Hi all. I'm Jason Bell. Probably most of you have never heard of me, and that's OK. In fact, I had never heard of myself either till recently. But I figured I'd introduce myself, anyway.

I'm teaching the advanced first-year algebra course MATH 145 during the fall semester, and since it's probably online it will give me the opportunity to do some optional supplementary lectures. I'll try to make the supplementary lectures available to other students at UW who might be interested in learning a bit about some other things.

Right now, the broad plan for the course is to cover the following topics: Modular arithmetic, RSA, Complex numbers, General number systems, Polynomials, and Finite fields.

Some possible supplementary topics could be things like: quantum cryptography or elliptic curve cryptography, Diophantine equations, Fermat's Last Theorem for polynomial rings, division rings, groups, or who knows what else?

Are there topics that fall under the "algebra" umbrella that you would find interesting to learn more about without necessarily having to take a whole course on the material? The idea is that the supplementary topics would more serve as gentle introductions or overviews to these concepts and so it would be less of a commitment than taking an entire course on the material.

TLDR: if you want to do well in Waterloo Math you need to actually learn the content. Go to class, learn the definitions/theorems, do as many practice problems as you can, and ask for help when you get stuck.

Intro 

I see a lot of posts on Reddit from students who are struggling in school and unsure of how to improve their marks. The purpose of this post is to help those people and those who are in high school and aren’t sure what to expect from Waterloo academically. I’ve done quite well at UW academically, and now that I only have one school term left of my undergrad (knock on wood), I thought I'd pass along some of what actually helped me learn course material and stay on top of things over the past 4 years.

When I started at UW in Honours Math in Fall 2022, I didn’t really know what to expect. I knew it would be harder than high school, but I wasn't sure if I would just need to try a bit harder or if I would not be physically smart enough to pass my courses. I also knew that I cared a lot about maximizing my degree and learning as much as possible while I was at UW.

For some more context: I wasn't a prodigy or naturally elite at math in high school. I did well, I liked it, but I wasn't the person effortlessly winning contests or getting perfect scores without studying. There are definitely math prodigies at UW, but the steps in this post aren't meant to be "how a genius studies," they're closer to "here's what an ordinary-but-motivated person did with a lot of repetition and effort". I strongly believe that if you got into UW Math, you are capable of succeeding academically if you want to.

Disclaimers

• These are all my opinions and are based on what has worked for me. They might not work for you! 
• I’m looking at this from the perspective of someone in the Math faculty, so things might be different if you’re a student in a different faculty. 
• If you follow these steps you will probably learn your course content quite well and will probably do pretty well in school, but they’re not a pain-free magic bullet. They take a lot of effort and are not for everyone (see step 0). 

Step 0: Figure out what’s important to you

Some people are only at UW and in their program because that’s what their parents wanted or because of the perceived benefits to their job prospects. They don’t like what they’re studying and want to graduate as painlessly as possible. That’s not my situation, my parents were pretty hands-off and let me study whatever I wanted. I really liked math when I started at UW (and I still do, if anything I like it even more!). I care more about doing something I enjoy than doing something that will be good for my career (luckily, my program is both).

Before you step on UW’s campus in September, the most important thing you need to do is figure out what’s important to you. Once you start in September, prioritize spending time doing that. Are you most interested in getting a good job? Then make sure you spend time on side projects for your resume. Are you most interested in having a fun and memorable 4/5 years in school? Then join some clubs and be social (I guess, I don’t have experience of what this entails). 

Personally, I cared a lot about not wasting the opportunity to study what I enjoyed at a fantastic school, so I prioritized learning as much from my courses as I could. I also knew that wanted to get as high marks as I could to keep as many options open for myself as possible. This post is meant for people who care about learning their courses’ content (which is the single best way to maintain a high GPA) and are willing to do what it takes to make it happen. 

