Edexcel AS Mathematics: Decision Maths D1 6689 01 - 15 June 2018 [Exam Discussion]

Edexcel AS Maths Discussion Thread - 2018 Edition

Hey guys, I thought I'd make this niiiiiice and early so we can all share how we're preparing for our Maths exams this year?

Decision 1
Date: Friday 15th June 2018
Time: Afternoon
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Days to go?: 100

Probably the most important way to prepare for maths is to do plenty of past papers! You can find all Edexcel Maths past papers [url="http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/support/support-topics/exams/past-papers.html?Qualification-Family=A-Level&Qualification-Subject=Mathematics%20(2008)&Status=Pearson-UK:Status%2FLive&Specification-Code=Pearson-UK[excludedFace]s-smilie[/excludedFace]pecification-Code%2F9371"]here.

Also, Physics & Maths Tutor has some good resources for revision - everything from revision notes to questions on specific topics. Materials for D1 can be found here.

Good luck with the preparations everyone, let the countdown commence!

Other Edexcel Exam Threads:
Edexcel AS Core Maths C1
Edexcel AS Core Maths C2
Edexcel A2 Core Maths C3
Edexcel A2 Core Maths C4
Edexcel AS Mechanics M1
Edexcel A2 Mechanics M2
Edexcel AS Statistics S1
Edexcel A2 Statistics S2
Edexcel A2 Decision Maths D2
Edexcel AS Further Pure FP1
Edexcel A2 Further Pure FP2
Edexcel A2 Further Pure FP3

(edited 6 years ago)

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Reply 1

John Ronos

Hey guys, could anyone tell me which questions always come up/a very high chance of coming up on every D1 exam.
Specifically I need 23-32 UMS to cross the 480 mark for normal maths which correlates to about 25-30 raw marks.
I know it's a weird request, but I would greatly appreciate any help as I have had to give D1 a lower priority compared to the other exams.

Reply 2

minaa77

Original post by John Ronos

i think you can afford to skip definitions, as they dont always come up and when they do are hardly ever more than 2 marks. learn all the easy stuff to ensure sufficient marks : i.e. prim/kruskal's algorithm and the bubble/pivot ordering and the various packing methods. They may not be insanely easy but easy compare to rest of the paper. Tbh D1 is probably the most repetitive module so most questions will be v similar so take advantage of the resources available

I want to cry

Original post by Lana21

I want to cry

why?

Reply 5

John Ronos

Original post by Abdi17272728

Ah thanks very much, I'll prioritise those topics for D1.
Unfortunately D1 is on the same day as M2, and the day after Physics, so yeah time is tight, but I guess everyone has some exams bunched up together as well.

Reply 6

jecobbbb

Is it just me or are grade boundaries for this exam really low. 57/75 for 80UMS last year and 53/75 in 2016. What parts of the exam do people usually lose a lot of marks on? I'm self teaching this unit so don't have anyone to compare to with regards to which bits are common pitfalls.

Reply 7

Cat?

Original post by jecobbbb

I'm guessing it's partially due to people not caring about D1 in comparison to other modules.

Reply 8

jecobbbb

Original post by Your Local Cat

I'm guessing it's partially due to people not caring about D1 in comparison to other modules.

Yeah seems like a lot of people push it under the rug, but seems silly when you could spend a week or so working on it and easily come out with 90+ UMS, just from learning sorting and pathfinding algorithms.

Reply 9

minaa77

also i think its becaue the questions arent as straight forwards as other maths modules, so theres a bigger chance of dropping mearks, and my teacher also told me that in general parts of the questions are formatted in a way that you either gain all the marks or drop all the marks, so less chance of benefitting from method marks/error carried foreward. personally ive had so many exam that i havent been a ble to dedicate time for d1 at all, so im gonna do a lot of d1 practice from tuesday to thursday and see if it will be beneficial

Reply 10

bluenotewitt

Is it just me or is D1 all about speed and concentration...?
I feel like I really need to hurry up to answer all questions for the more recent past papers.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 11

bluenotewitt

Quick question: Is big-O notation allowed for comparing algorithms like quick- and bubble- sort?

Reply 12

Competence

Yep the reason for the low grade boundaries are because nobody puts effort for D1, Im only going to do 5-10 papers for d1 - have to put effort in m2 for the *

Reply 13

Competence

Original post by Lana21

Guys i think i have a problem like i will revise D1 and then the next day i forget everything xD

great, lower grade boundaries for me!

Reply 14

JXN

Original post by Competence

great, lower grade boundaries for me!

Savageee 😂👌

Reply 15

Competence

Can finish m2 papers comfortably in 45minutes, D1 takes me 1hr30-1hr45 lol

Reply 16

LL2018

Original post by jecobbbb

The grade boundaries are low because people rarely get enough time to finish the paper as the questions are very time consuming, especially the graphical questions.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 17

tiny hobbit

Original post by LL2018

The grade boundaries are lowe because people rarely get enough time to finish the paper as the questions are very time consuming, especially the graphical questions.

Also a lot of schools put their AS students in for this. The cohort of people doing it is a funny mixture of AS students and those doing Further Maths. This will make setting the boundaries for this year's paper a challenge since there won't be AS students doing it.