1. What kinds of questions can be asked at the Help Centre?
   Most of the Help Centre staff are comfortable giving help with topics from first-year or second-year mathematics or statistics courses offered by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. (We may be able to help with other courses as well, but not necessarily.) Generally speaking, the Help Centre staff provide help in topics or courses conducted by the University of Saskatchewan which are consistent with their areas of expertise. In particular, Help Centre staff should not be the main resource for help with third-year and fourth-year honours-level courses offered by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

   Please note: Students seeking help with courses that are not University of Saskatchewan courses should be aware that students needing help with U of S credit courses have first priority.

   If you would like to know if your course is something that we can help you with, please email us at math-help@math.usask.ca .

2. What happens in the Math/Stats Help Centre?
   Located now in the Main Library (Room 144), the Math/Stats Help Centre staff -- up to 3 people working during a specific session -- offers students help with specific mathematics and statistics questions. This will be a one-on-one situation, most of the time.

   During regular session (fall and winter), the Math/Stats Help Centre staff will see students on an appointment basis and on a drop-in basis. During Spring/Summer Session, the Help Centre provides assistance on a drop-in basis only.

   Students are always welcome to drop by the centre to try to get immediate help with a question. However, there are occasions when the centre becomes very busy -- during these times, there is no guarantee that you will get to see a staff member during the session. Many students bring their work to the Help Centre and do other tasks while waiting for a tutor to help them.

3. Who can use the Math/Stats Help Centre?
   Any student from any college or program at the University of Saskatchewan is welcome at the Help Centre. We reserve the right to provide help in University of Saskatchewan courses before helping students with non-U of S courses (e.g. high school math courses).

   How do I sign up for an appointment?
   Visit the appointment information page and follow the instructions carefully. -->

4. How much will it cost me?
   The service is free of charge to all University of Saskatchewan students, provided the student is seeking help is with University of Saskatchewan courses.
5. A bunch of us have very similar questions. Can we make a group appointment?
   We would look forward to helping a group of students at one time. Unfortunately, the appointment room can now only handle at most 3 students .
6. I'm not sure that I want my professor to know that I am visiting the Math/Stats Help Centre. Will the staff be telling my professor that I visited the Help Centre?
   If you let the staff know about your concerns in this area, we will certainly abide by your wishes.

If you find that you can't express your difficulties very well, please do your best and we will make every effort to help you. But please note that this does not mean that the staff will have time to re-teach you everything you should have retained from high school math. All students should be able to expect help from the Centre, so we cannot spend all of our time with a select few students.

• Trying to contact your instructor? Try the Faculty page or Sessional lecturers page for the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

• Here are some general suggestions for succeeding in your math or stats course. If you have any suggestions for the list, let us know!

• Need study tips? The following sites from other universities might provide some helpful ideas for exam writing.
  • University of Victoria
  • University of Buffalo
  • University of Western Ontario
  These links are also listed on Prof. Maclean's web page, which is where they originated. (Scroll down)

• For some general suggestions on how to deal with your courses, check out the Study Skills Resources.

• Looking for old math or stats exams? A few are available in PDF form here: Final Exams. Other exams may be available at the USSU Print Shop in Lower Place Riel. Please note that the Math/Stats Help Centre does not have solutions to exams.

• Help for Math 101 students: Visit Prof. Maclean's Term 2 Math 101 web page.

• Students registered in Math 110 courses may find the following links useful:
  • Math 110 web page from Term 1 (Fall 2002)
  • Web page for Term 2 Math 110 (2002)
  • The publisher of the textbook for Math 110 (Calculus- Early Transcendentals/Single Variable) maintains a web page at www.stewartcalculus.com - you should look under "Single Variable Calculus: Early Transcendentals." Note especially the link to an Algebra review document, the section on "Lies My Calculator Told Me," and the 2D grapher.

• Having trouble with some concepts from high school math?

  You may find some help at:
  • The "Algebra review" section of the "Single Variable Calculus: Early Transcendentals" section of the www.stewartcalculus.com web site. Please note: if your browser is an old version of Netscape, you might have trouble with this page. This site is intended for students studying Math 110 with the Stewart textbook, but might be useful for other students.
  • Prof. MacLean's web page for Math 101, under Math 101 Course Outline . This site contains material which could be useful for students of Math 110 and Math 100 as well as Math 101.
  • the Exercises in Math Readiness website.
  • More review links and general study suggestions: go to review links page.
  • Some suggestions for help with algebra are available at PurpleMath

• Home Page of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics

This page was last updated on January 22, 2008