NOTE: Please leave your response to this discussion prompt below (on this site, NOT on the Fall 2022 site linked below)
In Fall 2022 I taught this course and at the end of the semester, I gave my students the following assignment:
Imagine that you are invited to speak on the first day of MAT 2680, to give advice to entering students. Write at least three sentences … describing what you would tell them.
To see the assignment and the students’ responses, follow this link.
Your assignment, due at the beginning of class on Wednesday, February 8, is to:
- Read through ALL the responses (there are 26 of them).
- Write a reply to this post (1 paragraph) responding to all of the following:
- What advice seemed most relevant to you personally? Why? (you can copy/paste a short statement, or put it in your own words)
- Based on this advice, what changes can you make right now to help you succeed in this course?
Extra Credit. For extra credit, write a response to one of your classmates’ comments. Do you have any advice? Be kind.
Questions:
Answer: After reading the 26 responses I don’t feel as scared any more loll. I noticed a lot of the previous students are advising to review calc 1 & 2 to not be left behind. I was told to make sure that I completed all of my homework and never to be shy about asking questions, even simple algebraic ones. One response made me feel a little more at ease: a student mentioned that despite struggling in Calculus 2 near the end, he was able to have more confidence and pay more attention to differential equations as a result of Prof. Reitz’s teaching methods. Another advice I took into consideration is to never slack off, because once I do it’ll be hard to get back on track. After reading all the responses the changes ill make to help myself to succeed are to make sure to take all the necessary notes, complete all of my homework, ask questions whenever I can, take advantage of office hours, and make sure I review previous material to avoid having too many difficulties. Thank you, Prof. Reitz, for sharing this.
I agree, asking questions in class can be intimidating but once we take that first step in asking the question it can help us understand what we were doing wrong in a timely manner. Taking advantage of the office hours is a great idea as well since most students do not go to it.
After reading the 26 posts, I believe that reviewing Calculus 2 material would be a good refresher to stay on track with the course. Starting assignments such as the Webwork assignments in advance would also ensure sufficient time to complete each assignment rather than to cram at the very end. Mastering fundamentals seem to be the best way to succeed in this course so I will make sure I spend enough time understanding the basics so that I do not struggle with future topics. Another helpful measure seemed to be attending office hours regularly. I will make sure I utilize the available resources to stay on track and review notes regularly. Some changes I will make this semester include allowing myself a sufficient amount of time to complete the homework assignments so that I can understand the material and go at a steady pace. I do not want to end up receiving low grades on the homework assignments due to poor timing, so that will be something I will hold myself accountable for weekly.
After reviewing all the comments and replies from Fall 2022. The advice which seemed most relevant to me was to have a solid foundation in Calculus I & II along with algebra since they show up for almost every problem and not be afraid to ask questions. As well as keeping up with WeBWork since it is 25% of our grade, additionally, it is a great tool for practice. The changes I would make right now to help succeed in this course are reviewing the material of Calculus I & II, taking good notes, asking questions when I do not understand, and utilizing office hours.
Hi Kevindra, I completely agree with your response. I also feel like having a good foundation in both Calculus 1 and 2 will definitely help. Although I did relatively good in those classes, I still definitely need to review. Some of the concepts I lost as the semesters went on. I also saw that WebWork was a useful tool and I will definitely be taking advantage of that.
After reading through all the 26 comments, I have to say that I feel better knowing what to expect from this class to therefore, receive a good grade by the end of the semester and most importantly how to be well prepared. An advice that seemed relevant to me was to review calculus 2, I find this helpful because it is true, I took calculus 2 during the fall term 2022 and after the break it is easy to forget a few lesson that will probably be seen in this class which can make me fall behind. Another advice that I noticed a lot was about webwork and how it almost made a student’s grade drop. It is important to keep up with webwork and complete all the problems because it is part of our grade. What struck out the most was attending office hours which I don’t really do as much in past semester but would like to change that because from reading the comments it really helped out students who did not understand the material. Some changes that I would like to make this semester is to always go over the lecture plan before class so, I can ask questions and be well prepared by knowing what is going on since I already reviewed before hand. Also, to go over Calculus 2 and to always keep up with webwork. Overall, to write good notes that you can refer back to and to attend office hours or tutoring when stuck, because they are there for a reason!
Thank you Professor Reitz for having us do this discussion I found it very helpful!
I agree, reviewing the lecture plan before class is a great idea. This way we have knowledge of what’s going on that day and would allow us to be better prepared for class. It may also help us to ask more comprehensive questions and understand the topic.
Hi Pamela, I really liked all the advices you mentioned in your post! I think they’re really useful for this class. I also have never went to office hours in the past, and I feel like in this class I might need to go to one in case I need clarification. Especially since the class has been more, steps to finding the answer and not much practice examples.
An advice I just thought of would be to the homework asap. It’ll determine one’s understanding of how to solve the problem. And it would be easier to find out what part of the problem gets one stuck on.
