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How to prepare for unusual C3/C4 questions?

For example, last june there were some really odd/different questions for C3 that, whilst being on the syllabus, were just very different to how they've ever been worded before. You could have gone through every past paper and read the edexcel books cover to cover and not come across anything like several of the questions there, so what is the best way to prepare/tackle these different questions?


Another example is in C4 where you were expected to be able to integrate 2^t as 2^t/ln2 which is not covered in the textbooks etc.

It seems like a lot of these harder questions are aimed at people simply with better mathematical intuition than those who have just practiced it a lot. So how is somebody with naturally average mathematical intuition supposed to practice for these harder and differently worded exam questions?

e.g. june 2013 expected you to know sinx=cos(x-90) when i've never even come across that before in any papers from C1-4 or even at GCSE, so how is the average student meant to prepare for questions like that? or are they put in there to separate the naturally intuitive from the average students that have just worked hard through the syllabus
(edited 9 years ago)

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Make sure you actually understand the content, instead of just repeating the same kinds of example questions. I would suggest buying and working through Bostock and Chandler's "Mathematics - The Core Course for A-level" (not advertising, just suggesting, mods D: don't ban me please). It is a heck of a lot better than Edexcel's text-books (I assume from your reference to last June's C3 that you're doing Edexcel?).

EDIT:
Original post by lmorgan95

e.g. june 2013 expected you to know sinx=cos(x-90) when i've never even come across that before in any papers from C1-4 or even at GCSE, so how is the average student meant to prepare for questions like that? or are they put in there to separate the naturally intuitive from the average students that have just worked hard through the syllabus


I have seen this complaint a lot, but honestly it is completely ridiculous. How in the world did you get through C1 and C2 and still not get taught that sinx = cos(90 - x). That's not intuition, it's a basic fact which you SHOULD know. If your teachers have never taught you this then they are seriously slacking.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 2
Original post by StrangeBanana
Make sure you actually understand the content, instead of just repeating the same kinds of example questions. I would suggest buying and working through Bostock and Chandler's "Mathematics - The Core Course for A-level" (not advertising, just suggesting, mods D: don't ban me please). It is a heck of a lot better than Edexcel's text-books (I assume from your reference to last June's C3 that you're doing Edexcel?).


isn't it a bit short notice for this though? i have 1-2 months to prepare for C1-4 and isn't it a really big textbook with a lot of outdated stuff in?

I like the idea of doing it if somebody told me at the start of the year but i just don't know how worth it it would be at this point :/
Original post by lmorgan95
isn't it a bit short notice for this though? i have 1-2 months to prepare for C1-4 and isn't it a really big textbook with a lot of outdated stuff in?

I like the idea of doing it if somebody told me at the start of the year but i just don't know how worth it it would be at this point :/


Some of it is no longer in the A-level syllabus; it's a pretty simple process to filter those bits out by cross-referencing with the Edexcel text-book.

If you don't want to work through all of relevant sections, just work through the ones you're struggling in, or only do the hardest questions from each section.
Original post by lmorgan95

I like the idea of doing it if somebody told me at the start of the year but i just don't know how worth it it would be at this point :/


Seriously - you are doing A Levels and you needed someone to actually tell you that you should understand the material at the start of the course?


Of course the harder questions are aimed at the students who are better mathematicians


Perhaps I have misunderstood your questions
Reply 5
Original post by StrangeBanana

EDIT:


I have seen this complaint a lot, but honestly it is completely ridiculous. How in the world did you get through C1 and C2 and still not get taught that sinx = cos(90 - x). That's not intuition, it's a basic fact which you SHOULD know. If your teachers have never taught you this then they are seriously slacking.


Where is it in the C1/C2 textbooks? no we were never taught it, and there's nothing similar to it in the C3 and C4 textbooks or any of the past papers or solomons/delphis papers, so there was no way the average student was able to prepare for it or think to use it
Original post by lmorgan95
isn't it a bit short notice for this though? i have 1-2 months to prepare for C1-4 and isn't it a really big textbook with a lot of outdated stuff in?

