My Year 13 Journey to A*A*A*A*
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**DAY 261**
FP1 exam is tomorrow morning. I've been revising only pure maths today so that I'm as prepared as possible.
There are a few topics that could be tricky: logarithmic differentiation can sometimes get a bit messy, depending on what derivative they want. Loci in the complex plane is by far the easiest way for WJEC to mess up my exam - I understand the topic though I really wouldn't be suprised if tomorrow's question is difficult. Perhaps there will be a weird proof by induction but i dont mind that topic so it should be fine. Hopefully the rest should be okay. I'm aiming for 100ums, but realistically only expecting mid 90s since I've focused a lot more on my other 8 exams.
I'll update tomorrow with how it went.
Matt
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FP1 exam is tomorrow morning. I've been revising only pure maths today so that I'm as prepared as possible.
There are a few topics that could be tricky: logarithmic differentiation can sometimes get a bit messy, depending on what derivative they want. Loci in the complex plane is by far the easiest way for WJEC to mess up my exam - I understand the topic though I really wouldn't be suprised if tomorrow's question is difficult. Perhaps there will be a weird proof by induction but i dont mind that topic so it should be fine. Hopefully the rest should be okay. I'm aiming for 100ums, but realistically only expecting mid 90s since I've focused a lot more on my other 8 exams.
I'll update tomorrow with how it went.
Matt
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**DAY 262**
A short update today. The FP1 exam was relatively easy but I managed to mess up on quite a big question. I expect to get 67/75 ums which like likely be high 80s in ums. I wasn't too bothered with this exam however, as I've said before, since it is only an AS unit.
My next exam is S2 on June 14th. I'm hoping for 100% in that as stats is quite simple (most of the time). I have my first physics exam on June 15th which I'm feeling quite confident on. Over the next few weeks I need to get up to scratch on M3 S3 and FP3 since they're by far by weakest modules at the moment.
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A short update today. The FP1 exam was relatively easy but I managed to mess up on quite a big question. I expect to get 67/75 ums which like likely be high 80s in ums. I wasn't too bothered with this exam however, as I've said before, since it is only an AS unit.
My next exam is S2 on June 14th. I'm hoping for 100% in that as stats is quite simple (most of the time). I have my first physics exam on June 15th which I'm feeling quite confident on. Over the next few weeks I need to get up to scratch on M3 S3 and FP3 since they're by far by weakest modules at the moment.
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**update
turns out I misread an entire question on the fp1 paper, hence why I couldn't answer the second part. Perhaps lost 12 marks so 63/75 😐
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turns out I misread an entire question on the fp1 paper, hence why I couldn't answer the second part. Perhaps lost 12 marks so 63/75 😐
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Original post by 98matt
**update
turns out I misread an entire question on the fp1 paper, hence why I couldn't answer the second part. Perhaps lost 12 marks so 63/75 😐
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turns out I misread an entire question on the fp1 paper, hence why I couldn't answer the second part. Perhaps lost 12 marks so 63/75 😐
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Hi.
Well done with your AS results. Its quite interesting to see an account of your psyche as you go through such a critical time in life; I am sure that this will be a good thing to look back on perhaps years from now.
I notice that you are one of the very few I have come across on TSR which are doing WJEC for maths, so I feel you might find my site to be of use to you in helping you access a load of resources quickly and easily:
http://jacktilson.net/edu/maths
http://jacktilson.net/edu/maths/further
Also, a number of my friends do physics (I don't though) so I made a similar thing for that too.
http://jacktilson.net/edu/physics
I know WJEC only has back as far as 2012 on their site, also their site is pretty unorganised which was one of the main motivators for putting it together.
up to you as to whether you use it, but anyway good luck and here's to a successful future.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by PedanticStudent
Hi.
Well done with your AS results. Its quite interesting to see an account of your psyche as you go through such a critical time in life; I am sure that this will be a good thing to look back on perhaps years from now.
