1. General

In January to March, the Korteweg-de Vries Institute for Mathematics organises an online course Mathematics A. The aim of this course is to bring the participants to the Dutch vwo (pre-university) level in the areas of functions, differentiation, probability calculus and statistics.

Evaluation
The course has been rated very well. The course participants graded the Winter e-course with an 8,5 out of 10. 

"The material was structured well and the videos gave really good explanations of the material" 2024

Digital environment for learning, practising and assessing mathematics

We offer an interactive digital learning, practice and assessment environment where you can work individually to master the mathematics topics. After the start of the course with an online kick-off meeting on 13 January 2025, you will work with the course materials following a fixed weekly schedule. The course materials consist of online content such as theory chapters, explanatory videos and assignments. In addition you will receive a course reader (in pdf) as a reference work. In the digital environment you can practice the parts you find difficult multiple times.
In addition, you can ask questions in an online forum where answers are posted daily, and there is the possibility to ask questions to the lecturers personally twice a week via a live chat (most likely on Tuesday and Friday afternoons). On 10 February 2025 there will be a midterm Q&A in which exercises from practice exams will be discussed. Finally, an online exam preparation meeting will be organised on 14 March 2025.

Whom is the course intended for?

• The course is intended for prospective students who want to start a university degree programme in The Netherlands, but who do not meet the mathematics entry requirements for this degree programme.
• Important: In many cases, passing our Mathematics A exam is sufficient to meet the Mathematics A entry requirements for degree programmes at the University of Amsterdam or other Dutch universities. However, because admission of students is the responsibility of the individual degree programmes, it is strongly recommended that you check with the admissions officer of the intended degree programme that you will indeed be admissible with a certificate of the Korteweg-de Vries Institute for Mathematics.
• If you don’t formally need to take the course to overcome a math deficiency, but simply want to acquire more Mathematics A skills, then there is no obligation to take the exam.
• No calculator is allowed during the mathematics exam. The exam is composed and guaranteed by the Korteweg-de Vries Institute of Mathematics of the University of Amsterdam. The exam focuses on algebraic skills of the candidate; therefore a calculator is not required. In the exercise material of Mathematics A, it can occur that very large or more complex numbers are used. For example, this is the case with some exercises in the subject of rows and series. in this way, the candidate will be able to factor more complicated numbers into prime factors than will be required at the exam.

Please note that the Korteweg-de Vries Institute for Mathematics also offers a Winter e-course Mathematics B. Furthermore, we offer a similar online Mathematics A course in October to December: the Autumn e-course Mathematics A.

2. The course materials of the Winter e-course and required prior knowledge

You will get access to an online learning, practice and assessment environment at the start of the Winter e-course Mathematics A. All course materials will be available in the online environment but in addition you will also receive the course reader ‘Mathematics A’. This course reader will be made available in pdf at the start of the Winter e-course.  The costs of the online study materials and course reader are included in the course fee.

The topics that will be covered during the Winter e-course Mathematics A are the following:

• Arithmetic and algebraic skills
  • Calculating with fractions, roots and powers
  • Expanding brackets and factorisation
• Functions
  • Functions and graphs
  • Domain and range
  • Linear functions, quadratic functions, power functions and root functions
  • Linear equations, quadratic equations, power equations and root equations
  • Linear fractional functions and equations
  • Exponential and logarithmic functions and equations
  • Trigonometric functions: sin and cos
• Number sequences
  • Basic concepts
  • Arithmetic and geometric sequences
• Increasing and decreasing
  • Slope and derivative
  • Increasing, decreasing and extreme values of functions
  • Standard derivatives (except sin and cos) and rules for differentiating
  • Maximum or minimum distance between graphs
• Probability theory
  • Introduction to probability theory and combinatorics
  • Statistical distributions (normal and binomial distributions)

Required prior knowledge:
Due to the ambitious goal of the course, it is very important that your math entry level is sufficient. To check whether your prior knowledge is sufficient or whether you need to update the prior knowledge through self-study, we recommend that you do the exercises in the “Prior Knowledge Mathematics A” learning environment below. If you have mastered this material and can complete the exercises correctly, you can assume that you have sufficient mathematical skills to start the Winter e-course.

