Some Advice

[juzzyfizzle]

Hey guys,

I've done Year 12 English, PE and Accounting (and religion but that doesn't count), this year while doing Year 11 Methods and Physics (as part of a '3-year VCE' course, complicated as to why I'm doing it but yeh). Next year I'm doing Methods, Physics and Further.

Just looking for some tips and advice on how to tackle Maths Methods next year.

Thanks.

[Glockmeister]

Go for it hard, go for it early!

Make sure you utilise your holidays well.
If you're not sure how to go about a question... make sure you ask, don't just leave it to the maths gods to decide whether you will get it on the day of the exam.
Have a realistic goal, then aim to beat it.
Don't rely on your textbook by itself. Make sure your supplement your textbook with other material (e.g. A+, NEAP, Checkpoints) to ensure you are able to do exam-style questions (the textbooks are generally crap on that)

And finally: Tasmania Jones never dies.

[bec]

Do your homework. All of it. When it's set, not two weeks later.

[dekoyl]

Starting early is good. Don't be like me (I forgot most of the unit 1/2 stuff when I started unit 3/4).
Continuous practice is key.

OT: bec, did you do well?

[juzzyfizzle]

Thanks guys, really helps giving me an idea on how to go about it.

Keep these coming. =]

[Robbo]

Practice is important but as some have said it is doing work from books like checkpoints thats key. Utilise class time and ensure you have no weaknesses because its funny how often exams have something that exposes your lack of knowledge. This is advice coming from someone who coasted through methods and did very little work throughout the year. I didnt do that bad on the exams but i soo easily could of done better with effort. Ensure your not saying this to someone next yr. lol

[bucket]

Yeah man, just do all your homework. I got UGs for methods last year and by doing my homework I was able to get myself up to an A in sacs. If you don't get something, ask someone, whether it be someone on thee forums or at school or you can ask me on msn if you want, and work out what you were doing wrong.

[juzzyfizzle]

Yeah man, just do all your homework. I got UGs for methods last year and by doing my homework I was able to get myself up to an A in sacs. If you don't get something, ask someone, whether it be someone on thee forums or at school or you can ask me on msn if you want, and work out what you were doing wrong.

Cheers Jeffy, thanks guys.

[/0]

Heaps and heaps of practice problems, and if, possible, make them analysis questions. Finish the course early and get started on them practice exams asap. Also, try to keep your notes nice and organised throughout the year so you can use them as a bound reference.

[juzzyfizzle]

Worst thing is, my school has the worst maths faculty ever.

Pretty much I have to learn through my tutor, and do most things independantly.

[ell]

Best tip - stay on this forum, you'll learn heaps.

[danieltennis]

I think the main aim is to work consistently throughout the year. In a subject like this, you want to complete as many practice questions as you can; more exposure = more chance of picking up marks.

Set up a routine early on and stick to it, and you can't go wrong. Try to regularly revise topics already covered so as to not lose the skills you have already developed (unlike someone did... *whistle*). That was my main fault this year for methods and as a result I had to relearn everything on the term 3 holidays-  I know I could have done much better if I'd just made sure to put in an extra hour's practice every Thursday or whatever.

Try to check the study design every so often, available on the VCAA site. This is what the exam is formulated from. If you see something there you don't feel entirely confident with even after finishing the topic in class, or don't even recognise, be sure to bring it up with your teacher. Don't take an "oh it doesn't really matter" for an answer - they're not writing the exam. Just say you're interested and want to know anyway. Who knows, it might just clinch you that 50.

Also establish a balance of calculator and non-calculator skills. For Exam 1 you'll need to know your stuff for as you won't have a calc or any notes other than the formula sheet, and some SACs may also be constructed that way if your teacher sees fit. That might mean reciting your times tables to your parents like in the old days if they've become a bit scratchy lol. You'll probably find some calc-free type questions in your texts and study guides to practice on, and there is an excess of practice exams for methods so have a look at them to see what is expected early on (and don't get freaked out by something you haven't been taught yet - it'll fall into place). Give some thought to your Exam 2 bound reference as well, but in the exam you're not going to have too much time to read and get it all done... if you can get to the stage where you only need a couple of cheat sheets stapled together, that's great!

