This thread is basically for the non-mathematically inclined to feel a little better about the upcoming exams and to give them an exam strategy.
Firstly, hard work is never a bad thing. If you can manage to go through Checkpoints then you'll have practiced every type of question that could be on the exams.
But once you're done with hard work...
It's good to know that methods is the official 'give up' subject of the VCE. So many people do it who pretty much suck at maths just because they were told to do it or to cover prerequisites. There are many people out there aiming to get just the 25 they need to do whatever they plan on doing in uni. Don't get me wrong, it's extremely difficult to get a score in the 40s, but its relatively much easier to get a score in the 20s.
Students generally do quite horribly in the extended response questions. For good reason, they're freaking hard. But when you get to the exam, don't just pretend that they aren't there. If you attempt every question, you will get marks (somehow). For every mark that you can muster in the exam, your percentile goes up a crazy amount. You could say, exponentially.... This is to the extent where if you can get 50% on exam 2, you'll be able to get a B.
Lets say that you're even less mathsy than this. When you look at the extended response questions, for instance, it looks like your reading Ancient Greek (I'm assuming here that you don't know Ancient Greek). This is still okay. Well, it's not really, it's probably a sign that you've wasted a year, but a completely clueless individual can still get marks! How?
- Every time the exam tells you to "use calculus" just write down the intergral or take the derivative. This is potentially worth a mark.
- If a question asks you to use the approximation formula or any other formula for that matter, just writing down the formula is worth a mark. If this happens on exam 2, you don't even have to memorise anything if you've already copied them into your book!
- Whenever you have to draw a graph but you draw it wrong, label the intercepts and asymptotes anyway because it's worth a mark.
I can imagine that the exam would actually be quite fun if your aim is to only get the easy marks listed above. In some cases, merely attempting the question and not being completely wrong can win you marks.
Chances are, if you're a weak methods student, you are going to do better on the multiple choice of exam two than in the extended response section. So, you should therefore spend more time on multiple choice given that most of your marks will derive from this section. If your clueless about the answer, guessing C is the road to relative victory.
The year still isn't over and there is still little things you can do to redeem your methods mark. No matter what happens, do not leave any blanks on your paper and still try your best. In exam 2, make sure that your resource book is well organised and has everything on the course. This is good revision that - if you're needing this advice - you'll probably need but you will also be in greater need of it than stronger students who may not look at their book at all.
Good luck!!!
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