It’s midterm season in North America! I know, I know, you see enough reminders at school. However, we’re here to help with those tough midterms, with tips good for those who are taking their first midterms or who have already taken many.
I surveyed the co-op students working at Maplesoft, and collected some of their best study tips and mindsets surrounding midterms. Maplesoft hires many co-ops, as a piece of their education in work experience.
Let’s start with studying! One thing many of the students brought up was the importance of notetaking. Even if the lectures are recorded, or PowerPoints are given, it’s important to take notes that you can study from, that are more succinct. As well, another discussed the importance of doing many different types of studying, in order to keep you interested and focused. For example, using flashcards and answering practice problems, instead of only using flashcards.
So, how can Maplesoft help with your studying? Let’s start with a video. In this video, Justice explains how first year math can be explored using Maple Learn’s features. He walks through using the document gallery, which we’ll talk about later, along with the power of Maple Learn.
You can also create your own study sheets in Maple Learn, to reference later, or to simply practice what you know! One suggestion would be to create a sheet as though you’re teaching someone else, as teaching can be a great way to learn concepts and cement them in your mind.
These are just some of the many ways that Maple Learn can be used to improve your studying! Play around with introducing Maple Learn into your study routine, and I know you’ll find a method that works for you.
Are you having trouble grasping some advanced concepts? We have many different documents in the document gallery, available here. These documents typically fall under 3 categories: explanation documents explaining theory, example documents showing how to apply the theory, and then practice problems for you to solve that include solutions.
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Proofs were a topic the students considered an advanced topic, and as such we’ll use that as an example. A simple search brings up many documents, ranging from the proof of the derivative of sine (here) to the Taylor’s Theorem proof (here). These documents are available for a wide variety of topics, from calculus to graph theory to kinematics.
Time Management is another piece that many of the students identified. We know this can be hard, especially when there are so many things to juggle, so we’ve created a document to help you plan out your time, available here!
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Using the document, you can see how many hours in a day that you’re using for sleep, studying, and everything else you can think of. We hope this helps you to keep track of just how many hours in a day you can realistically study!
Now, we know that studying isn’t the only hard part of a midterm. The mindset piece is critical, along with studying. Let’s see what the students had to say about it!
One of the students surveyed responded with “I am going to fail at some point. It is inevitable, and that is okay”. This is a great mindset for everyone to have. Remember that even failure isn’t failure. Learning something from any experience is a success, even if the outcome wasn’t what you wanted. There’s always next time, and time to learn even more and improve.
Another student discussed the importance of a positive mindset, saying “Stay calm, stay confident, and as long as you try your best you will do great!” Remember, in the end, the best you can do is all you can do.
We know midterms are a stressful time. Take care of yourself as we at Maplesoft continue to support you.