Summer maths course for mature students

jamesccp

Hey Guys,
Anyone ever do this. Its a 2 week course in July. If you do not pass you do not get in! I have just completed a Fetac 5 in IT and have applied for the Comp. Sci. This course was mentioned at the interview but I didn't realise it was make or break. I had hoped the FETAC maths would be enough and this was just a refresher. So:
Have any of you done this?
What do I need to study?
Im worried now

lsb1980

Hi there,
Last year I applied as a mature student for Arts and had to do the essay writing course. Obviously it's different to the maths one but from what I've heard the maths course is run like the essay one - practical, interesting and of great benefit if you get into college. I found it a very positive experience, as did some of the people who did the maths one.....so maybe don't stress to much about it and enjoy it as a gentle introduction to NUIM!

katewolk

Hi.

Don't worry. I did the course three years ago. It was not compulsory for me, but I was very lucky to do some maths before the lectures started. Guess what? The very first calculus lecture in September started with a test, so it was a good idea to do some revision over the summer. You will be fine. The teachers and tutors on the summer course were very friendly and supportive. You also have a chance to make some friends before you start college, I did. We ended up in the same courses, so it was great. I remember that it ran from like 10.00 to around 16.00, but it was not tense at all. We had say a couple of hours of study time, then a lunch break, then they brought some people who gave us a talk about college or about courses, and then couple more hours in the computer room for some practice.
Hope it helps.

jamesccp

Thanks I appreciate you both getting back to me. It sounds like something to look forward too.

koHd

jamesccp wrote: »

Hey Guys,
Anyone ever do this. Its a 2 week course in July. If you do not pass you do not get in! I have just completed a Fetac 5 in IT and have applied for the Comp. Sci. This course was mentioned at the interview but I didn't realise it was make or break. I had hoped the FETAC maths would be enough and this was just a refresher. So:
Have any of you done this?
What do I need to study?
Im worried now

I did it a couple of years ago, but failed the final exam and ended up doing a full year in NUIM's Science Cert course to qualify for CSSE. Now just finishing first year in CSSE.

Some tips I would have liked before I did the intensive summer camp:

Don't worry about every topic. They cover the important stuff in the morning lecture which is around 3 hours if I remember correctly.

You'll go into a computer lab after the morning lecture and just work on your own for 4-5 hours a day watching videos and completing online tests for each section.

During my time this was all done through this web site:

http://www.mathtutor.ac.uk/

Now, as I said, don't try to do everything. That was my mistake. They tell you to start from the first topic and move through them all when you can complete the little online tests.

There are a lot of topics. Doing them all really spread me thin and I retained very little. Having doodled my way through maths as a teenager and not so much as seeing a function in ten years, I felt I needed to do every topic though.

But here is what I remember was important in the end:

Manipulating indices. Get all the rules of indices down.

Logarithms.

Functions. Mostly composition of functions.

As well as those there was an emphasis on working with fractions.

Since you just done a FETAC level maths though I'm sure you'll be grand.

But an early start on math tutor with those topics and you'll breeze through it.

In the end I was glad I failed the summer camp because I really needed the year worth of maths and physics prep. It's fairly tough going in integration and maths physics unless you have a solid foundation.

jamesccp

Thanks that site looks great. How you finding the degree

koHd

jamesccp wrote: »

Thanks that site looks great. How you finding the degree

First year is very slow from a CSSE point of view. You spend most of it rushing through the side show general science subjects you have to pick.

The actual computer science modules in first year are comparatively very easy. This is probably because they assume you haven't seen a block of code in your life or heard of RAM. Mainly due to nothing computer science related being taught in secondary schools.

Whereas the other general science modules seemed to be a lot of work for me. Hearing and seeing a lot of stuff for the first time having come in as a mature student. But because I had a year with maths and physics in the prep course it did help.

Overall, if you're comfortable with maths first year will be a breeze.

The real stuff for us CSSE students starts in 2nd year.

jamesccp

Sounds like a challenge. Should be good. Thanks for ur help hopfuly see u around next year.

gorugeen

James as per KoHd I did it as a mature student(CSSE) two years ago. It's very worthwhile from a prep point of view. Ciaran who runs it is the dogs. He runs the Maths Help centre. I'd highly recommend getting to know him.
The guest lectures were interesting. Chemistry involved liquid nitrogen and Poitin !!!!! There is also a tour of the Russell Library (newest book circa 150 years old). We got to see a first edition Newton Mathematica (Not everyones cup of tea I know but I was well impressed).
Working on Mathtutor now is a great idea. Kohds list is about right. For further assistance you can't beat these
https://www.khanacademy.org/
http://patrickjmt.com/

Best of luck and I hope you enjoy it.

jamesccp

Thanks for the support and advice everyone.

Kannywhat

I also have to attend ! Hope it all goes well for all who is doing it !

jamesccp

See you there, should be fun

DerekG87

How are ya man, i did that 'maths camp' last summer to get a place on General Science. Its handy, i did Ordinary Maths for the Leaving in 2005 and got a B, i managed 95% in this course!.. Its basic rules that get covered,nothing out of the ordinary. You'll be grand,worst part is that the weathers generally AMAZING during the week its on, and you're stuck in a classroom!.. The tutor Peter in a nice bloke too.
Good luck,
Derek.

jamesccp

Just to update. Got 90 percent. Thanks for all the advice it was a great help.

Studentlife

Well done James.

I sat beside in the lab. See you again in a couple of weeks!!

jamesccp

Yeah cant wait, see a "mature student" orientation. How is your programming going?

Studentlife

The programming hasn't started yet. I keep hearing that they start with Hello World, and that first year is nice and easy. So I'm banking on that. It won't be long now before it all kicks off. I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to try change over to the science version from the Arts. Which optional subjects are you going to try?

jamesccp

Yeah ur probably better letting them show u how they want things done. As regards the subjects, I'm going wait for the lectures on each class during orientation week before deciding. So u want to come over to the science nerd camp very good, we need some ladies. At least then all of us maturies can stick together against the teenagers. Are u going to the mature orientation next Monday?