Please help this sinking soul!

[Dasunhun]

I'll just get straight to the point... I am not doing well for Specialist Maths Unit 1&2, my test results keeps getting worse each time, and I do not know exactly why. Before every test I review all of the teacher's notes, during class I listen to the teacher, I do every question in the textbook on that topic, prepare detail cheat sheets, because we are allowed them, and so I feel prepared for the test... But I am receiving low Ds for results. If the class average is lower than my scores, I would not be this worried, but I am below average in my class.
 
The first topic that we will be studying next term is complex numbers, any tips on how I should prepare for the test? Or any studying tips in general for Specialist maths that have worked? It would also be encouraging to hear a story of success from failure.

[Buddster]

I'll just get straight to the point... I am not doing well for Specialist Maths Unit 1&2, my test results keeps getting worse each time, and I do not know exactly why. Before every test I review all of the teacher's notes, during class I listen to the teacher, I do every question in the textbook on that topic, prepare detail cheat sheets, because we are allowed them, and so I feel prepared for the test... But I am receiving low Ds for results. If the class average is lower than my scores, I would not be this worried, but I am below average in my class.
 
The first topic that we will be studying next term is complex numbers, any tips on how I should prepare for the test? Or any studying tips in general for Specialist maths that have worked? It would also be encouraging to hear a story of success from failure.

Is the problem that you're getting test anxiety or are you underprepared for the tests? You sound very prepared for the tests tbh.
When you get your test marks back, do you feel like you should've got the questions correct?  Do you correct all the practice questions you do? Make sure you fully understand why you get something wrong when you do. Focus on your weaknesses, the type of questions you get wrong, not your strengths. If you have problem with CAS questions, spend a lot of time learning how to use the CAS. It can be helpful to read over chapters before you start them in class, and try out the example questions in the textbook chapters. If your teachers and the textbook aren't enough, check out khan academy or perhaps a tutor.

Hope this has been helpful!

PS: in terms of success stories, just remember a 25 spesh still scales well above 30

[cookiedream]

I'll just get straight to the point... I am not doing well for Specialist Maths Unit 1&2, my test results keeps getting worse each time, and I do not know exactly why. Before every test I review all of the teacher's notes, during class I listen to the teacher, I do every question in the textbook on that topic, prepare detail cheat sheets, because we are allowed them, and so I feel prepared for the test... But I am receiving low Ds for results. If the class average is lower than my scores, I would not be this worried, but I am below average in my class.
 
The first topic that we will be studying next term is complex numbers, any tips on how I should prepare for the test? Or any studying tips in general for Specialist maths that have worked? It would also be encouraging to hear a story of success from failure.

Hello!
Dang, I'm really sorry to hear that And even after listening in class and doing every single textbook question
Well, I'm doing 3/4 Spesh this year so I'll give you some tips on 1/2 and I'll tell a personal story

You're a really hard working student, which gives you a heads up on this heavy subject. So now I think you should focus more on your exam taking skills.
These include:
1. Underlining key terms. For complex numbers, look out for whether they ask you for polar or co-ordinate form; how many solutions they want and in what domain, labelling the Im(z) and Re(z) axes in your graphs; what quadrant the complex number is in, etc etc. Highlight the number of decimal places in a certain colour at the start of writing time for each question.
2. UNITS!! This is more so to do with the vectors/kinematics topic, but it can also apply for other fields. Convert to m, s or m/s! Put m^3 or litres in your answer, etc.
3. Constantly track your working out! When you finish a question, critically look over what you just wrote to detect any mistakes. Did you accidentally put a + instead of a -? Did you forget to put in the domain of the graph? Did you accidentally factorise something like -3x +6 to -3(x+2) instead of -3(x-2)?
4. Reflect. Where did you lost marks? Silly mistakes? Did you skip a step? When you get your test back and when the teacher goes through the answers, actively go through your own test and annotate where you lost marks (with things such as the correct answer and what to do next time to get full marks). Ask the teacher why they took marks off and how you can get the full marks.
5. Actively check your work and ASK QUESTIONS! Doing every single question is good, but it wouldn't be effective if you aren't proactive in checking your work and asking the teacher about any difficult questions or any point of confusion. Try having a book of errors for every question you get wrong and write a reflection on what you can do to prevent your mistake.

Okay now here's my own story:
Spesh was (and still is) my weakest subject. I didn't pay that much attention in class last year, I didn't ask questions and I rarely got a score that I was happy with. But around the mid-end of the year I decided that this wasn't working so I started doing the questions, asking the teacher, reflecting on my previous mistakes and working on my exam skills. So when it came to exam time, I remember how the week before the exam I was just going through practice exam questions and looking over the formula sheet. I was quite exhausted from doing 3/4 exams (especially Methods, which drained all my energy for maths) so I told myself that I'll do my best and just be happy with whatever I got.
I got an A+ and Spesh ended up being my highest mark out of all my 1/2 exams.

Not sure about how 3/4 will go though haha, as I'm more focussed on the rest of my subjects.
It's quite harder than 1/2, which is why I sometimes regret not being a good Spesh student from the start.

Hope that helped!

