Yacoubb's Mathematical Methods CAS 3/4 Thread

[Snorlax]

I agree totally with shadows. I personally wouldn't go beyond 4 or so chapters. Spend the holidays finishing the allocated homework and consolidating what you have learnt in 1/2 Methods (which is about 50% of the course for 3/4). Areas of concern for Methods could be: trig, composite functions, modulus functions, sketching power functions, computation, algebra skills and transformations. I wouldn't be bothered to do anything on calculus or probability, as you will cover it later in the year - and, chances are, you will have forgotten some of the stuff by then.

Of course, if you really want to be prepared, try working on exam techniques and so forth. For example, find a good study area at the start of next year to make sure that you can concentrate. As you will no doubt hear next year, Methods is a test of how well you can do tests, rather than a test of your mathematical ability. Many of the questions aren't that difficult, the concepts aren't too hard either. What differentiates the good from the best is one's ability to read questions carefully, to avoid making careless errors.
Hope this helps!

As a part of our holiday homework, we got Probability stuff to work on :/
Not sure why, seeing as you mentioned...we'll probably forget most of it by the time we get around to the topic later in the year.

[lArcdeTriomphe]

As a part of our holiday homework, we got Probability stuff to work on :/
Not sure why, seeing as you mentioned...we'll probably forget most of it by the time we get around to the topic later in the year.

Yeah, that's strange. I think the majority of schools do functions and algebra as the first few topics, although perhaps your school is doing probability as its first topic? Otherwise, I wouldn't weight the probability homework too heavily (I'd concentrate on things like discriminants, transformations, sketching functions, etc.)

Personally, I think probability is easy as a review section (because what is covered in Year 11 Prob is relatively basic, apart from a few tricky conditional probability questions); however, it's the section of the methods course with the most new content in Year 12. That's why I would think many schools cover it later, to keep it fresher in students' minds towards the exam (I know that that system worked for me ).

Nonetheless, these are just my thoughts, and there's no harm in previewing new content!

[mackintosh]

Yeah, that's strange. I think the majority of schools do functions and algebra as the first few topics, although perhaps your school is doing probability as its first topic? Otherwise, I wouldn't weight the probability homework too heavily (I'd concentrate on things like discriminants, transformations, sketching functions, etc.)

Personally, I think probability is easy as a review section (because what is covered in Year 11 Prob is relatively basic, apart from a few tricky conditional probability questions); however, it's the section of the methods course with the most new content in Year 12. That's why I would think many schools cover it later, to keep it fresher in students' minds towards the exam (I know that that system worked for me ).

Nonetheless, these are just my thoughts, and there's no harm in previewing new content!

This is true. A large majority of schools do this last or near-last.  Algebra, graphing etc are far more important to be confident with at this stage of the year.

[alchemy]

As a part of our holiday homework, we got Probability stuff to work on :/
Not sure why, seeing as you mentioned...we'll probably forget most of it by the time we get around to the topic later in the year.

Just saying for GMA, we got Vectors (Ch.15) as our first topic to work on.
I guess that's reasonable since Vectors are just simple arithmetic once you've conceptually understood them.

[alchemy]

Mohammed doesn't let bro

What?

[spectroscopy]

if im bad/not confident with a topic from year 11, should i re do the year 11 chapter of it or just spend some extra time on it in the 3/4 text/course

[alchemy]

if im bad/not confident with a topic from year 11, should i re do the year 11 chapter of it or just spend some extra time on it in the 3/4 text/course

Yes, exactly! I always find that it helps as well.

[Yacoubb]

If y = (x + sqrtx^2+1)^2, show dy/dx = 2y / (x^2+1)^1/2

[IndefatigableLover]

If y = (x + sqrtx^2+1)^2, show dy/dx = 2y / (x^2+1)^1/2

This question was actually done not too long ago on this thread Yacoubb! Re: Methods [3/4] Question Thread!
 

working

EDIT: Beaten e.t.c.

^Should thank b^3 for his working out!

[Yacoubb]

This question was actually done not too long ago on this thread Yacoubb! Re: Methods [3/4] Question Thread!
 ^Should thank b^3 for his working out!

Thank you SO much b^3! && thank you too

[Yacoubb]

Hi guys

Any good resources for ER questions for Methods? I really wamt to address these early in the year in preparation for SACs and exam 2. Thanks