I like the idea of doing it if somebody told me at the start of the year but i just don't know how worth it it would be at this point :/


Not at all! Almost all of the stuff there is relevant (at least for AQA) and if it's not, you can just skip over those bits. I found that it was an excellent resource due to the full proofs and explanation involved which helped me get to grips with the concepts behind everything so I could answer unusual questions!

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Original post by lmorgan95
Where is it in the C1/C2 textbooks? no we were never taught it, and there's nothing similar to it in the C3 and C4 textbooks or any of the past papers or solomons/delphis papers, so there was no way the average student was able to prepare for it or think to use it


Where was 1+1=2 in the C1/C2 textbooks?

An A Level has to assume some knowledge and understanding from GCSE and before!
Reply 8
Original post by TenOfThem
Seriously - you are doing A Levels and you needed someone to actually tell you that you should understand the material at the start of the course?


Of course the harder questions are aimed at the students who are better mathematicians


Perhaps I have misunderstood your questions


What are you talking about?

I was asking if it would still be worth it buying a bostock and chandler book and working through it because i don't have any access to materials that test my ability to adapt my knowledge properly to new sorts of questions.

I never said anything about needing to be told to understand the material- i said it would've been nice if my teacher or somebody had said "in 12 months you will be very happy if you buy and work through this book" but nobody did that- we got told that past papers and working through the edexcel book is the best preparation
Original post by lmorgan95
What are you talking about?


You asked how to do better in the exams

You were told - "understand the material"

You were then given a suggested book that could offer additional examples - a resource to help you to better prepare



Then you suggested that this was "short notice"

If it is - why didn't you ask earlier?
Original post by lmorgan95
For example, last june there were some really odd/different questions for C3 that, whilst being on the syllabus, were just very different to how they've ever been worded before. You could have gone through every past paper and read the edexcel books cover to cover and not come across anything like several of the questions there, so what is the best way to prepare/tackle these different questions?


Another example is in C4 where you were expected to be able to integrate 2^t as 2^t/ln2 which is not covered in the textbooks etc.

It seems like a lot of these harder questions are aimed at people simply with better mathematical intuition than those who have just practiced it a lot. So how is somebody with naturally average mathematical intuition supposed to practice for these harder and differently worded exam questions?

There's the rub. The questions have been introduced precisely so that people can't practice for them so well - as you say, they're trying to discriminate based on mathematical intuition.

The best way to fake intuition is to understand the material really well - where it comes from, and so on. That's how you'd work out how to integrate 2t2^t: the definition of 2t2^t is elog(2)te^{\log(2) t}.
Reply 11
Original post by TenOfThem
Where was 1+1=2 in the C1/C2 textbooks?

An A Level has to assume some knowledge and understanding from GCSE and before!


that's not really comparable at all though- if you asked all of the students before the exam of all the trigonometric formula they are expected to know for the exam, a good 95%+ wouldn't have said that.

I've never been taught it ANYWHERE at gcse or a-level and managed to get near 100% at gcse with no problem. If the expectation by Edexcel was that your teachers should've taught you it at GCSE then i guess it's my fault they didn't teach me- i wasn't even aware of its existence.

We're going off topic now, i just want to know what the best way i can prepare for the exams are.
Original post by lmorgan95
that's not really comparable at all though- if you asked all of the students before the exam of all the trigonometric formula they are expected to know for the exam, a good 95%+ wouldn't have said that.

But it follows trivially from the addition formulae, which you are certainly expected to know.
Original post by lmorgan95
x


Sin(x)=cos(90-x) isn't a trig formula, it's lesson 0 in trig!

The opposite becomes the adjacent when you switch angle, and the remaining angle is 90-x as the two other angles add up to 90. IIRC, you're expected to know it and if not, your teacher should definitely have taught you. You can also use the compound angle formula, and I would be shocked if you hadn't learnt that before.

For revision, I would suggest B&C along with Solomon papers and maybe online sites like Maths24/7.