If you want to do some work over the summer, generally the first area of study is functions and their graphs which is practically 1 & 2 revision for the most part. You can probably get on top of that on your own. Ask a friend or teacher if you need help and make sure you familirize yourself with the topics you learnt this year.

My friend, I hope that helps.

[cobby]

Worst thing is, my school has the worst maths faculty ever.

Pretty much I have to learn through my tutor, and do most things independantly.

i second that

[bec]

Worst thing is, my school has the worst maths faculty ever.

Pretty much I have to learn through my tutor, and do most things independantly.

Having a bad teacher/faculty isn't the end of the world. I don't know about other people but when I have a shocking teacher I know that it's all up to me and what I put in, so often I end up doing more work. The good thing with maths is that you can do a lot without being supported - it's not like humanities where there isn't much point in writing essays if they aren't being corrected. Besides, if you have a tutor I guess that's not an issue at all anyway!

Personally, I think the best thing to do with any subject is to focus on working out why you make mistakes. I wrote down every mistake I made in methods this year, and re-did every question I didn't get right the first time, so that I was able to walk in the exam knowing that I knew how to do every maths question I had ever seen. It makes you a lot more confident knowing that! For me , this was more important than the quantity of practice exams I did - I feel like I got as much as I possibly could out of the work that I did do, and for me it was much more productive than doing 9000 prac exams and not correcting them. Also, it wasn't that hard to do and didn't really take that much time, because I did it as I went along rather than all at the end.

Also....careful with the advice you get from people - not just with maths, but VCE in general. Always ask for advice, and always listen to it, but only follow it if it suits you. Some people will tell you to finish the whole course in term 1, some will tell you to do 6 hours a night, some will tell you not to bother until the week before exams. Do what works for you, and you can probably figure out what that is on your own.

[cobby]

I think the main aim is to work consistently throughout the year. In a subject like this, you want to complete as many practice questions as you can; more exposure = more chance of picking up marks.

Set up a routine early on and stick to it, and you can't go wrong. Try to regularly revise topics already covered so as to not lose the skills you have already developed (unlike someone did... *whistle*). That was my main fault this year for methods and as a result I had to relearn everything on the term 3 holidays-  I know I could have done much better if I'd just made sure to put in an extra hour's practice every Thursday or whatever.

Try to check the study design every so often, available on the VCAA site. This is what the exam is formulated from. If you see something there you don't feel entirely confident with even after finishing the topic in class, or don't even recognise, be sure to bring it up with your teacher. Don't take an "oh it doesn't really matter" for an answer - they're not writing the exam. Just say you're interested and want to know anyway. Who knows, it might just clinch you that 50.

Also establish a balance of calculator and non-calculator skills. For Exam 1 you'll need to know your stuff for as you won't have a calc or any notes other than the formula sheet, and some SACs may also be constructed that way if your teacher sees fit. That might mean reciting your times tables to your parents like in the old days if they've become a bit scratchy lol. You'll probably find some calc-free type questions in your texts and study guides to practice on, and there is an excess of practice exams for methods so have a look at them to see what is expected early on (and don't get freaked out by something you haven't been taught yet - it'll fall into place). Give some thought to your Exam 2 bound reference as well, but in the exam you're not going to have too much time to read and get it all done... if you can get to the stage where you only need a couple of cheat sheets stapled together, that's great!

If you want to do some work over the summer, generally the first area of study is functions and their graphs which is practically 1 & 2 revision for the most part. You can probably get on top of that on your own. Ask a friend or teacher if you need help and make sure you familirize yourself with the topics you learnt this year.

My friend, I hope that helps.

Thats awesome daniel!!!!