ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE Mathematics => VCE Mathematics/Science/Technology => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Specialist Mathematics => Topic started by: Chavi on September 01, 2010, 10:04:45 pm
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2 months left. How are you revising for Spec? How do you balance it with your other 3/4 subjects?
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Do practice exams during "breaks" from other subjects as spec requires less effort as compared to say english
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A barrage of Exam-style Questions and Trial Exams. =]
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Do practice exams during "breaks" from other subjects as spec requires less effort as compared to say english
Agreed - this seems to be the only subject that I can do in any location (train, waiting for transport, during sleep), simply because maths is so straightforward and precise. I find that once you know the concepts, your brain switches off and you go into automatic mode.
All other subjects require a desk, a heater, a few hours and a cup of hot chocolate.
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Do practice exams during "breaks" from other subjects as spec requires less effort as compared to say english
Agreed - this seems to be the only subject that I can do in any location (train, waiting for transport, during sleep), simply because maths is so straightforward and precise. I find that once you know the concepts, your brain switches off and you go into automatic mode.
All other subjects require a desk, a heater, a few hours and a cup of hot chocolate.
During sleep? Are you... human?
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Practice exams and more practice exams. Steiner has 30 years worth to choose from lol :D
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U guys already started? Sheesh, I better get in gear.
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A barrage of Exam-style Questions and Trial Exams. =]
the only way :D, i haven't even started..... >.< will be starting on the hols
btw, can i get the opinion of u guys... what do you think is better, revising the topics first, THEN attacking the exams, or tackling the exams head on and fixing the bits you need as you encounter problems
adv of doing papers stright off:
-Get more experience with papers
-IF you have done enough papers, you would've cover everything anyway, but ONLY if you have done enough papers
adv or revising throughly first:
-Have a good base to work off and all you need to do is just polish and work on speed
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Do practice exams during "breaks" from other subjects as spec requires less effort as compared to say english
Agreed - this seems to be the only subject that I can do in any location (train, waiting for transport, during sleep), simply because maths is so straightforward and precise. I find that once you know the concepts, your brain switches off and you go into automatic mode.
All other subjects require a desk, a heater, a few hours and a cup of hot chocolate.
During sleep? Are you... human?
Quite possible, I remember 'doing' maths in my sleep last summer holidays, after 12-13 hours each day of olympiad problems, the questions just float around in your head, you wake up one morning and BING an elegant solution pops up!
Note that doing maths in your sleep is not like actually doing calculations or actually working through a question, it's more like... ideas floating in your dreams, a starting point for a tricky problem, then the solution trivially follows. At least this is what happens to me :S
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Quite possible, I remember 'doing' maths in my sleep last summer holidays, after 12-13 hours each day of olympiad problems, the questions just float around in your head, you wake up one morning and BING an elegant solution pops up!
Note that doing maths in your sleep is not like actually doing calculations or actually working through a question, it's more like... ideas floating in your dreams, a starting point for a tricky problem, then the solution trivially follows. At least this is what happens to me :S
i actually can relate to this in a way.... lol like often the morning after a sac i will wake up going FUCK I SHOULD'VE HAVE DONE __________ not _________ *facepalm*
cos after stressing and discussing a sac all day, the questions ahve kidna just stuck in my head
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oh btw, tt, how did YOU use exam papers?
EDIT: lol just realised that you learnt the spech course over the summer hols and did papers thouhg out the year WHILE being re-taught the stuff at school lol
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A barrage of Exam-style Questions and Trial Exams. =]
the only way :D, i haven't even started..... >.< will be starting on the hols
btw, can i get the opinion of u guys... what do you think is better, revising the topics first, THEN attacking the exams, or tackling the exams head on and fixing the bits you need as you encounter problems
adv of doing papers stright off:
-Get more experience with papers
-IF you have done enough papers, you would've cover everything anyway, but ONLY if you have done enough papers
adv or revising throughly first:
-Have a good base to work off and all you need to do is just polish and work on speed
I'm running through the chapter reviews from a different text, but just doing the multi choice and short answer questions to revise/remember concepts, then doing practice papers. I think this is probably the most efficient way for me to prepare..
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I feel the textbook chapter review/extended response questions are not similar in nature to exam style questions, but rather test basic knowledge only, not how to apply it. My two cents would be exposure to checkpoints/past exams are the best use of the limited time left.
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EDIT: lol just realised that you learnt the spech course over the summer hols and did papers thouhg out the year WHILE being re-taught the stuff at school lol
Do you believe this was a benefit TT?
I'm concurrently doing 3/4 methods course (starting to) with my 1/2, and I want to finish the remainder of the 3/4 course by the time school starts next year.
Do you reckon I should use the book that I will be using next year in class (Essentials) or work/learn concepts outta another book so that I'm not bored and already know the answers next year?
