Be Better at Applied Maths?

Chuchoter

That, basically. I'm pretty good at normal maths and I'm good at physics, but with applied maths I just can't tell where the question is going. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme nor reason to it. I've only been doing it since September (5th Year) and we're doing motion (the uvast thing?). Does it get easier? What do I do?

niamhallen

I felt the exact same this time last year. Took me up until after Christmas to get used to the subject. Just give it time, and the more questions you do the more confident you'll feel

**Timbuk2**

I felt perfectly fine with Applied Maths, until I saw the exam papers. I nearly had a stroke when I did look at them. They were exponentially more difficult than the exercises in the book. We did the book for all of 5th year and didn't cover the exam papers until 6th year when we were finished the course, around Christmas.

I got an A2 in the real thing. What I found very beneficial was do exam papers over and over. Literally keep doing them until you are blue in the face. The Applied Maths course hasn't changed in over 20 years so you have plenty of choice!

Also, try not to pre-select which 6 questions you will do. Have at least 8 that you are comfortable with (we only covered 8). I always hated Relative Velocity and ended up doing it in my Leaving Cert - and I found that it was the case in many other subjects.

Best of luck!

workingstudent

give it time and you'l see a link between maths and physics..keep practising the exam papers and they do get easier..they just take a while to get used to them!

ride-the-spiral

The main thing I found about Applied Maths was that it takes a while to get used to the difficulty of the simultaneous equations that come up in each topic. The topics it took me longest to understand we're the ones I did first, but as you do more they all start to make more sense so just keep it up and hopefully with the amount of practice you get you'll feel more confident.

Chuchoter

Thanks guys, bit less freaked out now. We don't have a book, we're working off sheets from the teacher. Is it just practice and time then?

ride-the-spiral

crayolastereo wrote: »

Thanks guys, bit less freaked out now. We don't have a book, we're working off sheets from the teacher. Is it just practice and time then?

Pretty much, I remember tearing my hair out when I was doing the linear acceleration chapter over questions that I find no bother at all now. However don't underestimate the exam papers, that question can be the most deceptive.

Cpt_Blackbeard

The Linear Motion Questions (Q1) can be one of the most frustrating ones as they try to trick you with it; It would be too easy if they didn't. Its all about working with values you already know and not making any assumptions.

If you are having problems choosing the equation to use, this will become second nature over time.

I found that all the different questions will click near the end and you'll have a eureka moment. I found that it didn't require much study outside of just doing the questions we were doing in class and h/w. You'll have ~6months of revision too and you might get lucky and have a week to study for the final exam like I did

Chuchoter

Yeah its figuring out the right equation thats the hard bit. And trying to figure out what values I have.

**Timbuk2**

Question 1s are not easy - although they sound simple. The questions can be very tricky. Always write down what you know at the start, it helps, e.g

a=-2
v=0
u=?
t=7

Once you write it down like that, it's clear what equation to use. The only equation that contains a v u and t is v=u+at. I know that was a very easy example, but you can apply it for harder questions.

As you do more questions in Applied Maths, you will grow to like some of them. My personal favourites were Q3 (Projectiles), Q5 (Impacts and Collisions) and Q10 (Differential Equations). Yours may be different, but most of the questions are quite different to Q1. Note that the reason most teachers do Q1 first is because those uvast equations are used in nearly every other question (bear in mind I never did Q8 or Q9, so I am basing it on my own experience).

As for links with Maths and Physics - I never really noticed. I find that Applied Maths gives you good practice at trigonometry, which helps in maths. This is especially significant in Projectiles (Q3) but again, it's not that important. I found AM made the mechanics section of physics slightly easier, but Physics didn't really help with AM.

bigboy123

Good to know that it will get easier, I am in the same situation as crayolastereo, in fifth year, doing motion questions etc.

Does anybody think I should be doing exam papers in fifth year???

workingstudent

once you've finished a section you should start the exam papers..i just dropped down to pass (one of about only 70 in the country) but that was to do with having 7 honours subjects and not enough time for everything..it is soo much easier but the honours is do-able i just couldnt keep up with everything