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Dates and times for exams are set by the University, and cannot be changed. If you think YOU WILL MISS THE EXAM FOR ANY REASON, you must contact the office of the Associate Dean of your faculty. Please do not go to your instructor, as your instructor cannot help you with this.

If you FEEL SICK DURING THE EXAM, you will have to make a decision: either to (a) stop writing, identify yourself to the invigilator, get proper documentation and contact the office of the Associate Dean of your faculty, or (b) continue writing. In case of (a), you might be granted a deferral (i.e. chance to write the exam at a later date); however, if you decide to stay and complete the exam (no matter how sick you feel), you will not be granted a deferral, and your exam will be used to calculate your final mark.

The DEFERRED EXAM is usually written several months later: during reading week in February for a course that ends in December, and some time in June for a course that ends in April. Ask a student adviser in your faculty office or the Registrar about exact dates of deferred exams. The deferred exam is similar to the actual exam, same level of difficulty, and all announcements below apply to the deferred exam as well. Final course grades for deferred exams are calculated in exactly the same way as for everyone else in the course.

Calculators allowed? Only the McMaster standard calculator, i.e., Casio fx991MS or Casio fx991MS PLUS, will be allowed on the exam.

*** DETAILS ABOUT THE EXAM ***

General Information:

The exam is 2.5 hours long. There are 20 short answer questions (true/false and multiple choice), each worth 2 marks each. The total number of points is 40.

Solutions:

Solutions for the exam are not released and final exam marks are not posted. Also, it usually takes awhile for your final mark to appear on Mosaic so relax after you finish your exams and don’t start checking until the end of December. If you feel that your final mark is not what you expected, you may request to view your final exam but it is a formal procedure and you must request this through the math department.

Approximate Mark Breakdown:

Recommended study plan:

1. The first, and most important, thing to do is to review the lecture material. Your lecture notes are the best source of study material. Read through your notes and stop frequently to think about the material (don’t just scan and highlight, this doesn’t work for math). Thinking is the key step that builds an actual understanding, rather than just memorization. I find it helpful to re-explain each concept to myself in plain english. Or, if someone will listen to you, try to explain the concept to them.

2. Re-solve all examples done in class. These examples are a great source of practice problems. Cover up the solutions and see if you can solve the problem yourself without referring to your notes. Then, check your answer and see how you did.

3. Create a formula sheet. While you have access to your full set of paper notes and hardcopy textbook during the exam, you will likely not have time to look up content for each question. Creating a formula sheet helps you to discern the most important concepts and formulas studied in the course, and summarize it all in one place. Suggestions : include important definitions, important concepts, algorithms, and little notes to yourself of things to pay attention to (e.g. "Remember that to find the equation of a plane, you need a point on the plane and a normal vector for the plane (this is often found by computing the cross product of two vectors in the plane)").

4. Study all questions on your assignments. While you won't have time to redo all questions on all assignments, I recommend trying to solve questions which you got incorrect or which took you a few tries to get correct. Also, if you have difficulty understanding certain concepts, for example, absolute value functions or functions involving lnx or e^x, then make sure that you pay particular attention to these questions on assignments and redo questions as needed. For questions that I don't plan to re-solve, I often just talk myself through the solution without actually doing it (e.g. Determine where the graph of y=e^{-x^2} is concave down. "To determine intervals of concavity, I need the second derivative.To find the first derivative here, I need to use the chain rule. For the second derivative, I'll need product rule and chain rule again. Then, to simplify, I should factor out the exponential term, making note that it is always positive. Then I find where the second derivative is less than zero to find where f is concave down." When you're done reviewing assignments, try to re-solve questions on the two tests you wrote this semester.

5. Remember to optimize your study time. 12 hours of studying while on Instagram, texting, watching videos, etc. is only equivalent to about 2-3 hours of productive studying time (but it will feel like you studied much longer!). Try to study without ANY electronics (except your calculator, of course). You will need much less time to cover the material and then you can enjoy doing something else later on.

6. Use the (virtual) Math Help Centre for additional help, or ask classmates/your TAs/your instructor for help.

7. Get plenty of rest and eat well before the exam. This is more important than you might realize. If you have a clear head and feel well physically, you will have a greater chance of solving the questions correctly, even if you haven’t studied as much as you would have liked.

8. Keep things in perspective. If you find yourself overly stressed, remember that it is only an exam. Of course, it is important and you want to do well. Do your best to work hard and study well in advance, but do not place more emphasis on it than there should be. If you do not do well for some reason, then identify why and reorganize yourself so you will be successful next time. There are always ways to still complete the program that you are in, even if your path doesn't look exactly as you thought it would!

Good luck!