3. Where and when?

The Winter e-course starts on 13 January 2025 with an online kick-off meeting for all course participants. Then you start working with the course materials according to a fixed weekly schedule. We strongly recommend that you follow this weekly schedule closely, as there is the possibility to ask questions about that week’s assignments in the weekly live chat sessions. Because you work independently in a digital learning, practice and assessment environment, you can follow the course from anywhere, in your own time. So there are no scheduled classes.
On 10 February 2025 there is an online midterm Q&A in which exercises from practice exams will be discussed, and on 14 March 2025 an online exam preparation meeting is organised. The exam will also take place online.

Registration:
Registration opens on Monday, 9 September 2024 at 9:00 am CET. Registration closes on Tuesday, 2 January 2025 at 11:59 pm CET.

Please note: registration is not without obligation. Therefore, read the cancellation conditions under section 5 carefully before registering.

Dates:
Start Winter e-course: Monday, 13 January 2025 (online kick-off meeting, starting time 1:00 pm CET*)
Dates Winter e-course: 13 January to17 March 2025
Date of midterm Q&A: Monday, 10 February 2025 (online, 1:00-3:00 pm CET*)
Date of exam preparation meeting: Friday, 14 March 2025 (online, 1:00-3:00 pm CET*)
Date of exam: Monday 17 March 2025 (online, 1:00-3:30 pm CET*)
(*times with proviso)

Exclusively for students who took the exam on 17 March 2025 and did not pass it, there will be a resit on Thursday, Monday 31 March 2025  (online, 1:00-3:30 pm CET*).

4. Registration and course fee

The costs of the course are € 440 (this includes access to the online learning environment, the course reader and examination).

You can register from 9 September 2024 9:00 am CET via the button at the bottom of this page. By registering, you agree with our cancellation conditions (see section 5). 

When registering, you must pay the full course fee by credit card or iDEAL (iDEAL is only available if you have a Dutch bank account). After registration and payment, you will receive a confirmation of registration and invoice by email.

Please note: there are a limited number of places available! There are 50 places available for the course e-Wintercourse Mathematics A. There are 20 places available for a separate exam. If the maximum capacity is reached, registration will be closed. This can mean that registration is closed before the indicated closing date above. In that case, the option in question will no longer be available via the registration button at the bottom of the page.

5. Cancellation

In order to cancel your registration, send an email to:
wiskundecursussen-science@uva.nl

Conditions for cancellation by the participant: 

• You can cancel free of charge up to 14 days before the start of the Winter e-course (so, before Sunday, 29 December 11:59 pm CET). We will then refund course fees already paid.
• If we receive your cancellation within 14 days before the start of the course (so, after Sunday, 29 December 11:59 pm CET), 50% of the course fee will be charged to you, and we will refund half of the course fee.
• If you cancel after the start of the course, you will owe the full course fee.

In the context of Dutch Distance Selling regulations, you can also cancel your registration without giving any reason and free of charge up to and including 14 days after the day of registration, up to the moment the course starts. You can send this cancellation by email to wiskundecursussen-science@uva.nl or you can use this model form.

Please note:
"Only the Dutch version of these conditions is legally binding. In the event of a dispute on the translation or interpretation of these conditions, only the Dutch version of these conditions will be taken into consideration." and “This agreement and the conditions are governed by Dutch law. Any disputes will be settled by the competent court in Amsterdam.”

6. Examination

The Winter e-course offers an excellent preparation for the subsequent exam for which the participants of the Winter e-course Mathematics A are automatically registered. This exam is taken online in the week after the course. The exam will be graded on a scale from 1 to 10 and the minimum pass grade is 6. If you pass the exam, you will receive a certificate stating that you master Mathematics A at the Dutch vwo (pre-university) level.

7. Further information

If you have any further questions about the Winter e-course Mathematics A or would like to receive additional information, please send an email to wiskundecursussen-science@uva.nl. We will contact you as soon as possible.
During office hours (09.00-17.00) you can also call us on +31 (0)20-525 5091.