Btw can this be applied to Chem aswell?
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benefit or not, it increased my passion for mathematics.
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EDIT: lol just realised that you learnt the spech course over the summer hols and did papers thouhg out the year WHILE being re-taught the stuff at school lol
Do you believe this was a benefit TT?
I'm concurrently doing 3/4 methods course (starting to) with my 1/2, and I want to finish the remainder of the 3/4 course by the time school starts next year.
Do you reckon I should use the book that I will be using next year in class (Essentials) or work/learn concepts outta another book so that I'm not bored and already know the answers next year?
Btw can this be applied to Chem aswell?
I would actually disagree with this approach. It means that you're bored in class, and your not learning from your teacher. Better to build up your knowledge gradually throughout the year, rather than try to cram everything into 2 months.
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EDIT: lol just realised that you learnt the spech course over the summer hols and did papers thouhg out the year WHILE being re-taught the stuff at school lol
Do you believe this was a benefit TT?
I'm concurrently doing 3/4 methods course (starting to) with my 1/2, and I want to finish the remainder of the 3/4 course by the time school starts next year.
Do you reckon I should use the book that I will be using next year in class (Essentials) or work/learn concepts outta another book so that I'm not bored and already know the answers next year?
Btw can this be applied to Chem aswell?
I would actually disagree with this approach. It means that you're bored in class, and your not learning from your teacher. Better to build up your knowledge gradually throughout the year, rather than try to cram everything into 2 months.
no this approach definitely has benefits, if you are passionate about maths and treat it as an art you would be able to study beyond year 12 material, that way you won't be bored and also you can listen in class to see what type of approaches your teacher provides.
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I see maths as more of a tool than an art
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I see maths as more of a tool than an art
would have to say i agree, not much of a pure mathematian myself, i prefer the applied stuff
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no this approach definitely has benefits, if you are passionate about maths and treat it as an art you would be able to study beyond year 12 material
As much as I enjoy getting the answer to equations, and learning about the new concepts, I'm not sure that I'm capable of doing beyond year 12 material, nor would my teachers support me alot, although it was my methods teacher that gave me the year 12 book to begin working through concurrently.
also you can listen in class to see what type of approaches your teacher provides.
This is more the reason that I'm doing it, I find that if I learn it myself, that I will remember it, and the reinforcement by the teacher will only expand on what I know, and simplify/have a different method of doing it.
I think I will have to get the/watchman in on this topic, he is like the modern day TT haha
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Maths is amazing. You cannot say you were not spellbound when first discovering fractals or the application of fibbonnaci in nature. Come on you applied math tools.
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Maths is amazing. You cannot say you were not spellbound when first discovering fractals or the application of fibbonnaci in nature. Come on you applied math tools.
haha ok I admit, I do love learning new things, but I don't know if I'm much of an applied maths type.
To sum it up, I just wanna do well, and to exhaust every possible chance of getting the upper hand
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You know what's really cool? That show on SBS 'letters and numbers'. You can't ever beat the contestants :(
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Maths is amazing. You cannot say you were not spellbound when first discovering fractals or the application of fibbonnaci in nature. Come on you applied math tools.
Hey, applied maths is awesome k? It allows lazy people like me to do smart stuff despite not being very smart and not being very diligent: every problem can either be solved by a computer, or approximated by a computer. It is the brutality of silicon that's driving everything forward these days. :)
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Maths is amazing. You cannot say you were not spellbound when first discovering fractals or the application of fibbonnaci in nature. Come on you applied math tools.
every problem can either be solved by a computer, or approximated by a computer.
Fermat's Last Theorem and Riemann Hypothesis please! :P loljk
Even the applied mathematics has beautiful theorems. The every day integrals and differentiation you use, where do you think all that comes from? That's right, the fundamental theorem of calculus, one of the most profound discoveries of mathematics, you might think differentiation and integration are brothers but that's because you have been taught that in highschool without any secondary thought of questioning it, who ever said (informally) "integration is the opposite of differentiation"? In fact, there was NO connection b/w differential mathematics and integral mathematics before the discovery of the FTC which connected these 2 branches of mathematics. You might be able to apply it but appreciate the predecessors who proved that for you to use. Without the pureness of mathematics, there would be no applications. Pure mathematicians are provers, applied mathematicians are users. However a true mathematician should appreciate both sides of its nature, what's the point of proving it if you're not going to use it in the present or the future? What's the point of using it if you don't even know what it means?
But anyways, back to luken's question, what I meant by studying beyond 12 is not just studying whatever you like (ofcourse that's good if you can it'd make you much more confident when tackling problems) but you could read more about topic you are studying in year 12. For example if you are doing integrals, maybe read the integrals chapter in Stewarts, that way, you will feel much more confident when doing year 12 questions, you will think it's childplay. There are countless other examples.
