recommend that you take these steps in reading each chapter.
Step One: Skim the chapter. Spend three to five seconds looking over each page of the chapter.
Step Two: Quickly read over the chapter again reading only the title of the chapter, the learning objectives, all the headings and sub-headings in the chapter, all the words in bold print, and all the words in the left column of each page in the chapter.
Step Three: Read the introduction of the chapter, the first paragraph of each section or subsection in the chapter and the first sentence of all of the other paragraphs in the section or subsection. Finally read the summary of the chapter.
Step Four: Without referring back to the chapter make a list of all the important concepts, terms, ideas, theories, and laws that you can remember.
Step Five: Read the introduction, the learning objectives, and the summary of the chapter in the "What You Should Know" section at the end of the chapter.
Step Six: Revise and improve your list and then use it to make the outline/map of the chapter.
Step Seven: Read the chapter in the text completely and thoroughly.
Step Eight: Revise and improve your outline/map once again. This time add the key terms to the appropriate places in your outline/map if they had been included before this time.
Step Nine: Complete a Study Plan for the chapter in MyEconLab.
Step Ten: Revise your outline/map one more time.
Step Eleven: Review your outline/map every four or five days until the exam and then use it to prepare for the exam.
If you read your textbook in this structured and disciplined way, you will learn much more than if you approach your reading task in an unorganized manner, and you will do much better on the exams than you would otherwise do.
UNIT I |
Chapter 1: The Nature of Economics |
|
Chapter 2: Scarcity and the World of Trade-Offs |
|
Chapter 3: Demand and Supply |
|
Chapter 4: Extensions of Demand and Supply Analysis |
Test over UNIT
I due by July 15 for extra credit points.
Learning Objectives for Exam 1
UNIT II |
Chapter 5: Public Spending and Public Choice | |
Chapter 6: Funding the Public Sector |
|
Chapter 7: The Macroeconomy: Unemployment, Inflation, and Deflation |
|
Chapter 8: Measuring the Economy’s Performance |
Test over UNIT II due by July 23 for extra
credit points.
Learning Objectives for Exam 2
UNIT III |
Chapter 10: Real GDP and the Price Level in the Long Run | |
Chapter 11: Classical and Keynesian Macro Analyses |
|
Chapter 12: Consumption, Real GDP, and the Multiplier |
|
Chapter 13: Fiscal Policy |
Test over UNIT III due by July 31 for extra
credit points.
Learning Objectives for Exam 3
UNIT IV |
Chapter 14: Deficit Spending and the Public Debt |
|
Chapter 15: Money, Banking, and Central Banking |
|
Chapter 16: Domestic and International Dimensions of Monetary Policy |
|
Chapter 17: Stabilization in an Integrated World Economy |
Test
over UNIT IV due by August 8 for extra credit points.
Learning Objectives for Exam 4
FINAL EXAM due
by August 12 for extra credit points.
August 12 is the last day of the second 5.5 week summer session.
Students will not be able to take the Final Exam in an ACC Testing Center after
August 12 without a Report of an Incomplete Grade form.
ACC Testing Centers' hours of operation are:
TESTING CENTERS' HOURS &
LOCATIONS.
All midterm exams will be available on Blackboard for
re-testing purposes through August 12.
There is no re-test for the final exam. |
Important Note: If you take these tests on time you will receive extra credit points that will improve your grade. See "Extra Credit Points" under "Grading" for details. The total value of these extra credit points is equal to 6% of the course grade. You can earn additional extra credit points by doing the two Extra Credit Assignments. more than the required MyEconLab Homework & Quizzes. Details about all the extra credit points available can be found under "Extra Credit Points" below.
This is a Competency Based Education course. That means that the grades assigned will be based on the mastering the UNITS/Competencies in the course. Once students have shown mastery of one UNIT (or competency), they may move on to the next UNIT/Competency. UNIT Challenge Exams will be made available at the beginning of each of the four UNITS/Competencies. They are optional; students can skip them and start the MyEconLab assignments in each UNIT if they so desire. One attempt will be allowed for each UNIT/Competency Challenge Exam, AND they must be taken in a Testing Center. If a grade of 80% or better is made on a UNIT/Competency Challenge Exam, then students may move on to the next UNIT/competency without completing the MyEconLab assignments in the UNIT/Competency for which the UNIT Challenge Exam was taken. If a grade of less than 80% is made on a UNIT/Competency Challenge Exam, then students will have to move through each the MyEconLab assignments in the UNIT/Competency in the order they are assigned. After students have completed these assignments with a 65% or better grade on them, they may take the UNIT Exam. Three attempts will be allowed on each UNIT Exam without the instructor's permission--an initial test and two re-tests. Students must make a 65% or better on a UNIT Exam to move on to the next UNIT/Competency Challenge Exam. If more than three attempts are needed to make a 65%, students must set up an appointment with the professor to discuss the difficulties they are having with the UNIT Exam. Once a UNIT Exam has been passed with a 65% or better, the process will repeat itself on the next UNIT/Competency.