I notice that you are one of the very few I have come across on TSR which are doing WJEC for maths, so I feel you might find my site to be of use to you in helping you access a load of resources quickly and easily:
http://jacktilson.net/edu/maths
http://jacktilson.net/edu/maths/further
Also, a number of my friends do physics (I don't though) so I made a similar thing for that too.
http://jacktilson.net/edu/physics
I know WJEC only has back as far as 2012 on their site, also their site is pretty unorganised which was one of the main motivators for putting it together.
up to you as to whether you use it, but anyway good luck and here's to a successful future.
Well done with your AS results. Its quite interesting to see an account of your psyche as you go through such a critical time in life; I am sure that this will be a good thing to look back on perhaps years from now.
I notice that you are one of the very few I have come across on TSR which are doing WJEC for maths, so I feel you might find my site to be of use to you in helping you access a load of resources quickly and easily:
http://jacktilson.net/edu/maths
http://jacktilson.net/edu/maths/further
Also, a number of my friends do physics (I don't though) so I made a similar thing for that too.
http://jacktilson.net/edu/physics
I know WJEC only has back as far as 2012 on their site, also their site is pretty unorganised which was one of the main motivators for putting it together.
up to you as to whether you use it, but anyway good luck and here's to a successful future.
Thanks so much! Your site is really great, I think I've come across it before actually. My maths teacher has does an almost identical thing to you on Google Classroom so I actually have access to all the past papers back to 2005 already.
Thank you so much for sharing your site though! I've just printed off the stats tables you've got on there since I could find the t-distribution table which the WJEC use. Good luck with your upcoming exams too
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**DAY 265**
I'm enjoying the "harder" modules a lot more now than I previously was. I think I've finally got the hang of M3, just need a bit more practice but I'm almost there. FP3 is a great module, on par with FP2 as the best pure modules for sure. I'm also really enjoying S3 now, except linear regression (method of least squares). I have no problem answer the linear regression questions but they're incredibly boring and feel quite pointless - easy marks though I guess.
As for physics I've kinda taken a foot off the gas at the moment. Over the weekend I made some quick notes on Unit 3; I doubt I'll actually use these notes for anything as my neat ones are much more thorough, it was more of a test to see how much I remembered. As for unit 4, today I did the spec paper (again). It's got some errors in the questions which is annoying but I found the paper fine. I need to look elsewhere for some physics past papers as I've exhausted the wjec ones back to 2010.
Have a good week all
Matt
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I'm enjoying the "harder" modules a lot more now than I previously was. I think I've finally got the hang of M3, just need a bit more practice but I'm almost there. FP3 is a great module, on par with FP2 as the best pure modules for sure. I'm also really enjoying S3 now, except linear regression (method of least squares). I have no problem answer the linear regression questions but they're incredibly boring and feel quite pointless - easy marks though I guess.
As for physics I've kinda taken a foot off the gas at the moment. Over the weekend I made some quick notes on Unit 3; I doubt I'll actually use these notes for anything as my neat ones are much more thorough, it was more of a test to see how much I remembered. As for unit 4, today I did the spec paper (again). It's got some errors in the questions which is annoying but I found the paper fine. I need to look elsewhere for some physics past papers as I've exhausted the wjec ones back to 2010.
Have a good week all
Matt
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**DAY 267**
I've rediscovered a worksheet I was given by my maths teacher today - it has about 50 FP3 style integration questions on... very exciting. I have been working few a couple of the questions on that; I'm pretty strong on integration qs but I want to get quicker/more efficient at solving them.
Past papers I did today: S2 2006 (75/75) FP2 2008 (75/75), M2 2008 (75/75) and PH4 January 2011 (76/80). Tomorrow I'll do some M3 S3 and FP3; guaranteed my scores in those wont be as good!!
Hope everyone's having a good week & is getting a lot of productive revision done!
Matt
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I've rediscovered a worksheet I was given by my maths teacher today - it has about 50 FP3 style integration questions on... very exciting. I have been working few a couple of the questions on that; I'm pretty strong on integration qs but I want to get quicker/more efficient at solving them.
Past papers I did today: S2 2006 (75/75) FP2 2008 (75/75), M2 2008 (75/75) and PH4 January 2011 (76/80). Tomorrow I'll do some M3 S3 and FP3; guaranteed my scores in those wont be as good!!
