ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE Mathematics => VCE Mathematics/Science/Technology => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Specialist Mathematics => Topic started by: WhoTookMyUsername on January 06, 2012, 11:23:08 am
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I've started working through chapter 3 and the standard length parts take me 45 minutes each to complete (syllabus questions). This is too long IMO, how can i reduce it? I'm already working quite fast and not procrastinating... How long did other MHS guys take to finish each one? Spesh was the only 1/2 i put work in, and i did quite well, so i'm surprised i'm taking so long and it feels like i'm working fast. In previous years for maths i would probably do 1/3 of what the syllabus said. What can i do to improve my efficiency? Does it need to be improved? thanks
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Are you doing every question? Are you learning the theory as you go? Is the 45mins per exercise?
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no, the syllabus is probably aroudn half the questions from each excercise. I'm revising / learning theory and the 45 minutes is per excercise
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why is this MHS specific?
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Because only MHS people know the amount of questions on the syllabus, so it's far more accurate if i get a time of them
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If you're learning/revising theory and doing half/most questions per exercise in spesh and it's taking you 45 minutes i would say you're doing quite well! Sometimes it depends on the topic as well - like there are topics where you will just 'get' everything and you can breeze through it whereas there are others where you will struggle with a bit. It probably took me 40-50 minutes on average to do exercises and this is having learnt the theory :s
Anyway a little hint: If you're struggling and you've spent say 10 minutes on a question and still cant get it then look at the worked solutions. Look at them until you get to the step where you go 'yep i can do the rest from here'. Don't use them too much tho... I became a tad reliant on the solutions at times in that i would pretty much just go into 'auto pilot' mode and just copy the answers and steps.
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Nah it's normal don't worry.
Chapter 6 took forever for me. I skipped chapter 1 though.
If you really want to just do one question from each of the first parts of the exercise and then do the longer questions at the end of the exercise. We use Maths Quest so the better questions are the ones at the end. The questions at the start are only there to get you use to the theory and warm you up but if you are efficient in maths and can learn the theory quick enough you won't need to do as much of those simple questions.
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The analogy I use to my students is that Maths is like weight training. Personally I found doing a few heavy (hard) questions far more effectively than high reps of easy ones. You need to stress yourself to get better, not just mindlessly sub numbers into formulae. Unless you're making heaps of silly errors for which repetition is more or less a solution, doing every question, or even every second question is still too much IMO. Do what's necessary and don't let the syllabus tell you otherwise. For every exercise, I would often only do the first and last letter under every number and leave it at that. Study smart, not hard.
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Out of curiosity, What text book are you using?
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I read this today, felt super bad for not having started Spec yet and did a chapter. THANKS bazza you should be a motivational speaker.
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I did every question from the book for spesh, and it usually took me ~1.5hrs or more to complete each exercise. So 45mins for the syllabus workload would be about right as its usually around a half of the questions for earlier chapters :)
Out of curiosity, What text book are you using?
Maths Quest
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You could apply more pressure to yourself by placing a ticking clock directly in front of you.
Or alternatively, you could be lazy like me, and simply read through the questions, do the ones you know you can do easily in your head, and only do the ones you know you would have some trouble doing on paper. This is probably a more efficient method of doing the set list of questions.
So basically, there is no need to make your hand tired doing the pointless drill questions. Just do those ones in your head.
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I did a few until I felt like I knew how to do them, and then moved straight onto past exams. So because of this I hardly spent much time on the txtbook at all.
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I didn't do textbook questions on a regular basis for spesh, I'd just look at the questions and see which ones were worth doing, it's usually the last 2 questions of each exercise set or so, I mainly stuck with Checkpoints, WERMS, NEAP...etc. I found textbook questions boring, not necessarily easy, but very very boring, and hence, I would say that they wasted my time.
I wonder why MHS doesn't use Dimensions cause Dr. G wrote them?