how to get an A in honours maths

eoins23456

just wondering how much work is required to get the A in leaving cert Maths.I know a strong interest,understanding of the concepts and a good aptitude for maths are needed but what sets the A1s apart from the rest?any websites revision books(doubtful) or resources that you used to do well in maths?

zam

I'm interested to see what people say, I've been wondering myself... I mean I can do all the questions but there's always the one that throws you off and the silly mistakes that cost valuable marks!

Jay P

I'll leave out the obvious, which is just to do loads and loads of exam questions.

The way I did it was I got a special copy and went through each chapter and wrote in all the important formulae into the copy, dividing them into chapters. Then when I did the exam questions, instead of looking at my book, I looked at my copy. Seeing the formulae in your own handwriting is a big help, it's much easier to remember it.
I did exam questions every week going back two or three years, but focused on only one or two questions, example, I'd do Q.1 and 2 on Paper one for 2008, 2007 and 2006, or something along those lines. Then I asked my teacher to correct them, and just to point out where I was going wrong so I could learn from my mistakes.

Revison books aren't that helpful, except they give different examples, and have the formulae you need in a more concise area, but they're generally the same as the books. Though I did find them very effective at revising for the algebra questions, as I found them much harder in the exams than in the books.


So that's how I did it, and it got me an A2, so it should help others to.

Purchiz

if you need to think if youll get a A you won't

Only complete geniuses get a A in higher

people who think maths is the easiest thing ever

Davidius

Purchiz wrote: »

if you need to think if youll get a A you won't

Only complete geniuses get a A in higher

people who think maths is the easiest thing ever

That's not really true.

Anyhow it really is just a matter of being well-practiced. It's important to note that there's a difference to being well-practised in problem solving and simply learning off and applying methods. Don't just stick to the easiest problems because you can only go so far with them.

This might be worth a quick read.

Bottom-line is just to try as many questions as possible and see where you're going wrong. Often times you'll find you've just been approaching it the wrong way.

Making It Bad

Purchiz wrote: »

if you need to think if youll get a A you won't

Only complete geniuses get a A in higher

people who think maths is the easiest thing ever

Err no you don't, it's not an IQ test, it's a maths test. You know the type of questions which will come up, you can practise them, it requires a lot of hard work and some talent but certainly not a genius.

dambarude

I got an A1 in HL Maths when I did it. This is what'd I'd say about it:D:

Revision books aren't really any use to you. They leave stuff out, and generally only give examples.

That's why you should use your main class text book to guide your study. Sometimes things come up on the paper which haven't really been examined in much detail in previous years. This means that going by exam papers alone is also a no-no. For example, in 2006, a question on the graph of a trigonometric function came up for the first time ever. If you had gone by previous papers alone, you'd never have studied this, or might have thought "that never comes up , I won't do it". Go by your textbook, it generally includes everything on the syllabus, not just that which has been examined. I had Text and Tests and found it quite good.

That said, exam papers will form a big part of your study. Try your very best to get as far with a question as you can when doing it for the first time. Then and only then you should check the answer. The marking schemes at www.examinations.ie are very good for giving possible answers to questions and also showing how they're marked. With a part b or c you usually don't need to get the end of an answer, or a get a fully correct answer, to get good marks.

You should understand the basics above all else. Sometimes you're expecting something so convoluted in a question that you miss something really basic, and this throws the whole question. Also, you don't want to get the first part of a question wrong and be able to do the succeeding parts only. If a question is REALLY hard, a lot of the marks go for the easiest bit of it. Looking at the marking schemes will show you this.

Finally, READ the question VERY carefully in the exam. I took down two questions wrong in mine, and only realised afterwards. I still managed to do the questions though, so didn't lose too many marks. But sometimes taking a question down wrong will make it insanely hard, and you won't have a clue what's wrong when it won't work out, or you don't know where to start.

Phew!

Making It Bad

dambarude wrote: »

That's why you should use your main class text book to guide your study. Sometimes things come up on the paper which haven't really been examined in much detail in previous years. This means that going by exam papers alone is also a no-no. For example, in 2006, a question on the graph of a trigonometric function came up for the first time ever. If you had gone by previous papers alone, you'd never have studied this, or might have thought "that never comes up , I won't do it". Go by your textbook, it generally includes everything on the syllabus, not just that which has been examined. I had Text and Tests and found it quite good.

This is very true. I don't get why some people tell you just to do exam papers in maths. Sure, you can get your B by practising papers but if you want an A1 you really need to understand the thing as well, just in case they put a twist on it which you haven't practised before. Past exam papers are good but they only take you to a certain level imo.

dambarude

Making It Bad wrote: »

This is very true. I don't get why some people tell you just to do exam papers in maths. Sure, you can get your B by practising papers but if you want an A1 you really need to understand the thing as well, just in case they put a twist on it which you haven't practised before. Past exam papers are good but they only take you to a certain level imo.

Exactly. The twist in the question will be something that hasn't really come up before. Otherwise it wouldn't really be a twist.

H2student

Okay I'm sold, I'm gonna use the textbook :P. Also I guess, even if it isn't something seen before, you would need to know the theory to understand a confusingly worded question.

lou91

OK, this is going to sound like such a stupid answer, but I think you really have to have confidence in yourself to get the A.

When you first see the paper its so easy to freak out because most of the questions will be tweaked a bit so they won't seem familiar. Just being able to hold your nerve, keep calm and work through it goes a long way.

Worked for me anyway!

dan_d

The simple answer to what sets the A1's apart is....part c of each question.

How many people out there are "quite good" at maths, but struggle with part c. Part a is the easy (ish) part - apply the formula or whatever. Part b is a bit more difficult. Part C - think outside the box. Take the concepts you've learned and make connections that aren't immediately obvious.

I don't know what you can do except practice the exam papers endlessly and work on looking at a question and thinking around it a bit, rather than rushing into doing it.

eoins23456

Find it hard sometimes to use the text book as im like right done these examples already where do i go next but il try it sure

MCannon

It is all about practice, practice practice.

Just keep doing exam paper questions until you puke!!!