Finals General

Your method of studying for finals?

On Monday I have a final for Foundations for Theoretical Mathematics (math class that introduces rigorous foundations for logic, sets, relations, functions, various proof strategies, etc...) and on Tuesday I have a final for Linear Algebra.

I have one day each to prepare for these finals. Should I do a few complete runs through my notes? Retake my exams? Read the book?

What's the most effective way to reinforce what I've learned throughout the semester?


General finals thread

Other urls found in this thread:

math.ucdavis.edu/~kouba/ProblemsList.html
blumenfeldcalc.com/
twitter.com/AnonBabble

I wake up early in the morning, make a nice breakfast, shower, bundle myself in the warmest comfiest blanket I can find, sit outside sipping tea while working through the material until I get too cold, then I come in and work until lunch, occasionally warming up my tea, I eat a big lunch, and then take a nap.

Go do previously assigned homework problems until you understand the material.

I'm "preparing" for my Calc II final tomorrow.

I just have a tab with this: math.ucdavis.edu/~kouba/ProblemsList.html

and whenever I get bored of the internet I just click one of the pages and scroll down and do the last problem.

Too bad they have no volume of revolution, improper integrals or infinite series problems, I'll have to check out some other website.

Redo old tests, search online for finals and do them. If a concept is iffy, go to the book or an online resource. Do homework problems. Look for online practice problems.

blumenfeldcalc.com/

I did a shit of these tests for my infinite series exam

Hey, that's pretty good.

Wait no, not pretty good! Just okay.

This website doesn't show the procedure. 0/10 man what the fuck. What if I get stuck in a problem and then want to see what I'm supposed to do?

And it won't tell me if I'm right or wrong until I finish the entire page and submit. I just want to do the last problem, not the entire list of brainlet problems.

This website is making me type shit into wolframalpha to check my asnwers. -50/10 man.

Finite element Analysis on Monday, then I'm getting raped with Abstract Algebra, Mechanical vibrations, and aerodynamics consecutively on Wednesday.

Will show solutions once you finished the exam if you click "show solution". Yeah having to do the entire exam is a drawback but you can just do the problems that you want and then submit your answers.

Look up proffessor leanard on youtube.
Man is the reason I got an a in calc 2.

you'll be a broken, beaten womyn by the end of it all.

>Look up proffessor leanard on youtube.
>youtube

I appreciate the suggestion but I dropped videos when I was like 15. Turns out that if you read the material you can consume it 10 times faster. Funny that I had to learn this after being a video-learner for years instead of just starting with books by default but you know, I was born with the internet.

giving up

This, I have a massive sinus infection throbbing across my face. pain pill making me tired. Can't concentrate for shit.

Even if I fail my finals I still have all A's. I can't even care at this fucking point. Im done.

It's hard to maintain a pace when reading, but the timed nature of videos makes it easier to maintain a consistent rate of knowledge consumption.

How is this possible.

What I'm trying to start doing, is at the end of every term, I'll compile all of my notes from the whole term into OneNote for quick reference in future classes. It's a big chore that requires a lot of self discipline, but I imagine it would be a great way to study for finals.

Use the routine that the semester's classes forces you into to get a lot of productive work done. Treat it like a 9-5 and take it seriously. When you feel as though you're forgetting it, go back over it. Play with equations and try to break them, experiment with them at their boundaries, plot them etc. If you're even slightly unsure of something, ask someone to explain it to you

If you can keep up the discipline the entire semester, studying for finals will become extremely easy and you can spend relaxed comfy hours sipping coffee and doing some light revision in the library while everyone else around you loses their shit. If you're lucky, they'll ask you about it, which makes you teach them, which is a good way to cement the concepts.

I go to my favorite coffee shop. Check out cute girls. Redo old exams and then grade/check my work. Take notes on anything I missed and understand why I missed a particular problem (checking whether it's conceptional or careless).

I studied so hard in the class throughout the semester and did so well on every exam I'm not in freak out mode. It's mostly light studying and going through every problem type. Pretty comfy as I can solve any problem that I come across.

