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Where should I start?


Beni

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This week is the second mock session of my IB diploma and well...maths.

I used to be great at maths but since recently I've been doing worse and worse. I obviously want to do better (a 6 is what I am aiming for in 2013) but I have no clue where to start studying. Our teacher has no plan for teaching us and simply walks into class, starts a new topic without even saying what it is and then we are supposed to do exercises..The books we use are the 'Cambridge Mathematics for the IB Diploma' ones by Hugh Neil and Douglas Quadling. I hate them since I cannot understand ANY of the explanations given. In fact, they confuse me more. So badly organized, like my teacher.

How should I study? And where can I get good explanations/books with exercises?

Thanks for any help.

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How should I study? And where can I get good explanations/books with exercises?

Thanks for any help.

You could try Haese & Harris: "Mathematics for the International Student: Mathematics HL (Core)" and "Mathematics HL (Options)", which are available online together with the worked solutions.

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How should I study? And where can I get good explanations/books with exercises?

Thanks for any help.

You could try Haese & Harris: "Mathematics for the International Student: Mathematics HL (Core)" and "Mathematics HL (Options)", which are available online together with the worked solutions.

keep in mind that the exercises in H&H text are too easy for IB level though. so during exams you might still have a hard time.

I actually thought the Cambridge text was good, but well if it doesn't suit you then perhaps you could try the Oxford one? or H&H but don't practise from there. practise from Cambridge text exercises, they're good.

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How should I study? And where can I get good explanations/books with exercises?

Thanks for any help.

You could try Haese & Harris: "Mathematics for the International Student: Mathematics HL (Core)" and "Mathematics HL (Options)", which are available online together with the worked solutions.

keep in mind that the exercises in H&H text are too easy for IB level though. so during exams you might still have a hard time.

I actually thought the Cambridge text was good, but well if it doesn't suit you then perhaps you could try the Oxford one? or H&H but don't practise from there. practise from Cambridge text exercises, they're good.

The exercises in the cambridge books are quite good, but unfortunately of no use if I cannot understand the explanations provided at the beginning of each chapter.

Another 'problem' I have is that I am not sure where to start studying, because unlike physics or chemistry in maths we jump between chapters seemingly at random. Is it better to create my own linear path through the book or should I also take a few exercises from here and there?

And do you guys make sort of information/tips sheets for each chapter with the most important formulas and tricks?

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I mean if you want to practise then look at the questions from Cambridge text. for revision you can look at Oxford or H&H text.

we also didn't follow the order of the chapters in the book. I personally would go by the order in the syllabus, it seems to go by difficulty level.

the most important formulae can be found in the data booklet so I don't really make notes per chapter, but I do have a list of useful formulae that can't be found in the data book. but it's for HL so I don't think you'll need to memorise any other formula.

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There's a pretty great book published by the IBID Press called Mathematics Higher Level [Coreu by Nigel Buckle and Iain DUnbar. I think it's forbidden for me to link to copyrighted material, but you should be able to find a copy on the internet (if you don't PM me) which you can use to study. It has decent worked examples and explanations and should help you out.

Oh, and download the Maths HL questionbank and practice questions from there. They are the best possible practice for exams.

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