Applied Maths language

chickens

hello, I have been doing applied maths since the year began (and a more basic form for some years before) but I have one continuous probelm, the language, I find the phraseing of the questions of the questions very hard, I was wondering if the exam papers are as hard or is this simply the case with my reference book. Thank you.

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

You're best off just cracking away through past papers - and past mocks - just get as many as you can, you'll pick it up as you work through them and eventually you'll just twig it when you see the question in front of you. Also, the phrasing of questions these days is much better than when Fundamental Applied Maths was written and pretty much all the '90s/'00s papers are pretty easy to decipher. Have fun with it!

I Applied Maths!

*Angel*

Bob wrote:

You're best off just cracking away through past papers - and past mocks - just get as many as you can, you'll pick it up as you work through them and eventually you'll just twig it when you see the question in front of you.

Yep, and I haven't had any problems understanding what the exam papers are asking for or mean. So just take a look at them and to put yourself at ease.

App.Maths is a short course and it is also one of my faves, just make sure you crack this language issue so that you'll get the grade you deserve.

Chickens are you in 6th year cos if you are you should definitely take a look at the exam papers.

chickens

No I am only in the 5th year, so i have not tried to read the exam papers yet.

I see what you mean about the language issue, the courseis really very simple, we did much of it in my old school, I just wonder if it is always this hardor just book.

Thank you.

Steveire

you'll get used to the language. The questions are the same every yr

rainbow kirby

Applied Maths = Best. LC. Subject. EVER!!!
Papers are predictable. You have buttloads of choice. There's only a few types of question that generally get asked for each topic. And the course is really short and it makes the mechanics question a real banker if you're doing physics.
And in an advantage I discovered later: It basically gives you half the mathematical physics course in 1st science in UCD.

*Angel*

rainbow kirby wrote:

Applied Maths = Best. LC. Subject. EVER!!!

I couldn't agree more!

Attractive Nun

You should get used to the language used in the questions. I've never really noticed too many difficultly phrased questions, but the best advice I could give you is to just make sure you know what all the terms mean. Relative Density, moments, deccelaration etc. Then you should be able to figure out what they're asking even if the question is phrased confusingly. Read the questions carefully and work out a diagram from them. Once you have the diagram you're sorted. Just look through the past papers and you shouldn't have a problem.

chickens

Thank you, I have learn't all the vocab like you have mentioned, it is really the confusing language that confuses me. A friend has suggested that I just underline the important parts (decelleration ect...) and just work with that, I think I will try this. It would be a pity to give up on what coould be a very easy subject for me.

Attractive Nun

Make sure you don't give up. Applied Maths is such an easy subject once you get the hang of it. For a bit of further advice on comprehension, try this:

Read the question through once or twice, and if you still don't really understand what's happening, try to break it down. You said you know all those definitions and underlining them might be a good idea. Apart from that, approach the question calmly - don't get put off. Focus first on what information the question gives you. If there's a diagram, chances are this is easy enough. Otherwise, aim at writing the given information down in a way you are familiar with. Take each sentence at a time. Take this example from 2003:

"The points p, q and r all lie in a straight line." Now stop. Taken by itself, that's simple enough. So write that down on your page in whatever way you normally would. I'd usually draw a simple diagram with three collinear points, but whatever works for you is fine. Now move on to the next line.
"A train passes p with a speed u m/s." Stop again. Think. What is this telling you? Simply enough, the initial velocity of the train is u. So, again, write that down in your normal way. Then continue through the question in this fashion. I know it's not the most confusing example of a question, but it illustrates the point well enough.

After you've figured out what information the question gives you, you have to figure out what you are supposed to do. For me anyway, this part is usually easier. Usually you will be asked either to evaluate a certain term (like the train's final velocity) - in which case as long as you know what all the terms and definitions mean there should be no problem - or to figure out a variable like f - in which case the best thing to do is to refer back to the question and make sure you know exactly what f represents and understanding the question should be easy enough.

