24 replies to this topic

[1-2-3]

Here is some advice that you might want to follow right before and during the Math examination.

Although most of these things are common sense, I think that putting it all down in words helps.

So,

1) Ensure that you have atleast 2 working pens, a ruler, an eraser, two working pencils and your GDC put into your bag the night before the exam.
- The last thing you want to do is forget something small and go around begging people for it/ going home to get it right before the exam.

2) Change the batteries of your GDC the night before the Paper 2 exam.
- I know this is kind of extreme but after having used the GDC for so much exam practice [hopefully], the batteries might be running out!

3) Do not talk to your friends right before writing the exam.
- They are likely to ask you about how to solve something or the other, and if you don't know it, you'll probably freak out and try to cram the solution : that will not help, an hour before the exam is probably too late to learn anything new

4) Do not do last minute cramming/ trying to solve difficult problems.
- For the reasons stated above

5) Do not eat a large breakfast/lunch or go to the exam with a completely empty stomach.
- Eat 'brain food'

6) Have a cup of coffee.
- Research shows that it will help you concentrate better.
- Plus, one cup of coffee drunk occassionally will not do you any harm.

7) You will have 5 minutes to look over your paper. In this time, make a mental note of the questions you are sure you know very well. Do them first. Then, move on to the more difficult ones.
- Doing easy questions first helps bring confidence and gets your brain running.

8) When you're done with your exam, look over your answers/ re-calculate if time permits.
- You might find mistakes you missed before.

9) Do not try to cheat.
- Believe me, you'll get caught

Good Luck!

Edited by 1-2-3, Apr 29, 2009 - 17:34.

[Mahuta ♥]

10) If an answer looks weird and you know for sure you used the right technique dont try to change it, answers can be weird somtimes.

11) Know your basic rules and be familiar with the data booklet.

12) Do ALL the easy questions first to garuntee the marks..then move on to the harder ones.

[JMR]

13) Always read the question carefully and see what they are looking after.

14) Remember to have your final answer to 3 significant figures.

15) Do not panic when not knowing how to solve a question.

16) Always show your full working, so that even if your final answer is wrong you will still get marks.

[Vvi]

13) Check your answers if you have time.
Most people are unlikely to have time on Paper 2, but if you do then check your answers using another method apart from the one you used, and don't look at the original method. I find that I almost never find mistaked if I just check the working I already did (I have to redo it another way)

14)Put brackets around everything on your calculator when you work out problems on it.
Otherwise your calculator may give the wrong answer for questions involving division and exponents in particular.

15) Know what settings your calculator is on when you are using it to work out answers (radians/degrees, etc.)
Unless you want to get wrong answers for using radians instead of degrees, or not be able to work out certain problems

16) Read the instructions on the paper: Start all of your Paper 2 questions on a new sheet of paper. Write your name and candidate number on every sheet of paper. Always include units in your answers. If not told otherwise, round to 3 sig figs.

17) Make your final answers to questions clear (underline/circle them, leave them at the end of the question and not lying about in the middle). Examiners may miss some of your answers if you leave them in the middle of problems.

18) Always show working, and if you get the answer from the calculator, write that in the working. As in "From GDC".
You get marks for working, and on Paper 2 you cannot get complete marks unless you show working.

19) If you don't know/can't work out the answer to the first part of a question, make one up (any number) and use it to answer the next parts of the question. The first question will be wrong, but you get full marks for answers that are correct in other questions even if you use the wrong figure to calculate them.

I disagree with 1-2-3's rule number 4, but that's because I learn best by cramming. My brain tends to forget some stuff right before. I will cram truth tables into my head the morning of the exam, everything else I know.

Edited by Vvi, Apr 29, 2009 - 20:03.

[Aboo]

20) Show any working that you can for a hard question.
You can get some marks for even a line of work, so if you can't figure out the whole question, just start with whatever you can.

21) Be legible!
Every bit of working should be legible, otherwise you will get a big fat zero for that question or if it continues, for the entire paper.

22) No Tipex, just a line across the work
Tipex isn't allowed. If you make a mistake, score a line across the work

23) Do not drink Coffee before an exam
It might give you a rush, but at the last moments, you are going to slow down. It's not worth it.

24) Work fast.
The exam, both SL and HL, has more questions to do than you have time. Don't spend too much time on one question. For HL, spend 45 minutes on Section A, and 75 minutes for Section B. For SL, I'd say 35 minutes on Section A, and the remainder on Section B.

[Ruan Chun Xian]

25: Move on if you're stuck on a question, come back if you have time. Sometimes you will think of the way to do it when you give it a rest.

26: Only have coffee if it helps you.

27: If you get answers from graphs from GDC, sketch the graph

28: Use lots of paper. Space out your work so it's easier to see. Clearly cross out wrong workings but don't make it illegible. sometimes you end up crossing out the right method but if the examiner see that you were on the right track it might help.

[Hyperbole]

29: Keep an eye on the time. You have approximately one minute for each point awarded (at least in SL where you have 90 marks / 90 minutes per paper), so don't spend twelve minutes on a six-mark question.