A student has completed the course when the student completes the Final Exam. The prerequiste for being able to take the Final Exam is that a student must have made an 80% or better on the UNIT/Competency IV Challenge Exam OR 65% or better on the UNIT IV Exam . The letter grade a student will be assigned will be determined by the weighted average of the grades on the four UNIT/Competency Challenge Exams OR UNIT Exams, as the case may be, and the grade on the Final Exam. Each UNIT/Competency Challenge Exam OR the associated UNIT Exam will have a weight of 15%, or 150 points. That is UNIT I will have a weight of 15%; UNIT II, 15%; UNIT III, 15%: and UNIT IV will have a weight of 15%; in the point system used this is equivalent to 600 points or 60% of the grade. The Final Exam will have a weight of 40% or 400 points.
A flow chart of the three distinct paths through this course can be found here: http://www.austincc.edu/sondg/CBE/MacroCBE-DL-Flowchart.svg. The path on the righthand side of this page is the traditional path that I offered in this course up until Fall 2018. I think most students will travel this path. However, due to encouragement from the college's administrators, I have added the other two paths. The lefthand path is basically a chanllenge exam for credit in the whole course; if you make over an 80% on the Challenge exam, then you do not have to complete the MyEconLab assignments or take the UNIT Exams. The center pathway, allows students to challenge individual UNITS of the course.
Letter Grade
|
Weighted Average
|
Points
|
A
|
90 to 100%
|
900 to 1000+
|
B
|
80 to 89.9%
|
800 to 899
|
C
|
65 to 79.9%
|
650 to 799
|
D
|
55 to 64.9%
|
550 to 649
|
F
|
0 to 54.9%
|
0 to 549
|
NOTE #1: Because of the Extra Credit Points discussed later in this syllabus, the total points shown in the Blackboard gradebook might show as being 1140 points. However, the letter grades will be based on points accumulated as shown in the above table.
NOTE #2:Finally there are several
important pieces of information that students need to keep in mind when preparing
for the final exam.
1) If a student makes an F on the final, (that is, makes less than 55% or 220
points out of 400 on the final exam), then the student can make no higher than
a C in the course.
In other words, a student cannot make an A or a B in the course if he makes
an F on the final.
2) If a student makes a D on the final, (that is, makes at least 55% but less
than 65% on the final exam), then the student can make no higher than a B in
the course.
In other words, a student cannot make an A in the course if he makes an D on
the final.
3) If a student makes a 90% ( 360 points) or above on the final exam, the student
will earn an A in the course regardless of his total points.
The first two items are why a Practice Final is being provided to students in
this course. It is hoped that this Practice Final will help students better
prepare for the final and take away some of the anxiety that students normally
feel when approaching a final exam.
To complete the logic of a Competency Based Education course, a Course Challenge Exam will be available at the beginning of the course. This Course Challenge Exam will be just like the comprehensive Final Exam, AND, like the Final Exam, it must be taken in a Testing Center. It will consist of 100 questions. The questions will all be correlated with specific learning objectives which will be listed on Blackboard. If a student makes an 80% or better on this Course Challenge Exam, then the student will have demonstrated mastery of the material in this Principles of Macroeconomics survey course. The grade the student will be assigned will be deterermined as follows:
Letter Grade
|
(Grade on Course Challenge Exam)
|
A
|
90 to 100% |
B
|
80 to 89.9%
|
If a student scores less than a 80% on the Course Competency Exam, then the student will need to show mastery in the four UNITS/Competencies mentioned above. If a student makes a B on the Course Challenge Exam and wants to raise his grade to an A, then the student will need to proceed through the four UNITS/Competencies as outlined above or to complete the Extra Credit assignments.
Incompletes are discouraged. They will be given only when extraordinary events intervene so as to make completion of the course impossible. If you want an incomplete, these events must be documented. To receive an incomplete the student must have completed two exams with a grade of C or better. The student must also come by my office to fill out an incomplete grade form. If the form is not filled out, an incomplete grade will not be given.
