Mathematics HL tips

[Fiz]

Hello,

I am currently taking Math HL in my final year, and lets just say i am not doing so well.

I have always been the best student in my math class since i was a child, scoring A+

Since i have started with the Ib program, i have no idea why my score is not progressing more that a 5.

Whats killing me that i have 7's in almost all other subjects except for math, and math is my most important subject to get a high mark in.

Do you have any tips for maths HL? what did you do to get a higher mark? How do you study math? Any tips you have?

Answering the questions above would help me greatly, i need your help.

Thank you.

[maroctam]

Practice. A lot. Everyday even, just an hour or two if you can on the topic you're currently studying. If you have notes that you don't fully understand make sure you read through them again, rewrite them possibly, and make sense of them. Sorry I couldn't say much; but this is really the only way I can think of. Good luck!

[Hollath]

The only way you can learn maths is through practice. Practice until the formulas you need to use are second nature, practice under time conditions, practice harder questions than the ones that you will get on the exam.

You can find the IBID cirrito book here. https://gerrymerchant.wikispaces.com/file/view/Maths+HL+3rd+Ed+2nd+Imprint.pdf

This book is exceptionally difficult and will improve your maths if you do most of the hard questions in it.

My first HL maths test I got a 4, since then I have only been getting 6s and 7s and have been lucky enough to be predicted a 7.

Although I'm good at maths, this is mostly down to hard work, if you do the work you will reap the rewards.

Hope this helps!

[rinik]

Make sure you understand the concepts. You won't be able to solve problems if you don't understand what you are supposed to do or why you do it. Most of my peers make this mistake a lot. After you have finished this step than go and start practicing. Past papers, textbooks,books with a collection of exercises and any other resource you can find. If you get stuck somewhere look at the mark scheme if you still don't understand how the problem has been solved than go back to step one because you don't understand the concepts.

Know the command terms. I know that people have had problems because they didn't know them. You can find them in the math hl guide for 2014

After some practice you will get used to the style of questioning and become faster. I got 4s and 5s on my first few test and after that it's been all 7s

[Rigel]

The IBID book is trash: don't get it (it didn't help me much when I was studying math). If you want some SERIOUS Calculus immersion you need to get another book (out of the IB curriculum), which is Stewart's Calculus: Early Trascendentals (I should become a salesperson for that book), but that's going a bit overboard. Something nice to try is getting the Pearson Bac one which will help you a lot (this company has excellent IB books).

As the other guys above me said: practice, solve problems until you can't continue. One good method that I always use to study math is to solve all of the problems without making any assumptions or formulas (and just derive or deduce everything), which will really help your way of approaching problems. Math is an extremely hard course (Math HL especially), and you shouldn't feel disheartened if you aren't doing that well in the course. Every class, go to your professor and ask him everything you can (even dumb questions can deepen your understanding of various topics, trust me). The best assumption (and the only one to make!) is to believe that you don't know anything, so that you improve everyday.

[maroctam]

The IBID book is trash: don't get it (it didn't help me much when I was studying math).

If you ask me almost all IBID books are trash... I've tried using the Chemistry, Physics and Math ones but all of them were totally useless. As Rigel said, the pearson baccalaureate math text book is really good, if you're looking for a textbook.