Suggested Answers and Discussion - 2016 VCE Methods Exam 1

[mandermin]

Fair enough... VCAA is the only exam where they'd provide a grid. I'm sure you'd only lose 1 mark for not drawing your graph to scale! What scores do you have currently, SACs and Exam 1, and what are you aiming for in Exam 2?

Thanks for your advice. I currently have A/A+ on my SAC, 39/40 for Exam 1 after the deduction on the hyperbola question. What score will I need for Exam 2 to get a 45+? Also, will my SAC scores get scaled?

[decentxion]

Maths Methods
Sacs 90% ranked high tier
exam:1 34/40
what would I need on exam 2 for a 38 and above study score
Thanks

You'll probably need a low A+ or high A in exam 2. From previous years, that correlates to around 70-71/80. Good luck!

[decentxion]

Thanks for your advice. I currently have A/A+ on my SAC, 39/40 for Exam 1 after the deduction on the hyperbola question. What score will I need for Exam 2 to get a 45+? Also, will my SAC scores get scaled?

SAC score scaling is based on how well your cohort does on the Methods Exams. Schools that have a low SAC average, but do very well on the Exam will get their SACs scaled up. So it depends on your school, and where you are in terms of ranking!

A 45+ SS requires mid to high A+'s in both exams and SACs. So considering you did well in Exam 1, you can get away with 75-76/80 in Exam 2 for a 45!

[Jemin99]

-pi/6 in the anticlockwise direction is basically calculating the 4th quadrant angle. You're correct in saying arctan has a range of (-pi/2, pi/2), however the question doesn't ask you to evaluate arctan, meaning you can bypass that range. It just asks for the angle that the tangent cuts the graph at. So starting from the x-axis, going anti-clockwise, you will hit the tangent to the original function at 5pi/6. I don't think -pi/6 will be accepted, as it requires 1 more step to get the answer.

Hey man just wondering did you do 2 3/4 s in year 10, 3 in year 11?

[decentxion]

Hey man just wondering did you do 2 3/4 s in year 10, 3 in year 11?

At Balwyn High School, I was part of the Accelerated Learning Program. This basically meant I had 2 Year's of Year 11, and skipped Year 9. So I had 3 years of VCE as opposed to 2, and began doing 1/2 subjects in Year 10 (which was technically Year 9)!

Just had more opportunity to do more subjects

[Jemin99]

At Balwyn High School, I was part of the Accelerated Learning Program. This basically meant I had 2 Year's of Year 11, and skipped Year 9. So I had 3 years of VCE as opposed to 2, and began doing 1/2 subjects in Year 10 (which was technically Year 9)!

Just had more opportunity to do more subjects

legit so lucky i dont have to verse you my god haha must be genius!

[Rayzorrz]

The way consequential marking works at VCAA, is that you'll only get 1 mark, despite 8c actually being worth 2 marks. So you'd be losing 2 marks out of those 4, assuming you've got your integral correct in part b.

On the topic of consequential marking, I asked this a few pages back and was wondering if you could help.

"Does anyone know if consequential marks apply for this exam? I know it does for Exam 2, not sure about Exam 1. I managed to misinterpret one of the probablity questions about the tagged/untagged sheep for part a) but managed to show adequate working + correct formulas for b) and c) using the incorrect value."

Would I still get marks for b) and c) despite using the correct formulas since they are 1 mark questions?
Thanks

[decentxion]

One the topic of consequential marking, I asked this a few pages back and was wondering if you could help.

"Does anyone know if consequential marks apply for this exam? I know it does for Exam 2, not sure about Exam 1. I managed to misinterpret one of the probablity questions about the tagged/untagged sheep for part a) but managed to show adequate working + correct formulas for b) and c) using the incorrect value."

Would I still get marks for b) and c) despite using the correct formulas since they are 1 mark questions?
Thanks

Consequential questions do apply in Exam 1, however the condition is that the question specifically asks you to use your answer from a previous question. So unfortunately, the sheep questions were able to worked out individually without needing to use working from previous parts. Meaning, you could have technically worked out the correct answer for b) despite getting a) wrong.

