Calculus 1301 Course Reviews
Review of 1301 by Wang Xiang
Though this is a continuation of calc 1000, there is actually quite a large gap. There are more concepts taught in this course, and they’re usually fast paced. In addition, the questions will really strain you if you had difficulty learning in Calc 1000. This course applies a lot of conceptual stuff, so be warned. A lot of people switch to math 1225 after they complete Calc 1000. Math 1225 is a course that has a difficulty in between Calc 1000 and 1301. If your module requires you to take calc 1301, then I recommend you switch to calc 1501 (most modules take 1301 or 1501). 1501 is a little bit harder than 1301, however the catch is that if you don’t attain an 85% or above in 1301, some modules see that as a “fail” whereas 1501, you are only required to achieve a grade of 60%. If students are looking towards a Honours Specialization in Economics, then Calc 1301 with 85% or less wont be accepted. The same is also true for: Honors Specialization in Mathematics, Major in Mathematics, Honors Specialization/Specialization in Mathematics in Society. There may be more, but these are the ones I’m aware of right now
Wang Xiang ([email protected])
Review of 1301B by Elton Law
Taken Second Semester 2011
Mark breakdown:
35% Midterm
15% Quizzes/assignments
50% Final
Professor Review
My professor, Xingfu Zou was okay. Although the overall concepts could be understood, if you kept up with the work, he would often make mistakes in solving example problems. For example, an error in writing the proper decimal place at the start of a problem once eluded his awareness for the entirety of the problem. Because of that, I recommend that you do not hesitate to ask questions.
Students can appreciate how professor Zou puts his notes online, allowing students to more easily catch up if they were absent (though mistakes made in class will also be in his online notes). It is worth mentioning that he does have an accent, though the vast majority of my class could easily understand him.
His quizzes (worth 15% overall) are difficult, but doing well on them (~80%) means that you are decently prepared for the midterm and the final. Although the class average for the quiz marks will be low, he will bell curve everyone's quiz marks to match the marks of other classes. During my year, he took the best 5 of 6 quizzes, which was okay, but many other classes had greater leniency. In my opinion, there isn’t anything so problematic with him that would warrant a class switch.
Course Review
The course assumes that you understand concepts from Calculus 1000A. Exams in this course are harder than the exams of 1000A. The pre-midterm material was mostly a continuation of Calculus 1000A (more integration techniques). The second semester had a lot of material that was completely new (series, polar coordinates, etc.), and thus, was harder.
Classes will have either assignments or quizzes, depending on the professor. In general, assignments are easier than quizzes. Having assignments will give you more time to work on it (a quiz must be completed in a lecture), allow you to work with other people (quizzes are done individually), and allow you access to notes made earlier (quizzes are not open-book). The downside of assignments is that they may take longer to complete than quizzes (depending on the professor).
The midterm for my year was considered easy/fair. The midterm did not require much actual problem solving (many of the questions had been seen before in some form), but there were a few tricks to watch out for. There was time left over at the end to check over my exam. Being able to do questions proficiently from past exams and the suggested problem list was enough to do very well.
The final was much more difficult and there was little time left to check it over. It required a good degree of problem solving and a good understanding of the concepts learned. Simply being able to do questions seen before was not enough to achieve a mark of 90% in general. The exam average was low.
Advice
Do all the homework questions in the suggested list, as well as all the practice midterms and practice finals in order to prepare for each exam. Make sure you actually understand each concept and that you are not just mechanically doing each question. If you have quizzes, comprehension will be very easy to check. If you feel you are unsure about your understanding, feel free to do the rest of the odd numbered questions, or even the even numbered questions.
Before every exam, ask the professor for clarification if you are unsure of what material will be on the exam. For this course, it is helpful to go to class, since the professors usually add some level of detail or explanation that is not explicitly stated in the textbook.
Aim to do well on the midterm; it is much easier than the final so it’ll help boost your mark significantly. For the final, be quick on the MC portion because some of the long answer questions require a lot of thinking, so you may not come up with a solution right away.
You should have a solid understanding of high school mathematical concepts (factoring, expanding, the trigonometric ratios, etc.) going into this course. Also, the questions are much more difficult than Calculus 1000A questions, since many questions have no rigid solution, which therefore requires a higher level of problem solving. However, it is still very possible to attain a mark of over 90% on the final exam, since the final exam’s mark average is bell curved so that the average isn’t too low.
I only recommend this course if you enjoy math, if you’re confident in your competency with math, or if you’ve learned most/all of the material beforehand. I do not recommend taking this course if you struggled in Calculus 1000A.
Disclosure
I'm currently in the second year of the biomed program. I took non-AP/non-IB high school math (advance functions and calculus) in a Toronto high school and I took Calculus 1000A before taking Calculus 1301B. I did okay in high school math and very well in both Calculus 1000A and Calculus 1301B.
