The Student Room Group

MAT Prep Thread - 2nd November 2016

Mathematics Admissions Test 2016 Preparation Thread
Thank you to @Gome44 for the thread inspiration

Advice:

\star It's worth studying C3 and C4 before beginning MAT preparation for a better understanding of the concepts behind trigonometry/calculus

\star Start with the earliest papers you can find and ideally try and complete them all by the exam. The papers before 2007 are of an older style and do not follow the same specification as current papers but are good practice nonetheless

\star The earlier papers are somewhat easier than current papers so be careful to not become complacent when scoring highly on early papers

\star Aim to do as many past papers as possible as timed mocks, exam technique is essential to success in the MAT


Resources:

Exam Syllabus
2015 MAT Preparation Thread
MAT/AEA/STEP Past Papers
Official Webpage
MAT Preparation Powerpoint
MAT Section B Tips PDF


Exam Information/Layout:

\star The exam is 150 minutes (2 hours 30 minutes) long

\star There are 5 specific questions to be completed depending on your course

\star The first question consists of 10 multiple choice questions all worth 4 marks each

\star All answers to questions are submitted on plain paper

\star Formulae sheets and calculators are not permitted

\star Compasses are permitted


Graph Sketching:

Spoiler

Things to Look for:

Spoiler

tagged people who may be interested:

Spoiler

(edited 7 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
Reserved
Mate. Idc bout mat bruv.
Jk mat is quite nice, note that recent papers are much harder then previous ones so dont do the spec test and think oh yeh mat is easy i can easily get into oxford as it aint that easy.
Quote me if u need help, had some nice alternatives to some questions.
Reply 3
Original post by physicsmaths
Mate. Idc bout mat bruv.
Jk mat is quite nice, note that recent papers are much harder then previous ones so dont do the spec test and think oh yeh mat is easy i can easily get into oxford as it aint that easy.
Quote me if u need help, had some nice alternatives to some questions.


Yeah I pretty much fell into that trap by thinking that 2015 would be like 2007 :lol:

Reserved the second post so I can link into alternative/old paper solutions if and when they pop up
Reply 4
Original post by physicsmaths
Mate. Idc bout mat bruv.
Jk mat is quite nice, note that recent papers are much harder then previous ones so dont do the spec test and think oh yeh mat is easy i can easily get into oxford as it aint that easy.
Quote me if u need help, had some nice alternatives to some questions.


i need help
Original post by Gome44
i need help


Go on bruv.
If ur ever stuck. Complete the square. Normllly wrks.


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Reply 6
Original post by physicsmaths
Go on bruv.
If ur ever stuck. Complete the square. Normllly wrks.


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https://www0.maths.ox.ac.uk/system/files/coursematerial/2015/3146/12/sheet42016.pdf

question 4, i tried completing the square but it leads nowhere :frown:
Original post by Gome44
https://www0.maths.ox.ac.uk/system/files/coursematerial/2015/3146/12/sheet42016.pdf

question 4, i tried completing the square but it leads nowhere :frown:


Square it bruv.
0=0 qed.
If ur serious, i dnt know none of this **** so no chance fr me mate.


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Reply 8
Original post by physicsmaths
Square it bruv.
0=0 qed.
If ur serious, i dnt know none of this **** so no chance fr me mate.


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nah this is 4th year stuff dw about it :wink:
Reply 9
Original post by Euclidean
Mathematics Admissions Test 2016 Preparation Thread
Thank you to @Gome44 for the thread inspiration

Advice:

\star It's worth studying C3 and C4 before beginning MAT preparation for a better understanding of the concepts behind trigonometry/calculus

\star Start with the earliest papers you can find and ideally try and complete them all by the exam. The papers before 2007 are of an older style and do not follow the same specification as current papers but are good practice nonetheless

\star The earlier papers are somewhat easier than current papers so be careful to not become complacent when scoring highly on early papers

\star Aim to do as many past papers as possible as timed mocks, exam technique is essential to success in the MAT


Resources:

Exam Syllabus
2015 MAT Preparation Thread
MAT/AEA/STEP Past Papers
Official Webpage


Exam Information/Layout:

\star The exam is 150 minutes (2 hours 30 minutes) long

\star There are 5 specific questions to be completed depending on your course

\star The first question consists of 10 multiple choice questions all worth 4 marks each

\star All answers to questions are submitted on plain paper

\star Formulae sheets and calculators are not permitted

\star Compasses are permitted


Graph Sketching:

Spoiler

Things to Look for:

Spoiler

tagged people who may be interested:

Spoiler



Does a tangent to a curve really only intersect the curve once?????

(y=x m8)
Reply 10
Original post by Gome44
Does a tangent to a curve really only intersect the curve once?????

(y=x m8)


All curves except straight lines then I guess, I shall amend for the benefit of other pedantic users :wink:
Original post by Euclidean
All curves except straight lines then I guess, I shall amend for the benefit of other pedantic users :wink:


No i think thats still wrong bro.
Write this, When it intersects a curve they have a double root. They meet and gradient at that point is also the same.


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Reply 12
Original post by Gome44
Does a tangent to a curve really only intersect the curve once?????

(y=x m8)


Original post by physicsmaths
No i think thats still wrong bro.
Write this, When it intersects a curve they have a double root. They meet and gradient at that point is also the same.


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I couldn't find a good definition for a tangent to a curve, so I've scrapped the whole first part:

Original post by Euclidean
Things to Look for:

Spoiler

Reply 13
Original post by Euclidean
I couldn't find a good definition for a tangent to a curve, so I've scrapped the whole first part:



You're assuming the curve is quadratic though, you can have tangents on non-polynomial or polynomial of degree >2 where the discriminant condition you've given doesn't apply, not is there just one repeated real root. You can have roots of multiplicity kk.
Reply 14
Original post by Zacken
You're assuming the curve is quadratic though, you can have tangents on non-polynomial or polynomial of degree >2 where the discriminant condition you've given doesn't apply, not is there just one repeated real root. You can have roots of multiplicity kk.


Sorry, I'll clarify now. I was referencing the point above it on the OP about using the discriminant condition for a quadratic.
Reply 15
Original post by Euclidean
Sorry, I'll clarify now. I was referencing the point above it on the OP about using the discriminant condition for a quadratic.


Ah, my bad.
Thanks for the thread @Euclidean. Been doing a lot of non-maths related stuff, which has given me the nice balance I need. @physicsmaths might have some questions for you. :smile:
Original post by Marxist
Thanks for the thread @Euclidean. Been doing a lot of non-maths related stuff, which has given me the nice balance I need. @physicsmaths might have some questions for you. :smile:


You want some questions?
Have you seen imo 2016 paper, some very nice questions in there.


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Original post by physicsmaths
You want some questions?
Have you seen imo 2016 paper, some very nice questions in there.


Posted from TSR Mobile

I'd love some questions if you have any. Let me know. At the moment, I want to finish off some modules - do some STEP questions I saved a while back to try out then do some stuff based from BMO. DrFrost resources seem to be very good these days - brushed up on my geometry a bit - looking much better than before - was totally lost... and I actually like geometry. :tongue:
Original post by Marxist
I'd love some questions if you have any. Let me know. At the moment, I want to finish off some modules - do some STEP questions I saved a while back to try out then do some stuff based from BMO. DrFrost resources seem to be very good these days - brushed up on my geometry a bit - looking much better than before - was totally lost... and I actually like geometry. :tongue:


Oh if u havent done bmo stuff yet then IMO stuff is a very long shot sorry for suggesting that. I just assume everyone is on the IMO hype like me.



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