After reading the comments from the previous semester, I now have a better understanding on what to expect in this class.
My biggest take on this is that I should go back and look at my Calculus II notes. When I took that class, I did pretty well. However, the other class said the same thing and some of them still struggled. Especially since I took that class 3-4 semesters ago, I really should find those notes.
Also based on the comments, I will be sure to ask questions whenever I don’t understand something or need clarification. I can also ask my fellow classmates, or look at other resources online.
Hey Pauline, I agree that I should look for my notes as well. I do hope you find a way to make this course go softly for you. I do think one of the biggest helps is asking question which has helped me a lot in my previous courses.
I agree that asking questions during class is really helpful to clear up any confusion and also go to back to that topic after class as review to have a better understanding before an exam.
After reading the responses I believe the best advice was to review the Calc 1 and 2 material and to break down the problem into smaller steps. This is because you have to start with the fundamentals before you work on harder problems. If you reinforce the fundamentals you can grasp the difficult problems easier in the long run. Along with that I believe that asking more questions in class will be beneficial since that is the best time to clear up any misunderstandings. Some changes that I can make right now is review my Calc 1 and 2 material by practicing with the Webwork questions and try to ask more questions while in class. Along with that I will also try to take better notes by making sure that my notes have a coherent order in which I can understand.
I agree breaking down the problems in smaller steps will make things easier to understand. That’s also a good point you made about asking more questions in class, as I’m sure others might be too shy to speak up. So, when someone does ask a question, they’re not just helping themselves; they’re also helping others who had the same question but were too afraid to ask.
After reading the comments from Fall 2022, I see the advice to brush up on Calc 1 and 2 is crucial for this course. I would say this is the best advice I’ve taken because I need to refresh my memory for Calc. The changes I can make today to help me succeed in this course would take the advice from former students of refreshing and doing more practice problems to help build my understanding for Diff equations.
After reading the comments from the previous class, it seems that they all make it clear that being up to date on your Calc. I & II is most important. This is something that I agree with and see the relevance of. It is so important (even though its hard) to review all of the stuff we learned in Calc. I & II, as they are the basis for this entire class. This is something that I have to do, to make sure I’ve got down everything from my earlier classes. I hope that I can keep up with studying and WeBWork, as they really cement the knowledge that we gain in class.
Based on the responses the advice that seems most relevant to me is to make sure to review material from calculus 1 and 2 because they seem like a major part of this corse. More specifically to review the methods of derivation and integration as I seem to need a review on calculus 1 material and my understanding of calculus 2 material could still use some work. Right now the best thing i can do is to do practice problems and see what forms of derivation and integration show up most often in this corse and make sure to master those techniques.
Absolutely, having a solid understanding of the fundamentals would make life much easier, especially when a lot of the work builds off of what we learned previously. Reviewing notes from calc 2 helped me get up to date much faster than I initially expected, and the questions seem much more feasible now.
Totally agree. Right now, I’m very rusty when it comes to Calc 1 and 2 material. So I’ll need to do a lot of reviews and practice problems so I can get these topics down pat. It’s gonna take many hours of studying but it’ll be worth it in the end. Good luck to you in the future!
Yea I agree I also need to brush up on the stuff I learned in Calculus 1 and 2 because I’m a bit rusty on certain things.
After reading the posts, I feel more reassured. Many posts advised students to review past material from calc 1 & 2 as it will be instrumental throughout the class. I found this to be very spot-on based on recent classes. Another interesting comment was the suggestion to check up on algebraic functions and make sure to master them, as reordering becomes imperative later on in the course. They also explained how making simple mistakes could result in the student wasting vast amounts of time when dealing with more complicated questions. I have already experienced the significance of most of the advice from the webwork questions. If I did not reorder properly or wrote something down incorrectly, there would be no way to know until I submitted the answer. Even elementary questions can be time-consuming if not dealt with carefully.
I noticed that an overwhelming amount of comments mentioned reviewing Calculus 1 and 2 and to at least do all the WeBWork assignments so I can practice the topics covered in class. I’ll need to make a lot of changed in order to succeed in the course. The biggest change I need to make is to review Calc 1 and 2 because it’s been a year since I’ve taken Calc 2 and I’ve already forgotten most of the rules. Another thing I’ll need to do is to do practice problems. As they say, practice makes perfect, and I can’t expect to know how to solve these problems without practicing.
I noticed that too and trying to keep up with new material while re-learning old material is kinda difficult at the moment, and practicing some of the problems just get very confusing. I am sure that we will get through this class just fine because the professor explains the material very well.
What advice seemed most relevant to you personally? As Raymond Manaf stated “make sure to learn or re-learn your fundamental of derivative and anti derivative. that thing will body you if you do not know how to solve them.”, this seemed very relevant to me because I am currently having a difficult time remembering the rules I learnt in my prior math courses and having to put all of them together is really hard at times.