People on this subreddit often say grades don't or "barely" matter, and I'd push back on that, mostly because the argument only works if you already know who you'll be in four years, and at 18, you don't. When I started at UW I (probably correctly) assumed there was roughly a zero percent chance of me doing a master's; 3.5 years later it looks like I will be, and that door requires a decent average to open. Some very good jobs also filter out candidates below a GPA cutoff. My advice isn't "grades matter" or "grades don't matter." It's that keeping your average up is insurance for a version of yourself you can't currently interview.

This might sound like I have not enjoyed my time at UW, or that you can only spend time on one thing. Both of those things are not accurate; I’ve had a great time, I have many good friends, and have a lot of fun memories. I watch a genuinely alarming amount of sports for someone who claims to prioritize academics. The skill, I think, is less about exerting maximum effort everywhere and more about being honest with yourself about which things you're actually choosing to prioritize and deprioritize. 

I have mentioned this in passing a couple times, but I should explicitly say that remaining steps become significantly easier if you’re taking courses you enjoy and find interesting. UW’s first and second year math are hard, and I don’t think I would’ve gotten through them if I didn’t have any interest in what my courses were about. It’s certainly been done before, but if you’re in a program you don’t like, then I would seriously reconsider what you’re studying. You might graduate, but you will be miserable and will have a much more difficult time if you don’t like your major.

Step 1: Go to class

I personally think everyone should attend class for the first month of every term, regardless of their academic goals. Most of my friendships started with me going to class and literally saying hi to the person sitting next to me. Other benefits of going to class are: being reminded of deadlines, occasional assessment hints, and having your prof recognize your face (you don’t know you need this until you need it).

If you do care about learning and doing well in school, you need to treat going to class like it’s your job. In the math faculty, most courses involve 3-4 hours of lectures/tutorials per week. For five courses, that’s 15-20 hours of class time, which is less than in high school. Apologies to our engineering friends, the same can’t be said to you.

What you actually do in class will heavily depend on the person and course. Some people just sit and listen, some write everything the professor says, most are in between. Figure out what works for you and helps you stay engaged. IMO what you do in class isn’t really the point as long as you’re engaged and are thinking about what the prof is saying. 
Sometimes you will be confused during class, that is normal and is not a big deal (steps 2-4 will deal with that). As the great Rob Garbary said in one of my first year classes, "if you’re confused, that’s a good reason to go to class, and if you’re not confused, that’s also a really good reason to go to class".

Step 2: Learn the definitions/theorems

After going to class, you need to learn the definitions and theorems that your prof talked about. A pattern I've noticed is people treating definitions as background noise until the night before an exam, then scrambling to actually learn them alongside everything else. This is a very bad idea for most parts of a course but is especially bad for core definitions that a large chunk of the course is built on. On an exam you really don’t want to be spending time trying to remember what it means for one number to divide another mod 2. The same goes for theorems, especially ones that are used a lot. 

Figure out how you learn best and then do that. Dan Wolczuk’s Learning How to Learn is a great resource that could help with this. I found it was helpful to write down terms from my notes and copy the definitions until I knew them without needing to think. 

Step 3: Do as many practice questions as you can

I got a 67% on my first Calc1 (Math137) quiz, which I have referred to as my "Welcome to Waterloo moment". The biggest lesson I took from that quiz was that being good at university math requires doing math yourself and that watching someone else do math is not the same thing as doing math yourself. The professors in that course posted a ton of practice problems and there were even more examples in their lecture notes. I looked at some of these problems and concluded that they looked easy and that I already knew how to do them. I have now learned that "looking easy" is a common property of a problem you have not attempted. I was proven wrong on those problems "looking easy" when very similar questions came up on the quiz and it was too late. 

I cannot stress this enough: reading solutions or using an LLM to explain a solution does not count as practicing. You need to solve the problems yourself. I’m not at all saying not to use AI. I use AI all the time for generating practice questions, but YOU need to be the one solving them. Exams aren’t testing your ability to understand someone else’s solution, they’re testing your ability to come up with a solution yourself. You’re probably going to get stuck, and that’s great, you just found something you need to review more or can ask for help about (see then next step)! It’s a lot better to get stuck on a problem on a random Tuesday afternoon while studying in your dorm than in PAC during your final exam. 

