When to begin?

[EeLo0d]

When should I take start studying for Exam F/M? I only have a background in Calc I and Intro Stats, and currently taking Calc II. When have you studied for the FM (or your first test) and which math background did you have? What valuable wisdom can you share?

[alexcrewe]

Originally Posted by EeLo0d

When should I take start studying for Exam F/M? I only have a background in Calc I and Intro Stats, and currently taking Calc II. When have you studied for the FM (or your first test) and which math background did you have? What valuable wisdom can you share?

I've been studying for P and FM for a little less than 2 months. I have a huge math background, but you really don't need much mathematics for FM (For P, a background in Calc II and probability is necessary, and calculus-based probability is a very very nice plus). For FM, most of the time you use geometric series, but memorizing formulas can avoid most of that work. The bigger challenge is to make sure you know what all of the words/symbols mean. For me, that's been the biggest challenge - catching all of the vocabulary. Now I haven't passed the exams yet (May for P, June for FM), but my biggest piece of wisdom from both giving and taking waaaay too many tests is do sample problems, and do them with a time limit with the resources you'll have. And always review your answers against known solutions when they exist (even if you got the problem right).

[Sinkingfun]

You don't need much math background for fm...most of it you can easily learn as you go. Do lots of practice problems and I recommend going really slow so that you soak in the material. Once you get to a decent level, do lots of practice exams and find as many problems as you can do. Make sure you can do just about any random problem pretty quickly. Be very patient.