A few random tips

[swesty2001]

HAHAHA i just leave the room if i were you..if it's just too hard and can't attempt any...

[-pari-]

questions 8-10...do them first or last?

what would you advise and why?

i've heard two basic views: do them first becoz u have the energy for them and more chances of getting them right
or
do them last coz u'll be "settled" into the exam flow, and be able to think straight. u'd have worked from easy to hard and also it'd be a better way to plan your time.

from what i know, the last 2 or 3 qestions are damn hard, so i thought it'd be good to do them first? and then whiz thru the easier ones...?

i can see chin_music has tried this...and it worked well. i wouldn't call myself the most brilliant mathematician...should only the really strong maths ppl risk doing the paper "backwards"?

[-pari-]

questions 8-10...do them first or last?

what would you advise and why?

i've heard two basic views: do them first becoz u have the energy for them and more chances of getting them right
or
do them last coz u'll be "settled" into the exam flow, and be able to think straight. u'd have worked from easy to hard and also it'd be a better way to plan your time.

from what i know, the last 2 or 3 qestions are damn hard, so i thought it'd be good to do them first? and then whiz thru the easier ones...?

i can see chin_music has tried this...and it worked well. i wouldn't call myself the most brilliant mathematician...should only the really strong maths ppl risk doing the paper "backwards"?

[SoulSearcher]

Last, because by then you would have settled into a groove and answered as many of the easy questions as you can, thus getting you more marks. It's a lot better to get close to full marks in 1-7 and picking up a few marks in 8-10 then get 8-10 all right and doing worse off in 1-7 because of the energy you would have expended in doing 8-10. That's my opinion anyway.

[Forbidden.]

When people do papers backwards, more often than not they mess up their time management and destroy their confidence. The papers are designed such that the easy questions are first so you can slowly build up your confidence and not be so intimidated by the harder questions at the end.

Thats reassuring, I hope.

I really dislike it when people skip lines of working when trying to teach me or when the teacher asks them to show working out on the board.

[AngelBunny`]

I thought it was 2sig. figures, I always use 2 in math and 3 in chem, isn't it? My teacher say if they didn't tell u how many sig. figures to put and just put 2... reply me quickly please... I'm worry, math is my best subject... I can't fail it just because i put the wrong sig. figures... T-T

[SoulSearcher]

I put 3 decimal places myself if they don't specify, but you should be fine with 2 decimal places.

[lala2]

For the order in which you attempt the paper, definitely do beginning to end. You'll have picked up most of the easy marks, and will scrape a low band 6 if anything (I got 90 for my external on the dot, just using that method, and only attempted like parts a) and b) of question 9, really dodgily too). I would recommend going over the stuff you actually know too, after that, to check for silly mistakes--I did that because I knew I would potentially lose more marks being careless than not attempting q10.

[AngelBunny`]

thank you^-^

[Grey Council]

nah, in my opinion that logic is flawed

do the paper from the start, dont do question 10 first

a) question 1 is worth as much as question 10
b) papers aren't designed so that you wont get 100%. wtf, they are criteria based, markers LOOK TO GIVE YOU MARKS. not try and stop you from getting 100% =\
c) any competent student will finish the paper probably before 2 hours are over. I went to sydney boys high, all my friends and I were finishing 2 unit papers in sub 90 minutes generally. So the whole "exhaustion will set in after 3 hours" argument doesn't work. And if you cant do the papers that fast, why start from question 10 where you risk getting bogged down, mismanaging time and losing marks from question 1, which, btw, are worth just as much as question 10?

eh, I could go on. Don't start from question 10, its just not worth it. Perhaps one or two people got 100% starting from question 10, but ask any 4u student to do a 2u paper, starting from question 1, and i'd say majority of them would get high 90's, if not 100. "secret" to getting 100% isn't in starting backwards, its in doing trial papers before the exam, so that you've seen the exam before you enter the exam room.

[airie]

eh, I could go on. Don't start from question 10, its just not worth it.

I agree. Unless you're a super-freakin'-genius and you get a huge boost of confidence from getting the hardest questions done first quickly so you could do the rest in a flash

[Templar]

Personally I don't think working backwards is bad. While I didn't do it for prelim 2 unit, in ext 2 I've got higher marks on the occasions I did do the paper backwards.

[watatank]

^^You must be the exception not the rule

But for the most part....Do the last three questions first? No. The whole test is designed so you WILL do it in the proper order...

[watatank]

wrong thread. only general maths does multi choice.

