ANNOUNCEMENTS
28 April: A good luck message from the Sciclone Team
25 April: Question of the day!
Is using Desmos on the final exam considered academic dishonesty?
You can use Desmos, your notes, textbook, coursepack, even previous tests and exams during the final exam. You can email me if you need clarification or get stuck on a question. Academic dishonesty would be working together with friends to obtain answers.
23 April: Hi All! I have added our class to Microsoft Teams. If you haven't used Teams before, please click on the link here to install it (free, easy). I will be holding virtual office hours tomorrow (Friday) and Monday from 12noon until 1pm. You can jump into the Office Hours channel and click 'Join' during that time interval to ask questions. If you prefer to email your questions, that works too!
On the day of our exam (Tuesday, April 28th) I will be available over email from 10am until 6pm. If possible, please plan to work on your exam during this time period so I can offer assistance if needed. During the exam, I can either type responses in an email or initiate a quick zoom meeting if you prefer. Due to the prevalence of "zoom bombing," I will not be publicly sharing a link to any zoom meetings, but I am happy to generate temporary links send through McMaster email accounts.
5 April: Final exam information is now posted under the FINAL EXAM link on the left. Please read carefully!
28 March: Question of the day!
I have never written an online or open book math exam, so I am not
entirely sure how best to prepare for it. Should I prepare for it the
same way I would a regular test? Do you have alternative studying
strategies for an open book test?
In my experience, online tests/exams that are open book and 24 hours tend to be more complicated; however, that is not the case for your exam. We were forced to move our whole course online with very little notice (a less than ideal situation, obviously). So I still created a "standard" exam that will resemble the length and difficulty as the sample exam in your coursepack. You should prepare for this exam as you would a regular in person exam in this course. I am hoping that students will use this as a chance to do their best work and submit something they feel good about.
25 March: Question of the day!
If I choose to use my marks from midterm1, midterm 2, as well as the computer labs as my final mark, is there anything I need to do to inform anyone that I am choosing this option, or will
this automatically be applied?
It will automatically be applied. I will compute marks for all students using both option 1 and option 2 and choose the higher of the two as the final grade. So if you don't complete any additional work, the higher option will naturally be option 1.
24 March: Question of the day!
For grading option 1 (which is test 1, test 2, and the labs), would it be an option to do test 2, test 3, and the labs instead?
No. Option 1 involves taking your current marks to compute a final grade, no further work incorporated.
23 March: Question of the day!
I wanted to take math 1LT3 next year and was just wondering how the changes made to math 1LS3 would affect my ability to take math 1LT3.
If you are interested in taking Math 1LT3, you will be well-prepared after taking 1LS3 this semester. We covered all techniques of integration you will need, just cutting out applications (we do different applications in 1LT3 anyway). Unfortunately, the applications in section 7.6 are really interesting (like volume) so while you won't need that content to move on, it's too bad we won't get a chance to discuss it together! Improper integrals (7.7) are pretty intuitive to understand. When we discuss probability distribution functions in Math 1LT3, we discuss integrals where the upper limit of integration is infinity, but I always do a bit of a review when we get to that party anyway. Also, DTDSs are mentioned in 1LT3, but we take a different approach so you won't be at a disadvantage for not studying them (in fact, they aren't covered in 1A03 so students coming from science/engineering calculus worry about this too, but soon find that they make out just fine). I would encourage you to spend a lot of time in section 7.5, since knowing techniques of integration really well is a versatile skill for upper year math courses.
22 March: Question of the day!
Why aren't the videos working in Avenue?
There are no videos posted after Monday, March 16th since that was our last lecture! We finished all of section 7.5, and that is our new material "cut off" point. Even though the classroom is closed, the videos are still set up to record, so you'll just see a bunch of blank recordings in Avenue.
17 March: Course update!
13 March: Beginning Monday next week (and continuing until the end of classes, unless notified otherwise), all lectures will be podcasted and posted online in Avenue. Details about future course assessments will be posted Wednesday March 18th, as per instructions from the Faculty of Science. I know that uncertainty can be stressful, but we are working diligently to ensure we offer the best solutions for everyone. Many things are out of our control at times, but what we can control is our response to these events. I encourage everyone to continue to work on their academics regularly (if for nothing more than a productive distraction) and check your email and course webpages daily for updates. Take care of yourselves!!!
