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Edexcel C3,C4 June 2013 Thread

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Reply 3400

ACBLISS

Original post by Turnitdown

Was this just C3 or is it fair to expect the same thing on C4?

S2 style changed in jan aswell, but i really don'y know? just strengthen your topics :smile:

Reply 3401

deanna3006

Original post by justinawe

It doesn't mean that something is wrong with the exam. It means something is wrong with the way people are learning the content, seeing that everyone loses their mind the moment they have to do something slightly different to what they're used to.

Exams are supposed to be about applying the same knowledge to different situations, not applying the same knowledge to the same old situations over and over again.

I get that but in maths, for the past 5 years, the content has been pretty much identical so that's what we're going to expect? maths is known as one of the easiest to get 100% in for this reason.

why would they suddenly change the format of the exam when for the past 10 papers it's been relatively the same

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Reply 3402

Turnitdown

Original post by ACBLISS

S2 style changed in jan aswell, but i really don'y know? just strengthen your topics :smile:

Weird, I did S2 in June and found the paper exactly the same as past papers.

Reply 3403

EL77

Original post by justinawe

They will significantly lower the grade boundaries if people do significantly worse. There will always be roughly the same percentage of people achieving A*, A etc, so if people do badly they will have to lower the grade boundaries as such.

If they don't significantly lower then, then that would mean others didn't find it as hard as you did, then. Though looking at most of the reactions on here, that probably isn't the case.

From everyone's reactions lower boundaries should be the case. And as for your point on the same percentage of people getting A*'s and A's, that means nothing to me or anyone who sat the paper. Fairness isn't the about the same amount of people getting the same grades, it's about the papers being of similar difficulty so everyone has the same chance. And also, I didn't find it impossible, I'm pretty sure I got at least an A, I'm annoyed because had it been a standard paper I could have done a lot better. Again, having said that, if the boundaries are lowered it won't matter.

Reply 3404

yaboy

Original post by Turnitdown

Weird, I did S2 in June and found the paper exactly the same as past papers.

yeh june one was far far easier than the jan one

Reply 3405

justinawe

Original post by deanna3006

The content tested in this paper was the same as the previous ones. The exam questions were slightly tricker/more difficult but that's all. The past papers have been made available, but Edexcel never told anyone to jump to conclusions based on the other papers.

You should notice that the papers have been getting slightly more difficult every exam session recently too. This is because Edexcel are trying to stop the papers from being too repetitive. If you're going to look for patterns in past papers, at least do it properly...

The format was the same as well.

Reply 3406

Turnitdown

Original post by yaboy

yeh june one was far far easier than the jan one

I wouldn't call it different to the rest though. Just like I wouldn't say the January C3 was any different from June 2012. I don't really see the evidence behind the style of exams being changed comment.

Reply 3407

justinawe

Original post by EL77

What do you mean by "so everyone has the same chance"? Are you trying to say a candidate with a lesser understanding of the content should have the same chance of getting an A/A* as a better candidate?

Reply 3408

DH.

What are all the shapes we need to know the formula of? Volume/area

Reply 3409

yaboy

Original post by Turnitdown

I would I thought c3 jan was pretty difficult compared to normal c3 paper but a reasonable level of difficulty.

How can you say it wasn't different for the s2 one???

that paper was something out of the ordinary IMO and they made the grade boundries 65for an A.

Reply 3410

otrivine

what proving formulas do we have to memorise for C4?

Reply 3411

bestfriends33

Anyone able to tell me roughly what grade 44/75 will be on the c3 paper? Thank you :smile:

Reply 3412

Turnitdown

Original post by yaboy

Maybe because I used S2 Jan '13 for revision I didn't really notice it and just thought it was a slightly harder paper. Looking at it now I definitely wouldn't call it easy but I don't think I'd say the style changed. It's just a bit more awkward.

