New Year 12 - Starting Past Papers Now??

[BakerDad12]

Hey guys, so I am a student who has just started year 12. We have just completed our first topic -  Series and Sequences, and the extension topic, Proof by Induction. Should I go on the NESA website, go on each year's HSC paper and search for questions about series and sequences? If not, what should I do?


Thank you so much for your time!

[sara.vce]

I think that doing past questions is super useful!
In your case, since it is so early before the exam, I would recommend borrowing a textbook from your school library and going through the questions it includes or using Cambridge Checkpoints (or similar books) to test your knowledge. Personally, I would save the official practise exams for the final stretch so that you can do them in timed conditions. If you're considering purchasing practise exams, though, you could use those as topic-by-topic revision.

P.S. If you're interested to know my maths revision study tips, you can check out my recent blog post here --> https://chamomileandcolour.wordpress.com/2019/10/10/how-i-revise-for-maths/

[BakerDad12]

Hey! Thanks for the response! When you say borrow a book, do you mean a standard textbook or one that is designed for exam revision like the excel success one books? Sorry if this sounds stupid, but don't those books contain past paper questions? So isn't it similar to doing those HSC questions?

Thanks so much!

[RuiAce]

In theory, past papers won't be a problem.

There is a slight trap though. If you do too many past papers now, you may not be bothered to do them later come exam time. Some people will think that because they've done it before, it won't be of much use to them.

More often than not that's a misconception, but every now and then it does matter.

Past papers are a good call, but I would advise sticking with trial papers if you're going to do so. In my opinion, NESA papers are most valuable at the very end, right before you sit the final exam. This is because (despite the new syllabus, I still think) those questions will mimic the final exam better than anything.

In saying that, for practice trial papers/half yearly exams/minor school-based assessments/etc. I think that is a great idea. (Provided you're ready to tackle them of course, but presumably since you're asking this question already you may as well give it a shot regardless.)

[BakerDad12]

Hey, thanks so much for your response! One more question, sorry . Should I look through trial papers from different schools each year and do the questions there on each topic we've done? For example, now that my class has finished our first topic, Series and Sequences, should I find a bunch of different trial papers and do the questions on series and sequences from each paper?

Thank you for your time and help!!

[sara.vce]

Hey! Thanks for the response! When you say borrow a book, do you mean a standard textbook or one that is designed for exam revision like the excel success one books? Sorry if this sounds stupid, but don't those books contain past paper questions? So isn't it similar to doing those HSC questions?

Thanks so much!

I just get standard textbooks (that aren't from the current study design) first and go through the quiz-style questions and then later on I get specific exam revision textbooks to study for exams. The main reason for this is that I want to consolidate my skills first to save up the official practise exams to be done later in the year and under timed conditions.  The questions are basically the same though so if you have less time, you can choose to only work on the official trial papers.

Hey, thanks so much for your response! One more question, sorry . Should I look through trial papers from different schools each year and do the questions there on each topic we've done? For example, now that my class has finished our first topic, Series and Sequences, should I find a bunch of different trial papers and do the questions on series and sequences from each paper?

Thank you for your time and help!!

Yes! I think that's a great idea. It's really useful to see questions formulated by someone outside of your school and these trial papers will give you insight into whether your school's SACs are easier or harder than other schools.