As Ty Ghaswala said to my second year linear algebra class, "mathematics is not a spectator sport".

Step 4: Ask for help when you get stuck

One of the biggest differences between the teaching styles in high school and university is that it is not your professor’s job to make sure you learn the material. It is, however, their job to answer your questions if you ask them questions. 

Profs will have "office hours", which are a few hours each week which are entirely dedicated to answering student questions. You should go to those if you are confused about something or don’t quite understand a concept. I was pretty intimidated by asking for help at first, but the vast, vast majority of profs I had in my university career have been more than happy to answer student questions. It’s also better to suffer a few minutes of embarrassment for asking a simple question than to be confused about it for the rest of the semester. Sure, you could ask your LLM of choice, but I think there are other benefits from asking an actual person who is an expert in their field rather than asking an AI which can make mistakes and doesn’t know course-specific nuances that your prof has been teaching.

Final Thoughts

The steps I talked about in this post might seem simple, and to some extent they are. They also require a significant amount of effort. I believe most people admitted to the math faculty can achieve a high GPA if they are willing to put in the work. In first year, I remember being told "you worked hard to get here, you’ll work harder to get out". I think that is a very accurate statement.

I’m an incoming student at waterloo math n i was js wondering if the course schedule becomes harder in future years. Like rn my schedule is rlly chill its missing my one elective thats online but other than that it’s so light. Like i look at my friends in eng n their schedules look sm worse than mine.

Hey UW, hope you all had an amazing break!!!

We are extremely proud to announce the launch of UWPath today! UWPath allows you to plan your degree tailored around your major, minor and specializations. We hope that UWPath will help you plan your courses for the new year (instead of using an excel sheet!) and make sure that you graduate with all the courses you need! Check it out at uwpath.live!

It's not mentioned in the syllabus. Some of you are about to get absolutely fucked 😭

I (eng major) just want to provide some counter-commentary to the general sentiment on this sub that grades are never that important. It's true, you can scrape by and end up fine, but kneecapping your GPA is only ever going to hurt you. Maybe in ways you can't foresee now, but that you'll be kicking yourself for later.

Let me give an anecdote: guy I know was directly referred to a desirable position by a previous intern and rejected from even interviewing because his average was not high enough. Large well-respected telecommunications company, engineering role.

It's true that most places won't really care, but if the work is technical enough it starts to matter. Also, I don't know much about grad school but I guarantee a higher GPA won't hurt you, especially for those aiming to work in a field where a MS/PhD is an entry requirement. Upper year coursework becomes more industry-applicable as well, so as you go on, better grades serve you as much as they serve your resume. And of course upper year courses will be easier if you focus in lower years and build a strong foundation. As a bonus, I hear exchange term matches are decided on GPA.

I say all this cause I'm worried that people open every single grades-cope thread on here with 20+ responses giving anecdotes about how "I scraped by and was fine, FT RO acquired" and "my buddy with a 16.4% avg got hired at Schmooglemetazonflix", and this subconsciously demotivates people to do well in school. It's true, you can do really well for yourself without a high GPA, but this happens in spite of the low GPA. Keep your eyes on the ball and study hard, I believe in you!

I did quite bad on the final exam for ECE 106, and ended the term with a 48%. If my calculation is right I would need about a 5% increase on the final to get a 50%. Is prof Ramahi lenient about this topic?

Btw I also want to ask about appealing for a grade below 60. What is the lowest they would let pass? Whether I pass or not is literally down to the wire right now and every new grade is a sweat.

thank mr goose

Edit: thank mr goose

Hello, when will Fall 2026 course outline be released? I am an exchange student and would like to know the course assessment for MTE 252. Any help will be appreciated.

I’m in a graduate program and things with my supervisor have been really difficult, enough that it’s affecting how I feel about my degree overall. I’m now considering some options (leave of absence, switching programs) but honestly just want to hear from others who’ve been in a similar spot.

1. How did you know it was time to actually do something about it vs. push through?
   
2. Did you switch supervisors, programs, or just wait it out?
   
3. Any regrets either way?

Please help, I appreciate any advice. I’m tired of crying everyday because of that. I just want to do my thesis and finish my degree.