Well, that's my advice. Most of Applied Maths is about writing down information in a way that you understand it - be it on a diagram or in a table or whatever. Remember that even if you don't fully understand the question most topics in the subject have basically one or two methods that you just have to repeat for every question. It's usually easy enough to start the question, even if you don't fully understand what you're going to do, and maybe things will work out in the end - you'll at least get a good few marks.

But, as most people have already mentioned, the best thing to do is simply practice doing Past Paper questions.

ghostchant

Yeah I loved applied maths too. I only started it in the March before I did the LC but it was grand cos like others have said the questions each year are similar enough.
And yeah it has really helped with the mechanics side of maths physics this year

rainbow kirby

Are you in UCD?

ghostchant

rainbow kirby wrote:

Are you in UCD?

yeah i'm doing theoretical physics. Lots of fun :rolleyes:
Well actually I'm enjoyong it

chickens

Thank you Attractive Nun that sounds like a great idea!! I will try that later, I would never give it up, it is a subects that I studies for years in maths before I came here so it would be a pity to loose something over the language, expically since I haven't done much of my other subjects before!

Thank you.

rainbow kirby

im_not_ok wrote:

yeah i'm doing theoretical physics. Lots of fun :rolleyes:
Well actually I'm enjoyong it

I'm 3rd year maths physics, and I hate it...
1st year is great but it all went downhill from there for me.
What year are you in?

ghostchant

I'm in first year so its early days yet but so far so good
maths modelling was a pain but when i actually sat my ass down and looked over it it actually started to make sense...... which was nice

rainbow kirby

Yeah, that one's not too bad. Mechanics is piddlingly easy and Peter Duffy is a really good lecturer. (just a pity you don't get him again until 4th year...) What other subject are you doing? (ie. chem/CS/geology)

ghostchant

I'm doing geology, which varies between really interesting and mind-numbingly boring, and yeah peter duffy is really good and his course is simple enough - applied maths being partly to thank

"best lc subject ever" and my school doesn't even offer it. My school is very limited in its subjects.

chickens

I know what you mean, my school is same. I have to do the applied maths with my self. My father helps (he was teacher) but is english is bad so he cannot help with the book, only with other books. My school doesn't even offer physics, or russian :rolleyes: . I think that the leaving cert subjects are very restrictive though, you have so few languages.

dudara

Hi chickens, I only just realised that you are foreign, which means that you have to work harder at understanding the applied maths language. But you're already on the right path. Just read questions carefully, and pick out what you feel are the main parts.

If you feel you need more help, maybe you could look for a grind or two from someone, in order to help you learn the tricks required for applied maths.

I did applied maths for my leaving in 1996, and it was a great choice to have made. When I started college, it made applied maths there so easy, I actually got 99% in my first year exam. And I didn't really have to work all year.

Best of luck

*Angel*

<Jonny> wrote:

"best lc subject ever" and my school doesn't even offer it. My school is very limited in its subjects.

If you're still in 5th year you could teach yourself, sometimes I wish I hadn't taken up Construction Studies in school and done App.Maths outside school.

chickens

dudara wrote:

. If you feel you need more help, maybe you could look for a grind or two from someone, in order to help you learn the tricks required for applied maths.

That is good idea, I should look at that there must be somewhere near. I am lucky, where I used to live we do applied maths as part of maths, I moved here few years ago yet we have still not covered in maths what I have already covered so i really just need the language. I have been doing one of those english as a foreign language courses along with "conversational irish" (I am doomed deeply there!) so I just hope it gets earier, but friend told me today that I could bring dictionary into exam!! so I have to check that.

*Angel*

So what questions have you guys decided to do?

I'm probably gonna do Projectiles, Relative Velocity, Connected Particles, Impacts, Hydrostatics, Circ Motion & SHM and Diff Eqs. After that Moments of Inertia. I figure there is plenty time to get 7 done usually unless its a b!tch of a paper.