[Forbidden.]

^^You must be the exception not the rule

But for the most part....Do the last three questions first? No. The whole test is designed so you WILL do it in the proper order...

Basic Algebra at the beginning then you get slugged an uber difficult Loan Repayment/Superannuation/Trigonometry or some question at the end that reveals the real Mathematician in Q10.

Multiple choice is easiest first.

I bet you sign anything blindly, even if you didn't notice the fine print stating your assets will be seized at will.

I agree. Unless you're a super-freakin'-genius and you get a huge boost of confidence from getting the hardest questions done first quickly so you could do the rest in a flash

The super-freakin' geniuses do Maths Extension 1 and 2 exams only, unless they want to mess up with us Maths kids.

I hate the stupid mistakes.
Positives instead of negatives, rounding off incorrectly (not so much now), writing the correct answer THen scribbling it out and writing the wrong one cause i thought the one that was right was wrong.........the list goes on.
I remember in my first assessment if i had not done stupid mistakes i would have gotten 20% higher from 60ish to (you guessed it) 80ish.
So yeah, thats all i gotta say. Stupid mistakes are my worst enemy.

Numero Uno reason why I lost ridiculous amounts of marks in my Half-Yearly

[kloudsurfer]

I have a tip.

Remember +c (or k orwhatever you use) when integrating!

I swear I forget that every single test!

[Forbidden.]

I have a tip.

Remember +c (or k orwhatever you use) when integrating!

I swear I forget that every single test!

It's always + C ... always ... for indefinite integrals

[SoulSearcher]

The super-freakin' geniuses do Maths Extension 1 and 2 exams only, unless they want to mess up with us Maths kids.

Or do it in earlier years, screwing those kids up.

[kloudsurfer]

It's always + C ... always ... for indefinite integrals

My textbook says k (for some reason...k for 'konstant'??? lol) in the answers, but I use c.

Wasnt sure what everyone else uses...

[watatank]

My textbook says k (for some reason...k for 'konstant'??? lol) in the answers, but I use c.

Wasnt sure what everyone else uses...

i'm pretty sure its convention to use c, but seriously who cares what letter you use (unless its x or y or t, that might get awkward lol), the point is you know that its some constant.

[Forbidden.]

Oy, my Physics teacher said ∫P dx = 1, where P is some function in Quantum Mechanics ...
but is there is no derivative of a constant ...

My textbook says k (for some reason...k for 'konstant'??? lol) in the answers, but I use c.

Wasnt sure what everyone else uses...

From my experience in 2U, the constant, k is used in binomials and trinomials e.g kx² + 2x +3 > 0 and so on ...

the "+ C" is used in indefinite integrals only.

[lunavixen]

thanks, i read that carefully and now i realise where i'm going wrong, i keep rushing in tests, this'll help

[samuel slack]

the +k comes from the fact that constant is spelt with a k in german, and the guy who did all the working with indefinite integrals was german. Hence, you either change it to c, or stay with the original k. Both correct.

[nerdsforever]

a tip to do well in maths is to not get cocky and think that you will do well, because you always end up getting disaapointed. my maths teacher said to skip problems if you dont know how to do them, or just guess it. If its only worth one mark, guess it, and go on. remember to not place two answers in your test, because now they count it as wrong (i used to put three multiple answers and they accepted them, but not anymore). ALSO, make sure that if it doesnt say to round off, then dont! keep it in the long way or as a fraction, because I GOT ONE MARK TAKEN OFF FOR ROUNDING IT OFF!!! STUPID TEACHER!!!!

if you dont want to make stupid mistakes, then try to check your paper in the end. What tends to work is to turn your paper upside down or cover your answer, and do the question again and you will find whether you made a silly mistake. people make stupid mistakes because they assume it is right, since they know all the stuff already. its the same with english. usually, people cannot spot errors in their work because they wrote it themselves and know what its supposed to be read as.

DONT LOSE YOUR CONCENTRATION IN ANY EXAM. ohhh and i find that when i encounter a hard question, i lose all belief in myself. I advise to treat every question individually and to not be put down by one hard question. If you cant finish the whole paper because you dont know how to do the remaining questions, then dont bother with trying how to work out how to do the remaining problems. Go back and check the problems you have already did. At least you can make sure you have those marks secured. It would be pretty sad to have marks taken off for questions you havent done and also marks taken off for silly mistakes in questions YOU CAN DO!!!

[tacogym27101990]

youre in year 10?