So no, I don't think you'll be able to get those marks My sympathies to you, best of luck with Exam 2!

[decentxion]

legit so lucky i dont have to verse you my god haha must be genius!

Looking at your plan of subjects for the next 2 years, you seem pretty smart yourself! To be honest, I wouldn't want to have competed against myself either, it was a pretty unfair system that favoured us!

[Rayzorrz]

Consequential questions do apply in Exam 1, however the condition is that the question specifically asks you to use your answer from a previous question. So unfortunately, the sheep questions were able to worked out individually without needing to use working from previous parts. Meaning, you could have technically worked out the correct answer for b) despite getting a) wrong.

So no, I don't think you'll be able to get those marks My sympathies to you, best of luck with Exam 2!

Ah I see, oh well that's understandable. Thank you for the insight 

[mandermin]

SAC score scaling is based on how well your cohort does on the Methods Exams. Schools that have a low SAC average, but do very well on the Exam will get their SACs scaled up. So it depends on your school, and where you are in terms of ranking!

A 45+ SS requires mid to high A+'s in both exams and SACs. So considering you did well in Exam 1, you can get away with 75-76/80 in Exam 2 for a 45!

Thanks. Say that my SAC gets scaled to high A+, will the marks required for exam 2 decrease?

Also, for Q2a), do we need to rationalize the surd, considering that its maths method?

[Butterflygirl]

At Balwyn High School, I was part of the Accelerated Learning Program. This basically meant I had 2 Year's of Year 11, and skipped Year 9. So I had 3 years of VCE as opposed to 2, and began doing 1/2 subjects in Year 10 (which was technically Year 9)!

Just had more opportunity to do more subjects

I just realised that I am doing the exact same subjects as you did in year 11! (I'm in year 11 now), except not going to do as well as you haha

[decentxion]

Thanks. Say that my SAC gets scaled to high A+, will the marks required for exam 2 decrease?

Also, for Q2a), do we need to rationalize the surd, considering that its maths method?

You'll still need a low A+ in exam 2. So 71-72/80 is usually the lower cut-off.

In Methods, you're technically supposed to be able to rationalise surds and present your answer in the simplest form. However, since the surd wasn't the answer, the arctan of that surd was, you may be able to get away with not rationalising. Don't quote me on that, though, examiners can be harsh.

[decentxion]

I just realised that I am doing the exact same subjects as you did in year 11! (I'm in year 11 now), except not going to do as well as you haha

That's a lovely coincidence! English Language is seriously the best English you can do, no question. I'm sure you'll be able to do well, if not in these subjects, I'm sure others. Everyone has their strengths

[TheProphetPancake]

Okay peeps I got a few questions about some of my answers:
Q3a- how good did our graph have to be in order to get the full 2 marks? I got all the points and the asymptotes but i fear my graph drawing skills aren't exactly perefct (i.e the graph above y=2 wasn't a very good reflection of the graph below it)
Q4c- could we have left it as (16/81)^6 and gotten the mark, or did we have to simplify?
Q5a. iv- I used the second derivative test to determine the nature of the stationary point- d'you reckon they'd count that as valid?
Q5b. i- I stated that because the range of the inverse function was equal to the original's domain, you take the negative- would this be fine?
Q6a- did we have to include the unit per unit?
Q6b- I added 'units' to the end of my answer, because it asked for average value- that's not a problem, right?
Q8a- I antidifferentiated the x^(k-1) equation to get an expression, but then I left it there- could I still get 1 mark?
Q8b. ii-I stated that the median value was found from the integral from 0 to m, where m is the median value, which would equal 0.5. I then got the answer from part b (i) and approximated that using e=2.5, giving me an approximation of 13/25. I then stated that the median value would have to be greater the 1/e due to the area from 1/e to 1 being greater than 0.5. Would this allow me to get the full 2 marks?

Thanks heaps!!