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quick question for alevel maths students

If you looked in a past paper now.... do you reckon you could do most of the questions?

I can only do about 1/4 of them...

Should I be worried or is it the same with most people?

EDIT: The first exam is in mid May. Do I have time to pull it out of the bag?

(edited 11 years ago)

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Reply 1

Noble.

Yes, if the exam is tomorrow.

Reply 2

TenOfThem

Original post by madfish

If you looked in a past paper now.... do you reckon you could do most of the questions?

I can only do about 1/4 of them...

Should I be worried or is it the same with most people?

If this is an exam you are taking in the summer

I would expect [first couple of papers]

>1/3 done without book

>1/2 in addition with book

remaining few questions in-accesible due to not really understanding what is being asked

Reply 3

madfish

Original post by Lunch_Box

Yes. Yes, you should be worried.

The exam is not tomorrow.

Reply 4

madfish

Original post by TenOfThem

I tend to always find that In Alevel Maths I look at a question and have no idea how to tackle it... then I look at a mark scheme and It's something really easy like applying the Sine rule (for example).
Any tips on how to deal with getting to the "root" of the question? :tongue:

So you reckon right now I should be able to do around 1/3 of the questions without a textbook?

I am quite worried that my exam in June is going to be very different from pastpapers as I know several people who took exams this january who said the exams they sat where very different from what was in past papers.. :frown:

Reply 5

madfish

Original post by Noble.

Yes, if the exam is tomorrow.

The exam is in May..I don't know whether that makes the situation better or not..

Reply 6

TenOfThem

Original post by madfish

I tend to always find that In Alevel Maths I look at a question and have no idea how to tackle it... then I look at a mark scheme and It's something really easy like applying the Sine rule (for example).

Any tips on how to deal with getting to the "root" of the question? :tongue:

Stop looking at the mark scheme

Try to do some
Look some up in the book
Go on a revision site to get some general help

Only when all of this has been tried should you even contemplate the mark scheme

Reply 7

Locutus73

Original post by madfish

My class did a full C1 mock in January but we aren't doing the exam until May, we also did a full S1 mock which we have the exam for in May but we could only do 1/3 maybe 2/3 of a C2 paper right now. Hope this helps.

Reply 8

lizz-ie

Original post by madfish

You should be able to do it! How many, and which modules are you doing this summer? I've only learnt half of one of the modules I'm doing and am not even close to doing past papers, and I'm still predicted an A :smile:

Reply 9

Felix Felicis

Original post by madfish

Yes, probably all the questions.

Spoiler

Reply 10

madfish

Original post by lizz-ie

9 exams including C1 , C2 and M1 along with 2 physics, biology and chemistry exams. I am up to date and on top of all my subjects except maths :mad:

Reply 11

madfish

Original post by TenOfThem

Okay thank you :smile:

Any other tips TenOfThem? I know you are very experienced so you are the person to ask :smile:

(I hope you don't mind)

EDIT: When should I start pastpapers?

Reply 12

b4tman

Seeing as it's been a week after starting D1 I could do maybe 15% of the paper haha, if it's a module you've been fully taught you might want to be worrying

Reply 13

lizz-ie

Original post by madfish

9 exams including C1 , C2 and M1 along with 2 physics, biology and chemistry exams. I am up to date and on top of all my subjects except maths :mad:

I really wouldn't worry, I'm doing C1, C2, S1 and FP1 this summer (having already done D1 in January) and we've finished C1, almost finished S1, and are about half way through C2 and FP1. The only one I've even attempted past papers for is C1.

Try going on examsolutions.net and attempting past questions for the topics you've done, I find that helps me to understand them more. :smile:

Original post by b4tman

Seeing as it's been a week after starting D1 I could do maybe 15% of the paper haha, if it's a module you've been fully taught you might want to be worrying

D1 is a lot easier than C2, though.

Reply 14

TenOfThem

Original post by madfish

Okay thank you :smile:

Any other tips TenOfThem? I know you are very experienced so you are the person to ask :smile:

(I hope you don't mind)

EDIT: When should I start pastpapers?

You need to be starting past papers asap doing 1 per week for each exam

eg With my Y12
Finished C1 just before Christmas ... been doing a past paper a week since then
Finished S1 last week ... started doing a past paper a week straight away
Expect to finish C2 by Easter ... doing 1.5 to 2 papers a week from then

Reply 15

madfish

Original post by TenOfThem

Okay thanks for the support TenOfThem. Wish you were my Maths teacher :frown:

Reply 16

madfish

Original post by TenOfThem

Do you make your class do all the questions in the textbook too? Or should I just do a few questions from the textbook and do loads of past papers instead?

Reply 17

TenOfThem

Original post by madfish

Do you make your class do all the questions in the textbook too? Or should I just do a few questions from the textbook and do loads of past papers instead?