<p>I got a D on my Math 1A midterm, but a regrade might bring it up to a C-/C. How should I study for the next midterm. I actually went over over 10 practice midterms for this first midterm. How should I approach the next midterm?</p>
<p>I still want to be a math major, so how can improve in my Math 1A class? I remember taking AP Cal AB in high school and I didn't grasp the concepts until Mar/Apr. How can I grasp the concepts faster and more efficiently while avoiding mistakes?</p>
<p>are you in olsson's class too? i thought it was ridiculous that they decided to dock more than half the points on #5 (IVT) if we evaluated f at c in showing it to be continuous....i hope the regrade thing works too...<em>sigh</em></p>
<p>at any rate, i dont know if this will work for you but i attribute my poor score to nervousness over the fact that this was my first 'college" midterm...also, i think i may have spent too much time on the easier problems and hence ran out of time for the harder ones (like #4)...</p>
<p>have you tried hald's study group at the slc? i have heard from some people that its actually pretty helpful, others say not so much...</p>
<p>D on the first Math 1A midterm and you want to major in math...sorry bud but you might wanna reconsider your major. What are you going to do in math classes that are actually difficult?</p>
<p>I knew math classes would be difficult. I just wasn't expecting this low of a grade. I was expecting at least a B-. I knew I would get an A+, definitely.</p>
<p>I just wanted some tips on how to approach this situation.</p>
<p>Doing practice exams without understanding the concepts is a complete waste of time. You have to read the textbook first. Yes, that entails understanding the proofs behind the concepts. Then, internalize the concepts. Only after doing this should you start working on practice exams. Otherwise, you're just going through countless examples based on the same underlying themes without understanding them.</p>
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I knew math classes would be difficult. I just wasn't expecting this low of a grade. I was expecting at least a B-. I knew I would get an A+, definitely.
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<p>I'm not quite sure what you're getting at here. You knew you would definitely get an A+, expected at least a B-, yet ended up with a D? What the heck?</p>
<p>To be honest, swishshooter25 has a point. Math 1A is the easiest math sequence for math majors. If you're having trouble understanding the concepts in this class, then you might want to work more diligently by attending all the office hours (GSI's and professor's).</p>
<p>Yea you could go to office hours religiously and overstudy for tests, and MAYBE you could pull off a decent grade, but then what? What happens in Math 1B, 53, and 54? What happens in upper division math classes? There comes a point where effort can only take you so far, especially in math. Some people are just BORN math majors, and it doesn't look like you are. I'm sorry but I think your best bet is to reconsider your major.</p>
<p>You can def. be a successful math major. The concept should just <em>click</em> in your mind at one point. </p>
<p>It seems to me you are not a very good @ independent study (ie. doing 10 midterms and getting a D is surprising)...Change your study habits by doing the midterms and then going over the answers with your GSI.</p>
<p>liquidmetal, I think you're right. I have gone to some of my GSI's office hours, but I have only asked him 1 or 2 math questions the whole time. Yes, I'm used to self studying. In fact, when my AP US History teacher was gone for 1/2 the year, I self study the material for the AP test and I got a 4.</p>
<p>About the clicking, yes, the material should click into my brain sooner or later. Well, last year, when I took AP Cal AB, I didn't fully understand all of Calculus until March. I pulled off a 4 on the AP test. Hopefully, the clicking happens soon. The semester ends December, not March.</p>
<p>off topic but why is your name harvard?</p>
<p>Well, last spring 2007, I wanted to go to Harvard. Later on, I decided Princeton was a better fit for me, but I couldn't change my username.</p>
<p>On another tangent, I still want to head out east to somewhere like Yale, Brown, etc. I just like the atmosphere out east (except for the sarcasm). I want to go somewhere new. I am still thinking about it, though. However, I know that I have to focus on doing well here, at Berkeley, first.</p>
<p>[q]About the clicking, yes, the material should click into my brain sooner or later.[/q]</p>
<p>You should do your best to make it click now. If you can't get up to speed with stuff like delta-epsilon proofs and derivatives, I can assure you that upper-division math classes (which are pretty much entirely proof-based and highly abstract, in contrast to classes like 1A which mostly teach you how to compute stuff) will overwhelm you. The 4 on Calc AB is alarming, as that implies that you only got about 60% of the points on the exam. That won't cut it in 1A.</p>
<p>As for your current situation, do your best to understand the derivations, proofs, and examples in the book, and try to understand what exactly motivates each and every step. Any test problem in any math class is going to be some sort of permutation of something you've seen before, so you should feel very comfortable with this stuff. Take practice exams seriously--give yourself the full 50 minutes as though you were in a testing environment. Afterwards, don't look at the solutions straightaway; instead, you should look back through your notes and your textbook to figure out how to do any problems you may have missed. </p>
<p>Look, I don't mean to sound harsh, but math majors are expected to have very sharp problem-solving skills. If you do not find that your subsequent test scores in this class are at least an A-, math probably won't be for you.</p>
<p>Wow. You guys are being incredibly harsh. It's the first midterm, first semester freshman year. Telling someone they won't cut it given <em>ONE</em> bad grade on the <em>FIRST</em> test is hardly fair.</p>
<p>Just use office hours with your GSI, maybe do more group study, and I don't doubt that you can do much better on subsequent tests...</p>
<p>I took that test too - didn't do terrible or great. I'm an engineer though :P
I need to do better as well.</p>
<p>Brian Harvey (the Computer Science 61A professor) says that we lose a lot of people in calculus not because of the complexity of the techniques like integration by parts, but because of the fact that most students see higher-order functions (functions that take functions as arguments and/or return functions as results, like the derivative function) for the first time. It's the concept here that's hard.</p>
<p>The computation in Math 1A/B, 53/54 is easy, provided that you /really/ understand what's going on. When I took Math 53 in my first semester here, I spent most of my spare time converting all concepts to intuition. On both midterms I was able to finish in less than half the time and still get perfect scores, simply because once you learn the concepts by heart, the remaining computation is straightforward.</p>
<p>That said, upper-div math is all about hard concepts from what I've heard. If you do feel that understanding concepts intuitively is difficult, then maybe it's safer to major in something that better fits your abilities. I'm not saying that you /can't/ major in math, but if I were you, I would follow the path of least resistance. =)</p>
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Wow. You guys are being incredibly harsh. It's the first midterm, first semester freshman year. Telling someone they won't cut it given <em>ONE</em> bad grade on the <em>FIRST</em> test is hardly fair.
