M338 Exam debrief

Well this will be quite short as predicted in the previous post I really did not do well on the exam time just run out and I got bogged down on basics. I managed 4 out of 8 questions in part 1 and 1 more or less full question in part 2 and bits of a question that should have been a doddle

OK question 1 was as expected a relatively straightforward question on the interior and exterior of two sets.
Think I got most of this but due to nerves etc I took 25 minutes on this

Question 2 was on whetther or not a set defined a topology on a finite sets again I think I got most of this out another 20 minutes on this

Question 3 was showing that certain edge equations could be reduced to canonical form. It looked like this would take ages to work out so I moved on, with the hope that I could return to it later

Question 4 was a question on a shape with a twist in it and you had to divide it by drawing veritices etc a question I never got the hang of so moved on

Question 5 was one which should have been straightforward involving the subdivision of a sphere in terms of octagons and triangles. However normally this type of question just involves one type of polygon. I Didn't have time to think through the implications of this so moved on

Question 6 was about compact sets again I left this as I was never that clear about this type of thing

Question 7 was about sequences in a topology think I got most of this correct

Question 8 was about similarity relations for a fractal again I think I got most of this correct

So maximum possible marks is 32 say 24 after dropping two points per question

Then part 2

Question  9 was on edge equations and reducing them to canonical form something that should have been a doddle. But the twist here was that the edge equations were separated out. So before one could even start one had to combine the equations to get a single equation. I did this then got the Euler characteristic but completely forgot how to obtain the boundary nuimber for this type of question. And I could not reduce to the equation to canonical form. Part 2 of this question was similar involving 4 equations. Again I could get the Euler characteristic but not much more. So a maximum of 4 marks here.

Question 11 was on metric spaces and sequences defined on the metric space. The metric was quite straightforward and I got most of the first two parts correct. Namely calculating the metric for two values for 2 marks and then showing that the metric was indeed a metric space. 8 marks. One then had to calculate the metric for various open balls defined on the metric a maximum of 5 marks so say 10 marks for this question overall.

Time ran out I couldn't be bothered to chase after the remaining marks
so a reasonable estimate is 24 + 4 + 10 = 38 marks. You need 40 marks to pass so I have definitely failed this one.

Hopefully I can move on and do better with my waves course. If I get offered a resit I will probably take it. In the long term scheme of things Topology doesn't matter. I'm a bit more familiar with the language of topology and that should give me the confidence to look at say the applications of topology to physics. But this has been a nightmare best forgotten.