How to Study for a Mathematics Degree

I bought this book because it was very poisitively reviewd by a Cambridge student on Youtube (quite famous). Very interesting advices and well vritten, with many useful exemples for a student, for someone who is looking for advices to study both university math and math in general.BUT it is very small printed: I find quite difficult for my eyes to read it fluently because the font is very small!

El libro genial, lo empece a leer como ebook y lo deje de leer por molestia de leer en pantalla. El libro en sí muy recomendado, pero el vendedor vergonzoso, así me llegó un libro supuestamente nuevo... lo dicho, vergonzoso.

I bought this book, with a view to studying for a maths degree via the Open University - I already have a BSc, MSc and PhD in engineering. I thought a maths degree would benefit me, as I have problems understanding some of the maths in scientific papers I need to read for my job. I actually contacted the author, to ask her some questions about the suitability of a maths degree for my needs - I sent here some research papers I could not understand, as the mathematics was too complicated for me. She confirmed a maths degree would be a lot of pure maths, and not so much the applied maths I needed. Although she admitted to not being an expert, she felt physics might have been better.(I eventually gave up the idea of studying with the OU, as they expect me to do the most basic of classes, despite I have a BSc, MSc and PhD. The fact I got the PhD. more than 16 years ago, means it counts as absolutely nothing for the Open University.)Having 3 degrees, I have a pretty good idea of what university life is like, and can see this book would be very helpful to those starting at uni, having left school. There's a lot of emphasis in the student taking responsibility for their work, as you will not have your hand held like in school.The author clearly has a lot of experience at several academic institutions, so her experience is not based on working at one place all the time. Although she was educated at the University of Warwick in the UK, she has taught at the Rutgers University in the USA, as well as both Essex and Loughborough in the UK. As such, I believe she has a good understanding of what mathematics education is like. It is her specialist area of research too.One particularly interesting thing she says, is that mathematics students should not expect to see lots of examples from their lecturers, but may get few if any examples provided. Students need to be able to generate their own examples. This was not my experience from my engineering degrees, but I have every reason to believe she is right about how maths degrees are taught, due to the fact she has been educated and taught at 4 different places. Had her experience been limited to one university, I would have paid less attention to this.Although not a mathematics text book, the book is quite thought provoking - for example, why is (-2)^2 = +4. We all know a negative number multiplied by a negative number is positive, but it is far from obvious WHY that is so. Could you prove it?There's a lot of information about how not to get yourself in a position where you are behind, but also how to get out if it if you are.Overall, and excellent book, and I would certainly suggest any maths student buys this, even if like myself, they have other degrees.Dr. David Kirkby, BSc, MSc, Ph.D

Bought the book as it was recommended by multiple universities’s maths departments, contained far more practical rather than mathematical content than I was expecting but would still highly recommend.

I started reading this book as I know Lara Alcock, I carried on as it is a great read with lots of useful advice. Not only will following the tips in "How to Study for a Mathematics Degree" improve your degree results, it will help you progress in your career.Many of the areas that mathematics graduates struggle with when they start work, and some carry on struggling with, are clearly and helpfully dealt with. Working in the way that Lara suggests during your degree will enable you to start work a few steps ahead of the typical mathematics graduate and carry on that way.Although I graduated many years ago, I will certainly be using much of the advice going forward, including that on dealing with a panic situation!Enjoy the readHeather