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Edexcel IGCSE Further Math May 2014

Is anyone else here taking this exam? Any advice on how to do well on it?

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Original post by the-anonymous-me
Is anyone else here taking this exam? Any advice on how to do well on it?


I took AQA Further Maths, but I assume they're fairly similar. The key thing is that whilst there isn't that much extra content to learn, you've got to make sure you know that extra content very, very well. Most of the content is a simplified version of elements from the A Level syllabus, so you may want to take a look at the A level versions (e.g. look at C1/C2 for differentiation). If you can get your head around the A Level stuff, the IGCSE Further Maths will be a doddle.

There aren't many past papers, but make sure you do all that are available.
Original post by Chlorophile
I took AQA Further Maths, but I assume they're fairly similar. The key thing is that whilst there isn't that much extra content to learn, you've got to make sure you know that extra content very, very well. Most of the content is a simplified version of elements from the A Level syllabus, so you may want to take a look at the A level versions (e.g. look at C1/C2 for differentiation). If you can get your head around the A Level stuff, the IGCSE Further Maths will be a doddle.

There aren't many past papers, but make sure you do all that are available.


I think the hardest part for me is learning all of the formulas as you don't get a formula sheet - I'm fine with the formulas that are used throughout the book but the extra ones from GCSE that we haven't done before and are just assumed that you know - e.g. I was looking at one of the past paper questions and you needed to know the formula for the area of a kite which I hadn't come across before

What's worse is that my teacher at school is utter crap so I have to pretty much teach myself the whole course with the help of websites like Khan Academy
Original post by the-anonymous-me
I think the hardest part for me is learning all of the formulas as you don't get a formula sheet - I'm fine with the formulas that are used throughout the book but the extra ones from GCSE that we haven't done before and are just assumed that you know - e.g. I was looking at one of the past paper questions and you needed to know the formula for the area of a kite which I hadn't come across before

What's worse is that my teacher at school is utter crap so I have to pretty much teach myself the whole course with the help of websites like Khan Academy


Which formulae? Most of them should be pretty easy to derive. The kite area formula is virtually the same as the triangle area formula.
Original post by Chlorophile
Which formulae? Most of them should be pretty easy to derive. The kite area formula is virtually the same as the triangle area formula.


Ya, I know that now but the thing is. I'd never actually come across a question asking me to work out the area of a kite before so I wasn't really that sure - Also, I''m kind of scared that I'll be short of time. I'm generally fine with math and we haven't done our mock yet but these questions take longer to answer than those from GCSE
Original post by the-anonymous-me
Ya, I know that now but the thing is. I'd never actually come across a question asking me to work out the area of a kite before so I wasn't really that sure - Also, I''m kind of scared that I'll be short of time. I'm generally fine with math and we haven't done our mock yet but these questions take longer to answer than those from GCSE


You shouldn't really need a formula to work out the area of a kite. Knowing its geometry, you should be able to work it out fairly easily.

But yeah, of course these questions are harder than normal maths. They require a lot more thought, so you need to train your mathematical mind. At least with AQA, there are quite a lot of questions that are very logical, almost puzzle-esque. Practising Maths Challenge questions might help!
Original post by Chlorophile
You shouldn't really need a formula to work out the area of a kite. Knowing its geometry, you should be able to work it out fairly easily.

But yeah, of course these questions are harder than normal maths. They require a lot more thought, so you need to train your mathematical mind. At least with AQA, there are quite a lot of questions that are very logical, almost puzzle-esque. Practising Maths Challenge questions might help!


The reason the kite thing came to mind was cause I asked my math teacher about it at school and he didn't know how to answer the question

I guess its just a matter of 'practice makes perfect'
Reply 7
Direct quote from the specification:
Summary of the specification contentStudents will be expected to have a thorough knowledge of the content common to either ofthese Edexcel International GCSE Mathematics specifications: International GCSE in Mathematics (Specification A) (Higher Tier) International GCSE in Mathematics (Specification B).This specification does not require knowledge of the statistics or matrices content of thesespecifications.Questions may be set which assumes knowledge of some topics covered in these specifications.

