Hello.
After being inspired by a similar thread on the biology board, I decided to write down all my tips and hints on how to get a 50 (or close enough).
Okay I'm not going to write a mass intro, but first off, getting a 50 in methods isn't actually as daunting as it seems. I don't go to a school particularly noted for VCE excellence, so all this about weak cohorts bringing you down: is. not. true.
Summer holidays:If you feel you need to learn the entire course over the summer holidays, by all means go for it. It's not that necessary, as most of the course material for methods is simply a step higher from the content covered in Units 1/2.
What I did: We were given selected questions from chapter one to complete over the holidays. I didn't stick to the sheet, but instead did every question thoroughly from chapter one (including the review). By 'thoroughly' I mean corrected every question and made sure that I knew how to do them all, even the ones I got wrong. For every question I got wrong, I circled it and made a little note saying what I should have done instead. If you don't fancy scribbling all over the textbook, I highly recommend writing these mistakes down somewhere
as one of the best ways to learn is through your own mistakes.I started making chapter notes for chapter one, which I didn't continue for any others (I'll come to that next).
During the year (excluding SAC study):Okay, let's be honest here. Maths is not all about memorizing vast amounts of information and definitions. I can assure you that they will not ask you to define 10 commonly used maths words in a paragraph of 50 words. It's just not that kind of subject.
So I wouldn't waste my time re-writing notes or chapter summaries when your time could be used more productively. Maths is all about being able to apply your knowledge, which is a skill that really only comes by practice. So make sure you have completed every question in the text book, even if it's not set homework.
This ensures that you know how to do different types of questions that can be asked relating to the same topic. Keep that record of your mistakes, because let me tell you that it is not just the people who get 50 that understand the course. The way that the top students will be seperated is through careless errors, though they all know the material. My philosophy is that the more mistakes you make and keep a record of during the year, the less ones you will make come exam time.
Also, try and keep on top of these questions. This is one mistake that I made, neglecting my textbook questions and realizing I had 200+ to complete in the September holidays!
SACs:Like I mentioned earlier, a weak cohort wont necessarily bring you down, as long as you can manage to get the top ranking (or close enough). If you have the ability to get the top ranking in SACs, then do everything you can to get there, because it means that the actual SAC mark wont matter, as long as you can get very high on the exams. For example, if you have 80% average but rank 1 in SACs, and manage a 98% average on the exams, then your SAC grade will become 98% (if it's the top exam mark).
Preparation for SACs:Generally you will have two types of SACs in methods, each which will be approached differently.
1. Tests:
It's easier to drop marks in these IMO, as they are under a pressured time situation. As I said before, the best way to prepare for these is to do practice questions! Google "methods practice sac" or sweet talk any older people into giving you their old ones (provided they haven't lost them). Doing any practise papers is probably the best way to prepare, as you will be more familiar with the types of questions asked.
2. Analysis/application tasks:
These are usually over more that one period, which gives a huge advantage. Unless your school is ultra-strict and will check your calculators as you leave, you can generally
take home all the questions. This means you can spend all night pondering over one question, ask your tutor, google it, ask VN members or even discretely ask another maths teacher (not the one that wrote the SAC, obviously). However, you must be reasonably proficient in typing on those silly calculators, or else you will waste an entire period copying out all the questions. And of course, don't forget to type your answers back in the calculator to take into the SAC.
PREPARATION FOR THE END-OF-YEAR EXAMS!This is the most important thing to prepare for obviously is the exams. Even if you have rank one SACs, you will not get a 50 if you don't ace these exams.
It's been said before, but I'm going to repeat it anyway: Do as many practice exams as you can get your greedy little paws on. Seriously, this is the secret (well, I guess not-so-secret) to getting a 50.
If you have done enough exams, you shouldn't be surprised at any questions on the exams. I did around 30 for both exam one and exam two, starting at the end of the September holidays. I know this number isn't really possible if methods is not your only year 12 subject, so start earlier. Self-learn the end of the course, and start them as early as you can.
I kept all these exams in a folder, with all my silly mistakes scribbled across the front. That way, when I flicked through this folder I was constantly reminded of my most frequent errors (eg not simplifying fractions, forgetting the +c, drawing dodgey graphs etc etc). Eventually, as you do more and more papers, the same questions keep coming up again and again. This is because there are only so many questions they can ask while keeping (reasonably close) to the study design.
Also, don't worry if you aren't confident that you have thoroughly learnt everything on the course, just start doing practice exams anyway. Believe me, by the 48th exam you will know the course ridiculously well.
It's probably best to start off with the VCAA ones, and finish with them the day/night before. This way you will end with a more accurate indication of what the next day will hold.
Be fairly strict with your marking, because the more precise you are in practice the more precise you will be in the actual exam.
Even with thorough preparation, the VCAA bitches can still ask you a question that will throw you off (ie cone of death
) The best thing you can do is take a deep breath, calm down, and tell yourself that you can do this question. Why? Because you usually can. The cone of death was a simple linear max/min problem once simplified. I was freaked by this question this year, but I reminded myself that though they can disguise it,
THEY CANNOT ASK YOU A QUESTION BEYOND THE STUDY DESIGN! So after staring at it for a good 10 minutes (during reading time) I was finally able to figure it out. This is why practice helps, but knowing how to apply all your knowledge in unfamiliar territory helps more. I think the best way to tackle hard questions is to try and simplify the problem down, and relate it to another question usually asked in a similar topic. I knew that the cone of death was max/min (by looking at later parts of the question) so I mentally sifted through all the questions I had done on this topic until I came to one that I could mould into the cone of death.
Good luck methods class of '11!!
I've probably forgotten some tips, so feel free to add more, but yeah this is how I got a 50 and how you can get one too
Oh, and I found a lot of exams here:
http://www.mediafire.com/cleoxo#9,1 so thanks cleo for posting them all
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