Posted from TSR Mobile
Reply 14
Original post by majmuh24
Sin(x)=cos(90-x) isn't a trig formula, it's lesson 0 in trig!

The opposite becomes the adjacent when you switch angle, and the remaining angle is 90-x as the two other angles add up to 90. IIRC, you're expected to know it and if not, your teacher should definitely have taught you. You can also use the compound angle formula, and I would be shocked if you hadn't learnt that before.

For revision, I would suggest B&C along with Solomon papers and maybe online sites like Maths24/7.

Posted from TSR Mobile


do you have a link for the best one to get? i know there is a newer one and an older one but i've heard people say different thinks about which one is better.

Yeah, like i said, i've never been taught it so thanks for explaining it to me.

My understanding of the question at the time was that you needed to use the compound angle formula but then you hit a wall unless you knew that sin(x)=cos(90-x) because you couldn't simplify it to get what you needed (1/3tansomething).

I can't remember off the top of my head honestly.
Original post by majmuh24


For revision, I would suggest B&C along with Solomon papers and maybe online sites like Maths24/7.

Posted from TSR Mobile


Agree with that. :smile:
Bostock and Chandler is great
The blue flash ones in the Oxford C3/4 book are nice
The extension ones in the Longman book are nice too.
I am going to do a few more on the site when we get closer to the exam.
Im trying to cram in the whole of the GCSE course first. :redface:
Reply 16
Original post by TenOfThem
You asked how to do better in the exams

You were told - "understand the material"

You were then given a suggested book that could offer additional examples - a resource to help you to better prepare



Then you suggested that this was "short notice"

If it is - why didn't you ask earlier?


Because the edexcel books are "designed to provide you with the best preparation possible for your Cx unit examination" and i didn't even know what bostock and chandler books were as a new maths student, let alone think it would be a good idea to get one.

You know, it's possible to help people who are looking for help without coming across as so snide.
Reply 17
Original post by m4ths/maths247
Agree with that. :smile:
Bostock and Chandler is great
The blue flash ones in the Oxford C3/4 book are nice
The extension ones in the Longman book are nice too.
I am going to do a few more on the site when we get closer to the exam.
Im trying to cram in the whole of the GCSE course first. :redface:


Hmm, considering i have a limited amount of time, do you think the best time-efficient preparation would just be understand and work through the edexcel books and cover as many solomons papers as possible then? (what i've been doing)

I'm just thinking realistically because i have a lot of other exams to prepare for and i feel like if i get the B&S book i won't have time to go through that AND the solomons past papers etc.

Damn i really wish i knew about all these things at the start of the year :/...
Original post by lmorgan95
Hmm, considering i have a limited amount of time, do you think the best time-efficient preparation would just be understand and work through the edexcel books and cover as many solomons papers as possible then? (what i've been doing)

I'm just thinking realistically because i have a lot of other exams to prepare for and i feel like if i get the B&S book i won't have time to go through that AND the solomons past papers etc.

Damn i really wish i knew about all these things at the start of the year :/...


I don't advocate past papers as a way of learning or establishing whether you understand each topic fully. They simply test your ability to answer 7-10 questions put in front of you rather than deep knowledge.
I don't see scoring 50 out of 75 on the June C3 paper (Which was an A) as knowing the content. I see it as dropping 25 marks through not thinking 'why' rather than 'what.
Solomon papers are touted to be 'harder' but they don't create deep knowledge they just test if you can answer that question. What happens if it changes? (As the C3 one did).
You have to do what you feel is right for you given all you have to do coming up to the exams.
Those looking for good, strong grades can do well off a diet of learning then past papers. Pupils who want to cover every base, IMO, should focus on extension material.
Original post by lmorgan95


You know, it's possible to help people who are looking for help without coming across as so snide.


I apologise - I was snide - I thought you were very rude in your response in post 3 and I was then rude in return - I realise that you probably did not intend to be rude but are probably just panicking so - again - I apologise

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