Preparation for the final exam in 251:1, 2, and 3


About the final exam
The exam will be cumulative, and cover all of the syllabus but there will be somewhat more emphasis on the material covered since the second exam (that is, the vector calculus material). The exam will be given on Thursday, May 6, from 8 to 11 AM, in Hill 114. Please note the time (early!) and location (different from our usual classroom to allow students more room).

Important!
The course's last lecture will present Stokes' Theorem. There won't be adequate time to learn (or review!) this intricate material. It will not be tested on our final exam.

In Math 251, the final exam is written by the lecturer for the sections, so your final exam will be written by your lecturer, and the "style" should be familiar. The pace of a three-hour final exam will be quite different from the two exams you've already had in this course. The final exam likely will be less than twice as long as one of the exams already given. Here are some general comments about preparing for the exam.

What to study, part 1
Please assume that any question previously asked on an exam concerns material important enough to be examined again. Careful students should know answers to those exam questions which didn't earn full credit in earlier exams. This is a very serious recommendation. Therefore you should take your graded earlier exams and look at the answers to the first exam and to the second exam. This process may feel awkward, but be certain you can answer the questions now. Please do this!

Studying with other students may be very helpful.

What to study, part 2
Here are some relevant previous exams and review material that I've given in this course, going backwards in time (most recent is first).

Please realize that several problems listed in the review material for the second exam covering line integrals are eligible models for this exam.

Studying with other students may be very helpful.

Review sessions, office hours, etc.
The lecturer will have a review session on Tuesday, May 4, in Hill 525, from 10 to 11:30 AM. I intend to spend the first hour doing problems related to the Divergence Theorem, to make up for the fact that there was no recitation after the Thursday lecture when that result was introduced.

The recitation instructor will have a review session on Wednesday, May 5, in Hill 525, from 6:30 to 8 PM.


Old problems in relation to our syllabus
Here is a list of problems from those old exams "keyed" to each section of the syllabus covered since the second exam. This may be useful to you but note that only the "vector calculus" problems are listed below. Since the final exam is cumulative, you should be sure to review important earlier material.

Lecture Sections and Topics My exam problems
19Vector Fields A12 B9
20Line Integrals A6 B7,8 C1b),2
21Conservative Vector Fields A6 B7 C2
23Green's Theorem B8
24Parameterized Surfaces and Surface Integrals C1d) 
25Surface Integrals of Vector Fields A11 B6 C5,6a),b),c)
26Divergence Theorem A11 B6 C1c),3,4,5
27Stokes' Theorem Not covered in this class's final exam. A10 C1e),6d)


My design criteria for calculus exams
I try to ask questions about most (hopefully all) important topics which were covered in the period to be tested. I try to avoid asking problems which require special "finicky" tricks, and do try to inquire about techniques which are broadly applicable.

I want to give, on any calculus exam, questions which require reading and writing graphical information, reading and writing symbolic information, reading and writing quantitative information ("numbers"), and, finally, some question(s) requiring students to exhibit some reasoning and explanation, appropriate to the level of the course and also recognizing the limited time of an exam. I certainly don't always "hit" this target but that's my aim.


Maintained by greenfie@math.rutgers.edu and last modified 4/26/2010.