Maths Methods (Exam 1): Discussion, Questions & Potential Solutions

[Onyx]

For question 5a and 5B, for 5a I wrote d/dx(√(p^(2)+(2*p-4)^(2)))=0, but when I expanded the polynomial i did it wrong by expanding incorrectly.... so I ended up getting (4/5,-4/5) for the coordinates. And then for part B i used those coordinates to get the distance... how much marks will I get out of 5?

[crouchie]

Lots of people have already done solutions. I thought I'd contribute .

Was definitely an interesting exam. A+ cutoff will be 33-34 / 40 I think.

Well done. MathType + Word for the win!

What software did you use to draw the graph of f(x) in Q3b? I use FX Graph but your one has the exact same axes as the VCAA one. Extremely jealous 

[Joseph41]

Well done. MathType + Word for the win!

What software did you use to draw the graph of f(x) in Q3b? I use FX Graph but your one has the exact same axes as the VCAA one. Extremely jealous 

Thanks for posting your solutions, too, crouchie!

[benmcleod]

If it doesn't say to put down the x-intercepts, do you still have to do it? I just assumed that because it asked for endpoints and the minima that you didn't need to. Ehhhh

Because the previous question made you work out the x-ints, they didn't require it on the graph. Otherwise it would be double dipping on the marks.

[AlphaZero]

Well done. MathType + Word for the win!

What software did you use to draw the graph of f(x) in Q3b? I use FX Graph but your one has the exact same axes as the VCAA one. Extremely jealous 

Haha, yeah, MathType is great. I was thinking of doing it in LaTeX but thought I'd stick to the style of all the other TWM Publications stuff.

The graph was done in Microsoft word. Insert chart, scatter with smooth lines. Because I write exams, I've memorised the VCAA style guide

Here's a link to a word doc containing just the graph for you to analyse
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pghxs6okrlwv0iv/MME1%20Graph.docx?dl=0

[DoingExamsATM]

I wonder if I'm the only one who found this one difficult. Usually exam 1 goes like this; very easy questions 1-5, slightly harder 6-8, then a very hard last one. This year though, certain components of the last 2 questions were near impossible within the time frame, as well as a few other very difficult bits plopped here and there. This is surprising for me to say, since I did plenty (maybe even too many) practice exams, always getting above 85% and accomplishing the questions that stumped most students.

Based on the answers somebody posted, I only got 29/40 :/ I'm going to have to absolutely smash exam 2 to get any hope of getting low to mid 40s. Luckily to get into unimelb I only need an ATAR around 80, but that still requires a few 40s

[jazzycab]

The probability was very weak on exam 1 and statistics entirely non-existent. I'd be willing to bet there'll be a fairly hefty extended response question on Prob/Stats tomorrow

[DoingExamsATM]

What do you think the cutoff will be? Personally, I thought 2017 was slightly harder that this years. I'm in no way stellar at methods but I think I got full marks for the last 3/4 pages.

In my opinion this year's was much harder. The "hardest" part about 2017 was noticing that the tangent isn't quite what it seems on the diagram, but that's it. It's just areas, and 2 perpendicular tangents crossing. There's also that argument about whether derivatives exist about endpoints, but I don't remember anything about that in the study design so it's doable anyway.

This year though? Sheesh, it's determining a general equation, finding the area of a complicated shape (that had to be simplified in your own way), some fairly long integrals etc. You're definitely stellar at methods, I did dozens of practice exams for each exam, normally getting well above 85%, but this one stumped be a bit.

[hums_student]

Holy fk that exam was an absolute massacre.
I got 9pi^2 - 36pi for that last question and realised too late that it was negative...

The utter absence of statistics and composite function - related questions was actually disgusting.

Also can anyone explain to me why for that inverse function question, you had to reject the negative answer? I thought you have to leave the plus-or-minus sign in there.

Final question, what grade would a 27~29/40 be on that exam?

Cheers.

[juicethelemon]

Holy fk that exam was an absolute massacre.
I got 9pi^2 - 36pi for that last question and realised too late that it was negative...

The utter absence of statistics and composite function - related questions was actually disgusting.

Also can anyone explain to me why for that inverse function question, you had to reject the negative answer? I thought you have to leave the plus-or-minus sign in there.

Final question, what grade would a 27~29/40 be on that exam?

Cheers.

for the inverse question you had to relate to the range of f(x) which I think was [0, infinity) if I remember correctly therefore the domain of the inverse was positive sides and all that shenanigans

[passbleh24]

I only wrote pi and - pi for question 9. Didn't write the 2pi n
It also said n was 0 or positive. So I thought it had a definite answer. Would that give me consequential marks ?

Thanks

[AlphaZero]

Can any mods/admins here tell my why my solutions just got taken down for "copyright" reasons?
> They're my solutions.
> They don't contain any part of the actual exam book.
> Yes, they're on another site, but I put them there too.
I understand if I've broken any rules - I'd just like to know exactly what I did wrong

[vox nihili]

Can any mods/admins here tell my why my solutions just got taken down for "copyright" reasons?
> They're my solutions.
> They don't contain any part of the actual exam book.
> Yes, they're on another site, but I put them there too.
I understand if I've broken any rules - I'd just like to know exactly what I did wrong

Sorry mate, I took them down. We've been really disappointed by the constant breaches of copyright on the exam discussion threads and thought that yours was another. Many apologies for taking the solutions down. I'll try to restore them so that everyone here can benefit from your excellent work.

[Sine]

Holy fk that exam was an absolute massacre.
I got 9pi^2 - 36pi for that last question and realised too late that it was negative...

The utter absence of statistics and composite function - related questions was actually disgusting.

Also can anyone explain to me why for that inverse function question, you had to reject the negative answer? I thought you have to leave the plus-or-minus sign in there.

Final question, what grade would a 27~29/40 be on that exam?

Cheers.

I thought the exam was comparable to past exams so you would be roughly around the borderline of a B+ and an A.

[AlphaZero]

Sorry mate, I took them down. We've been really disappointed by the constant breaches of copyright on the exam discussion threads and thought that yours was another. Many apologies for taking the solutions down. I'll try to restore them so that everyone here can benefit from your excellent work.

No worries! I completely understand. To avoid them being taken down again (we'll be doing methods exam 2, the specialist exams, chemistry and physics as well), how should I show in future posts that they're in fact our solutions?