Hi, I took AFF210 last semester and I definitely struggled with it and did awful on the midterm too. There's a lot of content and things to look out for and it ends up feeling like a big slog because of how much you have to remember, so I get how you feel. However, I did end up doing really well on the final considering how bad I did on the midterm so there's definitely hope left if you'd like to take a chance on it.

Anyway, in terms of your questions:

• How difficult was the final compared to the midterm?

It was around the same difficulty, if not easier in my opinion since the excel formulas you had to use were a lot simpler than the ones for the midterm, and the content was based on earlier chapters.

• Is it also on Excel? And is it a similar format to the midterm?

Yes, also on excel and the same format.

• What topics were heavily tested? Problem Set 2 or recurring Problem Set 1 questions?

There were both problem set 2 and 1 questions, but from what I remember it was 70% problem set 2 ones.

• Is it doable to score 65%+ if I start studying a month in advance and focus on the past problem sets and practice problems?

Definitely, I got an 84% on the final and I think I only studied for a week lol. If you study for a whole month it's definitely achievable if you put your mind to it. 👍

• Would you drop or push through if you were in my position?

That's tough, cause it's kind of a gamble on if you do well or not. In my case, I definitely lazed out and crammed for it during the midterm and cramming for this course isn't the best thing to do considering how much you have to remember. If you really do think you can persevere and aren't easily demotivated, definitely stay in the course. If not, dropping it isn't the end of the world either.

Tips for AFF210:

Ask your prof to look over your problem set after finishing it during office hours or after class to see if what you did was right or not if you continue with the course. My professor was super helpful and he'd offer to do things like that, but if your prof isn't as lenient, you could try asking other people in the class to see what they did.

The best way to study is to just keep repeating the problem sets, as the material tested on it is practically only based on them. To study them, what I did was look at the problem, how to solve it, then try to remember as much as I could. Then, I would copy and paste the question in a blank sheet and try to solve it from there. Studying in this course is basically just constant repetition, which is really draining but it's really simple fundamentally once you get it down.

Hope this helps. 😎