Anybody know a good website with practice problems for DC transients, AC circuit analysis, and Laplace transforms as related to circuit analysis (for like a 2nd order circuit)?

My professor put a practice final exam on his website but I already completed it, yet I still feel unprepared and need MOAR PROBLEMS

Fuck you

>perfectly prepared for exam
>almost certainly going to get 90+
>panic anyway

this is me user
>tfw had a panic attack about last calc exam
>thought i fucked up some parts that were easy
>got 100%

we will be fine

i study unefficiently. spend too much time reading and going over proofs and never doing practice questions.

why?

i was planning on studying for analysis until like 5 am except you guys motivated me to change my studying by going through the assignment questions rather than just re-reading the notes.

th-thanks

Best way to study is not to cram before an exam. Throughout the term, keep up with material and learn it as you go. On weekends, review everything you learned the previous week. By the time the exam rolls around, you should really know everything well.

For a class like calc that tests drills and algorithms, do as many exercises as possible.

I'm telling myself that if I study(I don't want to study right now. feeling that burnout) that I'll get to dive into some exciting stuff like the uncovered (very interesting) parts of my chemistry textbook that covered radioactivity. I'll also get into some good pleasure reading and I'm going to spend copious amounts of time playing xbox because I don't care anymore.

Because he's/you're going to probably get good grades on his finals and I will not.

It's ok user.
We will do good next semester when we get our shit together.

There won't be a next semester if I don't get good grades in this one. It's the end of the line for me I'm afraid. God speed user.

What classes are giving you trouble?

Physics Mechanics

Shit. I'm taking that next term. Any advice?

Don't get behind like I did. Do the homework in the book, don't be lazy, ask for help if needed.

also: stay off Veeky Forums when you need to study

Thanks. Good luck.

yeah and it seems you still have the social skills of a 15 year old as well

>learn marathon 6 weeks before all exams

First exams ever. Hopefully this is gonna work senpais

coffee, pizza and ramen will be my best friends in this time.

6 weeks is more than 10% of a year. be smart. people have gone insane in less time than that

Aw, I remember when I was a doe-eyed and enthusiastic young freshman.

God, was it really only two years ago? Feels like a lifetime.

not him but what do you mean with ' have gone insane'?

This is me every semester

Even my profs have told me to stop worrying.

Usually what I do is redo any and all previous quizzes, tests, and exams. Particularly for math courses; this tends to help prepare me the best. I have my Calculus II exam this Friday, I'm relatively confident even though I haven't even begun studying for it yet.

Anyone have any tips for studying for a physics exam, or just studying physics in general? Currently I just study the readings and redo old homework problems. I understand the basic concepts, although I do have some issues with them at first I do eventually understand them, and when I do homework problems I understand them well and I'm able to do them with relative ease. However whenever I have an in-class exam I freeze up and find myself completely blanking. Suddenly I can't even do basic problems. I've gotten 60s on my two previous Physics exams because of this and I don't know how to fix it. I understand the concepts and applications, the problems just seem so much more difficult when I'm taking the exams. Could I just be getting nervous and psyching myself out? Maybe I'm just not properly preparing myself beforehand? Not doing well on my exams makes me feel like I'm incapable of properly learning physics. I wanted to study it as my major and I've been having some serious second thoughts. If I can't even do well in Physics I, how will I do in more advanced courses? Am I just too stupid to understand physics or am I just not studying efficiently?

Finals are in January in my country.

First one is theory of Information, easy shit. It's basically discrete probability a preschooler could do.

Second is mathematics for the engineer, another easy one, but finals tends to be a tricky. Will need to study a bit for it

Then it's Java programming classes and network architecture, which is kinda hard but nothing to worry about.

Honestly, the one I will have to work the most for is German.

Feels great having already done Calculus and Algebra, though feels bad being a shitty computer science engineer.

OP here. Just got done with my first final. I read the defs, wroye fown the theorems, and reworked the prev exams. Went pretty well. Thanks errbody

Final is worth 20% of the grade.

