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Rank: Student Council  Joined: 6/28/2011 Posts: 364
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How's everyone doing in this course? I just finished the first night of homework on vectors and it's honestly fairly difficult, I'm having a hard time understanding the concepts (yes I took Physics too, passed with a 97), hopefully it gets better later on. Applied to:
Brock University - Computer Science [Accepted]
McGill - Computer Engineering [Accepted]
McMaster - Engineering I [Accepted]
Queens - Engineering [Accepted]
Western - Engineering [Accepted]
Attending: McMaster Engineering - Class of 2016
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Rank: Student Council  Joined: 10/13/2011 Posts: 365
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KingKhan wrote:How's everyone doing in this course? I just finished the first night of homework on vectors and it's honestly fairly difficult, I'm having a hard time understanding the concepts (yes I took Physics too, passed with a 97), hopefully it gets better later on. You guys did vectors part first? we gonna do calculus first(2/3 of the course) and then vectors(1/3)..my teacher was like if there's not enough time for vectors, we'll just go thru whatever we can, the main focus is on calculus blah blah.. Applied in Fall 2011: McGill - Arts [Accepted] + Economics & Finance [Accepted]McMaster - Business1 [Accepted]UOttawa - Finance + Coop [Accepted]Queens - Commerce [Waitlisted] => [Rejected]UBC- Finance [Accepted]UTM - Commerce & Finance [Accepted]Uof T Rotman (Woodsworth College) - Finance & Economics [Accepted]Waterloo - Math/Financial Analysis Risk Management [Accepted]_____________________________________________________________________________________________ HS Top 6 Average: 97.8% (BAT4M, BBB4M, CIA4U, ENG4U, MCV4U, MHF4U)   Sauder School of Business Class of 2016
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Rank: Student Council Joined: 6/28/2011 Posts: 364
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Vectors is screwing brutal so far, we just had our first test today (2D vectors) and it was the hardest test I've ever had, I left 2 whole entire pages blank, I'm expecting around ~20% on it FML. Mind you, I passed physics with 97 and advanced functions with 91. Can someone tell me if it's going to get any better? I really need a 93+ Applied to:
Brock University - Computer Science [Accepted]
McGill - Computer Engineering [Accepted]
McMaster - Engineering I [Accepted]
Queens - Engineering [Accepted]
Western - Engineering [Accepted]
Attending: McMaster Engineering - Class of 2016
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Rank: Student Council
Joined: 6/29/2011
Posts: 371
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KingKhan wrote:Vectors is screwing brutal so far, we just had our first test today (2D vectors) and it was the hardest test I've ever had, I left 2 whole entire pages blank, I'm expecting around ~20% on it FML.
Mind you, I passed physics with 97 and advanced functions with 91.
Can someone tell me if it's going to get any better? I really need a 93+ Wow, I'm sorry to hear that. Would you mind sharing what kind of questions made the test so brutal? The world is not over and I'm still kicking butt!
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Rank: Frosh
Joined: 2/6/2012
Posts: 24
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KingKhan wrote:Vectors is screwing brutal so far, we just had our first test today (2D vectors) and it was the hardest test I've ever had, I left 2 whole entire pages blank, I'm expecting around ~20% on it FML.
Mind you, I passed physics with 97 and advanced functions with 91.
Can someone tell me if it's going to get any better? I really need a 93+ Before it gets better it might get worse because I think your next unit is vectors in 3D After that though, I believe calculus becomes more calculations and formulas (derivatives) so I guess depending on the person, it will get better. Queen's Science '16 Applied to for Fall 2012 Admission:
Queen's Science[Accepted]
Western Biological and Medical Sciences [Accepted]
UofT Life sciences[Accepted]
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Rank: Senior Student
Joined: 5/15/2011
Posts: 51
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Does anyone have a solutions manual for this course? LAURIER BBA 2016
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Rank: Student Council Joined: 6/28/2011 Posts: 364
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lisakyl wrote:KingKhan wrote:Vectors is screwing brutal so far, we just had our first test today (2D vectors) and it was the hardest test I've ever had, I left 2 whole entire pages blank, I'm expecting around ~20% on it FML.
Mind you, I passed physics with 97 and advanced functions with 91.