Practice doesnt make perfect if you dont know half the crap that you have to practice so yeah.
I think you're doing spec A. Learn the Spec B outlines as well, cause you will quite definitely be tested on that.
:/
Not even a week left... I have no Idea how i can pass this
Original post by RizK
Direct quote from the specification:

Practice doesnt make perfect if you dont know half the crap that you have to practice so yeah.
I think you're doing spec A. Learn the Spec B outlines as well, cause you will quite definitely be tested on that.
:/
Not even a week left... I have no Idea how i can pass this


How did you find it?
Reply 9
Original post by the-anonymous-me
How did you find it?

Find what?
Original post by RizK
Find what?


Further Math - thought you said you were doing the exam yesterday
Reply 11
Original post by the-anonymous-me
Further Math - thought you said you were doing the exam yesterday

It was really tough :frown:
I skipped two questions too
Looking forward to tomorrow's paper though
Reply 12
Original post by the-anonymous-me
Further Math - thought you said you were doing the exam yesterday

You do further math?
Reply 13
Original post by the-anonymous-me
Ya, I know that now but the thing is. I'd never actually come across a question asking me to work out the area of a kite before so I wasn't really that sure - Also, I''m kind of scared that I'll be short of time. I'm generally fine with math and we haven't done our mock yet but these questions take longer to answer than those from GCSE


:frown: :frown: :frown:
I did the middle part of that question and left out the first and last parts :P
cause the first question was blatantly obvious but i couldn't find a single method to find the formula for the dividing ratio!
Original post by RizK
:frown: :frown: :frown:
I did the middle part of that question and left out the first and last parts :P
cause the first question was blatantly obvious but i couldn't find a single method to find the formula for the dividing ratio!


I actually knew how to find the area of a kite because almost exactly the same question was in one of the 2011 papers (not sure which) I attempted every question at least some part of it but it was pretty bad

For the ratio I worked it out by subtracting coordinates and stuff but then showed the proper method underneath to check, the formula was in the textbook, I think its

(nx1+mx2)/(m+n) and that should give you the x coordinate of the coordinate (8,8) in this case where m:n is the ratio

OK i probably explained that really badly but anyways..only looking forward to tomorrow's paper so I can be done with it but three papers tomorrow so paper 2 will probably seem worse than paper 1
Reply 15
Original post by the-anonymous-me
For the ratio I worked it out by subtracting coordinates and stuff but then showed the proper method underneath to check, the formula was in the textbook, I think its

(nx1+mx2)/(m+n) and that should give you the x coordinate of the coordinate (8,8) in this case where m:n is the ratio

I did the kite thing too in a past paper but i completely forgot :P
Well i did the ratio equation too but i ended up getting 3q = 4p!! (or something) I tried to do it for the y co-ordinate as well (to get a simultaneous case) there also i got the same thing... sigh -_-
Original post by RizK
I did the kite thing too in a past paper but i completely forgot :P
Well i did the ratio equation too but i ended up getting 3q = 4p!! (or something) I tried to do it for the y co-ordinate as well (to get a simultaneous case) there also i got the same thing... sigh -_-


Ya that's what I got 3:4
Reply 17
Original post by the-anonymous-me
Ya that's what I got 3:4

I GOT THAT AND DIDNT REALISE THAT! ::angry::mad::s-smilie::confused:
hie guys. i also wrote the papers. i couldn't finish the first paper on the 21st(i left 2 questions on #7, cnt even remeber what it was all about but i left the c and d parts). I know that we don't have to go in detail until midnight but how did you find the FPM 2 paper today. I finished the exam just a minute before the end.
The hardest question imo in FPM 1 was that #7. i still remember that there was need to create quadratic equations and solve. The issue was that every time i tried to reduce the number of variables i kept getting wound up. Do you have any idea how we could work it out

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