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National 5 Maths 2014/2015

I'm not sure if there is a thread for this yet but I couldn't see one haha idk.

I was wondering how people did in the nat 5 maths prelim.

The results at my school were so bad with most people now doing it over 2 years. I got 39% which is horrendous but much better than a lot of people. I'm in fifth year doing 4 highers and I got much better results in the highers. I revised more for maths than other subjects which is slightly worrying and I'm terrified that I won't pass when I really want a B :/

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Original post by ashleymacleod
I'm not sure if there is a thread for this yet but I couldn't see one haha idk.

I was wondering how people did in the nat 5 maths prelim.

The results at my school were so bad with most people now doing it over 2 years. I got 39% which is horrendous but much better than a lot of people. I'm in fifth year doing 4 highers and I got much better results in the highers. I revised more for maths than other subjects which is slightly worrying and I'm terrified that I won't pass when I really want a B :/


I got an A in N5 Maths last year so I may be able to help if you ever need it. I'm not the best at maths though so it depends on the topic :smile:
Bear in mind that schools sometimes make up prelims with slightly higher standards than will actually be in the real exam- often to scare or shock people into revising (it's been done in my school before with higher maths last year). Have you tried past/model papers? Those are usually a better estimate of difficulty standards.
In my prelim I got an A which quite a few in my class got also! But in the class below us only 3 people passed all with a D grade:s-smilie:

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Reply 4
I got 74% and I've been doing a 2 year course as well but I was doing national 4 in fourth year (due to my lack of interest in maths) and moved up to national 5 in fifth year, I have done my prelim and it was fairly challenging but not to worry, the grade boundaries may still lower depending on how people do that is...

My advice would be to everyone, to know exactly your enemy. Mines right now is these bearing ones, and recognising these sine and cosine rules, but I have so far done really well since I have went over it..

Also, remember you still get marks for going the right way about it, irrespective of the numbers.. So what you won't get 3/3 or 4/4, atleast you still get something !
I have been doing national 5 over two years. I started it in s3 and am sitting the exam in s4(2015). I am so scared because I am really bad at maths. I got 32% in my prelim and I don't think I can pass the exam. Also my teacher is not coming back after easter and she was a really good teacher :frown: Does anyone have any tips on revising because I will die! Thank you!!
Original post by Sunshine2305
I have been doing national 5 over two years. I started it in s3 and am sitting the exam in s4(2015). I am so scared because I am really bad at maths. I got 32% in my prelim and I don't think I can pass the exam. Also my teacher is not coming back after easter and she was a really good teacher :frown: Does anyone have any tips on revising because I will die! Thank you!!


Past papers are your best friends. Buy the book with the specimen papers if possible. Seriously, there's no better practice than the real thing. I know it's not the best since there's only been one N5 exam but it worked for me.

Also, remember, the aim in the exam is to pick up as many marks as you can. Knowing the method is a lot more important than getting a correct answer. That's why showing every step of your working is so important.

You'll be fine. Honestly! Study regularly from now until the exam and you should do well. Prelims are a poor reflection because you don't have much time to study and it's not even the whole course. Perhaps you're better at unit three?

Feel free to message me or quote me if you need help (if I can remember N5 haha)
Original post by chippedcups
Past papers are your best friends. Buy the book with the specimen papers if possible. Seriously, there's no better practice than the real thing. I know it's not the best since there's only been one N5 exam but it worked for me.

Also, remember, the aim in the exam is to pick up as many marks as you can. Knowing the method is a lot more important than getting a correct answer. That's why showing every step of your working is so important.

You'll be fine. Honestly! Study regularly from now until the exam and you should do well. Prelims are a poor reflection because you don't have much time to study and it's not even the whole course. Perhaps you're better at unit three?

Feel free to message me or quote me if you need help (if I can remember N5 haha)



Thank you so much! Thats really helpful...I'm going to start doing past papers everyday from now on and see how it goes!:smile:
Original post by WithoutMuchHope
Bear in mind that schools sometimes make up prelims with slightly higher standards than will actually be in the real exam- often to scare or shock people into revising (it's been done in my school before with higher maths last year). Have you tried past/model papers? Those are usually a better estimate of difficulty standards.


Slightly... Most schools like mine make the prelims so hard that people fail on purpose to make them revise.
Tip: do not let prelims get to you... If you did well in your maths prelim (wow)
Do you need to know about quartiles and interquartile range? My teacher never taught us this, we just did standard deviation and scatter graphs? I found this in my revision guide


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Yes I think so, our class have learned about that and its mainly found in box plot questions! :smile:

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I got 89% in my prelim, so hopefully what everyone says is true and the exam will be easier!:smile:
Reply 12
I'm in the same situation, I got 55% in my prelim and 50% in my second prelim and haven't improved since, I desperately want a B but I don't know the course very well and I have opted to take it at Higher next year which is even worse :confused:
Reply 13
I got 75% in my prelim which I think is fine but I still need to look over trig equations and indices... we were meant to cover vectors but my teacher was off for the last month :angry:

Well good luck anyway guys!!
Original post by xdabex
I got 75% in my prelim which I think is fine but I still need to look over trig equations and indices... we were meant to cover vectors but my teacher was off for the last month :angry:

Well good luck anyway guys!!



I'm not sure about anyone else but most of my class including me found vectors really simple, my teacher says you most likely won't need to draw any or interpret a drawing, they'll only ask you about component form which is just adding up all the top numbers, then all the middle etc.
Reply 15
Is anyone in the same situation as me and can't do trig identities?! :confused:
Original post by RossRFC
Is anyone in the same situation as me and can't do trig identities?! :confused:


I can't do them either because I wasn't there when my teacher taught it :0 I looked at it in my revision guide and textbook but I don't really understand it. Looking at YouTube videos might help though.
Reply 17
Original post by ashleymacleod
I can't do them either because I wasn't there when my teacher taught it :0 I looked at it in my revision guide and textbook but I don't really understand it. Looking at YouTube videos might help though.


Yeah really you just have to remember the wee formula things and it's only 1 or 2 marks so not something to stress about.
I got 57% in the prelim.. It's quadratics that I don't get 😭.
Reply 19
I'm in the same boat, I got a B in my prelim and I don't think I've improved... If anything, I think I've forgotten the majority.


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