Standard Math Q+A Thread

[jamonwindeyer]

HSC STANDARD MATHS Q&A THREAD

To go straight to posts for the new (2019+) version of the syllabus, click here

What is this thread for?
If you have general questions about the HSC Standard Maths course or how to improve in certain areas, this is the place to ask! 👌


Who can/will answer questions?
Everyone is welcome to contribute; even if you're unsure of yourself, providing different perspectives is incredibly valuable.

Please don't be dissuaded by the fact that you haven't finished Year 12, or didn't score as highly as others, or your advice contradicts something else you've seen on this thread, or whatever; none of this disqualifies you from helping others. And if you're worried you do have some sort of misconception, put it out there and someone else can clarify and modify your understanding! 

There'll be a whole bunch of other high-scoring students with their own wealths of wisdom to share with you. So you may even get multiple answers from different people offering their insights - very cool.


To ask a question or make a post, you will first need an ATAR Notes account. You probably already have one, but if you don't, it takes about four seconds to sign up - and completely free!

OTHER STANDARD MATHS RESOURCES

CLICK ME!

* Free Standard Mathematics Notes
* Standard Maths Q&A Thread
* Formula that aren't on the formula sheet
* HSC Revision Videos: General Maths (old syllabus but still relevant to this course!)
* 12 Avoidable Mistakes Students Make in Math Exams
* LaTeX Guide
* Verbs and Maths

Original post.

Hey all! I've had a massive amount of people asking for somewhere to get some help with General Mathematics content. Now, I didn't do the course myself, but I've done a lot of it in my own studies, either at the HSC level or even at uni (yes, General Math students are better at statistics than MX2 students, I didn't learn stats until I got to university) 

So, here is a place to ask questions!! I'll do my best to answer what I can, or I'd love to see you guys helping each other out as well! You'll answer it better than I could, and plus, teaching others is the best way to learn content, so helping out a peer is a win-win situation 

I hope everyone is going well with their studies 

PS - Remember to check out our free HSC lectures this July, including General Math!

[hammad1707]

Hey buddy!
I am struggling with General maths as maths is my weakest subjects.. Plus i got my Trial on this coming monday .. Can u please Assist me of how to get it done and stuff

Thank you

Regards
Hammad Ahmed

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey buddy!
I am struggling with General maths as maths is my weakest subjects.. Plus i got my Trial on this coming monday .. Can u please Assist me of how to get it done and stuff

Thank you

Regards
Hammad Ahmed

Hey there Hammad! Welcome to the forums! 

So as I mentioned above, I didn't do General Math specifically, but I did the other levels of Mathematics, and studying for them all is very much about the same thing, and that is practice!

Math is about developing a set of skills, and the best way to develop those skills is to use them. It's using them efficiently that makes the difference.It's kind of like weightlifting. To build muscle, you use the muscle. Anyone who uses their muscles will build muscle. The weightlifters are smart about when they use their muscles, and how they use them, and thus they grow muscle faster. Math is the same!!

So, you've got 3 days to study for this exam (and presumably others). You are going to need to be super time efficient! I'd suggest you do this:

• Make a list of the topics that you struggle with most. Any questions you struggle with in particular? Make a priority list of the things you want to work on most.
• Do revision exercises (re-do textbook exercises, extra questions, etc) for these topics.
• Do a past paper. Under exam conditions! It's important to get some practice under pressure.
• Mark the paper and figure out the topics where you went wrong.
• Repeat Steps 2-5

This is (IMO) the absolute best way to study for Math! Excellent mix of exam practice and focused revision, so see how you go with this! You might also want to read this guide I wrote on 5 Ways to Study for Math! You might like to try some of them!

I hope this helps! Feel free to ask any more questions and I'll do my best to answer, good luck for Trials! 

[tasiakuz]

Hi! I have one weakness in general exams in that I tend not to read the question correctly and then make silly mistakes!
Do you have any exam strategies or tips that will maximise marks in the test?
Thanks so much

[RuiAce]

Hi! I have one weakness in general exams in that I tend not to read the question correctly and then make silly mistakes!
Do you have any exam strategies or tips that will maximise marks in the test?
Thanks so much

Two simple suggestions:

Use a highlighter.
Copy out valuable pieces of information CLEARLY stating what it is on the SIDE.

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi! I have one weakness in general exams in that I tend not to read the question correctly and then make silly mistakes!
Do you have any exam strategies or tips that will maximise marks in the test?
Thanks so much

Hey tasiakuz! Definitely agree with Rui, highlighting and clearly writing out all the info you are given is really useful to make sure you stay on track. I also recommend reading all the sections of a question before attempting any of them (for example, for one question, read Parts A-C before attempting A). This might give you a greater sense of direction! I know it helped me a lot to see the sort of path they were taking me on 

You might also want to give this article a read! I wrote it about common mistakes made in the 2 Unit exam, some of the more general ones might be beneficial for you as well! 

