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DR. MARY COUPLAND: Foundation Mathematics is an optional subject, an elective subject
for many people. Not everybody has to take it. The reason we have it available is that
some students are coming into university without the required level of mathematics from high
school. So foundation maths is like a semester to catch people up to the level that they
need. Well, it's important for different categories
of first-year students. A student might have come from high school recently but not done
calculus. For example, if they did HSC in New South Wales and did general mathematics,
they wouldn't have studied any calculus. So foundation maths gives them that background.
Another category of student who might need foundation maths is someone who's had a break
since going to high school. And if it's more than say three or four years' break, it's
a good idea to revise all that maths before you get into the heavier calculus subjects.
I think foundation maths has got a number of highlights. If you've never studied functions
and calculus before, that's the highlight. It's a highlight because it's a very important
part of mathematical knowledge that people need for economics, for science, for statistics.
It's a background awareness of how you use mathematics to model things that change over
time. It's important to realise that each hour at
lectures should be matched by an hour of personal study. And you won't have time to learn everything
while you're sitting in the lecture room. In Foundation Mathematics and in the subjects
that follow on, Maths Modelling 1 for engineers or Maths Modelling for science for science
students, in those subjects, the lecturers make available a lot of material through UTS
online -- and that's an online web-based content management system. So you can find their tutorial
questions, lecture notes. That's your first place to go if you've missed a lecture or
you need to catch up. We also run exam revision workshops and things like that. There are
U:PASS sessions, peer supported study sessions. So, if you're taking maths at UTS and first-year
and you feel a little bit unsure of where you are with it and what your confidence is,
then get in touch with your lecturer and find out about all these other things that are
available to help you. The best piece of advice is have fun. I mean,
find out what's going on. The campus is huge. There are lots of different things you can
do, besides your study. But get the balance right, because you have to find the time for
the study as well