How To Ace McHale's Calculus Class

1.        Sign up for calculus.

2.       Pay attention.  Easier said than done.  I’ve spent years refining techniques to make your attention wander and your mind dip into numbness.  (not true)  If you are engaged during the 81 minutes of class, you will find yourself spending much less time out of class trying figure out what the heck I did in class. 

3.       Do your homework.  Quite frankly, most of the learning takes place when you sit in the quiet of your bedroom, library, or jacuzzi, and do your HW problems.  If you understand how to do your HW problems…life should be good for you in calculus land.

a.       Do HW set assigned in chapter outline

b.      Use examples we have done in class (there will be lots)

c.       Feel free to use your book

4.      Get help.  When you are stuck on a problem, do not:

a.       Bang your head against the wall

b.      Decide that a couple hours of Playstation will help

c.       Give up in disgust, and resign yourself to a career in Slurpee Sales

Instead, get help.  From:                               

·         Mr. McHale. That’s me.

·         Your friends.

·         Other math teachers.

·         The book.

·         Your notes.

·         The world wide web

·         Mr. McHale’s Calculus Blog (bhsmchalecalc.blogspot.com)

5.       Know examples.  Calculus is usually presented as a bunch of rules with occasional examples to illustrate them.  In this class…we will do LOTS of examples.  Pay attention to them.  You may have the idea that these are randomly picked from an ocean of examples.  However, the collection of examples is more like a small pond, so you should be particularly interested in the ones that I present to you.  Mathematicians recycle good problems the same way comedians recycle jokes.

6.      Study.  Studying will be unattractive to some of you, unfamiliar to others, but the truth is that it cannot be avoided in the end.  The key to success is to study effectively and in a way that is fun…do not avoid studying.  If you cannot come to grips with this, you might consider a career in politics or some field that does not require mathematics or higher level thought.

7.       Avoid the dark side.  Almost without exception, cheating does not lead to higher grades.  You might be able to squeak through one problem here or there, but pretty soon you will be in the middle of material that depends on material previously covered.  Cheating is high risk and no reward.  Don’t do it.