1st Year Maths Exams
Would Any Older Students like to share tips and advice on exam revision or exam technique
or the main differences between A-level revision and undergrad revision ?
or the main differences between A-level revision and undergrad revision ?
(edited 13 years ago)
From my experience, A Level revision just basically required repeatedly doing past papers as the knowledge required was minimal and near enough the same things would be covered each year so you would be guaranteed to know the syllabus by doing this.
Strangely, despite Uni maths clearly needing a lot more thought and application to proving unseen results, my revision was a lot more knowledge based. My whole revision was dedicated to building up as solid a knowledge as I could of the lecture notes (clearly making sure I knew as many standard proofs as possible) rather than practising using this as I had been doing this during the year and had confidence that as long as I knew the material then I would be able to apply it effectively. A couple of past papers might be of use but I think you do have to back yourself a bit because there is no way you can possibly prepare yourself for the variety of problems that might be presented.
Strangely, despite Uni maths clearly needing a lot more thought and application to proving unseen results, my revision was a lot more knowledge based. My whole revision was dedicated to building up as solid a knowledge as I could of the lecture notes (clearly making sure I knew as many standard proofs as possible) rather than practising using this as I had been doing this during the year and had confidence that as long as I knew the material then I would be able to apply it effectively. A couple of past papers might be of use but I think you do have to back yourself a bit because there is no way you can possibly prepare yourself for the variety of problems that might be presented.
Original post by bcrazy
From my experience, A Level revision just basically required repeatedly doing past papers as the knowledge required was minimal and near enough the same things would be covered each year so you would be guaranteed to know the syllabus by doing this.
Strangely, despite Uni maths clearly needing a lot more thought and application to proving unseen results, my revision was a lot more knowledge based. My whole revision was dedicated to building up as solid a knowledge as I could of the lecture notes (clearly making sure I knew as many standard proofs as possible) rather than practising using this as I had been doing this during the year and had confidence that as long as I knew the material then I would be able to apply it effectively. A couple of past papers might be of use but I think you do have to back yourself a bit because there is no way you can possibly prepare yourself for the variety of problems that might be presented.
Strangely, despite Uni maths clearly needing a lot more thought and application to proving unseen results, my revision was a lot more knowledge based. My whole revision was dedicated to building up as solid a knowledge as I could of the lecture notes (clearly making sure I knew as many standard proofs as possible) rather than practising using this as I had been doing this during the year and had confidence that as long as I knew the material then I would be able to apply it effectively. A couple of past papers might be of use but I think you do have to back yourself a bit because there is no way you can possibly prepare yourself for the variety of problems that might be presented.
Did you do Pure Maths ?
Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of exam questions, and other questions that will test you on things which are either new in the syllabus or haven't been examined to date. Play around with the course content and try and prove and generalise more things using what you have, and learn about things that aren't necessarily required for the exam -- I find this is a good way to get a feel for the material without answering any specific questions, and you get to see things in another context (which helps understanding). In my experience, you can know your notes by heart and be able to quote the proof of any theorem at the drop of a hat and still suck at questions with a significant problem element if you haven't immersed yourself in unfamiliar problems. [By the same card, if you try and do questions without knowing the material, you're pretty much stumped... so the two have to go hand-in-hand really.]
Also, in my experience, you learn a lot more by doing a question fully and well and really understanding it, than you do in trying to rush through to meet a time constraint. Obviously time matters, but don't worry about timing yourself until later on.
And my final piece of advice: practice what you already know. Then it becomes ingrained and automatic and really cuts down on the mental effort you have to put in to get through an exam question.
Also, in my experience, you learn a lot more by doing a question fully and well and really understanding it, than you do in trying to rush through to meet a time constraint. Obviously time matters, but don't worry about timing yourself until later on.
And my final piece of advice: practice what you already know. Then it becomes ingrained and automatic and really cuts down on the mental effort you have to put in to get through an exam question.
A mixture...first year was a combination of Pure, Applied and Stats. Then mainly specialised in Stats, Probability and some discrete mathematics after that but still did some very pure stuff eg. Logic and Set Theory.
Didn't do any applied as soon as I had a choice (half way through 2nd year) and maybe some more practice doing questions on that stuff is more useful because it is more method based but I'd imagine its similar to probability where I reckoned if I understood the method that is wasn't worthwile working through several questions doing the same thing. The only reason I would have done this at A Level is that you could actually be pretty confident with ALL the material on most exams, but at uni there should always be something that you are still struggling to get your head around however hard you try!
Didn't do any applied as soon as I had a choice (half way through 2nd year) and maybe some more practice doing questions on that stuff is more useful because it is more method based but I'd imagine its similar to probability where I reckoned if I understood the method that is wasn't worthwile working through several questions doing the same thing. The only reason I would have done this at A Level is that you could actually be pretty confident with ALL the material on most exams, but at uni there should always be something that you are still struggling to get your head around however hard you try!
Hmmm, just read nuodai's reply- goes to show different things work for different people and you just have to find what's right for you!
I got the impression that my best mate at uni took a similar approach in what he was doing revision wise but we were still very different in the way we went about it- he would sit there for hours on end with his stuff in front of him whereas I hardly ever managed an hour straight- in fact, having recorded the time I spent revising for my 4th year exams I only passed the 100 hour mark a few days before my first exam despite having been going to the library most days for the last 5 weeks...short sharp bursts is just how I worked best.
Develop your own style and go with it!
I got the impression that my best mate at uni took a similar approach in what he was doing revision wise but we were still very different in the way we went about it- he would sit there for hours on end with his stuff in front of him whereas I hardly ever managed an hour straight- in fact, having recorded the time I spent revising for my 4th year exams I only passed the 100 hour mark a few days before my first exam despite having been going to the library most days for the last 5 weeks...short sharp bursts is just how I worked best.
Develop your own style and go with it!
Original post by bcrazy
x
Original post by nuodai
xd
Is it possible to revise 3 months work in 3 weeks ?
Im very behind in 2 of my modules
Stats&Probability and Vectors & Geometry
and just need some work in 2 other modules
(edited 13 years ago)
Original post by Mikl6969
Is it possible to revise 3 months work in 3 weeks ?
Im very behind in 2 of my modules
Stats&Probability and Vectors & Geometry
and just need some work in 2 other modules
Im very behind in 2 of my modules
Stats&Probability and Vectors & Geometry
and just need some work in 2 other modules
It depends how effectively you work really. I'm sure it's possible if you're a robot...
Definitely possible! Some of it might be a squeeze but did revise my whole 1st year in 3 weeks because we had lectures up till 4th week, then I pretty much took a week off punting etc, and then had exams at the start of 9th.
I'd try and get through everything once so that you have at least had a refresher and then you will have a better idea of where to concentrate your efforts.
I'd try and get through everything once so that you have at least had a refresher and then you will have a better idea of where to concentrate your efforts.
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