MATH 1310

If you need to take math 1310 (for your major, track, etc.) TAKE IT WITH VERONICA. She is extremely helpful in class and during office hours and genuinely cares about her students' success. There's a ton of extra credit opportunities offered in the class (it's tallied up into a formula and then added to each respective exam) and it's not that hard to get the extra points (doing weekly reflections, completing online homework at least 24 hours early, etc). That being said, the exams are relatively hard, testing you on APPLICATION of what you learned in class with a pretty fair curve.
WARNING: DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU HAVE NOT TAKEN CALCULUS IN HIGH SCHOOL BEFORE. You may be better suited in Math 1210 or a pre-calculus type of course here. Math 1310 is a theory-based Calculus course that goes beyond common concepts learned in high school. I definitely saw a lot of overlap between what I learned in Calc I in high school vs. Math 1310 here, however, you definitely build upon that prior knowledge with a lot of theory analysis on what seem like "common concepts." I STRONGLY SUGGEST you only take this course if you NEED IT--do some research on what you're looking at majoring in and if it requires you take Math 1310 (typically Math, Science-based majors...) then take it, if not, OPT FOR 1210 (if you even need Calc at all). I wish I knew this coming in, but ended up wanting to major in something that required 1310 as a prerequisite anyways, so I was lucky.
All of that being said, if you NEED to take Math 1310 for any reason, TAKE IT WITH VERONICA. She really helped when I was struggling at the beginning given the pace of the course and even lets you redo assignments/give extensions if need be. She's super understanding and just wants to see her students succeed. She's also super passionate and attempts to make the class fun/interesting (whenever possible). I've heard friends with other Math 1310 instructors that haven't had quite as pleasant of an experience as me, and I really believe it has to do with Veronica. Super lenient and super enjoyable instructor, just be wary of how difficult the class can get and utilize her office hours!

Calc 1 is an absolute pain with the specificity, but it's not too bad. You have study guides and 3 prior exams to study for the 2 midterms and 1 final and the only thing that's terrible with the course is the 'Team HW' they make you do, but that's only 10% of your grade. You have weekly quizzes during discussion which aren't too bad and one is a problem you did in class and you get EC if you write piazza posts and if you turn in in-class worksheets from time to time. Veronica is really passionate about math and loves to teach it and explains everything very thoroughly. She is a tough grader on the quizzes but that's very helpful because then you learn about how specific you have to be on the tests and she wants you to excel. I probably put in maybe 2-3 hours a week during class and studied 30min prior to quizzes and a day or two before tests and ended up with an A so as long as you understand and decipher the material and go to class you'll do fine. Veronica's great, so take calc with her.

Math 1310 is required for many different majors, so you might just have to take it. I took Calc AB in high school so I thought this wouldn't be so bad. However, this calculus gets very specific and problems are heavy with trigonometry (instead of just taking the derivative of a function, the function has trig elements making it trickier). The grading is hard in the sense that if you forget certain things (like you do not carry the limit through your work) you lose points. The homework on WebAssign is tedious busy work that will take up time during your week. However, if you do it, it is an easy 100% for 10% of your grade. Another 10% comes from weekly quizzes that are short with two problems. If you study for these you can easily end up with a 90+% for this section. There are 5 "Written HW" that account for another 10% of your grade. These are much harder problems but can be done in a group. Go to office hours and you basically get the answers and 100%. The midterms and final are what tripped me up! The first midterm I overestimated my high school calculus knowledge and went into it blindly. TAKE THE PRACTICE EXAMS and STUDY! It will help you. I did better on the second midterm because I did this. The final was hard for everyone. If your teacher does exam credit points through in class worksheets or answering/asking questions on Piazza do that! Those exam credit points will save you! Even though I got 76% on the first midterm and final exam, I ended up with a B (almost a B+) just because I kept up with the workload for the other areas of the class.

I am not a math person and I only took this class because it was a prerequisite for my major. Still, this class wasn’t terrible. Veronica is super sweet and amazing. She’s good at explaining things and is clear about what she wants. There are lots of opportunities for extra credit (ex. Solving worksheet problems, posting on Piazza, turning in homework early) and the tests are curved generously (I’m not sure if that’s a math department decision or a professor decision). Piazza (discussion board) saved me. You get extra credit on exams for posting and answering questions, and it’s a great way to ask other students for help with homework. Also, the homework is online and most problems have tutorials. The grading and type of coursework is difficult to explain because when we switched from in-person to online, the types of assignments and their weights changed. There is an online reading and class prep assignment due before class each day. In class Veronica reviews what you learned in the class prep assignment, then the class gets into groups and works on practice problems. There is also written homework (about 3 or 4 of those) and online homework due every Sunday (complete the homework by midnight on Saturday and you get 10% extra credit on most problems). Originally, there were quizzes, two midterms, and a final. After the switch to Zoom, the quizzes and second midterm were combined into two Quests (so basically long quiz / short test). Exams were open note once we switched to the online format. Veronica puts solutions for class worksheets, quizzes, written homework, tests, and quests on Collab. She also provides practice problems to study for exams. DO THE PRACTICE PROBLEMS. I never did them, and my life would have been so much easier if I had practiced and studied more. But seriously, Veronica is amazing and if you take calc you should take it with her.

I never enjoyed math in high school, but I decided to give it another go in college to see if anything changed. I REALLY enjoyed this class and it has given me confidence to take more math classes in the future. You will get what you put into this class, and if you have any questions Prof Shalotenko is more than happy to help! I regret not attending more of her office hours but she is super friendly and sweet. 10/10 recommend taking it with her.
There's a lot of room for extra credit, like attending study groups almost every Sunday and turning homework in early. You get plenty of time to do the study guides, and if you take the time to make sure you know the material outlined in the study guide, I honestly don't see how you can get below an A- on the exams.
Long story short, Prof Shalotenko is one of the nicest professors I've had and take your time doing the assignments, it'll make the class more enjoyable!
#tCF2020