Jump to content

How difficult is the Calculus option paper generally?


Aninda Saha

Recommended Posts

Guys, kind of in a situation at the moment. The Nov 2015 (my session) exams are only 6 weeks from now and we're still kind of trying to finish our Calculus Option coverage. We're almost done, up to Maclaurin and Taylor series topic so only two more to go. But I still feel it doesn't leave us a whole lot of time to revise and familiarize ourselves with the questions and stuff. So does anyone with experience have any advice for me? I would really appreciate it.

 

Also what would be the best approach at studying for P3 right now?

 

Many thanks!

Link to post
Share on other sites

The best thing you can do is look at the past papers and see how you go. They have got much easier in recent years - compared the May 2015 ones to something like 2011 and you'll see that they provide much more direction - eg which tests to use for convergence. They are quite difficult still, but if you familiarise yourself with the material it's more reliable than Paper 1 and Paper 2.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

know how to do Euler's Method really quickly using your calculator (ideally under 4 minutes). They are no longer requiring a table to give full marks.
I was in May 2015 (TZ1) session. Frankly yeah the paper was easier than anticipated. We finished the syllabus 2 weeks before the exams. But basically I had 6 days prior to P3 of no exams, so that helped significantly.

Practice! Practice! Practice! 

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

The best thing you can do is look at the past papers and see how you go. They have got much easier in recent years - compared the May 2015 ones to something like 2011 and you'll see that they provide much more direction - eg which tests to use for convergence. They are quite difficult still, but if you familiarise yourself with the material it's more reliable than Paper 1 and Paper 2.

 

Hi there,

 

Thanks for the post. Really? Would you really say P3 is more reliable that P1 and P2? That is actually quite reassuring. I have actually been looking over some of the recent papers and I have noticed that they seem much more manageable than before. So essentially, which topic is mostly tested that you think I should spend more energy on?

 

Thanks

Link to post
Share on other sites

 

The best thing you can do is look at the past papers and see how you go. They have got much easier in recent years - compared the May 2015 ones to something like 2011 and you'll see that they provide much more direction - eg which tests to use for convergence. They are quite difficult still, but if you familiarise yourself with the material it's more reliable than Paper 1 and Paper 2.

 

Hi there,

 

Thanks for the post. Really? Would you really say P3 is more reliable that P1 and P2? That is actually quite reassuring. I have actually been looking over some of the recent papers and I have noticed that they seem much more manageable than before. So essentially, which topic is mostly tested that you think I should spend more energy on?

 

Thanks

 

 

You'll usually find that a bit of everything gets tested - series convergence, differential equations, a Maclaurin or Taylor series (almost always Maclaurin - and when it's Taylor, it's usually a pretty easy one), a difficult limit (usually L'Hopital's Rule based), and often a MVT/IVT/Rolle's question. I haven't seen Fundamental Theorem of Calculus make an appearance often but it's fairly straightforward when it does. Make sure your skills are balanced - you can't get away with focusing on certain topics sadly.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...