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Paper 3 - Calculus Option


Dax

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Hi Guys,

Almost a month remaining and I have absolutely no Idea how to tackle Paper 3 - Calculus Option.

I get confused by the type of questions that appear on the paper and sometimes just don't understand them, especially those involving series and tests. I have the Cambridge Option 9 Textbook for Calculus. I just don't know what else to do?

Is there any specific source that I could check or see, or something like that which will help me better?

Thanks Guys!

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Well, all i can tell you is solve past papers to get used to the question style. I know everyone says so, they say it for a reason. Sometimes knowing what the question wants is the hardest part.

I had Haese and Harris, which was bad. so i have purchased the Cambridge text book and it is amazing, Solve all its question, read everything, and after each section you complete go solve pastpapers on it.

I know how you feel, i have felt the same. But with practicing you will get used to it!

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I'm going to be honest with you, i had to sit with my teacher several times to understand some concepts. The option is not easy, but not impossible. Talk to your teacher and ask him/her about the things you don't specifically understand. That's what they are for!

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Hey! I would say that in general the way to prepare for any maths paper - and particularly paper 3 - is to get stuck into past paper questions and after doing them in approximately exam conditions using the mark scheme to improve. However, the only caveat to this advice is that your paper 3 option - calculus - is the very first session of the new syllabus. So, any past papers you use would have to be taken from the old option 'series and differential equations', and even then, the content of the option has changed quite a bit. So you would need to have a copy of the old and new syllabus out for comparison (or maybe a table of all the changes to the option, which should be online or maybe your teacher will have it) and then when going through old questions you would know which are not relevant. The past paper questions should be useful in giving you experience with the content that remains common between the syllabi. Otherwise, you would have to resort to using the textbook to practice questions for new syllabus only content. In general, I'd say that you should get good at using the GDC because I found it crucial to doing well in paper 3. Best of luck!

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