Incompletes will not be given to students who are behind schedule when the semester nears its end. Nor will incompletes be given to students who need just a few more points to make the next higher letter grade. Plenty of opportunity exists during the semester to accomplish your goals.
If you find yourself way behind or many points short toward the end of the semester, you may withdraw without a grade penalty up to three weeks before the end of the semester. Please read the following note about withdrawals.
Students are responsible for withdrawing themselves from this course if that is what their personal situation requires. This means that if you have taken only two of the tests and the semester ends without your having withdrawn yourself, then you will receive an F in the course. The instructor makes no promise either implicit or explicit to withdraw students from the course. The instructor does reserve the right to withdraw students who have fallen behind on taking the exams and completing the MyEconLab assignments.
In addition, students should be aware of a change in the law regarding Withdrawals passed by the Texas Legislature in the spring of 2007. Starting in the Fall of 2007, entering freshman will be restricted to six non-punitive withdrawals for the whole of their undergraduate careers while attending state colleges.
Important information about the consequences of
withdrawing from a course are discussed at this ACC site:
http://www.austincc.edu/apply-and-register/registration-steps/drop-or-withdraw-from-a-class.
The last day to withdraw from this course is Monday,
August 5.
A Course Challenge Exam is offered to all students who want to see if they can pass the course without working through all the Pearson MyEconLab assignments and taking all the UNIT Exams. If students make an 80% or better on this Challenge Exam, he has completed the course.
The prerequistite for taking the Course Challenge Exam is to have compelted the Mandatory Orientation Quiz with a grade of 80% or better.
This Challenge Exam is exactly like the final exam described below. By "exactly like," I mean all its questions will be randomly drawn from the same 100 pools of questions that the Final Exam questions will be drawn from.
To learn more about the nature if this exam, please read the information given below about the final exam.
Like the Final Exam, the Challenge Exam must be taken in an ACC Testing Center.
You must show your student ID and a photo ID in order to take and exam at a Testing Center.
If you make over an 80%, you are almost finished with the course. If you make less than 80%, you will need to proceed through the normal assignments and exams required of the course.
Good luck if you want to try taking it. If you don't succeed, it will not damage your grade in the rest of the course in the least.
If you don't want to attempt taking it, you can proceed to the UNIT I Challenge Exam, or you can start working on the UNIT I MyEconLab assignments.
All UNIT/Competency Challenge Exams, UNIT EXAMS, and the Final Exam are objective, multiple-choice question exams.
All UNIT/Competency Challenge Exams, UNIT EXAMS, and the Final Exam are based on the learning objectives students are expected to master. For more information on learning objectives, please see the section on "Learning Objectives" in this syllabus above or in Blackboard. Furthermore all exam questions will be drawn exclusively from the textbook, Economics Today: The Macro View. The exams over each UNIT will include ten questions over each chapter assigned for each UNIT, so each UNIT/Competency Challenge Exam and UNIT EXAM will cover four chapters and consist of 40 questions. The questions will appear on the EXAMS in the order in which the chapters were assigned for the UNIT. For example, on the UNIT I EXAM the first ten questions will cover Chapter 1, next ten will cover Chapter 2, questions 21-30 will cover Chapter 3, and questions 31-40 will cover Chapter 4.. Indeed the questions will be numbered in exactly the same way as the learning objectives the questions are associated with are numbered.
The EXAMS for each of the four UNITS will be administered over the Internet through the course's ACC Blackboard site. Each UNIT/Competency Challenge Exam and UNIT EXAM over a UNIT will be found in the corresponding UNIT Module Folder in the left navigation column of Blackboard. The UNIT/Competency Challenge Exams must be taken in an ACC Testing Center; the regular UNIT EXAMS can be taken at home.
There will be ten learning objectives listed for each chapter. Each learning objective will have 10 or more questions connected to it by the testing program used in this course. That program will randomly choose one question from each group of ten for the exam. For example, if a UNIT EXAM is 40 questions long, then there will be 10 ways to select the first question, ten ways to select the second question, and so on to the fortieth question. The number of different exams this program can generate for one midterm/unit exam is 1040. One billion is 1 followed by 9 zeros. 1040 is 1 followed by 40 zeros, or 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 different exams will be possible for each UNIT EXAM.
These EXAMS will also be timed. You will have 60 minutes to answer 40 questions.
Once again, the UNIT EXAMS will be given on the Blackboard Internet course platform used by ACC, so students will need to sign on to Blackboard in order to take these exams.
