Rise and shine! It’s a beautiful Friday morning in October; except for the fact that about 50,000 of us are about to sit our Mathematics exams (kind of puts a damper on things huh?). This is the first of the really popular HSC subjects (top 10) to have an exam in the afternoon; so we thought that today, we’d try something a little different! So right now, let’s deconstruct the morning of Mathematics: What should you be doing? Where do we invest these last few hours?
General Mathematics students, while slightly less useful for you, read on for some last minute pointers this morning! Best of luck!
1. Get a Good Breakfast
If you are reading this now, then you are out of bed, so telling you to get a good night’s sleep is a bit pointless. What I will say though is that getting some fuel in the tank is super important on the morning of Mathematics. Would you run a marathon without a drink? Of course not! Be sure that the favourite part of your body is given what it needs to perform at its best. Bacon is optional.
2. Build The Momentum
Now this isn’t so useful for the General Students; you guys need to be focusing on keeping relaxed, reading over your formulas, and just getting yourself in the zone. Keep your morning nice and easy!
For 2U and 4U students, you guys have the benefit of a little extra time. So should you be smashing out practice papers today? Definitely not, at least not in the same style.
For me, the morning of an exam is all about momentum.
You need to walk into your exam this afternoon feeling confident! Stress, anxiety, pressure; none of that is good stuff in a mentally demanding situation. You need to tailor your work today around building that confidence, not taking it away. Practice exams might be okay here, but normally they can be a little stressful and a little knock to the confidence if you get a tough one.
So, make a few adjustments to your practice. Do everything with your notes open so you can keep a nice and natural flow. Work with some mates to keep things relaxed. Hell, I’d personally even make a habit of skipping your super hard Q16’s and replacing them with the quicker Question 13 and 14 parts.
This has several logistical benefits; ensuring every topic gets some attention is one of those. However, this is just about keeping you in a positive mind set. This translates into physical and mental confidence on the morning of Mathematics, which is a massive win for you.
Assuming you start at 9am, do some practice until 12pm; that’s one last 3hour study block to make sure you are super prepared.
3. Consolidate
It’s like a cruel twist of fate. You are studying on the morning of Mathematics and you think, “I won’t study that, it probably won’t be in there.”
You, dear sir or madam, are inviting the wrath of the Math Gods.
Be sure you have addressed all your topic areas at least briefly!
Use summary notes (if you have them, and indeed General students, this is all you need to be doing now!) to brush up on key ideas, key question types and key processes. All your work up to now has hopefully given you a little bit of depth, now is the time for breadth.
4. Check your Calculators
Every year there is someone who walks into an exam and has a heart attack when they get into the exam and realise their calculator doesn’t work. Don’t be that person, check it now and make a backup plan if it doesn’t!
2U and 4U have something else they can do to right now as well; swap your calculator to Radians. That’s the default; make sure it is there by default.
5. Get your Questions Answered
It is not too late to ask last minute questions; jump on our Question Threads for
Mathematics and
Mathematics Extension 2! There is nothing worse than not knowing something on the morning of Mathematics, let us help you get set!
GOOD LUCK!