Need Help with coping with University exams

[ExplicitAI]

Guys I wanted to know the best way to prepare for university exams and given the wide range of resources you can use, you can tend to get "overwhelmed" and not sure about what to use and hence a lot of time gets wasted stressing over this; as well as using the "wrong" or "useless" revision/study material. What resources are "useless" to you?

Would you just use the lecture notes provided by the lecturer himself since he/she writes the exam paper? Or would you branch out and pick up a book that was only "advisory" by the lecturer? I know people that just used lecture notes and got through University and graduated.

What are your thoughts guys? How can you ace your uni exams in the best way?

 

[kingusama92]

Depends on the professor.

You'll only know what he/she does after the first quiz/test/exam.

I used to rewrite the lecture notes (avoid typing them!)and then use advisory materials to beef up those notes.

1) Take Lecture Notes
2) Rewrite Lecture Notes (Paraphrasing)
3) Add In Key Points From "Advisory" Materials (If They Fit)
4) Reorder Lecture Notes (Least Important to Important)

Reordering is useful because you'll remember the stuff you studied last since it's fresh in your mind.

Also, cramming is an utter waste of time. You forget everything.

 

[ExplicitAI]

Depends on the professor.

You'll only know what he/she does after the first quiz/test/exam.

I used to rewrite the lecture notes (avoid typing them!)and then use advisory materials to beef up those notes.

1) Take Lecture Notes
2) Rewrite Lecture Notes (Paraphrasing)
3) Add In Key Points From "Advisory" Materials (If They Fit)
4) Reorder Lecture Notes (Least Important to Important)

Reordering is useful because you'll remember the stuff you studied last since it's fresh in your mind.

Also, cramming is an utter waste of time. You forget everything.

Yeah I've got an exam I have to retake on the 5th September because the first time around was too hard. I'm doing a Maths degree in case you're wondering so it's a big jump from A level Maths which I was very good at and the questions are different to A level questions. A level questions are mainly theory based whereas there's more proofs you have to learn at Degree level. Like some of the stuff on the notes are difficult to understand man, I'm not a stupid guy or anything but I really need to pass this ) A lot of people on my course will agree with what I say though. I actually need a lot of help regarding to smashing uni.

 

[Syed1]

What field are you in?

 

[ExplicitAI]

What field are you in?

Bsc Mathematics undergraduate bro.

 

[Syed1]

Bsc Mathematics undergraduate bro.

As an engineer I had to take quite a few maths courses and I absolutely hated them even though my math isn't that bad. The reason being at my uni, all math courses had 10-15% assignments and 10-15% mid term, the rest of the 70-80% was on the final. One bad day and you mess up the entire course.


On the other hand most engineering courses had 10% assignments, 2 midterms of about 10-15% each and sometimes a 10% project, this meant the final was max 50-60% of your final grade and did not fudge you over if you had a super bad day. I've even given some engineering courses that had 30% final. All of this meant more work during the semester but atleast your entire grade wasn't dependent on one day.


The key to getting a good grad in math is to attend all classes and understand each minor concept because university level math is alot more complex and abstract than what you would have faced in A levels. Prepare for finals by redoing all your assignments and webworks. Rote learning won't get you very far. You need to understand what is happening and why is it happening. Easier said than done though. Good luck.

 

[sjahmed23]

Usually tried to study in a group with other serious students and tried to explain it to other people to check if my understanding is correct or not. I felt the best way to findout if you understand something or not was by explaining it to others.

 

[ExplicitAI]

As an engineer I had to take quite a few maths courses and I absolutely hated them even though my math isn't that bad. The reason being at my uni, all math courses had 10-15% assignments and 10-15% mid term, the rest of the 70-80% was on the final. One bad day and you mess up the entire course.


On the other hand most engineering courses had 10% assignments, 2 midterms of about 10-15% each and sometimes a 10% project, this meant the final was max 50-60% of your final grade and did not fudge you over if you had a super bad day. I've even given some engineering courses that had 30% final. All of this meant more work during the semester but atleast your entire grade wasn't dependent on one day.


The key to getting a good grad in math is to attend all classes and understand each minor concept because university level math is alot more complex and abstract than what you would have faced in A levels. Prepare for finals by redoing all your assignments and webworks. Rote learning won't get you very far. You need to understand what is happening and why is it happening. Easier said than done though. Good luck.

Lol for me it's summer and I'm meant to be studying for it myself. I'm just really stuck on how to pass the exams, like the module I'm stuck on is Calculus II, already passed Calculus I but this is one dreaded module. I'm just hoping to pass this module and then Inshallah grab my degree which is all I want. Really need the prayers of everyone and Allah's divine help because I'm really helpless now on how to approach this.

 

[Syed1]

Lol for me it's summer and I'm meant to be studying for it myself. I'm just really stuck on how to pass the exams, like the module I'm stuck on is Calculus II, already passed Calculus I but this is one dreaded module. I'm just hoping to pass this module and then Inshallah grab my degree which is all I want. Really need the prayers of everyone and Allah's divine help because I'm really helpless now on how to approach this.

http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/


This was a good guide for me for Calculus courses.