Can someone tell me if it's going to get any better? I really need a 93+ Before it gets better it might get worse because I think your next unit is vectors in 3D After that though, I believe calculus becomes more calculations and formulas (derivatives) so I guess depending on the person, it will get better. Just finished 3D vectors and it was much easier than 2D vectors but still somewhat challenging, can anyone tell me if the vectors portion of this course is going to get any better or even worse? @superstar2011, I'll post the whole test on here, just need time to get around to it. Applied to:
Brock University - Computer Science [Accepted]
McGill - Computer Engineering [Accepted]
McMaster - Engineering I [Accepted]
Queens - Engineering [Accepted]
Western - Engineering [Accepted]
Attending: McMaster Engineering - Class of 2016
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Rank: Senior Student
Joined: 3/3/2012
Posts: 59
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KingKhan wrote:lisakyl wrote:KingKhan wrote:Vectors is screwing brutal so far, we just had our first test today (2D vectors) and it was the hardest test I've ever had, I left 2 whole entire pages blank, I'm expecting around ~20% on it FML.
Mind you, I passed physics with 97 and advanced functions with 91.
Can someone tell me if it's going to get any better? I really need a 93+ Before it gets better it might get worse because I think your next unit is vectors in 3D After that though, I believe calculus becomes more calculations and formulas (derivatives) so I guess depending on the person, it will get better. Just finished 3D vectors and it was much easier than 2D vectors but still somewhat challenging, can anyone tell me if the vectors portion of this course is going to get any better or even worse? @superstar2011, I'll post the whole test on here, just need time to get around to it. We did vectors first, and the first chapter was by far the most difficult. Afterwards, you move away from the theoretical geometry and more towards algebra, which lends it self to fewer ridiculous test questions.
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Rank: Senior Student
Joined: 3/3/2012
Posts: 59
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I took data already, and am currently taking advanced functions and calculus/vectors. Calculus is probably the hardest course I did in high school, not because of the material, which I do understand, but because of my teacher and her tests. I'm getting a 78 in calculus/vectors, a 91 in advanced functions, and I finished with a 98 in data management.
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Rank: Valedictorian
Joined: 5/27/2011
Posts: 567
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Slasher61 wrote:iliketurtles wrote:rightsaidfred wrote:It's a damn shame that they no longer teach implicit differentiation in high school. It is. My school barely covers it (not even tested, they just tell us about it) Funny, cause my calc teacher taught us it when I took it. Not like its difficult anyways so I feel bad for you guys cause its very important yet so simple. Hm, we did it last year. Integration is no longer a part of the curriculum, as far as I'm aware, and that's a shame. Our teacher touched on that but we weren't tested on it.
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Rank: Student Body Vice-President  Joined: 4/11/2011 Posts: 957
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We started with the calculus portion and it's not exactly hard. They did bump the difficulty up from previous years (shows in the class averages) but its nothing too bad. The course average right now is probably around 72%. Not sure how to feel about vectors after reading this thread... I thought taking physics would be a decent advantage, and it'd be pretty manageable. University of Waterloo: Systems Design Engineering
Class of 2017
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Rank: Senior Student  Joined: 1/27/2011 Posts: 131
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We started with Calculus and it's challenging in my opinion. Our thinking tests are worth 20% of the mark and are quite difficult. We've only done two so far, but they consist of 3-4 questions, each requiring about 1-2 full pages to answer. Since our teacher is the type that stops awarding marks after a single mistake, it is very easy to do poorly on the thinking tests. Our unit tests happen two days after the thinking tests. The unit test actually has all four categories (TIPS/K/C/AP) but there isn't an emphasis on TIPS. These are fair in difficulty I find but still not a joke. Bachelor of Health Sciences '16
McMaster University
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Rank: Student Council Joined: 11/30/2010 Posts: 441
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CyanicSparrow wrote:We started with Calculus and it's challenging in my opinion.
Our thinking tests are worth 20% of the mark and are quite difficult. We've only done two so far, but they consist of 3-4 questions, each requiring about 1-2 full pages to answer. Since our teacher is the type that stops awarding marks after a single mistake, it is very easy to do poorly on the thinking tests.
Our unit tests happen two days after the thinking tests. The unit test actually has all four categories (TIPS/K/C/AP) but there isn't an emphasis on TIPS. These are fair in difficulty I find but still not a joke.
Doing well on non-thinking categories should only get you to a B. That's the point of the divided system in high schools. A means going above and beyond the curriculum expectations set by the province, which is what thinking is supposed to be about. Your teacher is evaluating you fairly based on the province's expectations, but other teachers don't really do it so she isn't marking you fairly relative to your peers in other schools. I would consider bringing this up with her if I were you, although she will probably be right if she doesn't agree with you here. Queen's-Trent Concurrent Education, '14 (Trent B.Sc) and '15 (Queen's B.Ed)
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Rank: Senior Student Joined: 1/27/2011 Posts: 131
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Ba Ba Blue wrote:CyanicSparrow wrote:We started with Calculus and it's challenging in my opinion.
