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Thoughts on math SL may 2014 specimen paper


Tripull

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A few weeks ago we had our mock exams. To practise for the mocks I did the old math sl exam papers from 2011 and scored around a 65/90 (a score 5). However when we did the specimen paper I got 40/90 points (score 3). This kind of result seemed to be consistent through out the class. And we all wondered, " Where were all the logarithms? Where was the ordinary math?" Our teacher thought the same, that the specimen paper was really hard and only contained the things in the new syllabus. Such as differentiation using substitution and wierd trigonometric identities.

So firstly I want to ask: Is my class the only one that saw these kinds of results?
Secondly: Do you think that the IBO is only trying to scare us into practicing the new stuff using this specimen paper. So that we don't "cheat" by not doing the things that has changed in the syllabus?

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The specimen papers are going to be highly loaded with the 'new' stuff from the syllabus because the whole purpose of them is to show you how the new stuff is going to show up on real papers so you can prepare for it. The real exam is unlikely to be as imbalanced, although obviously the new stuff is going to rear its head quite a few times. They kicked out a few large-ish topics (Matrices, for example) so the new topics will certainly come up quite a bit.

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Hey Tripull. Don't worry. You're not the only one, the specimen paper kicked my butt..HARD! I was wondering the same thing! Where were the logarithms, the binomial expansion? One reason I didn't do well was because I didn't focus on the new syllabus. But obviously that's what we have to focus on since it's the new syllabus and definitely going to come in the exam. I thought Paper 1 was easy. Even though I got a 4, I could have easily gained a 6 had i studied the new syllabus, but in my opinion, Paper 2 was very difficult. And unfortunately, my teacher also told us that the final exam is a bit harder than the specimen papers so yeah, I hope we'll all be able to do well. But no, focus on everything, just because some topics didn't come in the specimen papers doesn't mean that they won't come in the final exam. But its a 100% guarantee that the new syllabus will come so make sure that you know it inside out.

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