Familiarisation will solve problems
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday June 15, 2009
Knowing where students often trip up can ensure you avoid the same mistakes. Success in your HSC examination for General Mathematics starts with having a positive attitude, getting motivated, being well organised and working hard. The first thing you need to do is to get organised but how do you do that? One way to start is to organise your notes for each of the five strands: Financial Mathematics, Data, Measurement, Probability and Algebraic Modelling. Familiarise yourself with the knowledge and skills required for each of the five strands. Make sure you revise the basic skills for each topic.As you get closer to the HSC examination you will spend more time working on past HSC papers and past HSC questions (boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hscexams/). Ensure you are familiar with the terminology and the structure of the answers required. For example, you are expected to be able to analyse, interpret and compare data to achieve an upper band result in General Mathematics. NSW HSC Online (hsc.csu.edu.au/maths/) has a wealth of resources to help you in your preparation.You can also practise online multiple-choice questions under exam conditions (www4.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/course/higher-school-certificate/general-mathematics/).Be aware of the common areas of difficulties that students have. These include making mistakes when converting metric units, incorrectly substituting into formulae and rounding offtoo early.Managing your timeIt is important that you know the format of the examination paper. The General Mathematics paper is 2 hours. Up to 30 per cent of the HSC exam will be based on the preliminary course.The HSC paper contains two sections. The first section consists of 22 multiple-choice questions and it is a good idea to allow 30 minutes for this section. The second section contains six short-answer questions worth 13 marks each and you should allow yourself 20 minutes to answer each of these questions. You will also be provided with a formulae sheet; become familiar with it and use it throughout your exam. When you use the formulae sheet take care to transcribe the appropriate formula correctly.In the lead up to your trial examination, practise timing yourself under exam conditions several times at home. To maximise your marks you should always show your working and check your answers. Don't forget, if the answer does not look reasonable (ie, too big or too small) you may have made an error. Check you have used the correct units. If you do discover you have made a mistake in the examination, simply draw a neat diagonal line through the incorrect working. All attempts are considered for marks and the better an examiner can understand what you have attempted, the greater the likelihood of gaining some marks. Pay attention to the situation where a question asks you to justify with calculations and ensure you have provided a suitable response.Know your calculatorYour calculator is a tool that helps you during the exam so become familiar with it. Check that your Board-approved calculator is set to read degrees and that you know how to adjust the display to different numbers of decimal places if you use this function. You should also practise evaluating harder expressions, such as890 x {(1 + 0.032)5 - 10.03 x (1 + 0.032)5}and especially those in financial mathematics. Develop a good understanding of the formulas for annuities and know how to apply them. Remember when the rate r is given to you as a percentage, you divide it by 100 and enter it into the formula as a decimal.For data analysis make sure you know how to calculate the mean and what effect adding a score will have on a previously calculated mean. For example, if the mean of three scores is 62, what would the fourth score need to be to create a new mean of 63? The total of the first three scores must have been 62 x 3 = 186 and we need a total of 252 (63 x 4) to have a mean of 63 from four scores. So the fourth score must be 252 186 = 66.Finally, always write the calculator display in your solution before rounding off the answer. It is important that you only round off in the last step of working and not any earlier.When you read the exam questions pay particular attention to expressions such as "round off" to nearest square metre or two significant figures, "evaluate", "compare", "deduce", "describe" and "contrast". You should also be prepared to explain your solutions in words as well as numbers.When you need to draw a graph or a diagram, try to make them large (about half a page) and clear. Use a ruler and be accurate when drawing diagrams. Make sure you bring all necessary equipment into the exam. Read scales on graphs and diagrams carefully. If the diagram states "Not to scale", measuring the lines or the angles on the diagram would give an incorrect answer.Writers: Zaynab Najem is an experienced mathematics teacher at Moorefield Girls High School. Nagla Jebeile is currently Head Teacher Mathematics at Moorefield Girls High School with many years experience as a mathematics teacher in comprehensive high schools. Nagla was previously the Mathematics 7-12 Consultant in the Sydney Region.EXAM DETAILSDate: Monday, October 26.Time: 9.25am-noon.Duration: 2 hours 35 minutes (including reading time).For the composition of the exam go to boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
Share This