32 raw in methods (struggling specifically with probability)

[neverlookback]

How hard is it to get 32 raw in methods? And is it a considerable leap to go from 32 raw to 35+ raw?
Any tips to understand probability, circular functions, and trig functions as i'm finding them really hard to grasp?
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks!

[Eric11267]

Well a 32 raw sits a bit above the median score for the state and it is a decently big jump to go from 32 to 35+. I'd say that to get a 32 raw you would need a good grasp on all the concepts of methods and be able to apply your knowledge to straightforward and routine questions. To get 35+, you'd likely also have to be able to apply the stuff learnt to more complex and less intuitive questions. But take what I say with a grain of salt.

Is there anything specific in those units that you're having trouble with? I'd be happy to try to assist you in better understanding any concepts.

[neverlookback]

Well a 32 raw sits a bit above the median score for the state and it is a decently big jump to go from 32 to 35+. I'd say that to get a 32 raw you would need a good grasp on all the concepts of methods and be able to apply your knowledge to straightforward and routine questions. To get 35+, you'd likely also have to be able to apply the stuff learnt to more complex and less intuitive questions. But take what I say with a grain of salt.

Is there anything specific in those units that you're having trouble with? I'd be happy to try to assist you in better understanding any concepts.

I'm not that great at maths, but willing to work hard. To get a raw 32-35 in methods, will knowing how to do all the common questions suffice?

[Eric11267]

It's hard to say with methods since exams can be so unpredictable and have questions which vary wildly in their difficulty. To improve your chances of getting the study score you want, you should really be doing practice exams/questions so that you can prepare yourself for any curve ball that VCAA wants to throw.

[Sine]

I'm not that great at maths, but willing to work hard. To get a raw 32-35 in methods, will knowing how to do all the common questions suffice?

imo yes if you do enough practice exams,  (even with no understanding)you will be in a great position to get 32+ . Even completely blanking the seperator questions are fine since only <1-3% usually get them in the end anyway. For a 32+ just make sure you know the mechanics of how to do the basics well.

[neverlookback]

imo yes if you do enough practice exams,  (even with no understanding)you will be in a great position to get 32+ . Even completely blanking the seperator questions are fine since only

[neverlookback]

i'm in year 11 this year doing unit 1/2 methods, so do you reckon i could try a few vcaa exams with just year 11 knowledge?
Also, do you know the different company exams and the difficulty level of those? And do you have any tips on how to approach worded problems, especially in probability? Also how high do you reckon someone can get in methods (raw study score) without understanding much and just practice exams and basics?
Thanks!

[babushka818]

Just going to put my experience out there, I did vce methods in year 11. I was never a standout at maths, never loved it, couldn't do application much at all. I took spesh and further in year 12, did alright (42) in further and didn't do Jack for spesh and got a 27. I worked a little harder for methods, but I still wasn't very good, I was a 60-70s student. I got a 33 raw. I did maybe 10 practice exams, mostly vcaa and insight (which is deemed the easiest of the companies) and personally I found vcaa to be the easiest. I didn't really do practice sacs or exercises from the textbook throughout the year, I didn't have a bound reference for the exam. I had a very strong year 11 base though, that might have done something for it, but in my experience, even being shit at maths I did alright I'm sure you'll be alright

[neverlookback]

You can't be shit at maths if you did specialist

[M909]

How hard is it to get 32 raw in methods? And is it a considerable leap to go from 32 raw to 35+ raw?
Any tips to understand probability, circular functions, and trig functions as i'm finding them really hard to grasp?
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks!

Just my opinion/experience BTW. 32 is about the middle of the road of the methods cohort, so if you're decent in maths (I.e know the basics of what derivatives/integrals actually mean, can use algebra to manipulate equations, think basic exam 1 skills), 32 should be easily achievable if you're going to put the effort in.

Since 32 is near the middle of the bell curve (once you get your head around the normal distribution you'll understand exactly what I'm talking about ), the leap from 32 to 35 is still a fairly significant leap (35 is approx top 24%, 32 is approx top 39%), but wouldn't be as significant as say a leap from 37 to 40.

As for tips that helped me, for circular functions, I always thought of a circle around an axis diagram, where sin is the y value, cos is the x values and tan is the gradient of the line going around the circle to form your angle (or just y/x). This was a pretty much fool proof way to remember signs in quadrants, exacts values at multiples of Pi and Pi/2, how to calculate angles (which was unexpectately but luckily a question on my exam 1 last year. For other exact values, make your you know your triangles or finger rule thingy (I never got that, only used triangles).

For trig functions, remember key properties and what they actually means for graph (I.e. Amplitude, period ect).

For probability, you need to be able to recognise when key formulas are needed (eg, independent, mutually exclusive, conditional). Focus on really understanding the properties and differences between the main topics in methods (I.e. What discrete prob functions are vs continuous, and how the sample stuff related to discrete random variables, interpretation of what mean, standard deviation actually are).

One last very important thing, while you should always make you you're comfortable doing everything by hand, knowledge of the CAS calculator is VERY important (hence the full subject name). Seriously, around half way through last year, I realised that with a sound content knowledge and strong calculator use, you've pretty much got a grananteed A+ on exam 2, which is 44%!!! Honestly, you can pretty much do almost everything with the calculator use (although some stuff it's easier to do by hand, so don't always fall back on this as a default). But I promise once you figure out how to define functions, use all the algebra, probability, calculus tools ect, exam 2 will become MUCH easier.