Elton Law
Note: The author can be contacted by formal request through our contact form.
Though this is a continuation of calc 1000, there is actually quite a large gap. There are more concepts taught in this course, and they’re usually fast paced. In addition, the questions will really strain you if you had difficulty learning in Calc 1000. This course applies a lot of conceptual stuff, so be warned. A lot of people switch to math 1225 after they complete Calc 1000. Math 1225 is a course that has a difficulty in between Calc 1000 and 1301. If your module requires you to take calc 1301, then I recommend you switch to calc 1501 (most modules take 1301 or 1501). 1501 is a little bit harder than 1301, however the catch is that if you don’t attain an 85% or above in 1301, some modules see that as a “fail” whereas 1501, you are only required to achieve a grade of 60%. If students are looking towards a Honours Specialization in Economics, then Calc 1301 with 85% or less wont be accepted. The same is also true for: Honors Specialization in Mathematics, Major in Mathematics, Honors Specialization/Specialization in Mathematics in Society. There may be more, but these are the ones I’m aware of right now
Wang Xiang ([email protected])
Review of 1301B by Elton Law
Taken Second Semester 2011
Mark breakdown:
35% Midterm
15% Quizzes/assignments
50% Final
Professor Review
My professor, Xingfu Zou was okay. Although the overall concepts could be understood, if you kept up with the work, he would often make mistakes in solving example problems. For example, an error in writing the proper decimal place at the start of a problem once eluded his awareness for the entirety of the problem. Because of that, I recommend that you do not hesitate to ask questions.
Students can appreciate how professor Zou puts his notes online, allowing students to more easily catch up if they were absent (though mistakes made in class will also be in his online notes). It is worth mentioning that he does have an accent, though the vast majority of my class could easily understand him.
His quizzes (worth 15% overall) are difficult, but doing well on them (~80%) means that you are decently prepared for the midterm and the final. Although the class average for the quiz marks will be low, he will bell curve everyone's quiz marks to match the marks of other classes. During my year, he took the best 5 of 6 quizzes, which was okay, but many other classes had greater leniency. In my opinion, there isn’t anything so problematic with him that would warrant a class switch.
Course Review
The course assumes that you understand concepts from Calculus 1000A. Exams in this course are harder than the exams of 1000A. The pre-midterm material was mostly a continuation of Calculus 1000A (more integration techniques). The second semester had a lot of material that was completely new (series, polar coordinates, etc.), and thus, was harder.
Classes will have either assignments or quizzes, depending on the professor. In general, assignments are easier than quizzes. Having assignments will give you more time to work on it (a quiz must be completed in a lecture), allow you to work with other people (quizzes are done individually), and allow you access to notes made earlier (quizzes are not open-book). The downside of assignments is that they may take longer to complete than quizzes (depending on the professor).
The midterm for my year was considered easy/fair. The midterm did not require much actual problem solving (many of the questions had been seen before in some form), but there were a few tricks to watch out for. There was time left over at the end to check over my exam. Being able to do questions proficiently from past exams and the suggested problem list was enough to do very well.
The final was much more difficult and there was little time left to check it over. It required a good degree of problem solving and a good understanding of the concepts learned. Simply being able to do questions seen before was not enough to achieve a mark of 90% in general. The exam average was low.
Advice
Do all the homework questions in the suggested list, as well as all the practice midterms and practice finals in order to prepare for each exam. Make sure you actually understand each concept and that you are not just mechanically doing each question. If you have quizzes, comprehension will be very easy to check. If you feel you are unsure about your understanding, feel free to do the rest of the odd numbered questions, or even the even numbered questions.
Before every exam, ask the professor for clarification if you are unsure of what material will be on the exam. For this course, it is helpful to go to class, since the professors usually add some level of detail or explanation that is not explicitly stated in the textbook.
Aim to do well on the midterm; it is much easier than the final so it’ll help boost your mark significantly. For the final, be quick on the MC portion because some of the long answer questions require a lot of thinking, so you may not come up with a solution right away.
You should have a solid understanding of high school mathematical concepts (factoring, expanding, the trigonometric ratios, etc.) going into this course. Also, the questions are much more difficult than Calculus 1000A questions, since many questions have no rigid solution, which therefore requires a higher level of problem solving. However, it is still very possible to attain a mark of over 90% on the final exam, since the final exam’s mark average is bell curved so that the average isn’t too low.
I only recommend this course if you enjoy math, if you’re confident in your competency with math, or if you’ve learned most/all of the material beforehand. I do not recommend taking this course if you struggled in Calculus 1000A.
Disclosure
I'm currently in the second year of the biomed program. I took non-AP/non-IB high school math (advance functions and calculus) in a Toronto high school and I took Calculus 1000A before taking Calculus 1301B. I did okay in high school math and very well in both Calculus 1000A and Calculus 1301B.
Elton Law
Note: The author can be contacted by formal request through our contact form.