<p>any advice for students taking this as their first math class at Rutgers? i've only taken math classes at comm college, and i fear that this may be my death.</p>
<p>Don’t be intimidated, while I think multi is more challenging than calc 1 and 2 it’s still not fantastically complicated. I took the honors version (not the one with Karlan though) and I’ve tutored a number of students taking it so I guess I’ll give specific advice about the class blended with general math department advice.</p>
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<li><p>When you do problems, take a second to think about what you’re doing geometrically. Multi (and probably most math classes) especially rewards students who take the time to think about what the lines/surfaces/solids look like. Most of the stuff you do is in 3 dimensions so a good intuition can really help you find the answer and recognize bad answers(!), you start with planes which are pretty simple to imagine and work up so its a skill you can train.</p></li>
<li><p>Use the book! The text sections are concise and very example heavy; look over all the examples. When you’re stuck on a problem, go back to the examples. When you’re studying for the exam, make sure you understand the examples! Remember that the book is a self contained piece of information so no matter what you were taught or not taught/missed/didn’t understand the first time; everything you need to solve all of the problems is in the book. Having a “bad” lecturer is never a good excuse, the book is always there.</p></li>
<li><p>Do your hw alone. I know people love getting together you conquer their hw together but it’s detrimental to you. A good hw set has one or two problems to illustrate the method and the rest to demonstrate possible snags along the way. Having people tell you how to avoid those snags won’t help you avoid them on exams. At Rutgers a hefty chunk (in some sense all of them) of your test and quiz problems are modified hw problems, being able to comfortably handle them is the best way to prepare for the exams.</p></li>
<li><p>Rutgers has an excellent math department, your professors and ta’s know this stuff backwards and forwards. You should respect them, its easy to get frustrated direct those frustrations towards them but it’ll get you no where. Go to your ta’s office hours if you get stuck on a specific hw problem (after you’ve consulted the book and thought about it!). </p></li>
<li><p>The maple labs are boring wastes of time. They don’t require you to actually know any maple, just follow the instructions on the webpage so don’t be intimidated by them. Maple is installed on most of the campus computers, don’t buy it. These are good things to do with friends.</p></li>
<li><p>Math exams at Rutgers are probably a bit harder than their cc counterparts, as long as you are in command of all the material covered in the hw you should be fine. Get a jump early, the second half is (imo) easier than the first (minus some change of variables jank and stokes but as far as I can tell the regular version skips all but the most rudimentary problems involving these things) as long as you are comfortable with your calc 2.</p></li>
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<p>I hope some of that was helpful to someone. It’s a fun course if you don’t fall behind, you’ll do great.</p>
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<p>I definitely second this, (plus all the other advice given above :D), and you especially should try and grasp problems on your own. Working on multivariable calc material in big groups may make the problems appear to be really easy, when in fact, it’s pretty tough. I’d recommend buying the solutions manual, but only to check your answers, not to cheat!</p>
<p>I personally found calc 1 and 2 harder than multivariable, but most people would probably disagree with me. The best, and really the only way, to study is to keep doing problems. It’s good to discuss the procedure for specific types of problems with friends, but beyond that I’d stick to doing the problems by yourself. If you’re professor is nice enough they may give you previous semester exams.</p>
<p>Stay on top of the sections and try your best not to fall behind. It can be very easy to fall behind, especially between the second midterm and final exam. If you’re diligent about your work and follow the advice listed above, you should be fine. Good luck :)</p>
<p>thank you so much, guys! i’ll keep everything in mind.</p>