Hope this helps, good luck (and apologies for any typos there was be, every time I type on iPad they seem to appear without me noticing )

[Sine]

i'm in year 11 this year doing unit 1/2 methods, so do you reckon i could try a few vcaa exams with just year 11 knowledge?
Also, do you know the different company exams and the difficulty level of those? And do you have any tips on how to approach worded problems, especially in probability? Also how high do you reckon someone can get in methods (raw study score) without understanding much and just practice exams and basics?
Thanks!

I don't really know how high but you can certainly do ok. I think by just spamming practice exams without much understanding. A lot of the questions that come up will basically be the same each year and you just need to detect the wording vcaa will use. Since you are in year 11 i think it's too early to be thinking about trying to put minimal effort for maximal score in year 12. You probably are better off worknig hard - going through the textbook questions, reading some online content (to understand the technicalities behind it) etc.

[neverlookback]

Just my opinion/experience BTW. 32 is about the middle of the road of the methods cohort, so if you're decent in maths (I.e know the basics of what derivatives/integrals actually mean, can use algebra to manipulate equations, think basic exam 1 skills), 32 should be easily achievable if you're going to put the effort in.

Since 32 is near the middle of the bell curve (once you get your head around the normal distribution you'll understand exactly what I'm talking about ), the leap from 32 to 35 is still a fairly significant leap (35 is approx top 24%, 32 is approx top 39%), but wouldn't be as significant as say a leap from 37 to 40.

As for tips that helped me, for circular functions, I always thought of a circle around an axis diagram, where sin is the y value, cos is the x values and tan is the gradient of the line going around the circle to form your angle (or just y/x). This was a pretty much fool proof way to remember signs in quadrants, exacts values at multiples of Pi and Pi/2, how to calculate angles (which was unexpectately but luckily a question on my exam 1 last year. For other exact values, make your you know your triangles or finger rule thingy (I never got that, only used triangles).

For trig functions, remember key properties and what they actually means for graph (I.e. Amplitude, period ect).

For probability, you need to be able to recognise when key formulas are needed (eg, independent, mutually exclusive, conditional). Focus on really understanding the properties and differences between the main topics in methods (I.e. What discrete prob functions are vs continuous, and how the sample stuff related to discrete random variables, interpretation of what mean, standard deviation actually are).

One last very important thing, while you should always make you you're comfortable doing everything by hand, knowledge of the CAS calculator is VERY important (hence the full subject name). Seriously, around half way through last year, I realised that with a sound content knowledge and strong calculator use, you've pretty much got a grananteed A+ on exam 2, which is 44%!!! Honestly, you can pretty much do almost everything with the calculator use (although some stuff it's easier to do by hand, so don't always fall back on this as a default). But I promise once you figure out how to define functions, use all the algebra, probability, calculus tools ect, exam 2 will become MUCH easier.

Hope this helps, good luck (and apologies for any typos there was be, every time I type on iPad they seem to appear without me noticing )

Thanks, it certainly does help!
Also, do you by any chance know why we're not allowed a cas calculator and bound reference for exam 1? Can exam 1 have any questions that are difficult without a calculator?
Thanks!

[Bri MT]

Thanks, it certainly does help!
Also, do you by any chance know why we're not allowed a cas calculator and bound reference for exam 1? Can exam 1 have any questions that are difficult without a calculator?
Thanks!

Exam one is designed to test your by-hand skills. The questions are designed with the knowledge that you won't have a CAS, so they won't expect you to find no the square root of 2874 or anything like that, if that's what you mean. If there was no exam one, it would be very difficult for them to know if you can differentiate by hand, solving trig equations (and know the reference angles) etc.

[neverlookback]

Exam one is designed to test your by-hand skills. The questions are designed with the knowledge that you won't have a CAS, so they won't expect you to find no the square root of 2874 or anything like that, if that's what you mean. If there was no exam one, it would be very difficult for them to know if you can differentiate by hand, solving trig equations (and know the reference angles) etc.

Can exam 1 ask you questions like evaluate 15c7? and complicated division like 2408/36?

[Bri MT]

Can exam 1 ask you questions like evaluate 15c7? and complicated division like 2408/36?

You may come across big numbers which you need to divide if you keep collecting terms at each stage, but it will be manageable if you break it down into its components. They wouldn't ask this questions directly, it would just be part of algebraic manipulation.
2408/36= 1204/18 = 602/9   which doesn't simplify further as 602 is not divisible by 3.     You would need to leave your answer in the form 602/9 to get full marks.

I'm going to assume you meant 15*7? in which case, you could do 15+15=30, +15= 45   +15= 60 etc until you got to 105,      or 7*5=35  35*3= 105    or  7*5= 35, 7*1=7   7+3= 10    105   

The examiners aren't testing you on these skills; this is not the focus of the exam, but you may need to do simple sums in order to get to the answer.
I repeat, they WILL NOT ask you a question saying "Evaluate 54*73"       but you may need to do multiple digit multiplication and division as part of your working out. They won't give you any question where you are required to do something overly difficult, this is just assumed knowledge from previous years