Hope everyone's having a good week & is getting a lot of productive revision done!
Matt
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**DAY 268**
As predicted, my scores in today's past papers were significantly worse than yesterday! I started my morning with some S3, now one of my favourite modules, and scored 71/75 on the June 2013 paper. It was going so well until the final question... the topic is about finding unbiased estimators for the mean and variance of some variables. For some reason I stupidly did half the question for the wrong variable so all my answers were wildly wrong; I definitely won't make that mistake again.
I moved into FP3 after that but accidentally did a paper I had done previously. I didnt mind as it had been a while since id done it - was pleased with a score of 74 in that. Again a silly error, I decided to write "as the derivative of the function is less than zero, the sequence does not converge" instead of saying "as the derivative is greater than one in modulus, it is divergent " ...I think I had FP2 monotonic functions in my head from yesterday 😂😁
Then came my worst paper of the day, M3 June 2013. On the whole, I dont mind m3. I quite enjoy the integration/differential eqns side of it, though it is very easy to slip up and not notice. My problem today came from the impulsive tension question however, since I somehow modelled the entire situation wrong before even attempting to solve it. The question was worth 9 marks so I decided to give myself two (since I had applied the correct method to an incorrect situation). I definitely need more work on interpreting mechanics questions and modeling situations from a description
Apart from that question, I did okay. I messed up the final part of the moments question by dividing by the resultant reaction force instead of vertical component of the reaction force and so dropped another mark there. In total I got 67/75, though I really don't know if I would get those 2 marks I gave myself for the impulsive tension q in a real exam!
This afternoon I worked through the PH5 June 2016 paper. Im pretty sure I've done it already but I hadn't marked a score down for it on my sheet so perhaps not. I made the silly mistake of not marking it straight away, and now it remains waiting to be marked. I'll do it first thing in the morning. I carried on working through a few more questions on that FP3 integration worksheet I mentioned yesterday after the physics paper. I've improved quite a bit recently at solving them - I can usually apply the substitution, simplify it and then integrate in my head , but I still write it down as it's worth marks in the exam. Lots of the worksheet problems are indefinite integrals so you need to reverse the substition to get the final answer. Persoanlly I find this the trickiest bit, probably as it's something I haven't practiced much.
Tomorrow is my "last day" in school. I put that in inverted commas as I haven't properly been in since before easter anyway...tomorrow marks the official start of study leave though. For some reason, they pushed our official study leave back a week, instead of finishing last Friday, it's tomorrow. My revision tomorrow will be minimal, if at all, as I'm not taking any work to school (I think people would frown at me). I want to do some more of the older 2000-2005 papers in mechanics as they're quite tricky and more interesting that recent papers!
Hope you all have a good Friday. Expect another post sometime over the weekend
Posted from TSR Mobile
As predicted, my scores in today's past papers were significantly worse than yesterday! I started my morning with some S3, now one of my favourite modules, and scored 71/75 on the June 2013 paper. It was going so well until the final question... the topic is about finding unbiased estimators for the mean and variance of some variables. For some reason I stupidly did half the question for the wrong variable so all my answers were wildly wrong; I definitely won't make that mistake again.
