Oxford MAT- Nov 4th 2015

MAT 2015

First things first:

-Do not start full MAT papers until at least mid September. Instead, just scroll through past papers to gain a feel of the structure and attempt any questions that look interesting

-Learn C3 and C4. This will deepen your understanding in C1/2, whilst also adding fluency in trig manipulations. It may also help in some max/min questions

-Leave the 2012, 2013 and 2014 papers for timed mocks nearer to the actual exam


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Useful Links:

Syllabus
Past papers for MAT/STEP/AEA here
Official MAT Website
If you run out of questions look here
MAT 2006 solution thread
MAT 1992-1995 solution thread
(unfortunately the original op has not been updated so you may need to look through the thread to find your desired solution)


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Structure of the exam

-There are 10 multi-choice questions, each marked out of 4. There are no method marks on these questions, you will either get 4 or 0

-The last multi-choice question is often the most challenging (especially in the last two years)

-There are 5 options for the multi-choice section from 2014 onwards, all other years have 4 options per multi-choice question

-Everybody answers questions 1,2 and 5

-Question 2 is a test of algebra skills, question 3 is often graph related, question 4 is geometry of some sort, question 5 is more in the style of the maths challenge, question 6 is logic based and question 7 often introduces new situations/rules


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Exam Conditions

-The paper is 2 hours and 30 minutes
-You do not get a formula booklet or a calculator
-You are given blank paper to write on, not lined
-There is only 1 or 2 pages to write on for each of questions 2-7, so be prepared to dot your working around


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Tips and Tricks



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Pitfalls to avoid

-Don't get bogged down on multi-choice questions as they are only worth 4 marks. If you are struggling, skip and come back at the end (you can always guess if you run out of time)
-Make sure your multi-choice answer is correct by eliminating all other possibilities (eg, 2008 1A, you may think that your calculus method has got the right answer, but can you eliminate all the other possibilities?)
-Square rooting gives 2 possible solutions!
-Take care around inequalities, don't divide by a potential negative number without flipping the inequality!
- If calculus is used to find a max/min, you must justify it is a max/min
-Pay attention to domains, especially in trig questions (this will make sure you don't have more/less solutions than required)


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Graph Sketching

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Notation

Know when to use $\Rightarrow$ and $\Leftrightarrow$, for an example see 2008 question 4ii
Know the difference between $\equiv$ and =
You should use $\Leftrightarrow$ whenever you deal with inequalities. Why you should not use $\Rightarrow$ is spoilered below

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Overall, the MAT is an aptitude test, so having familiarity in lots of mathematical techniques is crucial to success. Naturally this comes with practice and experience, so try to do all of the past papers from 2007-2014 + all the specimen papers, C3/4, AEA questions and dabble in some STEP questions.

Good Luck!