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Maths-Ext 1/2 Marks Lost and Hardest Topics (1 Viewer)

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Jojofelyx

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Hey everyone !!

For Maths ext-1 and 2, which topics do you guys find the hardest and why? Also, which topics do most band 6 (or E4) students lose marks on?
 
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shashysha

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Jojofelyx said:
Hey everyone !!

For Maths ext-1 and 2, which topics do you guys find the hardest and why? Also, which topics do most band 6 (or E4) students lose marks on?
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3U: perms and combs topic, maybe vector proofs cause some can get abstract but most 3U topics should be a breeze
4U: proof, everything else is a vibe

honestly most the marks that my friends and I lost were to either reading the question incorrectly or basic algebra mistakes lol so keep practicing to minimise those silly mistakes
 
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Jojofelyx

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shashysha said:
3U: perms and combs topic, maybe vector proofs cause some can get abstract but most 3U topics should be a breeze
4U: proof, everything else is a vibe

honestly most the marks that my friends and I lost were to either reading the question incorrectly or basic algebra mistakes lol so keep practicing to minimise those silly mistakes
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How'd you do in terms of marks for both of those subjects, if you don't mind me asking?
 
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3u: perms and combs defs, binomials too, vector proofs
4u: proofs for sure, 3D vector proofs mainly
Basically a lot of the topics that require visualisation or a lot thinking are the ones I think people lose the most marks on since either it is too hard to visualise, or since it can be so creative, you may think that your method makes sense when you are missing some fine detail, etc. The other topics are simpler and don't lose too much marks since they require the same methods which can be improved in consistency with just lots of practice (integration and mechanics especially)
 
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in cambridge, for proofs, the hard questions seem to generally involve making some substitution to prove something. these substitutions tend to be pretty logical. more logical than some of the tricks you do in other topics.

hard integrals for one seems to have some really random stuff sometimes, but those aren't tested in HSC I would suppose.

imo, mechanics might have room for some pretty hard stuff, because it seems that the trend is working towards an answer, but if we delete a few parts given, i.e. exclude parts A), b), C) etc. or don't include an answer to reach, it might be quite hard to see what to do. then again, i haven't covered mech so what do I know lol.

complex also has room for whacky algebra, polynomial and geometry tricks. Again, if parts of a question are excluded, it becomes very hard to see what to do.

Of course, proofs are not an exception to the fact that if we remove parts of the question people won't see what to do. But it is perhaps less likely that parts of a proof question are excluded, otherwise it would become olympiad maths.

** Vector parametric 3d graphs ---> GG lol.
 
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Jojofelyx

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idkkdi said:
in cambridge, for proofs, the hard questions seem to generally involve making some substitution to prove something. these substitutions tend to be pretty logical. more logical than some of the tricks you do in other topics.

hard integrals for one seems to have some really random stuff sometimes, but those aren't tested in HSC I would suppose.

imo, mechanics might have room for some pretty hard stuff, because it seems that the trend is working towards an answer, but if we delete a few parts given, i.e. exclude parts A), b), C) etc. or don't include an answer to reach, it might be quite hard to see what to do. then again, i haven't covered mech so what do I know lol.

complex also has room for whacky algebra, polynomial and geometry tricks. Again, if parts of a question are excluded, it becomes very hard to see what to do.

Of course, proofs are not an exception to the fact that if we remove parts of the question people won't see what to do. But it is perhaps less likely that parts of a proof question are excluded, otherwise it would become olympiad maths.

** Vector parametric 3d graphs ---> GG lol.
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Yall reckon Cambridge is the GOAT for maths ext 1 n 2? because our school uses Fitzpatrick and eh idk about that tbh
 
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CM_Tutor

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idkkdi said:
in cambridge, for proofs, the hard questions seem to generally involve making some substitution to prove something. these substitutions tend to be pretty logical. more logical than some of the tricks you do in other topics.

hard integrals for one seems to have some really random stuff sometimes, but those aren't tested in HSC I would suppose.

imo, mechanics might have room for some pretty hard stuff, because it seems that the trend is working towards an answer, but if we delete a few parts given, i.e. exclude parts A), b), C) etc. or don't include an answer to reach, it might be quite hard to see what to do. then again, i haven't covered mech so what do I know lol.

complex also has room for whacky algebra, polynomial and geometry tricks. Again, if parts of a question are excluded, it becomes very hard to see what to do.

Of course, proofs are not an exception to the fact that if we remove parts of the question people won't see what to do. But it is perhaps less likely that parts of a proof question are excluded, otherwise it would become olympiad maths.

** Vector parametric 3d graphs ---> GG lol.
Click to expand...
It is certainly true that questions can be made more difficult by giving less structure, but it is also true that structure can be less helpful.

On the latter, there are questions where the structure is meant to support you taking approach A when the approach that some students / people / teachers will be inclined towards instinctively is approach B. There was an MX2 question that I saw last year that I solved parts (a) and (b) and then found a proof / solution to part (d) which I used to get the result in part (c) because I didn't see the connection to go from (b) directly to (c) without establishing (d). It's better to get a solution than not (obviously) so the structure of the question doesn't necessarily have to be followed unless there are words like "hence" in the question... and on this, more able students need to recognise the unstated implication of the phrase "hence or otherwise" as it has two distinctly different potential meanings.

As for less structure, a question that was debated in my 4u class (and which we found two solutions for) on integration:



See if you can find a way to find this indefinite integral. I can make this into a reasonable MX1 question with sufficient structure, but without structure it is definitely a challenge even at MX2 level.

PS: There are some nice proof-type challenges in the questions that I posted in thread on second-order reversion... I wonder if anyone is having a go at them.
 
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