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good at maffs, bad at exams. (1 Viewer)

astroman

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I have a dilemma, i have an exam for 2u on series/sequence and geometrical app of calculus on tuesday and am fairly good at doing questions from textbooks however get stuck quickly on past papers. Is there anyway i can solve this issue? Please don't say do past papers coz my brain becomes stupid when i attempt them,are there other ways?
 

astroman

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should i continue doing questions here and there from textbooks for a few more days and then attempt past papers on the weekend?
 

integral95

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Have a good sleep, eat well before the exam :)

And just try and stay calm (I know it's easier said than done, but it's the best way to think clearly)
 

Katsumi

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I did general so i can't advise too much on this apart from 2U friends and my own knowledge, but if your "brain becomes stupid" when doing papers, you are going to be sitting a similar paper in your exams, the only compromise is to do more and more past papers until you are able to do them confidently.
 

iStudent

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That's probably because you're rote learning and not understanding the topics holistically/in depth to attempt harder questions. By the way which past papers are you referring to? The hsc papers can get tricky so not doing those is understandable. However trial papers are mostly textbooks questions which you should be fine with... right?

Probably best thing to do... is do more questions (esp harder ones). Try to read solutions if you can't and get a feel for the types of questions etc (start with trial papers)
 

kalstar

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This is probably because the difficulty of the past papers exceeds your normal textbook questions, so I would advise you to do more past papers. Practice makes perfect, don't give up!
 

seanieg89

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Please don't say do past papers coz my brain becomes stupid when i attempt them,are there other ways?
But this is exactly the thing you are trying to improve! Avoiding them because you aren't good at them is incredibly counterproductive. Attempt them until you get good at them.
 

Rhinoz8142

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I have a dilemma, i have an exam for 2u on series/sequence and geometrical app of calculus on tuesday and am fairly good at doing questions from textbooks however get stuck quickly on past papers. Is there anyway i can solve this issue? Please don't say do past papers coz my brain becomes stupid when i attempt them,are there other ways?
I know how exactly on how you feel.

Arounnd this time last year I just started to do past paperss and whenever I approach a question I would just blank out and have no idea on how to solve it.

So what I would do is look at the answer then just solve the question again without looking.


By practicing I started to get the hang of it and I eventually got used to the past papers
 

dan964

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do the past papers
attempt every question
if you get stuck on a question, circle it, and then see your teacher.
Ask your teacher how to do these sort of questions.

btw what textbook are you using? If you are using an easy one e.g. maths in focus, then you need a better one, where the difficulty is at least similar to that of past papers.
 

astroman

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do the past papers
attempt every question
if you get stuck on a question, circle it, and then see your teacher.
Ask your teacher how to do these sort of questions.

btw what textbook are you using? If you are using an easy one e.g. maths in focus, then you need a better one, where the difficulty is at least similar to that of past papers.
we mostly use MIF coz its school book but i also use Fitz
 

Kaido

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Well, here's an approach.
Step 1: Attempt a past paper with no restrictions on time. Circle any questions you cannot do (surely you can do the first quarter without any problems; if you can't, then you probably do not have a strong grasp on fundamental concepts).
Step 2: DO NOT LOOK AT ANSWERS - instead, turn to any resources you may have containing the relevant information (especially internet tutorials on how to solve particular problems)
Step 3: Re-attempt the question showing FULL WORKING (do not neglect this...) and check answers.
Note: If you cannot answer the question after your attempted re-try, then ask a teacher/tutor or friends :D
Step 4: Repeat for another paper

The sad truth is, you MUST do papers. Textbooks often divide topics and do not provide "examination style" questions - i.e. they suck. And don't bother doing the 'easy' questions, just do the last few.
 

FrankXie

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Try to sumarize the formulas, ideas, and typicial questions, by yourself. Once you have solved one question, ask yourself what is the key step to the solution, what is useful to solve other similar questions?

To think more, to compare more, and to analyse more, is the key to learn maths.
 

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