[Dasunhun]

Is the problem that you're getting test anxiety or are you underprepared for the tests? You sound very prepared for the tests tbh.
When you get your test marks back, do you feel like you should've got the questions correct?  Do you correct all the practice questions you do? Make sure you fully understand why you get something wrong when you do. Focus on your weaknesses, the type of questions you get wrong, not your strengths. If you have problem with CAS questions, spend a lot of time learning how to use the CAS. It can be helpful to read over chapters before you start them in class, and try out the example questions in the textbook chapters. If your teachers and the textbook aren't enough, check out khan academy or perhaps a tutor.

Hope this has been helpful!

PS: in terms of success stories, just remember a 25 spesh still scales well above 30

Well, I don't think I have extreme test anxiety since I perform quite well for other tests like Methods. For my test marks, I do see why I lost the marks, but I would have not been able to know that during the test. If that makes sense. Yes I correct all the questions I do and practice them more than once, so my basic foundation of the concept should be quite strong. Once the question is phrase differently or seem more extended, I just do not seem to understand what it is asking for and how to do it. Thanks for your help, maybe I need to work on my understanding of questions.

Hello!
Dang, I'm really sorry to hear that And even after listening in class and doing every single textbook question
Well, I'm doing 3/4 Spesh this year so I'll give you some tips on 1/2 and I'll tell a personal story

You're a really hard working student, which gives you a heads up on this heavy subject. So now I think you should focus more on your exam taking skills.
These include:
1. Underlining key terms. For complex numbers, look out for whether they ask you for polar or co-ordinate form; how many solutions they want and in what domain, labelling the Im(z) and Re(z) axes in your graphs; what quadrant the complex number is in, etc etc. Highlight the number of decimal places in a certain colour at the start of writing time for each question.
2. UNITS!! This is more so to do with the vectors/kinematics topic, but it can also apply for other fields. Convert to m, s or m/s! Put m^3 or litres in your answer, etc.
3. Constantly track your working out! When you finish a question, critically look over what you just wrote to detect any mistakes. Did you accidentally put a + instead of a -? Did you forget to put in the domain of the graph? Did you accidentally factorise something like -3x +6 to -3(x+2) instead of -3(x-2)?
4. Reflect. Where did you lost marks? Silly mistakes? Did you skip a step? When you get your test back and when the teacher goes through the answers, actively go through your own test and annotate where you lost marks (with things such as the correct answer and what to do next time to get full marks). Ask the teacher why they took marks off and how you can get the full marks.
5. Actively check your work and ASK QUESTIONS! Doing every single question is good, but it wouldn't be effective if you aren't proactive in checking your work and asking the teacher about any difficult questions or any point of confusion. Try having a book of errors for every question you get wrong and write a reflection on what you can do to prevent your mistake.

Okay now here's my own story:
Spesh was (and still is) my weakest subject. I didn't pay that much attention in class last year, I didn't ask questions and I rarely got a score that I was happy with. But around the mid-end of the year I decided that this wasn't working so I started doing the questions, asking the teacher, reflecting on my previous mistakes and working on my exam skills. So when it came to exam time, I remember how the week before the exam I was just going through practice exam questions and looking over the formula sheet. I was quite exhausted from doing 3/4 exams (especially Methods, which drained all my energy for maths) so I told myself that I'll do my best and just be happy with whatever I got.
I got an A+ and Spesh ended up being my highest mark out of all my 1/2 exams.

Not sure about how 3/4 will go though haha, as I'm more focussed on the rest of my subjects.
It's quite harder than 1/2, which is why I sometimes regret not being a good Spesh student from the start.

Hope that helped!

Wow! Thanks for the detail advice and your story motivates me to continue Spesh! I will try and take every advice to the heart, a book of errors does sound very helpful. Good luck for your studies this year, I am sure you are very hardworking and will be able to pull it off!

MOD EDIT: Merged posts - Sine P.S Good luck with Spesh!

[Sine]

For spesh a lot of the questions you see on test/exams will be things that you have seen before. Practice questions and experience is what will help you. So whilst you are learning a topic you must learn all the different "standard" techniques required to solve easy to moderate difficulty problems. Of course there are gonna be some harder questions which require some higher thinking but for the most part the questions will be quite "simple" - although they aren't often presented in this way.

Complex numbers is  a great topic to solidify these subject strategies because there is only so much you need to know and only so much they can ask. (e.g. barely any applications of complex numbers...in spesh at least)

Ensure your test taking technique is solid. The aim of a test is to gain the max amount of marks that means 3 marks for an easy question is the same as 3 marks for the hardest questions. Make sure that you milk every single mark that you "should' be getting - this is done by completing all the questions you know how to do first. Additionally never leave a single question blank if you aren't sure on how to tackle the question just try to fudge some working out + some relevant formulas. 1/3 is better than 0/3 right.

In contrast to cookiedream (who gave exceptional advice!) I don't believe actually checking working out is that good. It is so easy to read over your working out and miss where you made the mistake. This is why if you want to or have time to check questions you should just try to do the same questions with a different technique (it's hard at first but with practice a lot of standard questions can be done 2-3 different ways).