Suggested Answers to the HSC 2016 Mathematics Exam (+Discussion!)

[Primallis]

What would a 76 Raw Mark and about a 87 in the exam get me? Bearing in mind I am ranked 4th atm.

[olivercutbill]

lel only in an exam do you leave
(1+2+3+...+9)log2 and not convert to 45log2

anyway, seems fine - I think a mark of 89/90 by those answers.

[lha]

Your version is correct as well! They'd accept both.

Did you sum 'n' terms, or 'n-1' terms? It's supposed to be 'n-1', I made the mistake too

For the log question i got 9/2 log1024

Is that correct as well?

[FallonXay]

For the log question i got 9/2 log1024

Is that correct as well?

I think you'd have to simplify it to 9ln(32) --> (then possibly 45ln2)since the question specified that a and b were integers i.e not fractions (IIRC)

[lha]

I think you'd have to simplify it to 9ln(32) since the question specified that a and b were integers i.e not fractions (IIRC)

Would I lose full marks?

[FallonXay]

Would I lose full marks?

I'd say you might get 1 mark for the working? But lose one for not having integers? (I'm not too sure, sorry - maybe someone else could answer )

[RuiAce]

Alright. I lost my sanity yesterday over those 4U solutions so I didn't really participate here. How did us 2U guys find it in general?

(10 pages is too much scrolling haha)

[FallonXay]

Alright. I lost my sanity yesterday over those 4U solutions so I didn't really participate here. How did us 2U guys find it in general?

(10 pages is too much scrolling haha)

Haha, nice work :p

Imo I didn't find the test too difficult - though there were a variety of questions that were quite different to previous years; few tricks here and there.

[lha]

Alright. I lost my sanity yesterday over those 4U solutions so I didn't really participate here. How did us 2U guys find it in general?

(10 pages is too much scrolling haha)

Hard but everyone else says that it was actually easy...

[RuiAce]

Haha, nice work :p

Imo I didn't find the test too difficult - though there were a variety of questions that were quite different to previous years; few tricks here and there.

Thanks

And that's good to hear (y)

Yeah, having only glanced at the paper I can tell that there were definitely tricks floating around. I still need to find the time (and energy, poor sleeping patterns right now) to properly read through the paper.

Hard but everyone else says that it was actually easy...

Well I mean, like I said at first glance it seems like the paper got weirder. A paper that's weirder is full of confusing wording.

Tbh I'd say most people who found it hard were hit by a stroke of misfortune in being unable to decode the questions at times.



So long as you guys performed at the best of your abilities

[pikachu975]

Alright. I lost my sanity yesterday over those 4U solutions so I didn't really participate here. How did us 2U guys find it in general?

(10 pages is too much scrolling haha)

I think it was decently hard, the multiple choice had questions I haven't seen, no financial question this year. The probability and last question were a bit tricky.

Would I lose a mark on the last question for just deriving then solving to get y = 100 but not showing it's a maximum? I thought I didn't need to since it was 2 marks only.

[RuiAce]

I think it was decently hard, the multiple choice had questions I haven't seen, no financial question this year. The probability and last question were a bit tricky.

Would I lose a mark on the last question for just deriving then solving to get y = 100 but not showing it's a maximum? I thought I didn't need to since it was 2 marks only.

MC don't look too bad. I still remain on they look weirder because I didn't expect to see that, but I don't see a difficulty spike.

That probability required a G.P.
This HAS appeared in the past before... however it is certainly at the upper end of what they can ask you in probability. Not every probability question collapses into a G.P. but there have been quite a few now that have. That would be targeting band 6 though.

Pretty sure showing a maximum was necessary but you may want to ask Jamon since he wrote the answers.

[FallonXay]

I think it was decently hard, the multiple choice had questions I haven't seen, no financial question this year. The probability and last question were a bit tricky.

Yeah, the (usually) annuities series question was dealing with a gardener and harmful insects as opposed to finances. Freaked me out a little during reading time but then I realised it was basically just similar to a normal annuities question 

[RuiAce]

Yeah, the (usually) annuities series question was dealing with a gardener and harmful insects as opposed to finances. Freaked me out a little during reading time but then I realised it was basically just similar to a normal annuities question 

I'll look at the paper at 12-ish. Hopefully then I can join in the fuss haha

[jamonwindeyer]

I think you'd have to simplify it to 9ln(32) --> (then possibly 45ln2)since the question specified that a and b were integers i.e not fractions (IIRC)

This is correct; lha I think you'd lose the mark for not fully simplifying your expression as required; but you'd definitely get 1 out of the 2!

Yeah, the (usually) annuities series question was dealing with a gardener and harmful insects as opposed to finances. Freaked me out a little during reading time but then I realised it was basically just similar to a normal annuities question 

Precisely! Mutton dressed as lamb

I think it was decently hard, the multiple choice had questions I haven't seen, no financial question this year. The probability and last question were a bit tricky.

Would I lose a mark on the last question for just deriving then solving to get y = 100 but not showing it's a maximum? I thought I didn't need to since it was 2 marks only.

Normally I'd say yes, but earlier in the paper it specifically asked for a justification of a maximum. This has never been done before, so it makes me change my mind to say that they wouldn't mark you down for not proving it (though proving it would have been nice) we'll have to wait until they release the marking criteria until we know for sure