Importance of doing past papers (1 Viewer)

[iStudent]

Everyone seems to be pushing that past papers are the key to high marks. But after doing the past 10 years of mx2 papers I feel like my maths ability has only improved marginally. Which brings me to my question: just how important are past papers? I can understand doing a lot of papers to get used to exam conditions etc but honestly I feel like it's inefficient use of time. e.g. I'm much better off working on my english (my weakest subject) than on my maths (where I'm already working on pretty bad diminished returns).

I can see why past papers are useful for the sciences (the marking guidelines) but for maths I feel like it's a complete waste of time because you've already done plentiful hard questions in textbooks. Doing any more will help you only to a limited extent.

Thoughts?

Also? I hope I posted this in the right section (my main question is doing mx1/mx2 papers)

 

[seventhroot]

past papers == very important

they test your knowledge and problem solving skills

 

[Kurosaki]

I think doing past papers is a great way to hone exam technique + come across fun and interesting questions, but after the first 10 or so I've also found I'm receiving diminishing returns so I'm only doing 1 every 2 days as opposed to 2 a day like I was before.

They are still very important to do imo though

 

[faisalabdul16]

Past papers are important as they test your knowledge as everyone has said - HSC papers in particular for maths as the questions sort of require you to apply yourself as opposed to textbook questions which just follow a procedure. 3/4 weeks out from the HSC, it is important to continue to do papers.
However i think an individual's top priority in regards to work should be their weakest subject, as marks in this will truly make the difference when it comes to ATAR.

 

[dunjaaa]

I know how you feel, you reach the point where you need a new flavour, but you don't know how or where to find it. I am currently in a similar situation where I have no idea how I can further my understanding and application of concepts. I want to get better and reach the elite tier and I feel as though past papers are getting me nowhere besides improving my time management...

 

[Fade1233]

Past papers are important as they test your knowledge as everyone has said - HSC papers in particular for maths as the questions sort of require you to apply yourself as opposed to textbook questions which just follow a procedure. 3/4 weeks out from the HSC, it is important to continue to do papers.
However i think an individual's top priority in regards to work should be their weakest subject, as marks in this will truly make the difference when it comes to ATAR.

Works for everything excluding English. Studied a whole lot of English and gave up most of my 4U time for trials but I still end up with an average of 12/20 and a rank of 129/140 or something.

 

[Fade1233]

I know how you feel, you reach the point where you need a new flavour, but you don't know how or where to find it. I am currently in a similar situation where I have no idea how I can further my understanding and application of concepts. I want to get better and reach the elite tier and I feel as though past papers are getting me nowhere besides improving my time management...

You are getting something out of it? I am absolutely getting nothing. I really want to even up my English with my math, if only I could pull of a 99 in math 4u, then English @ 81 wont be as much of a problem, but it will.

 

[dunjaaa]

You realise, most of the past papers are copy and pasted from CSSA/Sydney Grammar/James Ruse/HSC papers. Kind of counterproductive when you see the same question appear 5 times lol

 

[faisalabdul16]

Works for everything excluding English. Studied a whole lot of English and gave up most of my 4U time for trials but I still end up with an average of 12/20 and a rank of 129/140 or something.

Did you write numerous essays?

The way i improved in English was through writing essays constantly. Exposing myself to all sorts of questions to test my knowledge and understanding of the texts. I went overkill on english before the trials, i remember writing an essay every day in the holidays lol.

 

[kalstar]

It's basically a way to master any of the questions that the HSC can throw at you.

 

[iStudent]

past papers == very important

they test your knowledge and problem solving skills

It's one thing to test your knowledge and another thing to do past papers to improve your knowledge...
In every past paper there's only like 1-2 good questions. The rest are standard textbook questions which you would've already seen a hundred times already. I really can't see that much benefit in spending 3 hours to do those few questions ._.

 

[seventhroot]

It's one thing to test your knowledge and another thing to do past papers to improve your knowledge...
In every past paper there's only like 1-2 good questions. The rest are standard textbook questions which you would've already seen a hundred times already. I really can't see that much benefit in spending 3 hours to do those few questions ._.

are you getting 100% then?

 

[iStudent]

It's basically a way to master any of the questions that the HSC can throw at you.

You can't really prepare for the last few questions in HSC papers (not that I think you can). I think I'm already at the point where I've mastered the standard textbook questions (i.e. the question forms that you see in textbooks and in every past paper)

 

[iStudent]

are you getting 100% then?

I can do majority of q7-8
I can do all of q1-6.
*for the recent papers (apparently the old ones are a lot harder)

 

[emilios]

You sound like you're doing a lot of them. Tone it down a bit and focus on English.

 

[iStudent]

Past papers are important as they test your knowledge as everyone has said - HSC papers in particular for maths as the questions sort of require you to apply yourself as opposed to textbook questions which just follow a procedure. 3/4 weeks out from the HSC, it is important to continue to do papers.
However i think an individual's top priority in regards to work should be their weakest subject, as marks in this will truly make the difference when it comes to ATAR.

I agree. I feel like I've reached the point where doing another 100 MX2 past papers will only make a difference to my ATAR of <0.5

 

[seventhroot]

I can do majority of q7-8
I can do all of q1-6.
*for the recent papers (apparently the old ones are a lot harder)

then you should be fine; just focus on other subjects

 

[Fade1233]

Did you write numerous essays?

The way i improved in English was through writing essays constantly. Exposing myself to all sorts of questions to test my knowledge and understanding of the texts. I went overkill on english before the trials, i remember writing an essay every day in the holidays lol.

Nope, I memorised all my essays word to word and then adapted to question. Either way, I just no way in hell can write an essay at the spot and get more than 10/15. I tried once really hard in half yearly to write at spot and thought i went well-> turns out 9/15.

 

[Fade1233]

I can do majority of q7-8
I can do all of q1-6.
*for the recent papers (apparently the old ones are a lot harder)

Nah depends 2001 or 2002 not sure which one but one of them was more difficult and then 1993 but everything else was nearly the same. 1998 was not bad. But 1984 was a good paper.

 

[iStudent]

Nope, I memorised all my essays word to word and then adapted to question. Either way, I just no way in hell can write an essay at the spot and get more than 10/15. I tried once really hard in half yearly to write at spot and thought i went well-> turns out 9/15.

Have you tried finding a tutor? (I think it helps especially for english). Preferably someone who can mark your essays and give comprehensive feedback.