 

[sshakir411]

for added focus try adderall

 

[ExplicitAI]

http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/


This was a good guide for me for Calculus courses.

Love and respect for that brother I appreciate it a lot! My calculus course is called "Calculus & Analysis II" so there's not much on the "theory" side of maths but more on proofs and deriving certain theorems. The theory stuff I can handle but the other stuff is just gibberish to me lol...

 

[Syed1]

Love and respect for that brother I appreciate it a lot! My calculus course is called "Calculus & Analysis II" so there's not much on the "theory" side of maths but more on proofs and deriving certain theorems. The theory stuff I can handle but the other stuff is just gibberish to me lol...

Same... but math was a momentary displeasure for me. Something to cross over to get to the more interesting parts of applied math and science (engineering), but for you math is life LMAO you better start loving it.

 

[Sachin136]

The main difficulty going from A levels to an analysis course is probably that you're lacking a lot of mathematical maturity and likely didn't have any experience with proofs before.

If you're preparing for an exam, it won't help you much now, but I would still suggest reading over "How to Prove It" by Velleman. It is a great book and gives you exposure to logic and different proof techniques.

I don't know what exactly you mean by calculus II, but if you're talking about a second analysis course, then I'm assuming that you're covering Munkres or Spivak (manifolds), or maybe parts of Baby Rudin. If so, then I'm sure it will help you if you read through Munkres (Spivak is a little terse, unlike his Calculus book).

 

[King-Misbah]

You should practise past papers for Maths if they're available. I assume that questions are repeated so this factor will immensely help you.

 

[ExplicitAI]

Same... but math was a momentary displeasure for me. Something to cross over to get to the more interesting parts of applied math and science (engineering), but for you math is life LMAO you better start loving it.

LOL trust me I love maths ever since I was a kid, I never liked subjects such as law or history where you would have to write essays since I was never good at that stuff, I've got mates that do engineering and their maths is similar to mine, they've covered topics such as 1st order and 2nd order differential equations.

The main difficulty going from A levels to an analysis course is probably that you're lacking a lot of mathematical maturity and likely didn't have any experience with proofs before.

If you're preparing for an exam, it won't help you much now, but I would still suggest reading over "How to Prove It" by Velleman. It is a great book and gives you exposure to logic and different proof techniques.

I don't know what exactly you mean by calculus II, but if you're talking about a second analysis course, then I'm assuming that you're covering Munkres or Spivak (manifolds), or maybe parts of Baby Rudin. If so, then I'm sure it will help you if you read through Munkres (Spivak is a little terse, unlike his Calculus book).

To be honest you're right here, I am lacking mathematical maturity since I've been moaning about hating proofs the whole year, I was still stuck in just doing theory questions when I should be looking into proofs more. No I haven't covered those topics that you do I cover the following from the top of my head: integration, differential equations, Riemann sums, sequences, infinite series, a bit of vector calculus, global maxima and extrema, partial derivatives.

You should practise past papers for Maths if they're available. I assume that questions are repeated so this factor will immensely help you.

It's true bro the questions are repeated over and over again but it's mainly two questions that are repeated again every year whereas the other two questions vary a lot. I just want to pass this exam and get it over and done with mate lol...

 

[King-Misbah]

You still have time so get off PP and get revising. If required, I would recommend a private tutor so you can cover material quickly and resolve any issues that you may have.

 

[Sachin136]

To be honest you're right here, I am lacking mathematical maturity since I've been moaning about hating proofs the whole year, I was still stuck in just doing theory questions when I should be looking into proofs more. No I haven't covered those topics that you do I cover the following from the top of my head: integration, differential equations, Riemann sums, sequences, infinite series, a bit of vector calculus, global maxima and extrema, partial derivatives.

It sounds like a pretty computational calculus course. Using Stewart? Proofs at that level probably won't be too difficult, so just studying the problems from your class or homework should be enough.

Lol for me it's summer and I'm meant to be studying for it myself. I'm just really stuck on how to pass the exams, like the module I'm stuck on is Calculus II, already passed Calculus I but this is one dreaded module. I'm just hoping to pass this module and then Inshallah grab my degree which is all I want. Really need the prayers of everyone and Allah's divine help because I'm really helpless now on how to approach this.

What do you mean? You'll have to take a lot more harder math courses for your degree.

 

[ExplicitAI]

You still have time so get off PP and get revising. If required, I would recommend a private tutor so you can cover material quickly and resolve any issues that you may have.

Hmm I getting a private tutor might be ideal but then again no one in my class ever had one, they done it by themselves and basically "got on with the work". Sometimes they even did group work but obviously if the course is doable since many passed the module (marginally) then so can I. Since there isn't any cricket games being played I'm going to come off PP and not go on it, probably just check notifications and that's it, not going to waste valuable time here.

It sounds like a pretty computational calculus course. Using Stewart? Proofs at that level probably won't be too difficult, so just studying the problems from your class or homework should be enough.



What do you mean? You'll have to take a lot more harder math courses for your degree.

That's true I will have harder modules later on but the only thing I can do right now is just "get on with it".
And nah I never heard of Stewart, I'm using an online Calculus book given to us students for free.