Reply 3413

Chris-69

Original post by justinawe

So you're saying that people with a good understanding should have it easy? These are A-Levels, they're not supposed to be easy. No one other than those who are exceptionally gifted should be having an easy ride.

If that happens, you need to improve on your exam technique and stress management tbh.

Now, as said before, your grades in the end show your relative performance to other candidates. If a more difficult paper makes it so much harder for you to maintain the same relative performance, then maybe it just means that there are other more able candidates out there who deserve the grade more than you.

I'm not saying it should be easy, I'm saying why should it be any harder than the other years to such an extent? Other people can be doing the same course as me having got there with an easier ride? Is that fair? You stated it shouldn't be easy, so why did the other years get it easier? And who says the other exams were easy? Sure, they were easier and probably easy to people, especially the type of people on TSR, but believe me, I know a lot of people who try with Maths and do not achieve the kind of grades people like you do.

Maybe you find it hard to believe other people can find the easier exams a challenge, but if they were always that easy, the why were the boundaries relatively consistent through the years at 85-80% for an A, which seems to me around where you'd expect a paper to be?

Also, I thought exams were a test of your ability; how is stress management involved in my mathematical capabilities? Should psychiatry be involved as part of an A-Level syllabus to help? Not everyone can cope the same under the stress. Most people would panic if they found themselves running out of time, struggling with a question that carries a lot of marks etc. Nothing wrong with my exam 'technique' as such, I can assure you from previous experience.

It's clear the reason you cannot understand where me or the other thousands of people are coming from is because you're very capable at Maths and cannot see why yesterday was stressful for people. Your stress management was probably fine yesterday as you probably did not struggle. If you had struggled maybe you'd feel different about 'stress management' being a fundamental. However, you are a minority (from what I understand) in this instance. Exams aren't supposed to be tailored to the 1%, that's what STEP and Cambridge entrance Maths exams etc. are for. Papers should be consistent and be able to test the abilities of people but should be to a level where people don't feel like all their hard work and effort has been wasted, and this is the feeling of many students who have been previously successful with their work ethic. Those who are especially able will still be able to shine (achieving full marks showing full knowledge), so there is nothing 'easy' about past papers to your average student. Hence, I really cannot see how boundaries cover all the factors involved here.

Nevertheless, I'll shut up now and continue to revise for C4 and see where it gets me; all I can do at this point which actually matters. Good luck for the rest of your exams.

Reply 3414

raqueloliveira

I think I may have got between 60-64/75, do you think there is any chance of being over 90ums, A*?

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Reply 3415

EL77

Original post by justinawe

I mean that someone who did C3 in June 2012 should have done a paper with the same difficulty as us who did the June 2013 paper so that we both have the same chance of getting an A* and that who gets an A* depends solely on them. It's not fair if last year they all had an easier paper and this year we all had a hard one UNLESS they lower the boundaries. I'm just repeating myself now.

Reply 3416

F1's Finest

You guys seriously need to focus on C4 now. All the bickering about C3 will not boost your C3 marks magically.

Reply 3417

Zytex

Original post by raqueloliveira

I think I may have got between 60-64/75, do you think there is any chance of being over 90ums, A*?

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I would say you will most likely get 90+ UMS. Possibly even 100 UMS if you were to get the top end of your range.

I am saying this because of Arsey's prediction for the grade boundaries in this thread.

Don't take my word for it though. You can never tell exactly. Especially with the fiasco that occured with this specific paper.

Reply 3418

EL77

Can someone do question 32? I get up to having the equation in terms of ln but I don't get how they found the value of the constant

Reply 3419

BooAlphie

Original post by justinawe

I did C3 in Jan.

Therefore I really don't think that you know what we're talking about. I'd like to see you have done really well in timed conditions, when you know this exam will make or break you. I've been speaking to you as if you did it yesterday with the rest of us. It's really easy for you to sit here and be like "I don't know what all the fuss is about" when you've already got your A*.