APMA 3100

Professor McMillan teaches probability very differently than the other APMA 3100 sections. Instead of frequent mastery checkpoints, McMillan has a more traditional grading system with a few midterms throughout the semester, which are graded on an approximately square root curve. However, his students do still take the same final as other sections. To account for his more challenging exams, the required averages to achieve each letter grade are lower than normal. Several extra credit opportunities are also presented throughout the semester.

In terms of assignments, he has problem sets due twice each week with 5-10 problems each in lieu of worksheets. These problems are generally more challenging than the examples in the notes and require a deeper understanding of the course material to complete. No lecture time is dedicated to completing them. Students are also required to complete two coding projects (just like other APMA 3100 sections) with preassigned groups, which McMillan tweaks after the first project based on results from a peer-assessment survey.

In terms of teaching style, he has a more theoretical approach. During lecture, McMillan does walk through solving a few examples and practice problems, but a lot of the class is spent providing conceptual explanations and deriving formulas and theorems. Attendance is not required except on Fridays for presentations, which consist of several students presenting their solutions to homework problems. His lecture notes for each week, which present the course material in a very compact manner with sections for theory, examples, and practice, are available online before lecture and an annotated versions of these notes are posted, though not after every class.