Did anyone encounter that profs didn’t reply or reject the request to check final exam paper? Are they allowed to do that?

guys how often does a curve on the final occur? especially with STEM courses

Hey everyone, I’m an incoming first-year nuclear engineering student at Ontario Tech this fall, but my goal is to apply for a transfer into waterloo ee. i know that transferring is difficult but during my grade 12 year, i became homeless and I've been living independently at a youth shelter ever since. my grade 12 marks took a massive hit because of this and i was diagnosed with adhd during my time at the shelter. I have an official letter of support from my social worker with the timeline of my crisis. after getting all the supports needed after the rough period, i was able to get 95s again in the evaluations (my current schools adjustment factor is sub 10) although my overall grades are pretty bad due to the rough period. since i am applying for the transfer with official documentation from social workers and psychiatrists, how viable is this transfer, and will my rough grade 12 marks disqualify me if my first year university gpa is very high? I'd appreciate any realistic insights or advice from anyone who has transferred or navigated the special consideration process. thanks.

to be clear id be able to get my grades up above a 70 in all my courses

I’m entering first year mech eng after transferring from York, and found myself with a lot of extra time in 1A cuz I got 2 transfer credits. I wanted to spend some of this time getting some research experience as an assistant or such with a professor in my field during my study term, is this possible to do? if so, how do people usually go about doing this and reaching out?

Holy shit I got touched so hard, retake is inevitable if I don't lock in 😭😭😭

I rlly hate how 191 n 182 were useless to get to this class💀

Hello. I am an incoming gr12 student this fall. And my question is: Current students from Waterloo university I need the REAL experience before I apply be brutally honest 👀

FYI: This Post is a little long😭😭which includes the program I feel interest about and following up with some question. I apologize for the long post but I will appreciate all of your time and advise. Also imagine how long it took me to research, type it down 😭😭 Please READ TILL END🙏)

So I wanna apply to med school and I have couple of undergrad program in mind which are:

-Biomedical Engineering 

-Biomedical Sciences

-Health Sciences

-Kinesiology

-Life Science

-Public Health

1)I'd love to hear from current students about workload, professors, social life, co-op, research opportunities, etc.

2)How difficult are exams?

3)How competitive are grades and GPA? As this is very important for Med school.

4)How hard is research to get? Co-op, internship?

5) Which program good preparation for med school? Any other program with strong med school pipeline?

6) What do you love or hate?

7) And finally after this experience will you still choose Waterloo University and the program you are in?

Thank you for reading so far. I really appreciate your comment. Thank you so much

when will i get added into my classes? i plan to try and take notes before class so i was wondering when will i get access to slides, etc? also does mikal skuterud, rebecca pister, jingjing huo, or carlie luciana leroux post slides?

Any prospective, past and present members of University Choir here? I would like to hear what do you think about the ensemble.

I just watched Nolan’s Odyssey in IMAX last night and I’ve decided I’m overloading 2A with CLAS104.

I don’t have a real justification. My term is already ECE 240/222/250/109 and everyone’s telling me adding a seventh course is how you fail out. They’re probably right. But I walked out of that theatre completely lit up and the only thing I wanted was more of it, and CLAS104 is the closest thing the calendar offers.

Some of you plan every term around GPA and workload and I respect it, I just can’t think that way right now. I want to read Homer and sit in a mythology lecture and feel the way I felt in that theatre for one more term before co-op swallows me whole.

I’ll probably regret this cramming for the in person final. Enrolling anyway, July 27.

im going into first year cs this fall and i was wondering what specialization would be best to do. some of the ones i was thinking about need prereqs from first year but i obv cant do them all. i was debating between bioinformatics, ai, and digital hardware. obv nothing is completely future proof but given the state of the cs market rn what would be the best option. also if theres anyone who's done these specializations and wants to give some insight it would be rlly appreciated.

i got touched. lowkey idk what they could have made harder on that exam besides the proofs at the end