Pre-MM Academic Prep

The fast pace of the UBC MM program means that all students will need to have a foundational proficiency in Quantitative Methods and familiarity with Statistics and Economics.  When your classes begin in June, you’ll need to be familiar with all of the material listed below as classes move along very quickly.

Each of you comes to the program with a different academic background, so your familiarity with the academic prep tutorials will also vary. It may be that some of the resources on this list are very familiar to you, and you can quickly review them to make sure you’re up to speed, or you may have never covered some of the subjects and will need to learn them in depth.

Instructions

Where to begin: Review each section and complete those areas you are currently not comfortable with. Most tutorials include quizzes and practice tests, so completing these is a good way to quickly review if you are familiar with the content.

If you'd like to track your learning progress, you can sign up for a user account with Khan Academy, but it's not required.

Completion times: We have estimated the amount of time to complete each section based on the length of videos and allocating time for the practice questions. It may take you longer or shorter than we have indicated, and after a few sections, you'll begin to get an idea of your speed compared to our estimates.

Disclaimer: These tutorials have not been vetted in-depth. They have been selected based on the concepts included and tutorial descriptions. You are encouraged to explore the content and cover concepts you are unfamiliar with. The aim is to ensure that you have foundational proficiency in these topics, but not all concepts may apply directly to coursework.

All resources are from Khan Academy unless otherwise indicated.

If you have feedback about these academic prep materials, please send it to askmm@sauder.ubc.ca.

Business Writing

These resources are recommended by the staff at the UBC Sauder Canaccord Learning Commons

Plagiarism & Citation

1 hour approximate study time.
Critical skills for all of your courses – make sure you know how to cite your work, and understand what your responsibilities are with regard to academic integrity.

Arithmetic & Excel

ARITHMETIC
Relevant for Statistics, Operations, Finance, and Economics.

The Basic Order of Operations (PEMDAS)

  • Order of Operations (20 mins)

Fractions (approx. 1 hour 15 mins total)

Linear Equations & Functions

  • Modelling with linear equations (10 mins)

Averages

  • Averages (9 mins)

MICROSOFT EXCEL

30 mins to 2 hours approximate study time, depending on previous skill level. Relevant for Statistics, Operations, and Finance.

  • Excel training (delivered by Microsoft)
    Skip any sections you are already familiar with

Algebra

19 hours approximate study time. Relevant for Statistics, Operations, Finance, and Economics.

General

Functions (approx. 1 hour 20 mins total) (Relevant for Economics)

Logarithms (approx. 45 mins total) (Relevant for Economics & Finance)

  • Introduction to Logarithms (45 mins)

Introduction to Algebra - All sections (approx. 3 hours 50 mins total) (Relevant for Statistics/Operations)

  • Overview and history of algebra (35 mins)
  • Introduction to variables (25 mins)
  • Substitution and evaluating expressions (15 mins)
  • Evaluating expressions word problems (15 mins)
  • Writing algebraic expressions introduction (23 mins)
  • Dependent & independent variables (10 mins)
  • Combining like terms (32 mins)
  • Introduction to equivalent algebraic expressions (7 mins)
  • Interpreting linear expressions (10 mins)
  • Division by zero (15 mins)
  • Practice test (25 mins)

One-variable linear equations - All sections (approx. 5 hours total)
(Relevant for Statistics/Operations)

  • Algebraic equations basics (23 mins)
  • Why we do the same thing to both sides of an equation (15 mins)
  • One-step addition & subtraction equations (25 mins)
  • One-step multiplication & division equations (40 mins)
  • Two-steps equations intro (20 mins)
  • Two-step equation word problems (20 mins)
  • Linear equations with variables on both sides (35 mins)
  • Linear equations with parentheses (20 mins)
  • Analyzing the number of solutions to linear equations (18 mins)
  • Linear equations word problems (25 mins)
  • Linear equations with unknown coefficients (10 mins)
  • Practice test (25 mins)

One-variable linear inequalities - Only sections indicated below (approx. 1 hour 10 mins total) (Relevant for Statistics/Operations)

Two-variable linear equations (approx. 6 hours 50 mins) (Relevant for Statistics/Operations)

  • Two-variable linear equations intro (30 mins)
  • Slope (50 mins)
  • Horizontal & vertical lines (20 mins)
  • Intro to slope-intercept form (30 mins)
  • x-intercepts and y-intercepts (40 mins)
  • Applying intercepts & slope (25 mins)
  • Writing slope-intercept equations (50 mins)
  • Point-slope form (20 mins)
  • Standard form (35 mins)
  • Summary: Forms of two-variable linear equations (35 mins)
  • Practice test (30 mins)

Ratio, Proportion, & Percent

2 hours 20 mins approximate study time. Relevant for Finance.

Ratio, Proportion and Percent (approx. 40 mins) 

Accounting & Financial Statements (approx. 40 mins)

  • Cash versus accrual accounting (13 mins)
  • Three core financial statements (27 mins)

Statistics

11 hours 40 mins approximate study time. Relevant for Statistics/Operations.

Displaying & Describing Data (approx. 6 hours 50 mins total) (only sections indicated below)

Modelling Data Distributions (approx. 2 hours 40 mins total)

  • Describing location in a distribution (28 mins)
  • Normal distributions (2 hours 10 mins)

Probability (approx. 1 hour 25 mins total) (only sections below)

Probability Distributions

Sampling Distributions (approx. 35 mins total) (only sections below)

  • What is a sampling distribution? (10 mins)
  • Sampling distribution of the sample proportion (11 mins)
  • Sampling distribution of the sample mean (2 – 14 mins)

Economics

3 hours, 20 mins approximate study time.

Introduction to Economics (approx. 45 mins total) (including Micro/Macro Economics)

Supply, Demand and Market Equilibrium  (approx. 2 hrs, 35 mins total)

  • Demand (1 hour)
  • Supply (35 min)
  • Market equilibrium and changes in equilibrium (1 hour)

Extracurricular Reading

These books are not mandatory reading but are suggested for those interested in doing some more preparation for the program.

  • Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't
  • Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
  • Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
  • Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Technology Projects to Mainstream Customers
  • Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Programing

These mandatory ‘Introduction to Python’ and ‘Intermediate Python’ courses delivered by DataCamp will help you get up to speed with the technical knowledge that you need for the required course: BA 515 – Fundamentals of Analytics and Tech course.

Access to Datacamp will be available at the end of June. We suggest prioritizing completing Datacamp courses from July to August.

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