I am awful at Prelim Trig. What do I do? (1 Viewer)

[MzRobinHood97]

Like the title states, I am hopeless in Trigonometry. I get 70s-80s% in my exams and when I lose marks it's in the TRIG section. I'm so hopeless at it. I try a lot, but identities and bearings are my weaknesses. What can I do? Are there any experiences where you overcame being a total loser in a topic but aced it.. Need the motivation. I just started the HSC course and need to correct it.

 

[Queenroot]

gg when you learn radians

Dw I was shit at geometry
I don't really have any success stories
I got 80 in HSC Maths and in school I used to get ~60s

 

[rumbleroar]

First of all, the worst thing you can do to yourself is feel too discouraged about it. There's always going to be difficult topics for maths and unfortunately its trig for you. I think with identities, you just need to learn how to manipulate them and its just about recognising which are the right ones to use. With bearings, always try and draw a diagram. Alternate angles are often used when you need to find bearings.

TBH trig is a lot of practice, make sure you do your homework every night and ask your teacher for help when you're really struggling. Best of luck!

 

[Mahmoud97]

Just keep practicing and do as much as you can ,I myself was pretty crap until i did tonnes of past paper trig questions come hsc time it was my favourite topic tbh

 

[astroman]

im shit at trig too :/

 

[wishingstars]

I think what you should do is really try to understand the concepts behind trig.
You can do so by looking through your class notes, through any of the textbooks your school has provided (you can borrow or buy these too) as well as from any notes your tutoring place gives you (if you do go tutoring).
Once you have gone through essentially the "theory" behind trig, then keep trying your hand at trig questions. Do basic ones (to build your confidence) and slowly work your way up.

With identities, it really is about having a solid grounding of what they are - and then doing lots and lots of Qs on them (trust me, I used to hate identities but they eventually became my favourite part of math - because really, most of them are proof Qs where the answer is already given!)

With bearings, I would say you really have to understand what the question is asking (each Q will be a little different obviously). Diagrams will definitely help and once you understand how they work and practise, you will be fine

Hope this helps!


Also, don't panic or try to rush it now! It's okay if it takes you a little longer to understand and really get a grip on the concepts when you've just started year 12. You have the holidays ahead of you so you will be fine!