Have near perfect in the other 80%

So even if I get a F on the final 50% that is still 10+80 and I will have an A overall.

Except if the exam is curved and everyone else has near 100% on the other portion.

As someone taking phyiscs, there's two possibilities

You're not smart enough (doubtful)

You're psyching yourself out

Physics is just applied math, visualize the problem and then put the formulas in.

If you're struggling HARD with basic mechanics (still with calculus I assume) then it's something to consider, maybe doing something else, because it doesn't get easier.

You probably have an electricity and magnetism class for phys 2 and optics for phys 3. Those are both I would say "the same" in terms of difficulty, but it is a lot of information.

I think the best way to do it is to do a breadth of problems, rather than just a lot. Do 2 easy, 2 mod, 2 hard is better than doing 10 mod IMO.

What are you specifically struggling with?

Just got my finals back
linear algebra/PDE/complex analysis/random math for phys majors: 63 (class avg 65)
quantum mechanics: 58 (final avg unknown, midterm avg was 48 and had similar reactions)
advanced mechanics: 62 (class avg 49)

After the curves I'm looking at a C in the math class, a B in advanced mechanics, and ???? in quantum
>had a 3.94 gpa going into junior year
>RIP
>mfw started looking at alternatives to grad school

>and ???? in quantum
Your grade is currently in superposition, just don't observe it and you'll be fine.

You're fine, jesus physics majors are always freaking out about shit.

Half the grad students here barely passed QM. You'll be okay homeboy.

10/10 thank you good sir

>implying a superposition is what's going on in reality and not just a statement of imperfect knowledge

psiontological fags go home

I was just making a joke about how his grade in QM was unknown, autismo.

No shit I was just making a joke on the current state of QM being an argumentative basically philosophical question on whether or not the wave fumction describes our knowledge of reality or reality itself.

Loophole free Bell test, nigga. Philosopfags don't want you to know this one simple trick.

I get all scared and pee myself when they say you aren't competitive for grad school without a 3.5
That's like the top 10% of my class, I'm something around top 30-40% this semester.
>austimic stress ensues

I think it has a lot to do with me psyching myself out. I'm not having trouble with basic mechanics, calculus is easy for me. Honestly, it's hard for me to say exactly what it is that I'm struggling with.

I understand the concepts. I may not grasp them immediately, but I do ultimately come to an understanding of them. I understand the math behind the concepts, when to apply which equations, etc. I think it has to do with maybe my comprehension of questions or something. It's like suddenly I don't know what any of the problems are asking for and I freeze. All the problems seem a hundred times harder than any of the hw ones and I end up confusing myself. Now that you mention taking a moment to visualize the problem, I don't really do that. I usually just sort of jump right in, hoping to get the exam done in time.

Here's an example of how I screw up:
On the last exam there was a question that asked me to find the distance between the center of the carbon atom and the center of the entire CO molecule. It's obviously a simple center of mass problem, which I KNOW how to do. However, during the exam I didn't even recognize that it was a center of mass problem. I actually left the exam wondering why my professor didn't put a single center of mass problem on it. Turns out I just didn't even notice it. I don't know how I could've missed that, and I felt so stupid later when I realized it.

So now I figure I'm too stupid or just studying wrong or something, but maybe it all just boils down to how I'm psyching myself out.

Is there some way I could fix the fact that I can't figure out what the problems are looking for? Any sort of method I could follow?

Did you draw a diagram/picture first?

Mentally, yes. Physically, no.
Guess that's where I fucked up.

Is that really all it would take to help me? A visual representation? Fuck, man. I'm literally an idiot.

Thank you, user

>Feels great having already done Calculus and Algebra, though feels bad being a shitty computer science engineer.

>final 20% worth of grade
>not even 50%
>not 100%

Americans, stay classy.

>>Feels great having already done Calculus and Algebra, though feels bad being a shitty computer science engineer.
>Americans, stay classy.

I'm not an American. I have finals in January. I did Algebra and Calculus in 2nd year.
Finals are worth about 40% of the grade, but having more than 8/20 is mandatory.