Based on this advice, what changes can you make right now to help you succeed in this course? I am currently studying and relearning the rules of derivatives, antiderivatives, power rule, chain rule, u-substitution, among many others. That being said, my memory on these topics are hazy at times and I hope that ends soon.
After reading through all of the responses from the previous semester, I feel like a have a good grasp on what to expect from this course. What advice seemed most relevant to me was that a lot of the students said to review material from Calculus 1 and Calculus 2. I can already see that this would be helpful because differential equations involves a lot of topics from both of those courses. Since I took Calculus 1 and 2 a decent time ago, I have definitely forgotten some of the rules to derivatives and anti-derivatives. Another big theme i saw throughout many of the replies was fully completing and understanding the WebWork. They said that not only just completing but fully understanding how to answer the WebWork questions help you on the test and many other aspects of the course. Based on the advice I have been given I will definitely make a few changes. I will first start by going over my notes from Calculus 1 and 2. This will definitely help me with the current topic we are in. Secondly, I will make sure to complete all the WebWork assignments. Along with completing them, I would also like to fully understand all aspects of the question and know how to solve them.
After reading all the advice from previous students the advice that seemed most relevant to me was to make sure to go back and hone my skills and knowledge of both Calculus 1 and 2, because they are both used often in this class. As well as to not be afraid to ask questions and for help when I find myself having trouble in the class. This advice seemed the most relevant to me because I often make the mistake of not going back to my notes to make sure I have a solid understanding of a subject and instead try to rely on my memory and I have trouble asking questions or for help when I’m stuck or don’t know something. Based on the advice I read, the changes I can make for myself now to help me succeed are to go back to my notes and brush up on the stuff I learned in Calculus 1 and 2 and to seek out and ask for help when I need it.
I agree that honing your skills from calc1 and calc2 needs to be the priority because this class require it during the calculations.
After reading it again and experiencing it last semester, I think the advice to focus on the fundamental of basic calculus needs to be sharpen. If I cannot do basic antiderivative, it would be impossible to solve the questions and more. changes I need to make right now is to study more on the basic derivatives + antiderivatives.
The advice from the students who have taken MAT 2680 before all have a similar message, that it is important to understand calculus as it is a strong foundation for this course, and without it the lessons will get tougher as we go further in the course. Another piece of advice that I think is equally just as important is to work on putting the lessons in steps or smaller notes to understand better over time and complete the work with confidence. These messages are really important to me because of how important it is to have that prior knowledge and using efficient note taking to understand what is being taught. Right now I can say that I can brush up on my understanding of calculus 1 and 2 then making sure to take efficient notes during class or even going back and rewriting notes after class is over to make sure that I don’t fall behind on the work.
I agree that reviewing previous calculus knowledge and taking notes in class are very important for this class.
After reading the past class posts, I found that we need to review what we have learned in cal1 and cal2. This suggestion should be the most relevant to me. Because after a few classes, we know that this class will use the knowledge from cal1 and cal2. I think listening carefully and taking notes in class is also an essential part of learning this class. Finally, use the knowledge of what we learned in class and complete webwork for review.
I agree that we have to not only review old material but we have to make sure to take notes for this class. Taking notes atleast for me help me memorize what we are doing and have something to study.
After reading the past class posts, I found that I need to review what I have learned in cal1 and cal2, so I can use it during differential equations. I barley remember what I learned during calc 1 and calc 2 because it been awhile. One advice that I would take would be “make sure to learn or re-learn your fundamental of derivative and anti derivative. that thing will body you if you do not know how to solve them.” Other then that if you pay attention and do your homework you should be fine with differential equations.
The advice that was most relevant to me was keeping up with the webwork. This isn’t my first time taking this class and while the other advices given were important, it’s the webwork that really gets to me. In the beginning it’s easy to follow and keep up, but once the semester starts to pick up it becomes increasingly difficult to do the webwork, which provides points towards the final and practice to better understand the math. Based on this advice I will strive to get all the webworks done early, get them out of the way before assignments start to pile up.
After reading all the responses from the previous student that took this class, I took away that we need to review everything that we did in our previous math classes. The rules of derivative and anti derivatives are a key factor that we have to review because if we slip up on that then we will never understand this course. I also think keeping up with webwork is important as it is a review of the material as well as points for your grade. Based on the previous students I will go over all the fundamentals of calc 1 and calc 2 to better prepare myself for this class.
I still stand on my fall statement, “I would advise them to have patience and perseverance when taking this class. At first the topics might seem intimidating and complicated, but it is important to keep trying and never give up when learning the topics. Taking everything step by step and carefully is the most important.” It is always advantageous to review material from courses prior, but I feel as though having a stable, clear mind and the mental fortitude to overcome anxiety and learn rather than getting flustered and giving up is just as essential, if not more. To me, being able to communicate well with others and asking for help when needed is vital, along with going over material and practicing and watching tutorials on youtube. Hopefully what comes next is a passing grade.