Advice For Calculus Students From 2008-2009

advice from calculus students past At the end of last year, I had students write a letter to themselves, describing what they wish they had known before they started the year. Here are some excerpts from their responses. Different students learn differently, and it was clear from reading these that each student had a different experience in the same class, so see if there’s any advice that might work for you. First off, make sure to always do you[r] homework... It will also help you when it comes time to study for an “assessment” because you will have something to go back and review. Now sometimes the homework is extremely difficult and is about something that we haven’t learned yet... but do it anyway! Mr. Shah is more than understanding but only if he sees that you have given the work some effort (which means more than just writing the problem down). [...] I would also advise you to realize early on that you and Mr. Shah might have a different definition of partial credit... but at the end of the day, his definition is right. The biggest thing that I would like to tell you... is not to stress out about Calculus. It seems like a very abstract math form with complicated equations and crazy symbols, and while it may seem that way at the end of the class, nothing is impossible to understand. There is always a simpler way to look at things and as long as you come into class with an open mind, you will have no problems. Ok, just two more things that I would feel guilty if I didn’t tell you: one of which is to meet with Mr. Shah whenever something isn’t clicking. He is great with breaking things down for you and the earlier you meet with him the better. My last piece of advice: DON’T BE LATE TO CLAS!!!!

As usual, I started out strong and with motivation, but as the year when on, I lost this drive to do well. When I start off every year, with only the memories of summer vacation behind me, the possibilities are endless. But time goes on and school gets to me, going to bed at 1 and waking up at 6:30 for a whole year... So, the only advice I can give you... is to have worked as hard as you possible could have without sacrificing your life, to plan well and time manage and somehow find the right motivation. Mr. Shah was one of the best math teachers you’ve ever had, he made class fun and interesting and would have done everything in his power to have helped you do well. Maybe you should have used him more. But you did learn more this year about math than you ever have, more about using math in the real world, and that was incredibly interesting. Maybe Mr. Shah was a little bit of a difficult teacher, but he taught you well.

For one, homework is key! If you fall behind with homework, not only will it affect your grade but you will be ridiculously lost in class. Also, make sure not to cram for your tests. Calculus can be tricky, and Mr. Shah’s tests aren’t something you can be fully prepared for with just one night of studying. Try your best to stay focused in class; I know you are a doodler but this will not to help you one bit... All in all you should be fine for the class, the topics aren’t extremely difficult and you can catch on quickly, but make sure to remember your unit circle and the rules for Sine, Cosine, and Tangent, they will definitely come in handy.

It was definitely a blast. The class is lively and interesting, and it’s really hard to lose focus. If you did, it was probably because of Block Dude on your calculator (if it wasn’t dead. Hah.) I know that it was somewhat hard to learn and appreciate the Shah method of learning the hard and long way to do things before learning the shortcut. Still, hasn’t it helped in the long-run? Now you know WHY things happen the way they do, not just how to blindly fill in equations. That would be lame. Shah students, however, are not lame. We are all-knowing.

Always, always, always have graph paper! You are going to need it for your notes and most importantly for your homework.... Also, regarding homework, always have a pencil. Do not do your homework in pen.... Another very important bit of information is to always have your calculator in RADIAN mode. This is EXTREMELY important!... Can you imagine taking a quiz and not having your calculator in radian mode? Every single answer you [write] could turn out to be wrong... Oh, and please always pay attention in class. The smart board presentations will always help you figure out what is going on. If you do not pay attention in class you are going to be lost for the rest of the unit. Who wants to be completely lost during calculus? I am certain it is not you... Do not stress yourself out, you will do just fine.

In retrospect, calculus makes perfect sense. Looking at everything I have learned this year cumulatively, I can use all of it in one problem, and take makes it seem not so bad... I feel like I actually remember everything I learned this year, and for the first time I feel like I could confidently take a final exam. I really enjoyed this class and I am glad that I transferred to it. I don’t generally have any confidence at all with my math knowledge but I feel like I actually completely grasp the material.

Here is all my advice that I have for you on making through a year is Mr. Shah’s class: #1 – Always talk while Mr. Shah is talking. He will immediately turn over power to you and respect you for taking control of his class. #2 – Paper airplanes are a great tool in the beginning, middle, or end of the period. Mr. Shah will see them, laugh and always take you seriously. #3 – If you want to doodle during class, make sure Mr. Shah can see you doing it because he will see that you are brilliant artist and that will make up for the fact that you are not paying attention. #4 – Take your shoes of. Mr. Shah will see and smell your feet and immediately love and respect you for your commendable charisma.