Our thinking tests are worth 20% of the mark and are quite difficult. We've only done two so far, but they consist of 3-4 questions, each requiring about 1-2 full pages to answer. Since our teacher is the type that stops awarding marks after a single mistake, it is very easy to do poorly on the thinking tests.
Our unit tests happen two days after the thinking tests. The unit test actually has all four categories (TIPS/K/C/AP) but there isn't an emphasis on TIPS. These are fair in difficulty I find but still not a joke.
Doing well on non-thinking categories should only get you to a B. That's the point of the divided system in high schools. A means going above and beyond the curriculum expectations set by the province, which is what thinking is supposed to be about. Your teacher is evaluating you fairly based on the province's expectations, but other teachers don't really do it so she isn't marking you fairly relative to your peers in other schools. I would consider bringing this up with her if I were you, although she will probably be right if she doesn't agree with you here. I'm actually still doing well in the course. However, a lot of my peers are not. Two girls may not be accepted into Radiation Sciences because they're receiving 50s in Calculus. It is obviously very stressful for them, but there is no way my teacher would listen if we asked him to make it easier. And that's probably a good thing. I actually thank my teacher for giving us difficult tests. It gives us insight into University exams, and it also forces us to really push ourselves to earn decent marks. I agree with you though about a lot of other people not being tested as rigorously though. For instance, my Advanced Functions teacher last semester was nowhere near as difficult as my current one. We had 0-1 thinking questions on our unit tests, almost all were knowledge. Teachers like that are only hurting their students' chance of success unfortunately. Bachelor of Health Sciences '16
McMaster University
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Rank: Frosh  Joined: 2/27/2011 Posts: 12
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Yeah, the curriculum doesn't cover Implicit Differentiation any more in high school calc but if anybody's planning to go into Engineering (not sure about other fields)...just from experience (at least from my Calc I course) spend some free time and look over it outside of school just to get some background. Implicit Differentiation is covered in the university Calc I course and the profs don't spend a lot of time on it to fully-explain, so it's good to have some general foundation of it before you're hit with it, as many people struggled with the concept :) UofT Industrial Engineering 1T5
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Rank: Frosh
Joined: 3/7/2011
Posts: 10
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Our teacher actually decided to spend a day and teach Implicit Differentiation to us sometime before March Break started. We actually had to go to the appendix of the textbook to find the homework since it didn't have an official section so it clearly isn't in the curriculum anymore.
Judging by what everyone here is saying, she did us a big favour :) For anyone who's interested, it's on pg. 561 of the Nelson textbook.
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Rank: Frosh  Joined: 10/23/2011 Posts: 27
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aaronh421 wrote:Trig unit in Advanced Functions was brutal for me, anyone know the difficulty of Trig in calculus? and what do you think is the hardest unit in calc is? As long as you have a good foundation in trigonometric functions built from advanced functions you should do very well. Basically there are three new topics of trig in calculus: Derivatives: All I can say is memorize, just like your power rule, product rule, and quotient rule. Also, don't forget to apply chain rule when it is required! Optimization: If you didn't have trouble doing optimization the first time then you shouldn't have trouble here because honestly it is the same thing only with trig(so you will be optimizing angles, etc.) Curve Sketching: Basically you'd have to learn how to graph more complex trig functions. the same thing as normal curve sketching, stuff like finding critical points and inflection points. You'd have to be able to graph something like: y = cosx + sinx. University of Waterloo
Chemical Engineering '17
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Rank: Frosh
Joined: 3/16/2012
Posts: 19
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Curve sketching is hard at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy. Delta-epsilon was the hardest section conceptually for me. Differential equations are pretty hard too. So was parametric and polar calculus.
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Rank: Student Council Joined: 6/28/2011 Posts: 364
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Sigh, this course is killing my average. I'm currently sitting at a 71%, hopefully the replacement test will bring it up to atleast an 85. By the way, is my school the only one that does replacement tests for math courses? Do any of you guys have it aswell? Applied to:
Brock University - Computer Science [Accepted]
McGill - Computer Engineering [Accepted]
McMaster - Engineering I [Accepted]
Queens - Engineering [Accepted]
Western - Engineering [Accepted]
Attending: McMaster Engineering - Class of 2016
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Rank: Frosh Joined: 10/23/2011 Posts: 27
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KingKhan wrote:Sigh, this course is killing my average. I'm currently sitting at a 71%, hopefully the replacement test will bring it up to atleast an 85.
By the way, is my school the only one that does replacement tests for math courses? Do any of you guys have it aswell? My school does it, but only for advanced placement since they have to do the tests a lot earlier in the semester, they wrote all the tests for the entire course in the first month. University of Waterloo
Chemical Engineering '17
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