Does anyone else in the second year think that next week may in fact be the worst week of their lives? I mean, we have Algebra 2 followed by metric spaces less than 24 hours later, and then PDE's a couple of days after that! If there ever will be a time when I nearly get kicked off the course it will be next week!

I've just read through the metric spaces notes for about the fifth time this term, but i just can't understand or memorize any of the proofs beyond the second chapter! Having done the last three past papers, including last years twice i find that i usually forget the fine details of the proofs and definitions in under 24 hours! And metric spaces is probably going to be the easiest one of the three!

Don't even mention PDE's or algebra 2. They're just disasters. Last years PDE's paper is practically inaccessible to me with all my notes in front of me!

Does anyone else have similar worries?

From what I hear last year's PDEs paper was more than a little hard, don't worry too much.

Algebra II is more scary than actually hard, keep thinking about the course as a whole, mull it over and you'll find you are able to come to terms with it.

Haha, I'm maugcx, we're one letter away from each other :P

I honestly don't know how I'm going to pass Alg 2, I'd probably get about 10% if I sat the exam now :'( Plus I've got a stupid language module messing things up. Second year stuff sucks!

Yes next week will possibly be the worst week of exams I've ever done, still on the bright side this time next week they'll all be over.

Not for some, i've still got intro to biology and stochastic processes after this!

ah well, I was referring to the 3 nightmare exams particularly, I've still got geometry the next week as well but it pails in comparison to the other 3.

I have 2 days after Metric Spaces to LEARN a full 12 cat module. I may have left things a bit late. Still I'm not worried, stressed, or even bothered. I'm desensitized to exams! It's not as much fun as it may sound. I'm going to fail these exams yet all I can be arsed to do is play Civ 2 and contemplate shaving.

On the plus side a lot of stuff has been making sense now I've nearly finished the revision guide for Algebra 2. Principle Ideal Domains make a lot more sense now I know what a principle ideal is. The notes don't have the definition obviously placed or well explained considering it's importance.

Spent 10 minutes thinking about this imaginary question: How do you prove a Euclidean domain is a domain?

I'm too used to Diff and MS where they say prove this norm is a norm.

Principle*

Cheers

I have 2 days after Metric Spaces to LEARN a full 12 cat module.

I need to learn three 12 CAT Modules and one 14 CAT one (I might already know some parts of them though, I'm not too sure yet :D).

P.S. Principal* :P

Well what can I say, I can hardly compete with Cosmin, but I need to learn three 6 CAT modules tomorrow.

Nah I think you've got him there. Cosmin's contribution is as expected pretty vague, with no time frame given.

Well I have 5 24 CAT modules to learn.

Well, one of the 12 CAT modules is the same as yours (Maths of Random Events). Then I have 3 days to learn Automata and Formal Languages (both modules - 14 CATS), Geometry (which is the day after, 12 CATS) and Stochastic Processes (12 CATS, the day after Geometry). I believe this shows a superior and not inferior workload. Thank you.

Wow, I'm not the only person here doing stochastic processes. I have to learn vast quantities of accounting and finance (30 CAT module yo), which is the same day as algebra, I'm feeling a lot better about algebra than that.
ps. you can mock me all you like for doing a fake business studies module, I don't care.

I have to learn 130 CATs in about 3 hours

Wow Cosmin, I had no idea you were doing geometry and maths of random events too. Of course, the lecturers probably have no idea either.

I bet your post count will reach 1000 before we know it.

So geometry is next week then? I thought it was a first term module, so would have been assessed in the first week back? Or is this wrong, and are you talking about a different geometry??

same geometry but for some reason wasn't assessed at the start of term. I guess this would be to stop someone having to do 5 exams the first week back.

I'd just like to reassure people, I and many other third-years had a similar experience last year with our second-year exams - Metric Spaces on the Friday, Algebra II and PDEs back-to-back the following Tuesday. Yes, at the time, it was hell, but we all got through it, so don't worry, I'm sure you'll all pull through.

Metric Spaces and Algebra II didn't turn out to be as bad as we'd feared (and we feared the worst with Algebra II), and I suspect the same will ring true this year. Just don't panic, cos that definitely won't help. With Metric Spaces, there's possibly more emphasis on proofs than on examples; in Algebra II it's the opposite, more emphasis on examples than proofs. But don't neglect either examples or proofs, it's all still important.

As for PDEs, don't worry about last year's exam. It was completely impossible. I still can't do half of it. I failed it for sure, I only answered about 40% of it, but it got scaled to 65%. (Now I don't want to toot my own horn, but for the record I got 92% in my first two years; if I couldn't do it, then there was probably something wrong with the exam.) Whatever happens, the exam this year will be easier, of that I'm sure.

I'm not saying don't be afraid, it certainly isn't gonna be an easy week. But don't let that fear get to you, and above all don't panic, and you will do fine. I wish you all the best of luck.

Dave

Algebra, nnnnnnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
estimate for the exam, between 9 and 27 marks!! Is this the end...

I've failed too.

I probably have as well, but seeing as no one seems to have done well it might be rescaled...

I havn't seen 1 person who came out of that exam feeling positive. I am about the same. I enjoyed question 1 but I have got 2 of them wrong for certain and I won't get many marks any where else. I didn't even see q4 or 5 tho I wrote some silly things down so the marker would get an extra quid (HAHAHA). I still have no idea what a Sym type or a partition of a number is.

Am I worried? No.

Why you ask? Because this is the second time I've barely revised for exams and I am just desensitized to exam stress now. No one worry for algebra 2 that has gone and passed. Worry about your next exam if anything, you can do something about that. Think about the future after you finish your exams.

That and get trashed at the WMS BBQ! Which should be on saturday the 21st. It's all TBC because I need to organise stuff.

I still have no idea what [...] a partition of a number is.

This is what you get for not listening in Dg, Alex. :P

I listened, just forgot shortly afterwards. Assuming I comprehended it in the first place.

I've never heard of the 'type' of a permutation before.

I wrote down perfectly the definitions of even and odd transpositions

Well, I guessed he meant cycle type? Cus they asked you to define a partition before.

So did I, considering the context of the question it pretty much had to be that.

It'll all get scaled up, like PDEs last year. Though Algebra II should be hard, and if you haven't revised you will find it harder.

Isn't that true of any maths exam?

How did people find metric spaces, some bits were easy, other bits really hard. I think i got about 50%, so hopefully there will be some scaling!

Similar. I wouldn't rely on scaling for this exam tho. I would say it was as expected. Rather than too difficult or too easy. It's all about everyones non-compulsory modules now. I for one have a break of 2 days to learn a module for Saturday.

Here's hoping I wont have to do the metric spaces exam again.

Would they make you resit a module if you failed it but passed all the others? I asked this on another thread but no one seems to know.

I've yet to find a person who knows too :) But I really want to :/

I think it depends if it's a core module or not.

I am contending with Algebra II, Metric Spaces, PDEs this week, but next week I have Thermal Physics, Electromagnetic Theory, Quantum Mechanics (15 CAT mofo), Geometry, Physics of Fluids and Hamiltonian Mechanics. The Physics modules come in 2 × 7.5 CAT module papers, so I am having to cram 15 CATs an evening next week. I wish I didn't have to cram but I maintain that it is impossible to hold so many modules in one's head to an `exam-ready' standard.