So you might be wondering what 12th grade calculus is like. Well that is a difficult quandary to address because calculus with Mr. Shah can be so many things. On the one hand, it is terribly frustrating knowing that even though one knows the formulas and mechanism to finish the problem correctly, so many small mistakes can be made over the course of the problem that can offset your answer. On the other hand, when one does get a question correct, there is a feeling of accomplishment and pride that comes with that answer. I’d have to say that the first hand happens a lot more often than the latter.

I should warn you about this coming year in Calculus. The first warning is that you must always laugh at Mr. Shah’s jokes, no matter how ridiculous they may be, because if you do not, he will fail you on every single test and make you find the areas of weird shapes for the rest of your life. The second is that homework is essential to survival in the classroom. Sometimes the other students will go berserk and proceed to flip over their chairs and attack one another due to bad grades. With a quick smack to the face, a well completed stack of homework can easily knock out these enraged students and restore order to the classroom. An extra bag of clothing of both summer and winter attire is a must for this math class. You will never know the temperature of the room before entering and thus must be prepared to equip yourself readily if there is a sudden drop in temperature... The fourth warning is that your calculator is your best friend. Not only is it useful to cover your ears to block out the barrage of insults from Mr. Shah when you answer a question for someone else, but it will also help you visualize the images that are crudely drawn by Mr. Shah. It is also a nice way to communicate to your fellow classmates since talking will get dried out markers thrown at you proceeded by intense stare down’s from Mr. Shah. When the class begins, the door is shut closed and locked. You better be prepared to stay in there for the full class because every time you leave to go to the bathroom, Mr. Shah takes off ten points from your test grade. Don’t even think about arriving to class late because if you do, Mr. Shah will draw “Late!” all over your face with a red marker and everyone will laugh at you.

Calculus with Mr. Shah has had its ups and downs, but just remember that in the end you will understand all the units, because Mr. Shah wants you to understand all the units. Always remember that Mr. Shah’s rules are very important to him. When he says he doesn’t want you to eat in class, he’s serious, and when he tells you to email him about meeting with him, you need to make sure you send that email, don’t ask in person. Speaking of meeting with Mr. Shah—do that. Meeting with him one-on-one is one of the most helpful things I’ve done all year... a meeting with just you and him will be really beneficial to your understanding of the material. Even if it’s just to clear up one thing, Mr. Shah will make sure you know it 100%. Be sure to not leave your studying until the last minute, because you will find that there may be particular types of problems that you don’t understand, and you might want to bring that up in class. Always be prepared—for class and for assessments. Make sure you’ve done your homework, or Mr. Shah will be able to tell that you haven’t done it. Doing homework really helped your grade over the year. Know that, in the end, Mr. Shah wants you to get the material.

This year I became very impressed with myself and my skills in math. Learning calculus has actually been pretty cool because I feel like now I can understand all that fancy math you see in tv and stuff.... since a lot of this stuff is actually becoming very realistically useful and [applicable], I like math more and more. It’s easy to do well in Mr. Shah’s math class if you get into a good rhythm of following rules and studying enough for tests. Mr. Shah has some clear, fair rules like always using radians and writing in pencil. He also values showing each step of the math, being organized, and using the proper notation. These values can seem somewhat silly but if one truly adheres to them then that person will find they are [there] for good reasons and can help a lot in getting a good grade. Mr. Shah’s tests are not so bad but it’s very important to do all of the homework because all of that material will be on the tests. [B]rush up on the past homework for a good hour or two so you can remember what to do for the tests. It might be easy to start day dreaming in class and not taking if you have a big class but if you stay focused and do enough practice problems then you will surely do well. So all in all it will be a fantastic, fun, math-filled year and vigilantly practicing problems like doing hard derivatives and hard integrals will help you in tip-top shape.

Mr. Shah is a cool guy, but is pretty strict... Always do your homework on graph paper and use a pencil... Also, buy one of those little plastic pencil sharpeners because the sharpener in the math room eats your pencil, chews it up, spits it out and then you have to try to write with a mangled piece of wood. So be prepared for that! You should always be prepared for the weather in the math room. Depending on whether or not the window is open overnight, it can either be singe-hair-off-burning or gangrene-in-toes-freezing. Layers definitely help... Do your homework as soon as possible to get it out of the way; Mr. Shah is pretty consistent with homework whereas some other teachers aren’t, so it’s nice to know [you’ve] got it done if you do it first.

