Exam Strategy (1 Viewer)

[speed2]

my maths teacher at school suggested that instead of doing the questions in order (1,2,3...) u instead do em in this order 1,2,3 then 7&8 then 6,5,4. he said this because he reckons that 1,2,3 get u warmed up and that ur at ur peak in the middle of the exam hence u do the really hard one then the not so hard ones.

do u guys reckon this is is betta way in general or is it always dependent on the person??

thanks 4 ur help guys!

 

[turtle_2468]

I reckon it's pretty stupid... mark inefficient... if you hit your peak in the middle of the exam you SHOULD be doing 4,5,6 for most people anyway. Because you get a lot more marks on average from 4,5,6 - the doable-but-tricky questions - than 7,8 the questions which everyone assumes they can do but most people don't get to.

Risks you run are 1) that 7,8 are undoable or at least give less marks per minute
2) that you get freaked out by 7,8 and can't do 4,5,6 concentrating properly
3) that you run out of time doing 4,5,6.

If you're good enough to do 7,8 straight off without thinking too much then you really shouldn't be worrying about what order you do it in anyway, it shouldn't matter...

PS compare this to the poster (I can't remember his name, sorry) who decided to do it all backwards because you get most energy at the start.. it didn't work.

 

[haboozin]

yea i think you should definatly listen to turtle...

what he says sound very good and he did top the state...

 

[Stefano]

Wow, did you really top the state turtle? Well Done.

How much study did that involve? (Particularly after the trials)

 

[acmilan]

If he's anything like some others who top that state, it probably wouldnt be as much as most people would think.

 

[haboozin]

Wow, did you really top the state turtle? Well Done.

How much study did that involve? (Particularly after the trials)

he was already good at maths man.
He's a maths olympiad gold medalist...i think.

Its just natural sometimes.
I dont think someone who does not have the ability coudl top the state even after 10000000 practice papers, sure they may be able to get close but not top it.

 

[justchillin]

The people who top the state dont get over 116 (or very rarley)... so i think do the paper in the correct order and try to maximise marks for qns 1-4 (which should =100%) and then qns 5 and 6 which should be close to 100%. Of course then u tackle the toughies... good fun...

 

[turtle_2468]

I got 119 I think...
I didn't do much work. But then, I learnt it back in year 10, and i was doing olympiad stuff for most of year 12. You SHOULD try to do papers - they help. So don't take me as an example..

EDIT: I think justchillin has the right approach. First 4 questions - make sure you don't lose any marks and can do them straight off (ie almost without thinking.. just like an algorithm) 5,6: try to be careful. 7,8: depends on your ability.

 

[Templar]

he was already good at maths man.
He's a maths olympiad gold medalist...i think.

He was a triple IMO contestant achieving a silver in 2002.

I agree what is being said. Do them in order, and also do plenty of past papers as well. Contrary to what people think no matter how good you are past papers will definitely help. There was once when I did a paper back to front because I spent 5min on a one mark integral and still couldn't get it out, got frustrated and decided to start from the other end, but I wouldn't recommend that.

 

[haboozin]

I got 119 I think...

Which question did u get a mark off do u think?

It would be in Question 8 since there is no exemplers for Q8.

Q8aii?

 

[Stefano]

That's great turtle.

I actually started doing some IMO work in year8/9. I was really enjoying it and I would of been doing it today if my parents hadn't split up. That fucked me up.

So anyways, I didn't do any study for the trials and got 48 [ ], so I really wanna get into the top band - whatever that is or whatever score is required. Thing is I have a problem with study. Do you tutor turtle?

 

[Slidey]

Tutoring won't help now. Past papers are your friend.

 

[justchillin]

119...respect

 

[casebash]

IMO Medalist... Respect

 

[justchillin]

IM confused... when exactly did u top the state turtle... last year???
Edit: can't be last year cauz UNSW medicine II...lol...
So wat year was it?? 2002?

 

[acmilan]

Look at his profile, theres a link to his IMO profile with his name, then just search for his name on the bos site