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<p>I think people are trying to be helpful. Sometimes, being frank is just the best way to help someone.</p>
<p>The OP did 10 practice midterms for easy as hell Math 1a first midterm. He also had taken AP Calculus before. He was aiming for an A but yet got a D.</p>
<p>I agree you should consider changing your major. For the record, math doesn't just "click" on your head. You have to more or less have a feel for it AND you need to put in a lot of effort to be good at it.</p>
<p>^^Yeah, but its ONE exam...at least there is no need to consider changing majors until you get your final grade in the course...</p>
<p>^^That's what I meant, in a roundabout way. I agree that frankness is certainly helpful, but to a certain extent. Telling the OP that he/she is destined to fail at being a math major cannot be conclusively deduced from one test, regardless of how "easy" it is (and ease is certainly a relative measure. Holding everyone up to your "standard" is worthless. </p>
<p>I've done well on exams that I thought were hard, and horrible on exams that I, too, thought that I aced. C'est la vive.</p>
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regardless of how "easy" it is (and ease is certainly a relative measure. Holding everyone up to your "standard" is worthless.
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<p>It is "easy" relative to Math 1B, Math 53, Math 54, Math 104, etc.</p>
<p>The best advice that no one has given you so far is this:</p>
<p>First things first, log on to telebears and change your grade to P/NP.</p>
<p>Chances are that with a D on your first midterm, no matter how well you do on the rest of the exams, you won't get better than a B+ in the class (unless the Prof does one of those "your final grade can replace your lowest midterm" BS)</p>
<p>If you end up passing the class with a halfway decent grade (ask your GSI after the semester ends what grade he gave you), then you should continue with your math major. This might even help you do better in the class, because you'll relax and won't worry about getting an A+.</p>
<p>Later on, if you DO decide to major in math, you still can. Now, I know that everyone on this message board is going to clamor about how you need to take all your major requirements for a grade, but this is not actually true. Your major advisor has the leeway to let you slide on one or two requirements being taken P/NP if you tell her that you didn't know you wanted to be a math major (so you just took the class for general interest and P/NP'ed it, but later realized you were in love with math and that it was your calling)...blah, blah, blah.</p>
<p>Now, why go through all this hassle? Because, believe it or not, and contrary to what a lot of people will tell you -- YOUR GRADES MATTER!!!.....A LOT!!!</p>
<p>Not only do your grades matter for graduate school, but they also matter for what you decide to study for the next 4 years if you come to the realization that math isn't for you. If you want to major in Econ, Business, Computer Science, or heck, even Psychology-- you need a minimum GPA (this ranges from 3.0 to 3.5+). </p>
<p>Also...if you ever want to get a job, a good GPA is one of the first things that gets your foot in the door. Unless your older brother works for Goldman Sachs, you're not even going to be given the chance to INTERVIEW for a good internship (much less a full-time job).</p>
<p>So yea....you may think that you're a lowly freshman, sitting in your math 1A class, dwelling over your lost sense of pride-- but here's a dose of reality, kid, your decisions now have ramifications that could follow you for the next four years...and possibly further. </p>
<p>The people who are the most successful at Berkeley are the ones who swim against the current of conventional wisdom and figure stuff on their own. Sure, you're in college to have a good time, make some friends, and maybe even learn a thing or two along the way....but don't spend all your time exploring your options, only to find out that you have no options left.</p>
<p>So yea....go to w w w. telebears . c o m</p>
<p>Put in your student ID and password....change the letter grade option to P/NP...keep attending lecture, try and do well, and if things don't work out-- no harm, no foul. If they do, then even better, just stick with the whole "I didn't know I wanted to be a math major" bit. And lastly....maybe sit down and think about what you really want from your college experience.</p>
<p>Sorry if I sound a bit bitter, folks, but the poor job market is getting to me. I wish someone had sat me down when I was a first semester freshman and splashed some cold water on me and slapped the grin from my face and told me to shape up.</p>
<p>Oh well....</p>
<p>;-) And in case you were wondering, no, I don't have a low GPA. I'll be graduating with highest honors in my major...but if I had sat around and asked people on CC whether I should continue with my major if I did poorly on my first college midterm, then maybe my GPA wouldn't be as impressive.</p>
<p>(and please, no posts about GPA not being the most important thing...I acknowledge that college is a time where you have to x, y, and z it, and that good work experience and recommendations are equally as important-- but it's <em>very</em> difficult to get those good recommendations and internships WITHOUT a good GPA)</p>
<p>just my two cents</p>
<p>:-)</p>
<p>I took a look at the Olsson midterm. It is incredibly hard. I can see how someone who expected a different kind of midterm could have been really thrown for a loop on that one. The curve, though, must have been generous.</p>
<p>The Agol midterm, though, seemed relatively straightforward. Maybe I am missing the subtlety, but it looked like the midterm you'd expect.</p>
<p>I'd be curious to see if people taking these courses would discuss this.</p>