MATH 122 Exam Topics & Study Guide
Skills organized by how likely they are to appear as standalone exam questions in MATH 122.
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These likelihood ratings are not official and are not endorsed by your university or professors. We have no contact with course instructors and no insider information about exam content. These ratings are based solely on our team's experience analyzing past exams, taking similar courses, and understanding typical curriculum patterns. Take this as a rough guide only — your actual exam may differ significantly. Always consult your course syllabus, professor's guidance, and official study materials as your primary resources.
How to Read This Guide
Don't skip "Essential" or "Low" skills! They're foundational — you need them to solve higher-likelihood problems.
Growth and decay are major MATH 122 topics. Expect investment growth, depreciation, and continuous compounding problems.
Financial math is core MATH 122 content. Expect present value, future value, and continuous compounding on every exam.
Computing limits appears on every MATH 122 exam. Expect 2-3 problems using factoring, conjugates, and limit laws.
Continuity problems appear on MATH 122 midterms. Know the three conditions for piecewise functions.
Product and quotient rules are used constantly in MATH 122. Essential for cost, revenue, and profit functions.
Exponential and log derivatives are heavily tested in MATH 122 due to business applications like compound interest.
The chain rule appears in nearly every MATH 122 derivative problem. Master it for composite functions.
Finding critical points is core MATH 122 material. Used for optimizing profit, cost, and revenue functions.
Min/max problems are central to MATH 122. Know first derivative test for business optimization.
Absolute extrema appear on every MATH 122 exam. Check critical points and endpoints for closed intervals.
Business applications dominate MATH 122. Expect marginal cost, marginal revenue, elasticity, and profit maximization on every exam.
Definite integrals are heavily tested in MATH 122. Applications include total cost from marginal cost, consumer/producer surplus.
U-substitution appears on every MATH 122 exam. Often combined with business application integrals.
FTC is essential in MATH 122. Part 2 for evaluation appears on every exam.
Continuous income streams appear on MATH 122 finals. Calculate present/future value of income flows.
Rational functions appear in MATH 122 average cost problems: AC(x) = C(x)/x.
Exponential functions are foundational for MATH 122 growth/decay and compound interest.
Log functions appear throughout MATH 122 for solving exponential equations and elasticity.
Tangent lines appear on MATH 122 midterms. Interpret slope as instantaneous rate of change in business context.
One-sided limits appear in MATH 122 for piecewise cost or tax functions.
Limit properties are foundational in MATH 122. Used throughout but rarely standalone questions.
Infinite limits appear occasionally in MATH 122 for asymptotic behavior of functions.
The limit definition may appear on MATH 122 midterms. Less emphasis than computation.
Curve sketching appears on MATH 122 finals. Focus on interpreting economic meaning of features.
Implicit differentiation appears occasionally in MATH 122. Less common than in MATH 140.
Related rates appear on some MATH 122 exams. Often with business context like production rates.
Linear approximations appear in MATH 122 for estimating changes in cost or revenue.
Area between curves is tested in MATH 122 as consumer/producer surplus problems.
Average value appears in MATH 122. Used for average cost or average revenue over an interval.
Volume problems appear occasionally in MATH 122. Less emphasis than business applications.
Shell method may appear on MATH 122 finals. Less common than in MATH 141.
Improper integrals appear in MATH 122 for perpetuities and infinite income streams.
IBP appears on MATH 122 finals. Know the formula and when to apply it.
Long division is a tool in MATH 122. Not tested standalone.
Domain and range are assumed knowledge in MATH 122. Important for realistic business constraints.
Transformations are prerequisite knowledge for MATH 122. Used but not directly tested.
Polynomial properties should be known. Foundation for cost/revenue functions in MATH 122.
Basic antiderivatives are setup for MATH 122 integration. Tested within larger problems.