4 March: Some studying suggestions from students taking 1LS3/1LT3:
General advice for 1LS3 students:
- always save practice tests for AFTER you've fully practiced assignments and textbook questions & feel genuinely ready for the real test
- always do practice tests while timed
- ensure that you're able to recognize different types of questions right away to decrease time spent per test question
- make flowcharts and draw connections between concepts to better understand complex or multi-part questions
I found in studying this time around that it was extremely helpful to identify what the question is asking. I wasted a lot of time last semester answering the wrong problem, and didn't end up finishing the test. I got better at this by looking at the assignment/practice test questions and writing out, in words, what was being asked and what I was doing each step of the way. This way I could look at the steps to the solution and identify the similar questions on previous tests, notice patterns in my mistakes, and understand how to find any answer, not just the solution for the specific function in that year's test.
I also am more diligent in identifying the steps to a solution during class notes. This helps me to wrap my head around the concepts as I am not really a 'math-minded' person naturally, so having the procedure outlined clearly in words I can understand is helpful from the get-go; this way I avoid writing things I don't understand and 'reviewing it at home' (biggest lie I told myself in first semester) and I don't later have to unlearn information that I misunderstood in lecture."
- When doing the assignment homework, it’s important to first attempt the question and then check the solutions. If the solutions are up in front of you while doing the assignments, it’s difficult to gage your ability to draw on your learning/ knowledge, since you’re really just reading the content (you’re only getting input, and not doing any output). If you can’t come up with the answer during the assignment without the solutions, then you won’t be able to do it during the test.
- another point about the solutions: even if you feel like you understand the material and all your answers are correct on the assignments, I’d still recommend checking through the solutions just to make sure that you didn’t make any careless mistakes. If you find a common careless mistake on your assignments, then it would be a good idea to keep that in mind during tests. But again, do this AFTER :)
- time management: when doing the previous years tests, I’d highly recommend setting a time limit/timing yourself. If you’re given 1 hour during the actually midterm, when you’re doing the practice test, maybe give yourself 40 mins to get the whole thing done (it sounds daunting, I know). Because doing a midterm in your bedroom vs in an actual exam room are two totally different environments; in the latter the pressure is exponentially higher, so you need to account for the fact that your brain might slow down and/or panic, and you might make careless mistakes, and need time to check over your test. If you hit a question when doing the practice midterm where you have no idea where to start, don’t immediately open up the solutions. Just TRY doing the question, even if you feel like you’re totally off, because realistically the same thing might happen on the actual midterm, and you won’t have the solutions just a click away!! So it’s good to get in that process of solving a problem where you have no idea what to do.
- lastly, go through every single assignment question, and make sure you understand all of it, and not just memorize the answers to difficult questions, since obviously on the test they won’t be the exact same.
Some stuff I do when I have to study for calc or similar courses is:
- breakdown content into small study sessions space out throughout 3-5 days
- review content backwards, do +2 previous years test
- sometimes, on the day of the test, I do nothing until 3/2 hours before test and i review a lot then few minutes of rest before the test (after having studying the days prior)
I also don't bother writing much down, i try to understand theory and meaning behind exercise and processes and take my time doing hard assignments (as I expect very similar questions on the test).
My advice is that students should collaborate with each other and talk to others while trying to explain concepts and connect different ideas together. I know that this point was mentioned in class, a potential way you could get more students to follow through with this would be do advertise the math help centre more and set up blocks of times where groups of 1LS3 students could come in and work together and almost be their own tutors in a sense.
When I took that course the first time it was overwhelming, I did not have the best knowledge base from high school, and I failed the class (as well as my linear algebra class).
This may not be helpful to all the students in the class, but I got permission to retake the grade 12 calculus equivalent course at mcmaster, and found that after taking it, I was able to succeed in all my subsequent math courses. Sometimes I think it is important to step back and fill any knowledge gaps.
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4 March: Reposting from the Fall 2019 webpage:
HOW DO I IMPROVE MY MATH MARKS?