If students make an 70% or better on a UNIT/Competency Challenge Exam, they may move on to the next UNIT/Competency Challenge Exam without working through all the MyEconLab assignemnts. (NOTE: Prior to this semester, I required all students to move through all the MyEconLab assignments to earn a grade in the course. So this Competency Based method is a bit of an experiment for me.)
Students will have the opportunity to re-take each UNIT EXAM twice. The highest grade will be used in determing grades. Students do not have to re-take these exams if they make over 65% on them. A 65% grade on a UNIT EXAM will allow the student to move on to the next UNIT or the Final Exam if it is the UNIT IV EXAM. If a student does not make an 65% or better on a UNIT EXAM after three attempts, then the student will need to meet with the Professor of the course before he or she can re-test it again.
NOTE: All UNIT/Competency Challenge Exams, UNIT EXAMS, and the FINAL Exam have prerequisites that have to be met before they can be taken.
UNIT/Competency I Challenge Exam: to take
this exam you must have taken and passed the Mandatory Orientation Quiz with
an 80% grade or better grade.
UNIT I EXAM: to take this exam you must
have taken and passed the Mandatory Orientation Quiz with an 80% or better grade
AND the Chapter 4 MyEconLab Quiz with a 65% or better grade.
UNIT/Competency II Challenge Exam: to take
this exam you must have taken and passd the UNIT/Competency I Challenge EXAM
with a grade of 70% or better OR the UNIT I EXAM
with a 65% or better grade.
UNIT II EXAM: to take this exam you must
have taken and passd the UNIT I EXAM AND
the Chapter 8 MyEconLab Quiz with a 65% or better grade.
UNIT/Competency III Pre-Exam: to take this
exam you must have taken and passd the UNIT/Competency II EXAM with a grade
of 70% or better OR the UNIT II EXAM with a 65% or better grade.
UNIT III EXAM: to take this exam you must
have taken and passd the UNIT II EXAM AND the Chapter 13 MyEconLab Quiz with
a 65% or better grade.
UNIT/Competency IV Pre-Exam: to take this
exam you must have taken and passd the UNIT/Competency III EXAM with a grade
of 70% or better OR the UNIT III EXAM with a 65% or better grade.
UNIT IV EXAM: to take this exam you must
have taken and passd the UNIT III EXAM AND the Chapter 17 MyEconLab Quiz with
a 65% or better grade.
FINAL EXAM: to take this exam you must have taken and passd the UNIT/Competency IV EXAM with a grade of 70% or better OR the UNIT IV EXAM with a 65% or better grade.
TO SEE ALL PREREQUISITES FOR ALL MYECONLAB ASSIGNMENTS AND ALL BLACKBOARD EXAMS, CLICK HERE.
YOU SHOULD MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO TAKE THE UNIT EXAMS NO LATER THAN THE LISTED DATE.
For all deadlines click here.
However, all UNIT EXAMS will be available through the last day of the semester
for re-testing purposes.
Contact the instructor if you are unable to take any of the exams by the listed date.
Contact the instructor if you have fallen behind schedule so that you can work with the instructor to put together a plan to catch up.
The Final Exam must be taken in a Testing Center. Students can not pass the course without taking the final exam.
You MUST show your student ID and a photo ID in order to take an exam at a Testing Center.
The Final Exam can be taken at the Testing Centers on the Northridge, Highland Learning Center, South Austin, Riverside, Pinnacle, Eastview, Round Rock, Elgin, Hays, San Gabriel, or Cypress Creek Campuses. Since the Final Exam will be administered on the course's Blackboard site on a Testing Center computer, the results will be available as soon as a student submits the exam.
The final exam will be comprehensive. There will be 100 questions on it drawn from the 160 Learning Objective pools used in this course. So each question will be drawn form one or two pools. The quesitions will be arranged in the order the chapters were assigned. Questions over Chapter 1 will be the first ones encountered and questions over Chapter 17 (Chapter 9 is skipped) will be the last ones encountered.
Students will be allowed to bring with them two 8.5x11 inch pieces of paper with notes written on both sides. These crib sheets must be hand written -- not typed, and it must not be a photocopy. This crib sheet must also be turned in after the exam. You must use a crib sheet even if it has nothing on it except a note saying you didn't prepare a crib sheet with your signature on it.
Please make a photocopypy of your crib sheet if you want to save it. The original will be taken up after you complete the final exam in the Testing Center and will not be returned to you.
More information about the Final Exam will be posted on the Announcements page on this course's Blackboard site about three weeks before the end of the semester. (If you complete the course early, please email me, and I will supply you with that information.)
