- #1
Ash L
- 19
- 0
I'm a freshman in college and thinking of majoring in Math and maybe Chemistry (Don't really know yet, as I've never taken high school Chem). I took Calculus 1 (Differentiation) last quarter and managed to get an A+ (94.79%) for the overall course despite not doing so well on the first midterm. I got 86% on Midterm 1 (worth 25% of overall grade), 100% on Midterm 2 (worth 25% of overall grade), and 97% on the Final (worth 40% of overall grade) and homework was done online with unlimited attempts so everyone manages to get the remaining 10%.
BUT for this quarter in Calc 2 (Integration), I had a professor who gave out the following weight distribution of assessments:
Midterm 1(worth 30% of overall grade)
Homework (worth 20% of overall grade) Again it's done online, so full marks is guaranteed.
Final Exam (worth 50% of overall grade)
For the first Midterm, despite the fact that I had studied, I only managed to get 47/60 = 78.33%. So I calculated that even if I did get full marks on the Final which is highly unlikely, my overall course percentage will still be 93.5%. To make matters worse, my friend told me that his TA said that their class average for Midterm 1 was about 85%. That would mean that my 78% would be a C grade...plus if they managed to get the same grade as me in the Final, then it wouldn't change anything.
I know what's done is done and I can't change the past. So, how can I prepare myself for the Final that is 4 weeks from now? Right now, my approach of studying Math is to do a lot of problems from the Textbook (Single Variable Calculus 6 Ed. by James Stewart) after he had taught us the relative section of the chapter. E.g. He goes through Section 7.1 today, I go back home tonight and do problems in 7.1.
Or should I try a different approach? Perhaps I should read, learn and do the problems from the Textbook ahead of his teaching schedule, so that it would be a lot easier for me to understand his lectures? I also have another Calculus textbook from a different school, should I get extra practice from that book as well so I can be more familiar with solving different types of problems? I'm going to be really dedicated right now on improving myself since I have practically failed my only Midterm, so please give me some suggestions on how to study. I would really appreciate some help from the experts. I haven't got my Midterm back yet, I had only seen my scores online, so I'm not 100% sure what mistakes I have made.
Sorry for making this so long. But one of the main difficulties I face in Math is forgetting how to do stuff. It is really frustrating that I would forget how to do solve some types of problems such as finding Volumes using Cylindrical Shells or Proof of the FTC after not doing them for 1-2 weeks. My speed would dramatically decrease. So before the exams, I always had to re-do nearly all of those problems in the book to familiarize myself again. Is there a way to decrease the rate of this from happening?
BUT for this quarter in Calc 2 (Integration), I had a professor who gave out the following weight distribution of assessments:
Midterm 1(worth 30% of overall grade)
Homework (worth 20% of overall grade) Again it's done online, so full marks is guaranteed.
Final Exam (worth 50% of overall grade)
For the first Midterm, despite the fact that I had studied, I only managed to get 47/60 = 78.33%. So I calculated that even if I did get full marks on the Final which is highly unlikely, my overall course percentage will still be 93.5%. To make matters worse, my friend told me that his TA said that their class average for Midterm 1 was about 85%. That would mean that my 78% would be a C grade...plus if they managed to get the same grade as me in the Final, then it wouldn't change anything.
I know what's done is done and I can't change the past. So, how can I prepare myself for the Final that is 4 weeks from now? Right now, my approach of studying Math is to do a lot of problems from the Textbook (Single Variable Calculus 6 Ed. by James Stewart) after he had taught us the relative section of the chapter. E.g. He goes through Section 7.1 today, I go back home tonight and do problems in 7.1.
Or should I try a different approach? Perhaps I should read, learn and do the problems from the Textbook ahead of his teaching schedule, so that it would be a lot easier for me to understand his lectures? I also have another Calculus textbook from a different school, should I get extra practice from that book as well so I can be more familiar with solving different types of problems? I'm going to be really dedicated right now on improving myself since I have practically failed my only Midterm, so please give me some suggestions on how to study. I would really appreciate some help from the experts. I haven't got my Midterm back yet, I had only seen my scores online, so I'm not 100% sure what mistakes I have made.
Sorry for making this so long. But one of the main difficulties I face in Math is forgetting how to do stuff. It is really frustrating that I would forget how to do solve some types of problems such as finding Volumes using Cylindrical Shells or Proof of the FTC after not doing them for 1-2 weeks. My speed would dramatically decrease. So before the exams, I always had to re-do nearly all of those problems in the book to familiarize myself again. Is there a way to decrease the rate of this from happening?