Course:MATH110/Archive/2010-2011/002/Notes/Dec-exam-notes

Notes on the December Exam

I'll add more details as the become available.

Reviewing for the December Exam

• Summarize your notes, section by section, using the templates introduced in reviewing for the October Midterm

• Go over the Oct midterm review notes; Review the October midterm. Solutions are on Vista.

• Work through the review suggestions posted in the lecture notes of Week 7, Lecture 2, and Week 9, Lecture 1

• Make sure that you are able to meet all of the Learning objectives for the course.

• Have a look at http://wiki.ubc.ca/Course:MATH110/003/Practice_Problems

• Work through practice problems as necessary: http://www.math.ubc.ca/~fsl/110.E1%20practice%20problems.pdf#zoom=100&page=1

• Have a look at the past December exam: http://www.math.ubc.ca/~fsl/MATH110(2009-2010).E1.pdf#zoom=100&page=1 (Note that this was considered a difficult exam — though it still makes for good practice. Also, questions 2, 9, 11(b) and 12 are not relevant.)

• Make sure you're fluid with the factual knowledge - this is stuff that you need to memorize, and is really the only thing that is 'crammable'.

• To study conceptual knowledge, find ways in which concepts are connected, and explain the connections in as many ways as you can: prose, equations, pictures. Do problems involving the concepts. For example, to study the squeeze theorem, explain in words what it means, what the necessary conditions are, why they are necessary, special cases. Draw pictures of various cases in which you would apply it. Solve problems that require its application. Collect examples that illustrate the theorem, and that serve as counterexamples when hypotheses are omitted.

On the day of the exam

• Get LOTS of sleep. This helps much more than extra 'studying'. Really.
• Drink plenty of water beforehand, and during the exam.
• Eat a good meal before the exam - carbs and protein, not too much sugar
• Be aware of how you allocate your time
• Keep working on problems, even if you don't get a solution right away
• Write down what you DO know
• Check your work at each step and at the end

If you get anxious before/during exams

• clear your mind by closing your eyes and focusing on your breathing, for a couple of minutes.
• prompt yourself by asking leading questions (instead of negative thoughts):
  • How can I restate the question in my own words?
  • Is there another way to state the information?
  • What are related concepts?
  • What do I know about similar things?
  • Am I using ALL of the information given?
  • Can I answer part of the question?
  • Can I draw a diagram, picture, or graph?