2016 VCE exam guide — Maths Methods: There’s time to improve your results

You may find yourself beginning to panic as your mind races through the following questions:

•Where has this year gone?

•Why didn’t I begin my exam study earlier?

•Where should I begin with my exam study?

•Is there too much to cover in the time I have remaining?

•Is it too late to ensure I perform the best I can on the upcoming exams?

STOP!

Take two or three deep breaths and read on …

The good news is that it is not too late to improve your final result until the moment you walk out of the final Mathematical Methods exam on November 3.

The first thing to do is to focus on the next month with a Growth Mindset (Dweck, 2006).

There are 5 elements to the growth mindset model, however, they should not be considered in isolation from each other.

Embrace challenges and persist with overcoming obstacles

With other subjects to study for, it is critical to set up your study timetable so that you give a fair and reasonable amount of time to each exam that you are preparing for.

When considering this for Mathematical Methods, you need to take into account the weighting of each exam.

For example, Exam 1 consisting of short-answer and extended-answer questions will contribute 22 per cent to your study score while Exam 2 consisting of multiple-choice, short-answer and extended-answer questions, including multistage questions of increasing complexity, will contribute 44 per cent to your study score.

This would mean that you should split your time allocated to your Mathematical Methods study in a similar ratio.

There will be some concepts in Mathematical Methods that you feel relatively confident about and are looking forward to answering questions about on the exams.

There will be other concepts you understand and can answer questions about but are struggling to be fully confident with. There will, of course, be those concepts that really challenge you and that you hope do not appear on the exams at all.

It is so important to prepare for those sections of the exam where you think you may struggle. Therefore, much of your exam revision should focus on past exam questions that are examining the concepts that you either do not feel completely confident with or feel really challenged by. However, past exam questions relate to a previous study design so may not include the concepts you want to focus on.

The simple fact is that you will make the most improvement with your final result by focusing on questions and concepts that challenge you the most.

See effort and hard work as the key to succeeding on your exams

A fundamental and major part of achieving success in your Mathematical Methods exams will be the amount of effort and hard work undertaken by you, the student.

• The first thing you must do is to ensure that you have completed your coursework to the best of your ability so that your conceptual understanding and mathematical skills are high. This gives you the necessary level from which to launch your exam study from.

• The next part of the hard work and effort comes with completing focused study using the past Mathematical Methods exams that are easily accessible from the VCAA website. For Mathematical Methods the past exams from 2006 to 2015 can be found at vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/studies/mathematics/cas/casexams.aspx.

It is important to note that past exams may differ in key knowledge and key skill requirement — so be alert for the differences.

If you are unsure whether the concept a particular question, from a past exam, is assessing is relevant to the new study design, it is best to double check with your Mathematical Methods teacher as to its suitability and relevance.

Seek out and learn from feedback and find lessons from the success of others

The other resources that can be obtained from the VCAA website above are the Examination Reports that are written for each exam.

These reports provide many sample answers, concepts and skill-specific suggestions when answering questions.

It also provides you with a summary of the question data for the cohort from that year.

For multiple-choice questions this is in the form of percentages of students who selected each option. While for short-answer and extended-answer questions the distribution of the marks awarded to the cohort is provided.

The Examination Reports also note errors and mistakes that have been made in the past that you should avoid.

Here is a summary of common errors and tips about how to approach the exams:

• Use the 15 minutes reading time effectively by identifying questions with familiar concepts and routines that you can target to answer first when writing time begins

• When a function, e.g. g (x), has been changed through a series of transformations it is no longer this same function so should not be labelled as such, but given a different name

• Ensure your arithmetic skills when operating with fractions and algebraic transpositions are well practised, especially when negatives are involved

• Writing final answers to questions with fractions as answers should be written in simplified fraction form

• Know how to use exact values for questions involving for example, circular functions, logarithmic and exponential functions, quadratic formula, completing the square, definite integrals and areas between curves

• Highlight or underline key elements and values of questions and then check your final answer against the bolded parts in the question

• For short-answer and extended-answer questions, students who produce responses that are detailed, clearly communicated and precise generally score well

• Questions worth more than one mark require you to demonstrate your methodology (working out) as well as an answer

• Clearly-labelled diagrams or tables can be useful in constructing and then demonstrating your reasoning

• It is critical that you take care with your hand writing to ensure it is legible and your intended answer is able to be read

• As a general rule, if you are required to give a decimal approximate then leave rounding until the very end to avoid rounding errors

• Ensure that correct mathematical notation is used

It is always good to remember that it is the students who prepare the most effectively and focus on improving their weaknesses who do well in Year 12 exams.

Craig Blake is Mathematics Domain Leader at Mount Erin College, with 16 years experience teaching VCE Mathematical Methods, Further Mathematics and Physics