Here are some tips to remember from class with Mr. Shah. Use these and you’ll soar through calc. No. 1: Always make sure your calculator is in radians (you never want to take a test in degree mode and realize it afterwards). No. 2: Always use a pencil No. 3: Graph paper is your best friend No. 4: Stay nice & organized, it will help you study for tests, etc... No. 5: Don’t lend your calculator to anyone, they could lose it or put it into degree mode! As for his teaching style. PAY ATTENTION!!! Mr. Shah teaches at a fast pace and if you fall behind you stay behind... If you have extenteded time. USE IT! So many careless algebraic errors are made on tests because calculus is messy. So you’ll be fine. Take a deep breath and enjoy it. Calculus is fun, really.

It seems only a few minutes ago that you stood at the threshold of the calculus world, naive and innocent, with no preconceived notions about integrals or the horrible murder of L’Hopital by Riemann. As the year progresses you will be able to understand some of the intricacies of the applicable math world – no more pointless math and no more “trusting” the teacher; in calculus you will learn how and why real things happen under the expert tutelage of self-proclaimed wordsmith Sam Shah... By the end of the year, you will actually be confidence in the set of math tools that have been provided throughout your education at Packer and will not anymore be intimidated by a problem simply because it has a natural log, or is to a negative exponent, or is a top heavy fraction, or asks for zeros, arc length, acceleration of an object a time (t) or anything else. Here are some lessons that you can use to your advantage in Mr. Shah Calculus: 1. When it doubt, L’Hop it out – AKA: if you don’t know what to do just suggest that you should use [L’Hopital] 2. A fraction with a deominator of zero (shh!!!) = FIRE! 3. Mr. Shah speaks only in “hunter green” 3.5. See what Mr. Shah would think about Green Pencil lead. 3.6. Make sure to always put “dx” every other number. 3.75: Sometimes it is good to be a C+ student (or should I say +C student) 4. Never call anybody in the class David... there are no Davids and there never will be! 5. NECESITAS TENER GANAS! 6. Don’t whine about test grades – the grade you get is the one you deserve, so keep an eye out for careless errors. 7. Here’s a big one: Mr. Shah lies sometimes (so don’t trust everything he says) 8. Whistling is a big problem, but drumming and creating freestyle beats is perfectly fine. 9. Despite what Mr. Shah thinks, cramming can actually be a productive study technique. 10. Help [Student] with the material on each test – in helping him learn it, your teaching of the material will actually allow you to gain a greater understanding of it. 11. Invite [Student] into class whenever possible, as he is unable to do simple math with simple procedures and will thus be labeled “miscreant,” indirectly glorifying your own name. 12. Practice throwing sticky notes into a trash bin, as it will benefit you greatly at the end of the year. 13. Last but not least: CONSTANTLY REQUEST A “MATH PARTY”... just trust me on that one. Seriously though, you will learn so much this year and actually become confident in your math skills. Furthermore, you will look forward to doing your math homework and will often find yourself glowing with pride when you see how complex the math you’re doing actually is. You will eagerly anticipate Hband each day and although class is demanding intellectually, it will often be the highlight of your day, as humor and lightheartedness flow through the room like ocean water into a gulf.

I think the number one thing you need to learn is how not to get cocky when you’re doing really well at something! Because you so know that this has totally happened to you before...and it will definitely have happened in some of your best subjects this year, math among them, unless you do something about it. You see, when you’re doing really well at a particular thing... you get proud of your progress, and rightfully so, but then you begin to get too proud... dare I say excessively proud. You begin to take your good performance for granted and then you begin to do less preparation (or, in cases where you never did much preparation to begin with, less checking-over), and by allowing that to happen you’re basically shooting yourself in the foot and screwing yourself up. Because obviously you’re not going to do as well at something if you’re too busy congratulating yourself on how well you’re doing to actually keep up the standards of preparation that you have been maintaining thus far.