There is no retesting on the final exam, though there is a Practice Final available on Blackboard.This Practice Final is a copy of the actual final you will be taking in a Testing Center in the sense that it draws examination questions from the same test pools. It is not an exact copy because it will most likely draw a different question from each pool. Nevertheless, it will give you an excellent sense of what the final exam will be like when you take it in the Testing Center. As such, it should help you understand how much you will need to prepare for the actual final exam.
MyEconLab.com is the online study guide which accompanies our Miller text. MyEconLab is required, not optional.
While the grades made on MyEconLab assignments are not part of the course grade, students cannot move on to the UNIT EXAMS without making at least and 65% on the assigned Chapter Homework Assignments and Chapter Quizzes that are part of the assignments for each chapter. More details about how this works will be found in the Grading section. A link to a list of all prerequisites for MyEconLab assignments and UNIT EXAMS can be found HERE.
MyEconLab has three types of assignments:
Each question will have a drop down window of Learning Aids at the top and to the right of the question or problem. These Learning Aids include
The Results page will give you your scores
on each assignment, as well as your overall average.
Chapter Quizzes and Chapter Homework Assignments will have due dates.
You will be able to do the assignments for credit after their deadlines have
passed with a penalty being exacted for every day they are late.
Deadlines for Homework Assignments and Quizzes on MyEconLab can be found here: http://www.austincc.edu/sondg/homework/macro/2018-2019/2nd6wSummerMEL.htm.
There are two ways for students to improve their grades by earning extra credit. The total amount of extra credit available is equal to 14% of the course grade.
Extra Credit Type 1: Take the tests on time:
You can earn extra credit by taking your exams on or before the initial testing deadlines.
You will earn extra credit equal to 10 points of the 150 points availble on each UNIT EXAM taken on or before its deadline. You will not lose this extra credit if you take the re-test for that UNIT after the deadline.
This means there is a total of 4% of the course grade available as extra credit just by taking all of the UNIT EXAMS by theri deadlines.
If you take the Final on or before its deadline, you will earn 20 points extra credit or 2% of the course grade.
So the total extra credit avialble by taking all exams by their due date is 6%.
Extra Credit Type 2: Taking Extra Credit Assignment Exams over the unassigned chapters of the textbook.:
Chapters 9, 18, 32, and 33 are not assigned and
will not be covered on any UNIT EXAM on Blackboard or on the Final Exam.
However small tests over these chapters will be made available on Blackboard.
Each of these exams is worth up to 4% of the course grade--8% in total.
If students are looking for another way to improve their grade, then they are
encouraged to read these chapters and take the exams connected to Extra Credi
Assignment 1 and Extra Credit Assignment 2.
Extra Credit Assignment 1 Exam covers chapters 9 and 18. Students must complete
the associated MyEconLab assignments with at least a 65% score to be able to
take it.
Extra Credit Assignment 2 Exam covers chapters 32 and 33. Students must complete
the associated MyEconLab assignments with at least a 65% score to be able to
take it.
Students must make 65% or better on these exams to earn any points on them.
For example, if a student makes an 80% on one of these Extra Credit Assignment
Exams, then he will receive 32 extra credit points: 80%*40=32. If a student
makes a 64% on one, then he will earn no extra credit points.
The deadline
for completing these extra credit tests is August 12.
EXAM |
Unit Covered |
Chapters Covered |
Exam Deadline for Extra Credit Points |
Location of Exam |
1 |
I |
1, 2, 3, 4 |
July 15 |
Blackboard |
2 |
II |
5, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
July 23 |
Blackboard |
3 |
III |
10, 11, 12, 13 |
July 31 |
Blackboard |
4 |
IV |
14, 15, 16, 17 |
August 8 |
Blackboard |
Final |
ALL |
1-8 & 10-17 |
August 12 |
Testing Center |
All UNIT EXAMS will be available for re-testing on
Blackboard through the last day of the semester if a studnet has taken
the intial test by its deadline or has met the prerequisites for taking
it. These prerequisites are time constrained which means that if you have
not met the prerequisites then you will not be able to take the exam after
15 days after the deadline for the exam has passed or after August 12 depending
on which date is earlier. FINAL EXAM due by Monday, August 12. It will remain available in the Testing Centers through Monday, August 12, which is the last day of the second 6 week summer session.If students take the Final Exam on Saturday, August 10, or Sunday, August 11, they will need to check which ACC Testing Centers are open and what their hours of operation are: TESTING CENTERS' HOURS & LOCATIONS. Beware though! Since Exam 4 is a prerequisite for taking the Final Exam, a student couldn't take the initial attempt on Exam 4 at any time after 5 p.m. on Monday, August 12, and have any hope of taking the Final Exam the same day. There is no re-test for the final exam. |
Scholastic dishonesty: Acts prohibited by the college for which discipline may be administered include scholastic dishonesty, including but not limited to cheating on an exam or quiz, plagiarizing, and unauthorized collaboration with another in preparing outside work. Academic work submitted by students shall be the result of their thought, research or self-expression. Academic work is defined as, but not limited to tests, quizzes, whether taken electronically or on paper; projects, either individual or group; classroom presentations, and homework.
