Overall the responses were positive and the comments encouraging and helpful (although there was one notable exception).

The questionnaire indicated some minor dissatisfaction with computer based/web-based materials. This was not really accompanied by any enlightening comments so I am not really sure about the source of the dissatisfaction. Suggestions from this year's class would be appreciated.

Comments on the Practice classes were, as usual, mixed. I intend to continue with the current format. (See point 4 of the response to the previous year's questionnaire). I firmly believe that students will get more out of the Practice classes if they come having worked on the notes and exercises beforehand and can come with some idea of where their difficulties lie.

 

 

Firstly, thank you for taking this seriously and replying thoughtfully. It has been very helpful.

1. There was a balance between those who liked the subject for its proofs and its challenge and those who thought it was a bit tough and had too many proofs.

2. Some people were worried about difficulty levels and what was to come in the course. For the former, I suggest looking at old exams and last year's mid-semester test and for the latter I suggest looking at the table of contents in the Notes. I hope to have all this organised into a complete set of notes next year.

3. There was some complaint about the speed of lectures and the difficulty of writing everything down. But that is why copies of the slides are available on the web. You can afford not to write down any of the material on the slides and that includes all of the central material---definitions, theorems, proofs etc. The material on the board is not available elsewhere but hopefully it is not too much to write. if you want to, and it is not essential.

4. There is a division in the class over the use of the time allocated for Practice Classes. There is a sizeable body of opinion that would like to see them run more like tutorials with worked examples on the board there is also a sizeable number of people who like the current format). As I mentioned at the beginning of the year, I resist this approach for two principal reasons. Firstly, with many if not most of the exercises, the value of the exercise is not in learning how to obtain an answer but in the process of struggle and understanding that you go through to obtain that answer. Secondly, there is a wide variety of levels of understanding in the class. Giving one answer to all of these levels means that many people are going to be left unsatisfied.

Currently, there is substantial underuse of my time and of Marty's time. If you want to see how to do problems, come and see us, either at the Practice class times or during my office hours or, if that is not possible, or not enough, at other times. We will be happy to run you through types of problems and hopefully to pitch it to a level at which you will get the most value out of it.

Having said that, I do appreciate the desire for more worked solutions, in whatever form.Worked solutions are available for both last year's mid-semester test and last year's exam. I will also attempt to provide worked solutions for the more routine examples on the sheets.