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I see maths as more of a tool than an art
would have to say i agree, not much of a pure mathematian myself, i prefer the applied stuff
lol but if you love integers like your sig says, shouldn't you love number theory? After all it is the study of integers and one of the oldest/purest branches of mathematics. :)
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But anyways, even the applied mathematics has beautiful theorems. The every day integrals and differentiation you use, where do you think all that comes from? That's right, the fundamental theorem of calculus, one of the most profound discoveries of mathematics, you might think differentiation and integration are brothers but that's because you have been taught that in highschool without any secondary thought of questioning it, who ever said (informally) "integration is the opposite of differentiation"? In fact, there was NO connection b/w differential mathematics and integral mathematics before the discovery of the FTC which connected these 2 branches of mathematics. You might be able to apply it but appreciate the predecessors who proved that for you to use. Without the pureness of mathematics, there would be no applications. Pure mathematicians are provers, applied mathematicians are users. However a true mathematician should appreciate both sides of its nature, what's the point of proving it if you're not going to use it in the present or the future? What's the point of using it if you don't even know what it means?
Spoken like a true mathematician haha
But anyways, back to luken's question, what I meant by studying beyond 12 is not just studying whatever you like (ofcourse that's good if you can it'd make you much more confident when tackling problems) but you could read more about topic you are studying in year 12. For example if you are doing integrals, maybe read the integrals chapter in Stewarts, that way, you will feel much more confident when doing year 12 questions, you will think it's childplay. There are countless other examples.
That sounds more like what I want. This may sound dumb but ummm, which book is Stewarts?
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Stewarts Calculus, one of the most famous calculus texts out there. Read it when you get the chance.
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You know what's really cool? That show on SBS 'letters and numbers'. You can't ever beat the contestants :(
uhh I can usually get there in time, although some of the solutions are just......... wtf.
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I see maths as more of a tool than an art
would have to say i agree, not much of a pure mathematian myself, i prefer the applied stuff
lol but if you love integers like your sig says, shouldn't you love number theory? After all it is the study of integers and one of the oldest/purest branches of mathematics. :)
LOL......ummmm i'll pm you with the story behind the sig, but rest assured NO i am not a fan of number theory *shudders*..... at all......
*runs away to where tt can't find him and kill him for hating number theory*
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I see maths as more of a tool than an art
would have to say i agree, not much of a pure mathematian myself, i prefer the applied stuff
lol but if you love integers like your sig says, shouldn't you love number theory? After all it is the study of integers and one of the oldest/purest branches of mathematics. :)
LOL......ummmm i'll pm you with the story behind the sig, but rest assured NO i am not a fan of number theory *shudders*..... at all......
*runs away to where tt can't find him and kill him for hating number theory*
Number theory is goooood :)
Wow, your sig changed! If you love integers, then why not number theory; it is the study of integers after all...
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I see maths as more of a tool than an art
would have to say i agree, not much of a pure mathematian myself, i prefer the applied stuff
lol but if you love integers like your sig says, shouldn't you love number theory? After all it is the study of integers and one of the oldest/purest branches of mathematics. :)
LOL......ummmm i'll pm you with the story behind the sig, but rest assured NO i am not a fan of number theory *shudders*..... at all......
*runs away to where tt can't find him and kill him for hating number theory*
lol haha, it's cool :P
I see maths as more of a tool than an art
would have to say i agree, not much of a pure mathematian myself, i prefer the applied stuff
lol but if you love integers like your sig says, shouldn't you love number theory? After all it is the study of integers and one of the oldest/purest branches of mathematics. :)
LOL......ummmm i'll pm you with the story behind the sig, but rest assured NO i am not a fan of number theory *shudders*..... at all......
*runs away to where tt can't find him and kill him for hating number theory*
Number theory is goooood :)
Wow, your sig changed! If you love integers, then why not number theory; it is the study of integers after all...
looks like tram has some more pm'ing to do Lol
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Glad our teacher had already started doing previous analysis type exam questions.
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Sorry to repost this but i just wanted to get u guys opinion on this and we've kinda gone on a massive tangent lol
btw, can i get the opinion of u guys... what do you think is better, revising the topics first, THEN attacking the exams, or tackling the exams head on and fixing the bits you need as you encounter problems
adv of doing papers stright off:
-Get more experience with papers
-IF you have done enough papers, you would've cover everything anyway, but ONLY if you have done enough papers
adv or revising throughly first:
-Have a good base to work off and all you need to do is just polish and work on speed
-
Hm i think it depends on how confident you are. If you feel you know most (if not all) the coursework, try doing an exam and see how you go, if its bad, then maybe go back and revise a bit more before attempting another exam. If you did well, then you could just focus on your main areas of weakness.