Review Information for the Second Midterm Exam Fall '04

The next midterm will be on Tuesday, December 7th, from 8:00 to 10:00 pm in Science Center Halls A and B (students in Andy's sections please go to Hall A, and all others go to Hall B).

As was the case on the first midterm, there are to be no calculators or notes allowed during the midterm.

There will be a coursewide review held on Friday, December 3rd from 2 to 3:30 in Science Center Hall C (if you weren't able to make it please see it online at Coursewide Review for Midterm 2).

Midterm 2 solutions

On this second midterm the emphasis will be on the material covered since the last midterm.  Below please find a list to help you work out what to study for this midterm – the list covers both the topics that will be on the test, as well as the ones in the textbook that you are not responsible for studying (for instance we skipped sections 12.5 and 12.9, so you don't need to go through either of those sections).On the midterm you should be prepared to answer questions from any of these topics.  Note that this midterm covers material just up through section 12.8 on Triple Integrals in Cylindrical and Spherical coordinates - it will not cover anything after that (i.e. nothing out of Chapter 13 on Vector Calculus).

As before, to get ready for a math midterm be sure to spend as much time as possible practicing doing math – go back to your homework sets and try redoing problems pulled out at random.Read through the textbook and try to do the examples in the sections without looking at the answers (get a copy of the Student Solutions Manual that gives worked out solutions for all the odd numbered problems).. Try going through the review problems at the end of the chapters for more practice problems.Spend time going over the practice exams that are being posted on this website.Also stop by and talk to your TF or CA about the test – they should be able to quiz you a bit to help you get ready as well.

Probably the easiest way to lull yourself into feeling confident about your test prep when you perhaps should be doing more to get ready, is to just reread the textbook – yes you will probably convince yourself that you are familiar with the topics covered, but if you don’t spend time actually doing practice problems then you really are not as ready as you could be, no matter how much time you've put into rereading the textbook.

Finally, if you did well on the first midterm, then great, but make sure you take this next one seriously as well – do the same prep as you did for the last test and things should go well.If it didn’t go too well on the last midterm, then make sure you think hard about changing your approach to getting ready – talk to your TF or CA about how you’re preparing, and they should be able to give you some coaching advice to help you with your studying.Also, remember, if you’re able to get yourself in good shape by the final exam, then the final grade can be used to wipe out a lower midterm score!

Topics for second midterm (you should be able to handle concepts covered in the first part of the semester as well, as the current topics necessarily depend on understanding the previous ones, but the emphasis in terms of the questions will be on the following)

Sections 11.5 through 12.8 (skipping 12.5 and 12.9)


Old Exams for practise:


Review Problems for Chapters 11 and 12 from our textbook