You got your test back and you're not happy with the mark. What can you do? First, look over the test critically and try to identify the reasons why you made mistakes, or were unable to answer question(s).
The key answer to many issues is - practice. Practice means to work on many problems - first the solved examples and exercises from lectures and from the coursepack, and then trying some on your own. It does not help to read solutions, you are not learning! Take your notebook, read the start of an example or exercise and then try on your own. When done, make sure it is correct, and do not move right away to the next question. Think about what the example/exercise was about, and how you solved it. That's how you make yourself understand. Then move on. You cannot do math mechanically, you need to focus and constantly make sure that you know what you are doing. If you don't understand something, make a note of it, and ask a question in a tutorial or in a lecture or go to the math help centre.
Trying to memorize different types of questions and hoping that you'll see the same or similar questions on a test will get you nowhere. You might be able to pass tests, but you will not end up with great marks. There are too many things to memorize, under the stress of a test you might not be able to recall what you need. Or, a test question might be similar to - but not the same as - the question you memorized - trying to apply the solution from your memory is definitely not a good idea.
Math takes lots of time, patience, dedication and focus. You cannot be texting someone and learning math at the same time. You might be able to solve an exercise while looking at your facebook page, but you will very soon forget what the exercise is about (time and energy wasted, because you will need to go over it again).
Keep all your practice work, all your notes, don't trash it. You might need it later, when reviewing for the exam.
Improvement in math happens slow, it takes time to see your efforts produce results. Do don't give up just because you did not do well on one test.
Were you able to quote a definition on the test? How can you be sure that you know a definition? You should be able to explain it to yourself, or to a friend, in your own words, without looking into the textbook. As well, can you give an example of what the definition is about?
If a function tells you how A depends on B (such as A=ln B, A=sin B) , then the inverse function says how B depends on A (ie, B=e^A, B=arcsinA) . This is how you understand what an inverse function is, and how you explain it to yourself.
It does not suffice to watch someone else do math, you have to do it yourself. And you need to practice a lot. You need to solve (on your own!) 5-6 exercises about any topic (say, vertical asymptotes, limits at infinity involving exponential functions, etc.) to be sure that you will not mess it up on a test. And many more exercises about new concepts, such as every section in chapter 7 (integration).
As you know by now, writing a test is stressful. Practice helps here as well - the better prepared you are, the less the noise and other people freaking out will affect you.
Do you have a study plan? Such as, things I do today, tomorrow, catching-up over the weekend, ... More important - do you have self-discipline to stick to your plan? You have to have it, that's the key to your success. Keep in mind that it takes time to learn things. As well, spread it out - it makes more sense to study 2 hours of math for a week than 14 hours on math in a single day.
Are you sleeping enough, exercising, going out, eating food other than pizza? Take care of your health, it's definitely not fun to feel drowsy from flu medication when you need to study for a math test.
Think about these things, hopefully some of it will help. Good luck on your next test! |
2 March: Test 2 Review Session notes are posted here. Thanks TA Gen!
26 February: Test 2 information is now posted under the TERM TESTS link. Please read carefully! Also, please note that if you have a scheduled course conflict with the test, you must notify me at least three business days' before the test date so that I can schedule an alternative write for you earlier in the day.
12 February: Test 1 marks are now posted!
4 February: Test 1 solutions are now posted under the SOLUTIONS link. Lab 2 will be posted tomorrow!!!
3 February: Test 1Review Session notes are posted here. Thanks TA Gen!
27 January: Test 1 information is now posted under the TERM TESTS link. Please read carefully! Also, please note that if you have a scheduled course conflict with the test, you must notify me at least three business days' before the test date so that I can schedule an alternative write for you earlier in the day.
22 January: Finished your coding lab 1 and want more? I recently created some coding activities for a workshop I'm running next week for high school teachers at Brock University. The 'basics' file covers some techniques for exploring mathematics with code (most of which you already know). The remaining three files introduce applications (modified activities that we do in Math 1LS3 and 1LT3) which can be completed using the concepts from the first file. You're welcome to try them for fun!
11 January: The first computer lab will be posted under the COMPUTER LABS link on Friday, January 17th.
2 December: Join us on Facebook! Search "Math 1LS3E".
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