Hey I was just wondering about Math 1M03. Apparently it's needed for psychology, I'm mid way through math 1k03, and I'm really not enjoying it at all. Math was never my strong suit, and I have several friends who are quite smart, but all the same advise me that 1M03 was brutal...any comments or breakdowns of the course would be appreciated.

Originally Posted by Mike_D2

Hey I was just wondering about Math 1M03. Apparently it's needed for psychology, I'm mid way through math 1k03, and I'm really not enjoying it at all. Math was never my strong suit, and I have several friends who are quite smart, but all the same advise me that 1M03 was brutal...any comments or breakdowns of the course would be appreciated.

Brutal is a relative term. Psychology falls under... social science? What program(s) were the friends who advised you that 1M03 is brutal in?

I took 1M03 in my first year of commerce. It seemed that a lot of people in the class were having trouble with it, as I think something like 30% of the class was failing going into the exam. Now of course they belled us at the end in order to make up for it.

The class wasn't very hard in terms of overwhelming loads of work; you have 3 midterms and an exam and that was it the year i took it. The midterms were I believe 12 or 15 questions each, and as long as you kept up with the readings and understood the material by always doing the practice problems, you shouldn't have had much trouble with it.

I think the main problem was that people never did the practice problems and then as a result of that did poorly on the tests.

1M03 is not the most difficult math course choice, and as such has an imbalanced proportion of students who consider themselves 'bad at math.' (Namely, if they were strong math students, they would take the more difficult maths)

This bias is probably why you've heard so much negativity toward the course.

You have to measure the course by your own standard. If you did half decent in high school math, it shouldn't be so bad.

I took Math 1M03 2nd semester last year so I'm assuming it will be pretty well the same format as when I had it, its 4 midterms each worth 11% of your final mark, online assignments that aren't worth much (5 or 6% total of your final mark) and a final exam worth almost half your final mark (48 or 49 % i think) and the midterms were all out of 15 so it wasnt easy to do well on them even tho they were multiple choice. If your not that strong in math I would actually recommend not taking this class as a lot of it requires previous knowledge about calculus and advanced functions.

I also took math 1M03 last year and it was actually one of my best marks. I know a lot of people had trouble with it but if you're descent at math and are willing to study hard for midterms and the exam, you shouldn't have a problem. I didn't do any of the practice problems until it was time to study, but if math isn't your strongest subject I would recommend doing them regularly, going to class, and asking for help if you need it.

How would you compare it to Math 1A03? Which one is easier? Which requires more previous knowledge of the material? Workload?

Originally Posted by tiger

How would you compare it to Math 1A03? Which one is easier? Which requires more previous knowledge of the material? Workload?

See, the problem with comparisons between these two classes is that people who are a bit more comfortable with math usually ended up taking Math 1A03, whereas people who disliked math took Math 1M03.

This means you will generally hear how Math 1M03 was overly difficult and how Math 1A03 = walk in the park.

I think both are similar in their workload and difficulty, speaking solely off of comparisons I have done with my friends, but like I said, it's not very easy to get accurate information doing this.

Originally Posted by PTGregD

See, the problem with comparisons between these two classes is that people who are a bit more comfortable with math usually ended up taking Math 1A03, whereas people who disliked math took Math 1M03.

This means you will generally hear how Math 1M03 was overly difficult and how Math 1A03 = walk in the park.

I think both are similar in their workload and difficulty, speaking solely off of comparisons I have done with my friends, but like I said, it's not very easy to get accurate information doing this.

Oh, I get it now. That makes perfect sense. Thanks for clearing that up. I wanted to take Math 1A03 but It doesn't fit my schedule. I'm in business and have to take one of the two courses as a requirement.

Originally Posted by tiger

Oh, I get it now. That makes perfect sense. Thanks for clearing that up. I wanted to take Math 1A03 but It doesn't fit my schedule. I'm in business and have to take one of the two courses as a requirement.

Personally, I took Math 1M03, and found it fine. So you should be okay

Just make sure to keep up with the homework.