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Practice problem worksheets


NEW: I am developing a new set of open-source learning modules on electricity and electronics. This is called the ModEL Project, with each module being a self-contained document complete with introduction, review, tutorial, question sets, and projects/experiments. Like everything on this website, all ModEL Project documents and files are "copylefted" under a Creative Commons Attribution-Only license.



Mathematics

Basic science (Physics and Chemistry)

Electricity and Electronics

Instrumentation and Process Control



A collection of realistic instrumentation diagrams

While not a practice-problem worksheet in the strictest sense, this worksheet nevertheless contains a set of useful P\&ID and loop diagrams drawn with industry-realistic levels of detail. These are helpful for students wishing to gain more experience interpreting and drawing such diagrams, as well as instructors who might wish to take these diagrams and use them as the basis for homework or exam questions.

As with all the diagrams in the Socratic Instrumentation project, these graphic images are vector-based, not raster, and as such may be magnified without pixellation.



Sample mastery exam

Mastery exams are administered repeatedly throughout the second year of the Instrumentation program to ensure learning on a variety of essential topics. A 100% (perfect) score is necessary to pass. Failure to attain 100% correctness on a mastery exam results in re-taking another version of the mastery exam in its entirety. There is no grade penalty for any number of re-takes, but the student must pass the mastery exam by a specified deadline date in order to pass the course.

The way a mastery exam is administered is like this: the student takes the exam, presents it live to the instructor, who then grades it against an answer sheet (see the last page, not printed for students). If 100% of the answers are correct, the student passes the exam. If any answers are incorrect and/or if any work is not shown, the instuctor then marks which section(s) of the exam contain mistakes on the table at the top of the cover page and hands the exam back to the student, who now has one more chance to review their work and correct any errors. No hints whatsoever are given to the student regarding the mistakes or omissions. If upon the student's second submission all answers are 100% correct, the student passes the exam. If, however, any old mistakes remain and/or any new mistakes have been made, the student then must meet with the instructor to determine where they went wrong, what they should practice or study more, and when the re-test will be (with a different version of the exam).

The following links provide samples of a mastery exam designed to test knowledge on a variety of first-year (basic electricity and electronics) concepts:



Certification Prep exams

These are multiple-choice exams written in the same style as popular certification exams, designed to cover most of what a typical two-year program in Instrumentation would teach. Admittedly, these ``certification prep'' exams are much less rigorous than typical exams given in the Instrumentation program, but they are good practice for employment entrance exams and industry-recognized certification exams, which sadly tend to focus more on rote memorization and recognition rather than actual problem-solving skill. I no longer give this exam as practice to my students, and so the answers to all questions are provided on the last several pages of each exam so that you may check your own performance: