Course Structure#
The Course Structure#
A course week contains the following elements: A Long Day with a lecture and an exercise session with the teachers present, as well as a Short Day with a lecture and partial self-study ending with a Weekly Test lasting one hour. It is important that you participate in all of these activities, and it is your learning from this that will be tested at the written exam. You must plan for a significant amount of homework.
Time plan for the two days of teaching:
Long Day: Wednesdays 10:00-17:00 contain: Lecture 10:00-12:00. Self-study 12:30-13:00. Exercise session in groups with teachers present 13.00-16.00. Self-study 16:00-17:00.
Short Day: Fridays 13:00-17:00 contain: Lecture 13:00-14:00. Partial self-study 14:00-16:00. Weekly Test 16:00-17:00.
The Teaching#
Before and After each Lesson#
You will always well in advance of a semester week be able to find information about which parts of the syllabus that is to be treated that week. We strongly encourage you to read the eNotes prior to the lectures, which will give you a better understanding from the teaching. It is not unusual that you do not fully understand parts of the eNotes before the lectures, but experience shows that it still has an enormous, positive effect to prepare in this way. Likewise it is enormously fruitful to spend time after a day of teaching on looking through the relevant eNote and exercises one more time to acquire deeper understanding of the content. Note that the course provides 10 ECTS credits, which means that you are expected to put in an effort amounting to 16 hours weekly.
The Lectures#
On Long Day a survey lecture is given where important and central topics from the week program are sketched out and put into perspective. At the lecture on Short Day there will be time to immerse oneself in more examples, special cases, alternative methods and the like and some important input will be provided for the following exercises in groups that culminate in the Weekly Test. Be aware that the content that is covered at the lectures does not fully define the syllabus of the course. At the tests you can be asked questions in parts of the syllabus that has not necessarily been covered at the lectures. You ought to ensure via LectureNotes and other provided material that you are well-informed about all important points in the syllabus.
Long Day#
Long Day starts with a lecture after which we have an exercise session in groups. Note that your study area is available already from 12:00. In the week programs (see more below) information and activities for the day are described, including the exercises for the day. Use the self-study time 12:30-13:00 to inform yourself about the challenges on the agenda of the day so that you are ready for the subsequent exercise session in your groups with the teachers present. Here you and your study line, assisted by a team of teachers, will continue working with the subjects from the lecture of the day and the exercises from the week program. When the exercise session is over, you (and your group) has the final hour between 16:00-17:00 for finishing the work of the day, such as finalising the last missing exercises from the agenda that you haven’t finished yet or begin a homework assignment.
Short Day#
Short Day starts with a lecture after which there is time for self-studies and group work with exercises before the Weekly Test, where you will test yourself in the fundamental skills from the subjects of week. There will be two teaching assistants present in the study area who will provide both mathematical as well as technical assistance. Four times during the semester the teaching on a Short Day will be concerning a so-called Theme Exercise. During these four Theme Exercises there will be no lecture and you will instead have the full Short Day timeslot for working on the Theme Exercise. (See more about Theme Exercises in another menu point.) The semester schedule (click “Lesson Overview: Autumn 2023” in the left menu) shows when Theme Exercises will take place.
Week Programs#
The week programs are the backbone of the course. They constitute an important means of communication from the course responsibles to you. On the week programs, central terms from the syllabus of the week are mentioned, the syllabus for preparation is shown with links to LectureNotes, and exercises, acitivites and discussion points for self-studies and group exercises are found here. Furthermore, the week programs contain information about homework assignments.
Materials#
The teaching materials in the course consist of: The week programs and other material on the course website, including Lecture Notes (the textbook), exercises, SymPy demos and more.