Edexcel C3,C4 June 2013 Thread

Nice. The FP1,2 and D1 will be useful.
I like the recent revision videos you've been doing!

hi

can edexcel give a question which is harder than the questions in the extension questions in the oxford and the other big c3c4 textbook?

pretty sure you would do du/dx as you are given a term that u is equal to in terms of x, hence you differentiate with respect to x

I do dx/du and I still get the right answer though, which is what I find weird

im abit confused to how the mark scheme answered this?

Which bit are you confused on?

how they got from the RHS to the LHS of the second line in the mark scheme

Basically they were putting both sides of the equation as a fraction over (x+2)(x+3). Then they can compare the numerators. In order to do this they had to multiply the RHS by (x+3)/(x+3), and one of the LHS fractions by (x+2)(x+2).

oooo i thought they meant that the LHS would simply to give the RHS, ahhh thank you

They could do and the responses they would get will be evident in grade boundaries.
They are highly unlikely to to do something crazy on questions that carry a high number of marks.
I think the blue flash questions are seen to be beyond the spec and are very useful for top end students who want to have all bases covered and think beyond the plug and chug questions that get churned out each year.
To conclude!! Yes, but unlikely and it would reflect in the markscheme (we hope) if the cohort found it beyond them (in the main).

Thanks
I just want to make sure my year 12/13 pupils have the best chance possible.
Some learn from video outside of lessons, others learn from the countless books I dish out .
Its all about what works for them.
I can never get it 100% right for each student but give it a go!

So, apparently the M2 exam today was ridiculously hard. :/ I'm a bit worried for the replacement C3 paper now.

Hope that there were more maths teachers like u!

Thanks!
I don't always get it right. There are some students I can't reach out to but I try and appreciate I can't win them all.
In terms of your revision? Its hard because what works for one doesn't for the next.
I personally at this late stage would be aiming at just doing repetitious sessions on topics you are not happy with.
Every teach wants pupils to have a deep understanding and earlier on in a course or a pupils school life teaching why rather than what is important.
When its one week out from an exam and the student may not take maths further its often a case of playing the game and parrot fashion learning.
D1 is a great module for this BTW!
I would pick your least favourite topic, get all the questions and just bang out question after question IF IF IF you are happy with the rest of the content.
That is though one of many ways people CAN revise.
I personally, myself, not my students, sit and do back to back papers such that it was so mechanical that when I did the real one most of the questions were just a case of the numbers seeming to be changed and I had the method in my head.
That usually was after months of solid learning though.
Find what works for you but certainly don't stress out if you have 'bad maths day' up to the exam. It happens but 99/100 times in the exam you will be paying full attention and it generally goes ok. Enjoy and good luck

Thanks!
I don't always get it right. There are some students I can't reach out to but I try and appreciate I can't win them all.
In terms of your revision? Its hard because what works for one doesn't for the next.
I personally at this late stage would be aiming at just doing repetitious sessions on topics you are not happy with.
Every teach wants pupils to have a deep understanding and earlier on in a course or a pupils school life teaching why rather than what is important.
When its one week out from an exam and the student may not take maths further its often a case of playing the game and parrot fashion learning.
D1 is a great module for this BTW!
I would pick your least favourite topic, get all the questions and just bang out question after question IF IF IF you are happy with the rest of the content.
That is though one of many ways people CAN revise.
I personally, myself, not my students, sit and do back to back papers such that it was so mechanical that when I did the real one most of the questions were just a case of the numbers seeming to be changed and I had the method in my head.
That usually was after months of solid learning though.
Find what works for you but certainly don't stress out if you have 'bad maths day' up to the exam. It happens but 99/100 times in the exam you will be paying full attention and it generally goes ok. Enjoy and good luck

Hey guys, I was just wondering if I was aiming for an A*, is it worth doing C3/C4 solomon papers? This has probably been asked to death, but I've seen a lot of mixed replies! And if it is worth doing, should I do all or just some?