9 replies to this topic

[nametaken]

I'd love it if you could share some tips and tricks for papers 1, 2 and 3. I'm at a stage where maths is kinda worrying me. I'm on my holiday break right now, but when I get back to school, my teacher's getting us to do all the papers to 'give us a chance to get higher predicted grades' for our uni applications. He's also said that if we don't manage to get at least a 4/5 overall, he'll enter us for the standard level maths paper which I really, really, really don't want and can't afford at all. As the dreaded may exams are inching closer (four months to go!), the worry's slowly consuming me.

So, I thought about perhaps starting a thread where we could somehow gather a sort of guide on the types of tricks someone could use in the papers. There might be paper specific tips, or just general tips. Tips on how to memorise key values or other bits for paper 1, or how to do better in paper 2. It doesn't matter,as long as it's helpful. My hope is that this also helps others like me,who aren't as great when it comes to sitting maths exams.

For example, I've discovered a way to memorise the special angles which to me is useful. I posted it as a status update not too long ago, but in case anyone's missed it, here it is:

"The method uses your right hand. (Lefties, you'll have an advantage here: you can write down answers while you're looking at your hand.) With your palm facing you, count off the basic reference angles, starting with your thumb: 0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90°. To find a trig value, you'll lower the finger corresponding to that angle, keeping your palm facing you. For the sine value, you'll take the square root of the number of fingers to the right of the lowered finger, and divide by 2; for the cosine value, you'll take the square root of the number of fingers to the left of the lowered finger, and divide by 2; for the tangent, you'll divide the number of fingers to the right by the square root of fingers to the left."


Many thanks for your help.

nametaken.

Edited by timtamboy63, Mar 19, 2012 - 15:01.
Fixed the tan

[kiwi.at.heart]

One of the most important things I found was when you were doing a exam, was to remember that every question has to be doable with the content you have learnt. Even the weirdest questions have to be solvable with something you have done in class. So make sure you know the basic concepts of everything really well, usually by doing practice question, but then know what you know. For example, nearly every year they try to through in a horrendous vector question, but there is only so much you can do with vectors so if you are solid with the basics, what looked like an impossible question becomes possible by eliminating all that you know you cant do with it, so that your only option for solving the question is the one left over. Its not going to work every time, but when you come to the end of the exam and there is nothing left that you feel you know how to solve, it can often help get the last few of marks to improve your grade.

Edited by kiwi.at.heart, Dec 26, 2011 - 13:18.

[Caaaaaake]

yep maths hl is seeming like a complete epic fail for me. The textbook we use is the haese and harris;  its okay but it doesnt seem to help with actual exam questions. questions in the exams are sooooooo difficult, i cant seem to get the hang of what they are asking for. Its especially difficult on the structured answers in Section B, as if you cant get the initial parts, you wont be able to get the rest of the marks. any tips from anyone would be great; regarding exam technique, revision techniques- anything! thanks nametaken for putting this thread!

[nametaken]

Caaaaaake, on Jan 18, 2012 - 22:24, said:

yep maths hl is seeming like a complete epic fail for me. The textbook we use is the haese and harris; its okay but it doesnt seem to help with actual exam questions. questions in the exams are sooooooo difficult, i cant seem to get the hang of what they are asking for. Its especially difficult on the structured answers in Section B, as if you cant get the initial parts, you wont be able to get the rest of the marks. any tips from anyone would be great; regarding exam technique, revision techniques- anything! thanks nametaken for putting this thread!

I agree with what you said about section B. That's where it all starts to go horribly wrong for me as well. :/

[-_-]

Well, I'm doing Math HL at the moment, studying is fine, we are finishing the option which is sequences, series,... I think the key is to practice a lot, get used to the type of questions and really understand the basic MAXIMS which would allow you to make deductive reasonings to solve those questions that look unfamiliar

[Dinstruction]

When in doubt, use a creative substitution.

[Desy Glau]

nametaken, on Dec 24, 2011 - 18:03, said:

The method uses your right hand. (Lefties, you'll have an advantage here: you can write down answers while you're looking at your hand.) With your palm facing you, count off the basic reference angles, starting with your thumb: 0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90°. To find a trig value, you'll lower the finger corresponding to that angle, keeping your palm facing you. For the sine value, you'll take the square root of the number of fingers to the right of the lowered finger, and divide by 2; for the cosine value, you'll take the square root of the number of fingers to the left of the lowered finger, and divide by 2; for the tangent, you'll divide the number of fingers to the left by the number to the right.

for the tangent one, you mean sqrt of no of fingers?

thank you VERY much btw!! this is very helpful

[Chaza65]

My maths teacher seemed exceptionally keen to push the idea that, rather than doing the exam in a linear fashion (go from front to back, like we were taught to in previous qualifications like GCSEs), go through the paper at the start of the exam and choose the questions you know you always get points on. For example, I find that I always get the sequences/series questions correct, so he said to go straight to them and score points quickly. Similarly, on Paper 2 you might skip straight to the questions where you sketch a grap with asymptotes and that sort of thing, because they're easier. Apparently this technique works because the grade boundaries are so low. Anyway, that works for Section A for Papers 1 & 2, according to my teacher...

[Where Love Died Laughing]

I don't take HL maths, but the same teacher teaches me as the HLers. Pretty obvious stuff, but for those who are scared about Section B questions -- if you don't know a or b, but know the stuff after that, make an educated guess and use that answer for the other sub-questions. You can only get one point off for a follow-through mistake, and whatever it is you lost for and b, but at least you'll have everything else!

Edited by Where Love Died Laughing, May 01, 2012 - 15:04.

[Ollie]

Learn everything you can do with your GDC off by heart, so you don't waste time playing around with it in the exam. Stuff like Binom/poisson/normal pdf and cdf, forgot to learn it for the mocks...