How should I approach Revision Mathematics?
People come to EC400 with a wide range of backgrounds: some of you have recently completed advanced courses in mathematics which covered all you need for revision maths, some of you may have gaps in your knowledge, and some of you may not have studied maths for some years. This course is designed to be flexible and provide everyone with the background knowledge you will need in your subsequent courses.
The core of the course is the online multiple-choice quizzes. The aim of these is to assess your knowledge in this area. You should start by reading through them and checking how comfortable you are with what they cover. If you can easily solve the quizzes, there is no need to study any of the other materials. If you struggle with some of the questions, you should read the relevant chapters in the provided notes and/or watch the relevant Revision Mathematics Videos. If it all looks unfamiliar or you need to refresh your knowledge, read through all the materials. If you need additional help, there are recommendations of additional textbooks, and there will be a live Q&A session at the end of your revision period.
The structure of the course
The course consists of two parts: the Background Material (focuses on functions of one variable, differentiation, integration, properties such as concavity and convexity, Taylor approximations and more), with corresponding quizzes A-D, and Core Topics (covers similar and more advanced topics extending them to the multivariate setting), with corresponding quizzes 1-5.
You should study them in this order:
Background Material
Start by reading through the quizzes A, B, C and D on the background material. You can access quizzes here. After you have done the quizzes, you can refer to the answers here.
If you struggle with the quizzes on the background material, do some reading. You can find individual chapters and a list of alternative reading recommendations in the Reading & Background Notes. Of course, if you already have relevant materials from a course you have taken in the past, you are welcome to use these as well.
Core Topics
Once you are comfortable with the Background material, move on to the Revision Mathematics Core Topics. This is where you should spend most of your time. Start with the quizzes 1 - 5. You can access pdfs with questions here: Revision Mathematics Quiz Documents.
If you can do the quizzes easily, you are done with all of Revision Maths and you can move directly to the preparation for the rest of EC400.
If any of the topics are new to you, or you need to refresh your knowledge, read through the Revision Maths Notes and/or watch the Revision Maths Videos before attempting the quizzes.
SOFP, DPDE, PSI
Once you have completed all the quizzes, you can have a look at the sections for Static Optimisation & Fixed Points (SOFP), Dynamic Programming & Differential Equations (DPDE), and Probability & Statistical Inference (PSI). These are a preview of what you will cover in the main part of EC400. You do not need to study them in detail at this point: you will go over these topics in lectures and classes, but you are encouraged to start reading through these materials in advance. There is also a diagnostic quiz in the PSI section which you should complete before the start of the second half of EC400.
The Exams
The Revision Maths material is not examined directly, but you will need to know all of it to be able to follow the other parts of the EC400 course and any subsequent graduate courses you take in the Economics department.
The quizzes do not count towards your exam result.
The EC400 exam will take place Monday 23 September -Tuesday 24 September 2024, in person.
You will be assessed on the three units: SOFP, DPDE, and PSI.
Non-compulsory students who wish to continue studying Economics MSc-level courses must achieve an overall grade of 50% in EC400 with no one subject exam less than 40%. Non-MRes students wishing to study MRes/PhD-level courses must achieve an overall grade of 70% with no one subject exam less than 60%.
The grades from these exams will not be included in any official transcript from LSE and they will not count towards your final degree classification.