30: Read the question carefully! If it says "state xxx" you aren't supposed to have to perform calculations in order to find the correct answer. If it says "hence solve xxx", do use the method previously specified!

31: Sleep and eat properly. But this goes for the whole exam period and the weeks before!

[y.v]

32. While you're studying for the exam, use the Math Data Booklet.
- This will help you get familiar with it.

33. Make sure that your GDC has no more applications than those allowed by IB.

34. Do not make eye contact with anyone in the examination room while you're writing the exam.
- It might seem like you're trying to cheat even when you're not!

[Matthew Sinclair]

35. If you have absolutely no idea how to do a question at least write something down! Even a guesstimate may get you marks. Who knows. I was able to get an extra mark on a Math SL test by doing so

36. At least identify the correct formula to use and write it down. In some cases it could prove beneficial.

Edited by Matthew Sinclair, Sep 18, 2009 - 02:25.

[Lex@]

Prepare for maths exam to such a level, that you will be sure in getting 6. Don't get nervous(you know the subject). Try to smile at good weather, idea that in 2 hours you will be free from one hard exam and so on. This will make you feel more happy i.e. better. Ignore all your annoying friends, who got stressed from the way you look. NO REVISION at all. Just think about last football match(of course it is before the papers are given out). Now what you are self confident person under less stress than others. All you need is concentration and good planning.In this condition you have smaller chance of making stupid mistakes, almost no emotions are in you, except of positive ones and your logic invades your brains.

It might be seen as this nerdy way, but it worked for my IGCSE maths exam, which I have done and than I have done whole paper two more times, while my stressed friends didn't have any time for checking their answers. Stress was destroying their ability to focus on their work, they knew their stupid mistakes and got B, while I have managed to get A*)))))

One thing. Don't look at other students in exam room. Many people were annoyed with me looking around myself, having 5 minutes of relaxing for few times. It all adds stress to those, who are doing their exams.

[Austin Glau]

37. Don't spend time last minute programming into your calculator, unless it is somthing quick like Riemann sum or something (don't even attempt trying to program derivatives unless you have like 1 or 2 hours to mess around, assuming you've studying as much as you could, you need to incorporate power rule, quotient rule, special cases, ect.)

38. Review notes (think that's already said), and use online notes (tutorial.math.lamar.edu Paul's online notes and archives.math.utk.edu/visual.calculus Visual Calculus) or videos on youtube

[Amber]

This is all really helpful, but who follows all of it?

I know one

39) If you are freaking out, relax...take a deep breath

[Austin Glau]

40)Although it may seem like a bad idea, a morning run may actually help on the day of the exam, if you do it somewhat often already.

41)Try your best to not have a English or other exam where you might get a writers cramp before the Math Exam.

[Nickel_Cadmium]

On paper II and III, make FULL use of your calculator; IB will expect you to know your calculator in and out. Be sure to write something down though, like sketch a graph when the calculator gives it to you.

If you can, know ALL the formulas and identities from the data booklet by heart. On the exam, every bit of time counts and when you know all the formulas no time is wasted on leafing through your booklet. Plus, due to the stress, finding the formula may for some reason be difficult.

Know all the material on the syllabus. May seem obvious, but some people actually go into the exam not knowing all the material.

[Desy Glau]

JMR, on Apr 29, 2009 - 18:54, said:

14) Remember to have your final answer to 3 significant figures.

what if a question asks you to find the inverse of a function? should I write: "y=2.00e^0.500x+7.00" ? or just put "y=2e^0.5x+7" ?

[Abdominal Procrastinator]

Unless stated, limit your answers to 3 significant digits.
And also, my recommendation is to skip any question you cannot answer at once (but budget enough time to come back to it), it doesn't detract from your focus on the exam.

[Aboo]

Marsupilami, on Nov 19, 2010 - 12:58, said:

JMR, on Apr 29, 2009 - 18:54, said:

14) Remember to have your final answer to 3 significant figures.

what if a question asks you to find the inverse of a function? should I write: "y=2.00e^0.500x+7.00" ? or just put "y=2e^0.5x+7" ?

You're confusing decimal places and significant figures. If there are zeroes, don't put them obviously. But if there are other numbers, round them up to 3 s.f. If it were rounding up to 2 decimal places, you still wouldn't have to put the zeroes. Only calculators do that.

[bomaha]

- Do the easier questions first and then move on to the harder ones.

[hellwo]

Start each question on a fresh piece of paper if available(IB suggests it and it keeps you organized).

Always start with the equation your using so that you'll have some work down even if its a simple problem.

Number the questions to the left of the lined box so you have more space for your work.

[Hexa]

- If you have time to double check your work, double check the ones you know how to do for sure first. You might end up fixing a small calculation mistake that could save you points. When double checking stuff you're not sure of, even if you do manage to fix a calculation mistake, there's still a chance that your methodology was wrong and you still wouldn't get any points, even after fixing the minor mistake.