What is MAX?
MAX is a first semester (internal or extramural) course in university mathematics for high achieving high-school students throughout the North Island.
MAX stands for Mathematical Acceleration and eXtension. The programme is designed for students who enjoy academic challenge, who have shown themselves to be very able mathematicians and who can handle a solid workload.
The Department of Mathematics and the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Auckland jointly offer this course as MATHS 153 "Accelerated Mathematics". MATHS 153 is a 15 point course which is academically equivalent to the first year Engineering Mathematics course ENGSCI 111 "Mathematical Modelling 1" and to the first year Mathematics course MATHS 150 "Advancing Mathematics 1". It is also an excellent alternative to MATHS 108 "General Mathematics 1".
Students who pass MATHS 153 will be eligible to enrol in any of ENGSCI 211 "Mathematical Modelling 2", MATHS 250 "Advancing Mathematics 2" or MATHS 208 "General Mathematics 2", when they become full time students.
TopAdmission to the MAX programme requires the consent of the Department of Mathematics.
Consent will be given to any student currently at high school who
- has a minimum of 18 credits from NCEA Level 3 Achievement Standards Calculus 90635 - 39, with a grade average of at least merit, or has excellent grades in A CIE A2 Mathematics
- or has a minimum of 20 credits from NCEA Level 2 Achievement Standards Mathematics 90284 - 92 with a grade average of close to excellence, or the equivalent in CIE AS Mathematics, and is studying Level 3 Calculus in 2012
- and has a strong recommendation from their school's Head of Mathematics.
- Intending distance students must be able to study well on their own and have good access to a computer and the internet.
The University's global requirements must also be met. To be eligible to enrol at the University of Auckland under Discretionary Entrance Regulations, intending students:
- must be New Zealand or Australian citizens or have Permanent Residence status;
- must have 8 credits in reading and writing at level 2 from English or Te Reo;
- have 80 credits at level 2 (or higher) in up to five subjects from the approved list (we would expect students to have a good proportion of credits at excellence and merit);
- and must have a positive recommendation from their school principal as to maturity.
- International students who have full university entrance qualifications and who meet the other criteria given above, are eligible to enrol in the Max Programme.
How to enrol
The Max application form must be filled out and signed by both the student and his/her school's Head of Mathematics and sent to the MAX
Coordinator, Wendy Stratton.
MAX application form (pdf)
Students who have not previously studied Level 3 Calculus
must apply well before the end of the school year, as they will need to be sent preliminary study material to work on during the summer holiday. This
material consists of a self study book costing $25: able students should take at most a fortnight to master the material.
When the Max application has been received by the Max Coordinator, the student will be sent an
enrolment pack and will then apply on line to enter the university under Discretionary Entrance Regulations. Advice on doing this will be included in the enrolment pack.
The University applications should be made before mid December. Late applications can be made up
until the beginning of February, but it is strongly recommended that students apply much earlier.
Fees: The cost of the course is expected to be about $640 (not including text books and some course material). Students either fund themselves privately, or are partially supported by their schools, or are funded through the STAR system.
A meeting for potential MAX students was held on Tuesday October 4th, in the
Maths/Physics Building, at 38
Princes St. Feel free to browse through the material presented at this meeting. You are very welcome to email Wendy with any questions you still have.
Applying for the course does not commit students to doing it, and nor are the applications accepted until after (satisfactory) Level 2 and 3 school results have been received by the university in late January.
- Wendy Stratton, MAX Programme Coordinator
Phone: 09 373 7599 extension 85757, or direct dial 09 923 5757
Email: w.stratton@auckland.ac.nz Room: Ground Floor, Uniservices House, 70 Symonds St
Office hours: tba
- Peter Bier
Ext: 83014
Email: p.bier@auckland.ac.nz
Room: 221, Uniservices House, 70 Symonds Street, Level 2
Office hours: tba
The session begins with a 50 minute lecture followed by a 40 minute tutorial and then another 40 minute lecture, with short breaks between these.
The lectures will be recorded and the recordings will be available on the course website.
Recorded lectures have been used since 2007 and have proved a great boon to extramural students and to internal students who have to miss the occasional class. However, at approximately 15 megabytes per 50 minute lecture, students will need to have access to broadband to make downloading these files feasible.
- Examination: The final examination for MATHS 153 in 2012 will be in mid to late June.
- Test: There will be a mid semester test, just after the mid-semester break.
- Assignments: There will be assignments each week. The assignment portion of the final grade will be calculated from these. Each assignment is due to be handed in or posted by 5pm on Tuesdays.
- Tutorials: There will be tutorials every week except the first. They carry no marks at all, but are a major part of learning and all students are expected to make a determined effort to solve the given problems, preferably with a group of other students.
- Assessment: The final grade is calculated from the best of:
- 60% from the final examination and 25% from the test, with assignments contributing 15% or
- 85% from the final examination, with assignments contributing 15%.
The texts for the course are
- Calculus: Calculus, EarlyTranscendentals, 8th Edition, by H. Anton, I. Biven and S. Davis, published by Wiley (this is the standard text within the Department of Mathematics). Any other first year calculus text by H. Anton or by J. Stewart will be suitable, but references will be made to the edition above.
- Linear Algebra: Contemporary Linear Algebra by H. Anton and R. C. Busby, published by Wiley (it is the standard text within the maths department). Any first year linear algebra text would be satisfactory, but references will be made to Anton.
In addition to the texts, students should purchase, in early February, the course lecture manual, and will be given the course CD Rom, which contains a great quantity of other material, including background and extension material, many worked examples, old exams, tests and assignments, and "tutorials" on power point that have been created particularly for the distance students but have proved useful for all students. An optional extra will be a student Matlab license, for those who would like to use Matlab during the course. Students who do not have access to Matlab will be expected to use Excel for some assignment answers.
Do you need the texts? The lecture manual will contain full lecture notes. However it cannot replace the far wider discussion that can be found in a good text, and you are strongly advised to get, at the very least, a Calculus text. It may be that your school holds copies of suitable texts for Max students, or will buy them for you and future Max students.
Below is the list of topics in MATHS 153. Not all of these topics will be examinable: those in
round brackets may not be lectured every year, those in square brackets will be left as
reading only.
Syllabus of MATHS 153 (pdf)
Help on using Cecil is available here: http://cecil.auckland.ac.nz/help/cwi7student/cecil_7_student_help.htm