Student and Instructional Services & Student Accessibility Office:
1) ACC strives to provide exemplary support to its students
and offers a broad variety of opportunities and services. Information on these
services and support systems is available at: http://www.austincc.edu/support-and-services.
2)
Links to many student services and other information can be found at: http://www.austincc.edu/current-students/.
3) ACC Learning Labs provide free tutoring services to all ACC students currently
enrolled in a course to be tutored. But tutoring in economics is not widely
available. The tutor schedule for each Learning Lab may be found at: http://www.austincc.edu/support-and-services/tutoring-and-academic-help/tutoring-services-and-schedules.
4) For help setting up your ACCeID, ACC Gmail, or ACC Blackboard,
see a Learning Lab Technician at any ACC Learning Lab.
5) Each ACC campus offers support services for students with documented disabilities.
Students with disabilities who need classroom, academic or other accommodations
must request them through the office of Student Accessibility Services (SAS).
Students are encouraged to request accommodations when they register for courses
or at least three weeks before the start of the semester, otherwise the provision
of accommodations may be delayed. Students who have received approval for
accommodations from SAS for this course must provide the instructor with the
?Notice of Approved Accommodations? from SAS before accommodations will be
provided. Arrangements for academic accommodations can only be made after
the instructor receives the ?Notice of Approved Accommodations? from the student.
Students with approved accommodations are encouraged to submit the ?Notice
of Approved Accommodations? to the instructor at the beginning of the semester
because a reasonable amount of time may be needed to prepare and arrange for
the accommodations. Additional information about Student Accessibility Services
is available at http://www.austincc.edu/sas.
Academic Freedom: Each student is strongly encouraged to participate in class discussions. In any classroom situation that includes discussion and critical thinking, particularly about economic and political ideas, there are bound to be many differing viewpoints. Students may not only disagree with each other at times, but the students and instructor may also find that they have opposing views on sensitive and volatile topics. It is my hope that these differences will enhance class discussion and create an atmosphere where students and instructor alike will be encouraged to think and learn. Therefore, be assured that your grades will not be adversely affected by any beliefs or ideas expressed in class or in assignments. Rather, we will all respect the views of others when expressed in classroom discussions.
Safty Statement: Austin
Community College is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for
study and work. You are expected to learn and comply with ACC environmental,
health and safety procedures and agree to follow ACC safety policies. Additional
information on these can be found at http://www.austincc.edu/ehs.
Because some health and safety circumstances are beyond our control, we ask
that you become familiar with the Emergency Procedures poster and Campus Safety
Plan map in each classroom. Additional information about emergency procedures
and how to sign up for ACC Emergency Alerts to be notified in the event of a
serious emergency can be found at http://www.austincc.edu/emergency/.
Please note, you are expected to conduct yourself professionally
with respect and courtesy to all. Anyone who thoughtlessly or intentionally
jeopardizes the health or safety of another individual will be dismissed from
the day?s activity, may be withdrawn from the class, and/or barred from attending
future activities.
You are expected to conduct yourself professionally with respect
and courtesy to all. Anyone who thoughtlessly or intentionally jeopardizes the
health or safety of another individual will be immediately dismissed from the
day?s activity, may be withdrawn from the class, and/or barred from attending
future activities.
ACC Email: All College e-mail communication to students will be sent solely to the student?s ACCmail account, with the expectation that such communications will be read in a timely fashion. ACC will send important information and will notify you of any college related emergencies using this account. Students should only expect to receive email communication from their instructor using this account. Likewise, students should use their ACCmail account when communicating with instructors and staff. Instructions for activating an ACCmail account can be found at http://www.austincc.edu/accmail/index.php.
ACC Concealed Handgun Policy: Refer to the concealed handgun policy online http://www.austincc.edu/campus-carry.