First off... you have to pay attention in class or you will get lost. The smart-board Mr. Shah posts on the course conference are your best tool for studying for tests and catching up on missed material. Mr. Shah is busy, so if you want to meet with him give him at least three or four days notice before a test. As soon as you start feeling lost in class make an appointment to meet with him. Go to meetings prepared with specific questions... You really want to stay on track with the material. You do not want to cram before a test. Mr. Shah is extremely picky about details and trying to memorize every step he wants you do to do for the next day is hard and unlikely... Never say “I give up” because that seems to make him really upset... He truly cares about each student understanding the material, so if you email him at 9:00 on a Wednesday night about a specific homework problem, and he is online, he will usually type out an elaborate [response] almost immediately after reading the e-mail and respond by 9:15 which is great. Do not use pen and make sure to buy a graph notebook. For some reason he always checks the homework on the days you forgot to do it / bring in your notebook, so to be on the safe side, do it every night. Stay strong third quarter. It is especially hard because you just finished college applications and you just want to be done with school, but it will make fourth quarter that much harder when you are desperately trying to redeem yourself for the mess you made third quarter... Overall you will learn a lot in his class. He’s really devoted and he genuinely cares about each of his students and their improvement...

You have been extremely successful in math this year and besides your dedication to all things math and pi related, your success probably had something to do with doing homework every night. So keep it up!! It is key to doing well in class for the rest of the year and missing homework assignments are highly frowned upon by Mr. Shah. Also, make sure that you are prepared to ask questions but then be brave enough to work through them in front of the class. It is always good to ask questions so make sure to ask them and never be shy about it. It will help you so much and keep you from falling behind. Another thing about falling behind – if you’re ever sick, make sure you e-mail him about meeting times and things of that sort because he really likes that and thinks that shows great initiative. Also, get up and teach the class if you can – it’s fun! Another thing, Mr. Shah is quite quirky. Just go with it, he makes class a lot more fun and he’s a really great teacher. He makes things really easy to understand so enjoy a teacher like that while you can!! Not many come along (especially in the maths and sciences) so do your best and you’ll do great. In terms of trig, sine cosine l’hopital! And don’t sweat the trig stuff or the old algebra 2 nonsense. You’ll be able to keep up and refresh your memory on how to do most of it. Just keep up with the homework and keep your things organized so you can study come test time.

First, I would always take notes in class. When there’s a rule presented, write it down. When there’s an equation or a fun way to remember a theorem, write it down! These notes will help later when you’re studying for a quiz. Most of the time Mr. Shah will remind you that you should be taking notes but make sure you stay on top of keeping copious notes. Second, remember that no question is a stupid question. Don’t be afraid to ask clarifying questions in class or request for Mr. Shah to repeat the explanation he just gave. He doesn’t get made at you. He likes it. That means you can’t be afraid to ask! It’s quite possible that someone else had that very same question or in certain cases, Mr. Shah will call on another student to answer your question. This in turn helps that student understand the material. It’s a win-win situation. Thirdly, you must know that Mr. Shah isn’t generous with the partial credit. You must check over all of your work! If you finish an assessment a few minutes early take that extra time to revisit all of the problems. You never know where you could’ve made a careless mistake unless you check! Lastly, always do your homework on graph paper and in pencil. Mr. Shah is very particular about this. When you do your homework make sure you show all work and attempt problems that you want to give up on! This is very important. Mr. Shah checks the homework and he wants to see that you’ve at least attempted all problems and that you’ve completed it in the way he wants it to be completed. Most importantly, have fun. Relax and ride on the calculus roller coaster. It can be very bumpy and there are definitely ups and downs but the ride is totally worth it!

Respekt to you, for making through your calculus class, and your senior year. Looking back, I can think of life coaching to drop on you. First off, do them homeworks every time, they don’t take too long, and on the very real each one you get a 0 on lowers your homework letter grade by about a half letter. Don’t go into calculus with a bad attitude. The class is as good as you make it, which means if you pay attention, you get to have the reward of figuring out math problems and having that satisfaction. If you don’t follow from the beginning then you’ll have trouble, since things tend to add upon one another. Also the less you pay attention the less rewarding the class will be. Class itself, on the real, is legit. You have to stay light, keep things humorous, but when it comes down to it, focus. Know that the “quizzes” as they are called, are tests, you just get slightly less nervous when they’re called quizzes. Study hard for them. The most important unit of the year is L’Hoptial (Lope-eeh-tall). Other than that nothing is too important to the rest of life (just kidding! One of the cool parts of calc is that most of it tends to be relevant). Mr. Shah is a great teacher, but sometimes class is not enough. He is often available during the week, so take advantage of that, he is a great teacher one on one. Sometimes he is in a bad mood, during those times it makes sense to have a little less humor and more focus, because he won’t like the tomfoolery... Alright, not too much else to say, enjoy the year. I know you don’t really like math, but at the end you may consider continuing in college (amazing to think about...).