VCE Maths Methods Exam 1 - 06/11/19 - Discussion/Questions/Solutions

[Matthew_Whelan]

Does anyone know how to do the last question without just guessing??

As mentioned earlier, there is a YouTube video of somebody going through the exam (and getting the correct answers).
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VHez9AzvOCw
It’s called worms maths academy.

[S_R_K]

If you want an echo chamber of 'this was the hardest exam ever omfg' check out VCE Discussion space instead. I provided my perspective for those here who want a realistic understanding of where they stand.

QFT. Of course for people just coming out of the exam, which can be a very stressful experience, it can feel like a very difficult exam, and you can disproportionately focus on the questions you didn't answer (or struggled to answer) rather than all those questions you answered successfully. But I agree that a more objective appraisal of this exam would say that it was of quite reasonable standard, with a well calibrated difficulty curve from the first to the last question. There were a few questions which seemed to be checking more for "good intuition" rather than sharp technique, but altogether not too bad.

[DBA-144]

QFT. Of course for people just coming out of the exam, which can be a very stressful experience, it can feel like a very difficult exam, and you can disproportionately focus on the questions you didn't answer (or struggled to answer) rather than all those questions you answered successfully. But I agree that a more objective appraisal of this exam would say that it was of quite reasonable standard, with a well calibrated difficulty curve from the first to the last question. There were a few questions which seemed to be checking more for "good intuition" rather than sharp technique, but altogether not too bad.

So what would you say the A+ cutoffs would be?

[S_R_K]

So what would you say the A+ cutoffs would be?

I doubt it'll be as high as 2015, but probably higher than the last couple of years. 35–36, most likely.

[S_R_K]

METHODS EXAM 1 SOLUTIONS

How did we all go?

Nice job.

I have one suggestion for Question 7, which allows one to bypass all the fiddly calculus / algebra.

It is a fact of geometry that the largest triangle, by area, that can be inscribed in a circle is equilateral. From this it immediately follows that the coordinates of P which gives the largest triangle is (1/2, sqrt(3)/2), and from this the area is easily calculated to be 3sqrt(3)/8.

[Sine]

I went through the exam and as past students have said and what some students have told me I thought it was a really standard methods exam 1. I don't think there were any questions that needed you to think outside the box for e.g. cone of death (2010) or 2016 question 8.

Common mistakes I see occurring would be:

Potential mistakes

Q1) Forgetting to x = 1 for part b
Q2) Giving the final answer as y= not f^-1 =
Q5) Asymptotes not drawn properly (graphs need to be not touching asymptotes, not curving away etc)
Q8) Forgetting to find a dilation factor for the equation (e.g. only looking at the x-intercepts to find the equation of the graph)
Q9) part f - possibly students trying to solve for a solution. More brute force and uneloquent methods probably works best for this one by graphing the equations approximately.

However, understanding students did this in exam conditions I don't think the A+ cut-off will be ridiculously high. I would expect something like 36-36.5/40.

For exam 2:
I thought the probability/stats section was not covered well in exam 1 with just 6 relatively easy marks available there. So I would expect in exam 2 there will be a big extended question on this. Obviously you should also get your usual extended questions on functions/calculus.
Also if you didn't do too well on this exam remember that exam 1 is worth 22% of your final study score (your sacs are worth more than 1.5 times that (34%)). Also doing well on exam 2 is generally also more beneficial given the marks are usually distributed for the exams (e.g. less people scoring really high on exam 2's).

Good luck!

[Lear]

 I would expect something like 36-36.5/40.

Having done some further discussions with students and the company I work for, I'd agree that this is probably the most accurate cut off prediction.