how to get better (2 Viewers)

[english? ensquish]

i can't seem to get better at mx2 (and mx1 but its slightly better) and also miraculously seem to be getting worse (averaging a solid 70-80ish rank out of almost 90). uh i do tutoring so i understand when the tutor explains it but can't do it on my own.

oh and i can't drop it bc im on 10 units (feels like a joke but its true)

 

[mmmmmmmmaaaaaaa]

What is your current approach to studying and revision like?

 

[carrotsss]

Its hard to give more specific advice until we know your current studying and revision techniques, but here’s some general advice:

• If you’re using the maths in focus textbook, don’t
• You shouldn’t be doing many grindy textbook questions, and should instead focus on carefully going through past hsc questions and analysing why ur getting them wrong
• Make sure your exam technique is good. Improving exam technique is pretty much free marks. You need to make sure that you finish every question you are capable of first (by skipping hard questions initially) and then approach harder questions with your momentum from the easier questions. Also, it can help to pretty much fake confidence in exams, which helps a ton for harder questions.
• You may need to improve your mindset. This is arguably the most important part - I’ve seen countless friends go from straight As to failing exams because of a bad mindset. You absolutely need to believe that you can improve in ext 2 and are capable of it, and have to avoid a defeatist attitude that you’re screwed because of your past performance. You have two internal assessments left and the entire HSC to make up that ground, and you absolutely can do it with enough hard work and the right study methods. You got this!

 

[Vall]

do more practice questions probably. you can't learn maths by watching a tutor / teacher do problems, you gotta do the work

 

[ms_grape_taco]

What do people exactly mean by doing more questions? I feel like I spammed through so many questions for my math ext 1 exam and in the end the marks I lost were silly mistakes/making a lot of small-ish mistakes in hard questions? (for context i got a mark of 55/60 rank 12th)

I'm not sure if continuing to do more questions will help to a certain degree?

 

[dumNerd]

i can't seem to get better at mx2 (and mx1 but its slightly better) and also miraculously seem to be getting worse (averaging a solid 70-80ish rank out of almost 90). uh i do tutoring so i understand when the tutor explains it but can't do it on my own.

oh and i can't drop it bc im on 10 units (feels like a joke but its true)

How is this possible - "i understand when the tutor explains it but can't do it on my own." --> you just apply the same thought process your teacher is applying? [assuming your talking about the same type of question rather than a harder question that requires you to think]

 

[carrotsss]

What do people exactly mean by doing more questions? I feel like I spammed through so many questions for my math ext 1 exam and in the end the marks I lost were silly mistakes/making a lot of small-ish mistakes in hard questions? (for context i got a mark of 55/60 rank 12th)

I'm not sure if continuing to do more questions will help to a certain degree?

You have to also make sure you’re learning from all of your mistakes, even silly mistakes

 

[Vall]

What do people exactly mean by doing more questions? I feel like I spammed through so many questions for my math ext 1 exam and in the end the marks I lost were silly mistakes/making a lot of small-ish mistakes in hard questions? (for context i got a mark of 55/60 rank 12th)

I'm not sure if continuing to do more questions will help to a certain degree?

firstly: 55/60 is good
Silly mistakes were my greatest enemy. To avoid them I found it best to do plenty of study -> complete test questions faster -> have heaps of time left over to very carefully check for silly mistakes
Maybe also practice doing questions in an exam setting? Like a timed format and then after doing them (before marking) check for silly mistakes and see if you catch any
you can definitely minimise but perhaps not entirely eliminate silly mistakes

 

[synthesisFR]

firstly: 55/60 is good
Silly mistakes were my greatest enemy. To avoid them I found it best to do plenty of study -> complete test questions faster -> have heaps of time left over to very carefully check for silly mistakes
Maybe also practice doing questions in an exam setting? Like a timed format and then after doing them (before marking) check for silly mistakes and see if you catch any
you can definitely minimise but perhaps not entirely eliminate silly mistakes

how do i stay good at a topic
I tend to become trash at past topics how should I fix that? I mean ofc doing past papers but i dont rlly get to it given the amount of work I have during school

 

[Average Boreduser]

What do people exactly mean by doing more questions? I feel like I spammed through so many questions for my math ext 1 exam and in the end the marks I lost were silly mistakes/making a lot of small-ish mistakes in hard questions? (for context i got a mark of 55/60 rank 12th)

I'm not sure if continuing to do more questions will help to a certain degree?

I mean I personally haven't had too much experience in this, but as a student who averaged 60-70% in my old school for math bc of silly mistakes, what I've developed is a calmer mindset, revised topics ahead of school, Learned techniques to sub into questions in order to verify if they are right or wrong, and probably the biggest contributer to silly mistakes would be stress. By relieving my stress, i did substantially better (averaged 98% in math in my new school- which is much higher in ranking). If you think it may not be stress and you've done as much as you could to reduce careless errors, the best antidote would likely be testing if a question is right by subbing into the stimulus provided for the qn, drawing diagrams to visualise if your results allign with the question, etc. Additionally, using a highlighter also helps students who tend to not read the whole question fully.

 

[dumNerd]

lol the biggest thing fucking you up in terms of sillies is your own mindset
my friend (graduate) always told me a particular teacher would make very hard tests for 4u and this teacher was gonna make my term 3 test for 4U (on vectors and mechanics) --> so I grinded a shit ton (wayyyy to much - note I was like rank 4 at this point) cos I had the mindset this exam gonna be hard asf --> went into the exam (got surpised because there was no reading time and no MC - all the past papers had this) --> still had a flick through questions and realised they are piss got surprised --> didn't read a part of the first question (which I had already established was easy) so started freaking out and skipped it --> same happend second question (misread, cascading effect) and freaked out even more lol --> started hyperventilating and ended up getting like 33/40 (all sillies) which was 83%

(if your wondering how I remember this it's cause it traumatised me) --> for some reason this wasn't just me all the people in the top 15 seemed to have gotten lower (33-36) and the people further on seemed to have gotten higher

In trials i made sure I had a clear head (don't overwork and do stuff that's too hard --> calm down and take a moment to think about the question, don't instantly skip) --> came first for 4U trials

 

[gazzaboy]

Getting rid of silly mistakes is definitely one of the best ways to improve your marks. What I found helpful:

• Do past papers and even homework in exam conditions (timed and quiet, not checking the answer right away) so you're constantly getting used to the high pressure of a real exam. This also trains your mindset going into an exam
• Learn techniques to check your answer quickly (e.g. substitute answers back into the original equation, draw a diagram)

Also fully agree that it's not enough to watch a tutor do a question, you also need to try it many times yourself

 

[Vall]

how do i stay good at a topic
I tend to become trash at past topics how should I fix that? I mean ofc doing past papers but i dont rlly get to it given the amount of work I have during school

lol i was so bad at finding time to study for 4u during the school year. the proof of this was my HSC exam mark being 4 points higher than my internal mark for 4u