My Advice to a New Math 175 Student:
Ohh where to begin.....Well, to start off I had already had Calculus in high
school, but have never really been too good with math or enjoyed doing it like
some people. This semester, though, I started to like doing my math "assignments"!
I think a big part of it was because of the professor-Dr. Hoar. He explains
things very well (and in non-math terminology) so we get the logic behind it. That's
why I highly recommend you go to EVERY class;it really does help. In high
school I just looked at math as routines I had to memorize for each
type of problem, but it was a lot easier seeing the connections between the "real
life problems" and the math and why you used a certain procedure to solve
it. We also had to do web assignments and email Dr. Hoar the results. To
tell you the truth I didn't particularly like them because I was just used to
always doing math on paper and thats it. They were helpful in the
sense that they showed the level of problems we were supposed to be able
to do in order to be able to do well on the quizzes. Speaking of
quizzes...Nobody really likes them but they served as a motivation to do the
suggested problems outside of class since these problems aren't assigned and
collected everyday. And if you get stuck with a certain type of problem
on the quiz or in the suggested problems ask about it in class, or go to Dr.
Hoar, go to the math tutor room and ask one of them, or go to the Calc Help
Session. I myself went to the calc help session a few times
even if i only had a question on one or two problems. It was
interessting to see that I wasn't the only one that didn't understand it. I
also used the tutor room when I had a question and it was later in
the day and I couldn't use my other resources. The tutors are around
pretty much all day so use them!! All in all, do the work and you'll be
fine. Don't let everything build up to the last minute! It doesn't
work with math! One thing that works for me that you might try is making a "cheat
sheet" with the little things I thought I would forget or things that I
would use frequently and didn't want to go back searching through my notes. After
a while you won't even need it! Good Luck!
Sincerely,
Adriana, Marketing Major