Courant Institute New York University FAS CAS GSAS

Calculus Placement Exams


Online Calculus Placement exams will be given in April.

The dates and times will be posted here in late February.

Online exams require connecting to a website and taking a timed exam. Students can use their own laptops, or regster for an exam given in an NYU computer lab.

Students must pre- register to take an exam. No exceptions.

1. Arrive at least 20 minutes early with your laptop and NYU ID. Make sure your laptop battery is fully charged; often the electrical outlets are turned off on Fridays for building repairs. 

You must have your ID to get into the building, and to be admitted into an exam room.  If you are late you will not be given extra time.

2. Configuration for exam software:

• All exams require a Java-enabled browser.
• JavaScriptTM and cookies must be enabled.
• Sun Java 1.5.0 or later is also required.

3. Calculus Placement Exam  --  System Requirements

The following is a list of the minimum system requirements for access to the Maple T.A. system. System performance
may vary based on the speed of your Internet connection. For all system systems, it is recommended that you set your
screen resolution to at least 800 x 600 dpi.

Windows - 32-bit
• Platforms: Windows XP/2003/Vista/7
• Browsers: Internet Explorer® 6.x+, Firefox® 3.0+
• 300 MHz processor or better
• 64 MB RAM or better

Windows - 64-bit
• Platforms: Windows XP/Vista/7
• Browsers: Internet Explorer 6.x+, Firefox 3.0+
• 300 MHz processor or better
• 64 MB RAM or better

Macintosh
• Platform: Mac OS X 10.5 or later
• Browsers: Firefox 3.0+, Safari 5.0+*
• 333 MHz processor or better
• 64 MB RAM or better

Linux - 32-bit
• Platforms: SUSE 10.3, 11.1, 11.2; Red Hat Enterprise 5; Ubuntu 8.04, 10.04
• Browsers: Firefox 3.0+
• 300 MHz processor or better
• 64 MB RAM or better

Linux - 64-bit
• Platforms: SUSE Enterprise 10, SUSE Enterprise 11; Red Hat Enterprise 5; Ubuntu 8.04, 10.04
• Browsers: Firefox 3.0+
• 300 MHz processor or better
• 64 MB RAM or better


Registration for Placement Exams

There is a new system for Calc Placement registration. The links will be posted here in late February, for an April exam date.

Students may take a calculus placement exam a maximum of 2 times, with at least 3 months in between.

Exam choices:

Exam date choices


You will have one hour to complete the Calculus I placement exam, and two hours for the Advanced Calculus placement exams.

No calculators, formula sheets, or other aids are allowed in the exam room.

Preparation for All Placement Exams

Students are expected to complete a review of material and any other preparation for the placement exam before they take the exam. All students, without exception, must prove they have the skills required for the courses they wish to take.

The purpose of a placement exam is to match a student's current skill set to the appropriate class. Calculus and post-Calculus classes are demanding; there is no review of lower-level material in class, and no time for individual review once the semester begins. Instructors and fellow students assume that everyone in the class has attained the same level of mathematical expertise before registration.

Beyond the resources below, the department does not give tutoring or other help in preparing for the placement exams. Students requiring more than a refresher are advised to take the class in which those topics are taught.

Preparation for Calculus I Placement Exam

The Calculus I placement exam tests for mastery of the precalculus topics needed to succeed in Calculus I. The exam topics are the same as those for the course V63.0009 Algebra and Calculus:

  • algebraic, exponential, logarithmic, and trigonometric functions
  • graphing the above functions with transformations
  • solving equations involving the above functions
    •  To review for the exam, you can look at any textbook with "Precalculus" in the title. This includes:
  • PreCalculus by Faires and DeFranza (the currently adopted textbook for V63.0009). Published by Cengage.
  • Precalculus by Stewart, Redland, and Watson (the future adopted textbook). Published by Cengage.
    •  You may also access freely these electronic resources from Bobst Library. The links below will work from any computer on the NYU network. To access these titles off-campus, you can search for the titles in BobCat, click "View Details", then "Online Version". You may need to re-authenticate with your NYU NetID and PIN.
  • Precalculus Demystified by Rhonda Huettenmiller. McGraw/Hill, 2005.
  • Schaum's outline of theory and problems of college mathematics by Schmidt and Ayers. McGraw/Hill, 2003.
  • Easy Outline of Precalculus by Fred Safier. McGraw/Hill, 2002.
    •

    Preparation for Advanced Calculus Placement Exams

    There are no online diagnostic tests for advanced level calculus placement exams. To learn which topics that will be covered on these exams, students should refer to course descriptions: Here

    Sample Exams

    Academic and AP Credit

    If you received AP credits for a calculus course, and you register for the same course, you will forfeit your AP credits. You will not receive academic credit for passing placement exams. These exams are for placement purposes only.