I hope this helps! The trick for great exam technique is to stay relaxed and keep writing! Give yourself plenty of time to read every question, and if it doesn't click right away, circle it and come back! Don't get bogged down, keep positive through the whole thing, and just move steadily, no rushing, just move as slow as you need to do the work confidently 

[tasiakuz]

Thanks so much everyone! Really great info especially coming up to trials

[jamonwindeyer]

Thanks so much everyone! Really great info especially coming up to trials

You are welcome Remember to come to our FREE lectures in July!! Our General Math lecturer will have heaps of exam tips for you that are more specific than Rui and I's 

[Tianna Jones]

What have you found is the most effective way to use a maths textbook? Should i be doing all the questions in order, or a few randomly?

[RuiAce]

What have you found is the most effective way to use a maths textbook? Should i be doing all the questions in order, or a few randomly?

With the second question that's up to you. Because the whole aim of textbook questions is to allow revision for preparation for the actual stuff. Everyone works at a different pace and you need to figure out what is best for you.

Regardless you should still be doing a lot of past papers. Because for them it's just do it all.

[jakesilove]

What have you found is the most effective way to use a maths textbook? Should i be doing all the questions in order, or a few randomly?

Definitely agree with Rui's comments. I think going through questions in your textbook is super important, and definitely necessary at some point in the year. I wouldn't be going back and doing them multiple times though (unless you're super keen); I would be doing past papers over and over again until you're so bored that the exam will feel like just another study session. Still, textbooks are great revision of content if you've forgotten how to do a specific topic (then again, I guess that's what we're here for as well!).

Jake

[jamonwindeyer]

Definitely agree with Rui's comments. I think going through questions in your textbook is super important, and definitely necessary at some point in the year. I wouldn't be going back and doing them multiple times though (unless you're super keen); I would be doing past papers over and over again until you're so bored that the exam will feel like just another study session. Still, textbooks are great revision of content if you've forgotten how to do a specific topic (then again, I guess that's what we're here for as well!).

Jake

I'll add that if you do have a shortage of past papers (or are looking for some focused revision of a particular section), most math textbooks have a Chapter Review sort of set where they have questions on all parts of, say, Trigonometry. I used to (and indeed my teacher set aside time for this as well) do these review questions under exam conditions, and see what sorts of questions I was getting wrong! Then, if I stuffed up a specific type of question a lot (EG - using the sine rule), then I'd go back and attempt every third question in that chapter to revise. Rince, repeat 

For me, the key is efficiency. Study stuff that is difficult for you and challenges you. There is no point going back and doing easy questions when you could use that time doing harder questions or, absolutely, doing a heap of past papers (but I know there aren't many for General 2 yet, so textbooks might be your backup) 

[gabisperring]

  Hey I need help with this question I really can't figure it out:
"Tabitha received a 17.5% holiday loading on four weeks normal wages. She normally works a 32 hr week. Her 4wks holiday pay and loading is $2 587.90.
a) Find her normal weekly pay
b) Find her normal hourly pay rate
Thankyou!

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey I need help with this question I really can't figure it out:
"Tabitha received a 17.5% holiday loading on four weeks normal wages. She normally works a 32 hr week. Her 4wks holiday pay and loading is $2 587.90.
a) Find her normal weekly pay
b) Find her normal hourly pay rate
Thankyou!

Hey there Gabi! Welcome to the forums!!  I can definitely help you out here (you should also go to Steph's FREE General Math Lecture tomorrow to grab some more General Math tips! 

Okay, so, we need to figure out from the number given, how much is loading and how much is the pay itself. Remember, loading adds 17.5% extra to whatever Tabitha earns normally in that 4 week block. So, she has 117.5% (100% Wage + 17.5% Loading). We can use this to calculate how much came from wages:



This is her four weekly wage, we divide this by four to get her weekly wage! This gives $551 (the actual answer might be slightly different, I rounded early up there when I maybe shouldn't have  )

Okay, the hard bit is done for Part A, now to get her hourly rate, we just divide that by the 32 hours she worked! So, her hourly pay rate is 551 divided by 32, and this gives $17.21 (again, your answer might be slightly different, I rounded early!)

I hope this helps!!

[Gregs]

Hi first post here.
In regards to your question Gabisperring
"Tabitha received a 17.5% holiday loading on four weeks normal wages. She normally works a 32 hr week. Her 4wks holiday pay and loading is $2 587.90.
a) Find her normal weekly pay
b) Find her normal hourly pay rate"

Firstly we need to work out how much money Tabitha would've earned without the 17.5% loading. To do this divide $2587.90 by 117.5% --  Because 100% is her normal wage and 17.5% is her loading so 117.5% are these two amounts combined -- This gives an answer of $2202.47
Divide $2202.47 by the 4 weeks that she worked. This works out her normal weekly pay which answers part a) ($550.62).
To "find her normal hourly pay rate" divide the amount she gets per week ($550.62) by the number of hours she works per week (32)
This should give you and answer of $17.21 -- this is the answer to b)