I just don't understand how NOT having 100% final is allowed at all. That's why I'm mad.

>favouring bruteforce learning instead of gradual knowledge acquisition

I don't really do anything special for finals. Steady strain throughout the semester, maybe go over anything that was a particular sticking point. Get a good amount of sleep and eat food. Meh.

>theoretical mathematics

...Seriously?

I do this too

"PIG-MAN" JAP'S INGRESS'S SkipAway.

>too depressed to study for finals
>fuck it only need 50s on them for As
>sleep and watch Netflix
>take finals
>make a 60 something on one
>make a 70 something on the other
>cool
>still have As in those classes

Seriously though, going through old material such as old homework problems and looking over old tests is what I do when I don't get too depressed to study. Specifically look at problems you struggled with first and then look at the easier problems.

This. That guy is the real mvp

>write exam with very loudly banned calculators
>not a single integer answer and 2/3 of them have denominators larger than 10

You'd be surprised how much it helps for those problems you just can't get your head quite around

>someone asks for help with the most difficult concept in a class you took 2 years ago

Is this shopped?

How much are your finals weighed? Mine are usually worth a quarter of my grade.

What do you make for breakfast

past year exams. just work through as many as you can.

I study the whole quarter, so I don't really do much for studying for finals. It's especially nice when instructors don't assign homework from the book, because then I just work the problems from the book the whole quarter.

Me too, my gpa is about to dip below 3.5 and I am absolutely freaking the fuck out.

I don't even want to get into a nice grad school, literally I'd be happy with any grad school. Am I just completely fucked?

I'm curious about this also, I'm about to have a GPA down near 3.1 after this semester. I think I might just drop out and succumb to being a brainlet wagecuck with a GPA this low. God I'm depressed about it.

All I wanted was to go into research.

Not him but I'm trying to have some nice protein filled breakfasts before my finals.

>mfw 6-9 PM Structures II exam one hour ago
>mfw 8 AM Geotechnical Engineering exam tomorrow morning
>mfw still wired from the pot of coffee I downed this afternoon to have kept me awake and alert
>mfw cannot sleep now

I have a 7:30 am final man like what the fuck the class is at 8am already why make it earlier

no lel

Depends on the school dude.

I'm convinced weird fractions are some twisted tradition of fucking with undergrads.
"273/113? There's no way they'd assign a something like that..."

Finished second final (linear algebra) and it was easy as fuck. Wayyyyyyyy easier than the practice final exams i looked up.

I think i may be attending a meme school. Feels bad.

At UC Berkeley, 3.1 is good enough to land you a research position and potentially grad school with full funding, depending on the major. Granted, not like, MIT, but a decent grad school.

probably. i feel like if you don't come out of every final exam feeling either destroyed or doubtful you're probably not getting the most rigorous education

>mfw every question on the final is copy and pasted from the homework to the point where he even copy pasted the typos
>get 100
Sometimes lazy professors can be good

A prof at my school told me to go to a school where the other students are so smart they make you feel like a retard (his words).

is it worth the low self-esteem and crushing work ethic? idk i guess who knows lol

Depends on how much you like the subject. This guy literally loves math.

However... It is the first time I've been able to get As across the board, so perhaps I don't mind.

Physical pictures and drawing coordinate systems do the trick for me

No because I'm going to fail my calc exam and my parents will disown me and I'll get kicked out of university and live the rest of my life as street trash in some hick town up north

How is this possible? Everyone makes such a huge deal about having their fucking 3.5 gpa's? How can I even compete with my 3.1? It's like Veeky Forums gave me bad advice or something.

r u me? I'm bracing for that fucking D grade in my discrete that I know I'm going to get. God I just want to cry. When I look at the last years exam he gave us, half of the questions on it I have absolutely no idea how to even begin. I'm going to be lucky to come out alive with a 40% or something retarded.

I'm bracing for no curve. Also, it is at fucking 7am tomorrow. The class is normally at fucking 8? They are literally just setting us up to fail.