Bad grades in Methods

[iprocrastinate]

Hey guys!
So I'm currently in year 11 doing Methods 1&2. My performance for last semester was horrible, getting an overall grade of D+  and the saddest part is that I have a tutor who I see for 2 hours a week.. I do all my work, I do my revision and seek feedback all the time.. I got my results back for a recent test and failed.. So long story short, what can I do to improve my marks so that I will be able to do Methods 3/4?

[MightyBeh]

Damn, that sucks. There's actually not much you can do outside of extra work, extra help and feedback. Do you know what your problems are, specifically? If you're doing all the questions, maybe your problem isn't so much with the skills related to the content but test anxiety or poor teacher (not money, silly. Like if the teaching isn't an issue, maybe they're just bad at writing assessments. Hopefully neither, but getting stuck with both would be pretty awful). Are you doing the extra study all at once, or staggering it across your average week? That can make a pretty big difference in the long run, too.

It's really hard to pinpoint what would bump your grades up if I don't know what's knocking them down. Have a look at these questions and let me know which areas are giving you trouble (you can PM me, if you'd prefer ) and I'll try and give you some more specific advice.

Spoiler

Are you confident with the content?
Does the work require knowledge from previous years that you're not sure on? (Like BIDMAS, teacher assuming you know x or y formula that's mostly irrelevant, bearings)
Are you getting significantly different marks between calculator and non-calculator SACs on the same topics? Why?
Do tests make you nervous? (apparently they shouldn't? #RIP)
Are you having trouble with certain types of questions? (like worded questions?)
Are you making silly mistakes? (whether you're confident or not. These can turn a C to a D or an E if you're not careful)
Is your work written out clearly?

Ideally, the answers to these should be:
Yes, no, no, no, no, no, and yes.

[iprocrastinate]

Damn, that sucks. There's actually not much you can do outside of extra work, extra help and feedback. Do you know what your problems are, specifically? If you're doing all the questions, maybe your problem isn't so much with the skills related to the content but test anxiety or poor teacher (not money, silly. Like if the teaching isn't an issue, maybe they're just bad at writing assessments. Hopefully neither, but getting stuck with both would be pretty awful). Are you doing the extra study all at once, or staggering it across your average week? That can make a pretty big difference in the long run, too.

It's really hard to pinpoint what would bump your grades up if I don't know what's knocking them down. Have a look at these questions and let me know which areas are giving you trouble (you can PM me, if you'd prefer ) and I'll try and give you some more specific advice.

Spoiler

Are you confident with the content?
Does the work require knowledge from previous years that you're not sure on? (Like BIDMAS, teacher assuming you know x or y formula that's mostly irrelevant, bearings)
Are you getting significantly different marks between calculator and non-calculator SACs on the same topics? Why?
Do tests make you nervous? (apparently they shouldn't? #RIP)
Are you having trouble with certain types of questions? (like worded questions?)
Are you making silly mistakes? (whether you're confident or not. These can turn a C to a D or an E if you're not careful)
Is your work written out clearly?

Ideally, the answers to these should be:
Yes, no, no, no, no, no, and yes.

I have a pretty average teacher.. although he does seem to rush explanations and I don't grasp concepts as easily.. Usually our tests are written by different teachers so depending on the teacher, the tests can either be moderately easy or super HARD (I find myself constantly flipping through different sections of the test panicking about how to do the questions ----> Wording of questions). Maybe I don't expose myself to enough challenging questions?

[jammin]

I have a pretty average teacher.. although he does seem to rush explanations and I don't grasp concepts as easily.. Usually our tests are written by different teachers so depending on the teacher, the tests can either be moderately easy or super HARD (I find myself constantly flipping through different sections of the test panicking about how to do the questions ----> Wording of questions). Maybe I don't expose myself to enough challenging questions?

I've got a pretty average Methods teacher at school, basically all I really do is work on exercises in class and ask him questions if i'm not sure of it, since my 'tutor' practically teaches me everything in advance.

You might want to have a look at what your tutor's approach is. I've had two tutors in the past year, and the difference between two tutors can be enormous. Obviously, different teaching styles is one thing (one suited me much better) and the way they cater to your specific needs is also very important (my current one basically gave me a step by step solution for success and my grades have picked up from C+s/Bs in 1/2 to straight A+s this year)

Before settling with a tutor it's highly recommended to trial a few different tutors to see how they cater to their students needs and whether they can cater to your specific needs. I've already started doing this for my 1/2s (into 3/4s) because there's still time to do this right now, whereas doing this next year can be disastrous.

Good luck with your endeavours!

[sjayne]

Hey guys!
So I'm currently in year 11 doing Methods 1&2. My performance for last semester was horrible, getting an overall grade of D+  and the saddest part is that I have a tutor who I see for 2 hours a week.. I do all my work, I do my revision and seek feedback all the time.. I got my results back for a recent test and failed.. So long story short, what can I do to improve my marks so that I will be able to do Methods 3/4?

Do you need methods? I'm assuming you do because otherwise, switching to general/further maths could be a good option.

When doing questions try your best to work them out without looking at any examples, but if you have to look do make sure to do another similar question afterwards (without using any notes). I found this helped a lot

[iprocrastinate]

I've got a pretty average Methods teacher at school, basically all I really do is work on exercises in class and ask him questions if i'm not sure of it, since my 'tutor' practically teaches me everything in advance.

You might want to have a look at what your tutor's approach is. I've had two tutors in the past year, and the difference between two tutors can be enormous. Obviously, different teaching styles is one thing (one suited me much better) and the way they cater to your specific needs is also very important (my current one basically gave me a step by step solution for success and my grades have picked up from C+s/Bs in 1/2 to straight A+s this year)

Before settling with a tutor it's highly recommended to trial a few different tutors to see how they cater to their students needs and whether they can cater to your specific needs. I've already started doing this for my 1/2s (into 3/4s) because there's still time to do this right now, whereas doing this next year can be disastrous.

Good luck with your endeavours!

Will definitely try that out! Thanks

[iprocrastinate]

Do you need methods? I'm assuming you do because otherwise, switching to general/further maths could be a good option.

When doing questions try your best to work them out without looking at any examples, but if you have to look do make sure to do another similar question afterwards (without using any notes). I found this helped a lot

Yes i do need methods unfortunately My plan would be to do further/methods next year. That sounds like a good technique, thanks!