Applicable Exam Hints 1

APPLICABLE MATHEMATICS: EXAM HINTS NB: These sheets were written by experienced teachers and are intended as a GUIDE only.

IN GENERAL • • •

Read the cover sheet the night before the exam. Know the contents of the tables book and A4 sheets of notes. Use them during all of your revision. Write in blue or black pen. Use pencil for DIAGRAMS ONLY. Writing in pencil makes your work difficult to read.

DURING THE EXAM • • •

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Make a conscious effort not to waste any time. Don’t look around the room, rewrite questions, change pen colours, use liquid paper etc. Use your reading time to make decisions about where you will start. Make sure you start on questions that will boost your confidence and momentum. (So do the easiest questions first). Keep an eye on the time: o One minute/mark o Don’t get bogged down on one question! Move on and come back to problems if you have time. o Never leave early; spend as much time as possible checking your work and reading over what you have written. o Never give up! Score as many part marks as possible. If you have a mental blank, experts say to take a couple of DEEP BREATHS. Don’t cross out questions until you have re-done them. The original may contain part marks. Don’t use liquid paper, just cross out the error and keep writing! Don’t use pencil. Show all working confidently. (Don’t scribble on the edge or back of the page, etc.) If your working is messy, underline the answer. If you get an answer which is clearly incorrect (e.g. Prob(A) = 1.5) DO NOT cross out the whole question as there may be valuable part marks. Simply write: “Answer incorrect as 0 ≤ P(A) ≤ 1” and re-do the question if you have time. Always use the examiners’ hints. If you need the result from part (a) to do part (b) but can’t find it, make up a (reasonable) number and use this result to do other parts of the question. This is often the case in Venn diagram questions. Read the question and underline key information like hence, decimal places, when, matrix multiplication and state the distribution used. It helps if you identify what the question requires. “Justify your answer”, or “Explain”,

Applicable Mathematics Exam Hints

means a calculator answer will NOT earn full marks, but keep explanations very brief.

SPECIFIC HINTS •

Have worked examples in your notes for those questions you find difficult. e.g. probability distributions, transformation of graphs, matrix algebra.

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Include specific matrix transformations in your notes, 0 1  e.g.   reflection about line y = x. 1 0 Remember, a probability tree diagram should contain fractions or decimals along each branch (not percentages) and should clearly indicate all possible outcomes.

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Round off answers correctly. When in doubt, 2 decimal places is fairly safe but be guided by the degree of accuracy used in the question.

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A question worth 2 marks or more usually needs some working shown.

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If you are not confident with algebraic techniques, use your calculator to solve equations. Also to multiply/divide negative numbers.

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Markers love sketches and diagrams; use them as part of your working wherever appropriate. Usually they only need to be freehand.

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Remember to put in a scale for median box plots.

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Statistics questions use lots of symbols. Be aware of the different representations for mean, standard deviation, variance etc. Make up a table to show the effects of a change of scale and origin. 2

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x = 9 ⇒ x = ±3

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Under pressure, everyone makes silly mistakes. Use your calculator wherever possible and check to see that your answer is reasonable and makes sense by re-reading the question.

5 =

x ⇒ x = 25

REMEMBER • • • • •

Read cover sheet the night before the exam. Be VERY familiar with the contents of your tables book and A4 notes. Make diagrams a reasonable size. Check to make sure you have answered the question. Go flat out! Don’t waste a minute!!!!

Applicable Mathematics Exam Hints

GOOD LUCK!!

Applicable Mathematics Exam Hints