I moved into FP3 after that but accidentally did a paper I had done previously. I didnt mind as it had been a while since id done it - was pleased with a score of 74 in that. Again a silly error, I decided to write "as the derivative of the function is less than zero, the sequence does not converge" instead of saying "as the derivative is greater than one in modulus, it is divergent " ...I think I had FP2 monotonic functions in my head from yesterday 😂😁
Then came my worst paper of the day, M3 June 2013. On the whole, I dont mind m3. I quite enjoy the integration/differential eqns side of it, though it is very easy to slip up and not notice. My problem today came from the impulsive tension question however, since I somehow modelled the entire situation wrong before even attempting to solve it. The question was worth 9 marks so I decided to give myself two (since I had applied the correct method to an incorrect situation). I definitely need more work on interpreting mechanics questions and modeling situations from a description
Apart from that question, I did okay. I messed up the final part of the moments question by dividing by the resultant reaction force instead of vertical component of the reaction force and so dropped another mark there. In total I got 67/75, though I really don't know if I would get those 2 marks I gave myself for the impulsive tension q in a real exam! This afternoon I worked through the PH5 June 2016 paper. Im pretty sure I've done it already but I hadn't marked a score down for it on my sheet so perhaps not. I made the silly mistake of not marking it straight away, and now it remains waiting to be marked. I'll do it first thing in the morning. I carried on working through a few more questions on that FP3 integration worksheet I mentioned yesterday after the physics paper. I've improved quite a bit recently at solving them - I can usually apply the substitution, simplify it and then integrate in my head , but I still write it down as it's worth marks in the exam. Lots of the worksheet problems are indefinite integrals so you need to reverse the substition to get the final answer. Persoanlly I find this the trickiest bit, probably as it's something I haven't practiced much.
Tomorrow is my "last day" in school. I put that in inverted commas as I haven't properly been in since before easter anyway...tomorrow marks the official start of study leave though. For some reason, they pushed our official study leave back a week, instead of finishing last Friday, it's tomorrow. My revision tomorrow will be minimal, if at all, as I'm not taking any work to school (I think people would frown at me). I want to do some more of the older 2000-2005 papers in mechanics as they're quite tricky and more interesting that recent papers!
Hope you all have a good Friday. Expect another post sometime over the weekend
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**DAY 271**
A brief update today, not much to say really. I'm in a continuous cycle of revision for my remaining 8 exams, trying to distribute my time relatively evenly between all of them. It's actually quite a tricky balance... Do I revise the modules I'm strongest on a little more to ensure I get the highest mark possible or do I revise my not so strong ones in the hopes of bringing all my scores up a little? At the moment I'm experimenting between both of these ...
This weekend seems to be quite unproductive for some reason. I did 4 or 5 papers yesterday which was good but today all I've done is some quick physics notes. I think I'll do an M2 paper in a bit and call it day as I'm going out later.
Enjoy your half term guys
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A brief update today, not much to say really. I'm in a continuous cycle of revision for my remaining 8 exams, trying to distribute my time relatively evenly between all of them. It's actually quite a tricky balance... Do I revise the modules I'm strongest on a little more to ensure I get the highest mark possible or do I revise my not so strong ones in the hopes of bringing all my scores up a little? At the moment I'm experimenting between both of these ...
This weekend seems to be quite unproductive for some reason. I did 4 or 5 papers yesterday which was good but today all I've done is some quick physics notes. I think I'll do an M2 paper in a bit and call it day as I'm going out later.
Enjoy your half term guys
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**DAY 272**
Revision is boring now.
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Revision is boring now.
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Original post by 98matt
welcome to my world.
one last push my friend, it is almost over
Original post by PedanticStudent
welcome to my world.
one last push my friend, it is almost over
one last push my friend, it is almost over
I think I peaked too early. I feel like it's been exam season for months already but I've still got 8 exams to go ...ugh
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Original post by 98matt
I think I peaked too early. I feel like it's been exam season for months already but I've still got 8 exams to go ...ugh
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I have that problem too haha, was ready to sit the IT exam and C3/C4/S1 in like February and I think i hit business too hard too early as well so I know how you feel.
Just a mental battle of will until the end now.
Think that nearly a year of work will all have been judged in less than a month's time - we gotta keep at it and not let our foot off the gas.
I'm looking at my Google Calendar right now and the end is literally in sight, I can't wait lol.
Best of luck, keep going!
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by PedanticStudent
I have that problem too haha, was ready to sit the IT exam and C3/C4/S1 in like February and I think i hit business too hard too early as well so I know how you feel.
Just a mental battle of will until the end now.
Think that nearly a year of work will all have been judged in less than a month's time - we gotta keep at it and not let our foot off the gas.
I'm looking at my Google Calendar right now and the end is literally in sight, I can't wait lol.
Best of luck, keep going!
Just a mental battle of will until the end now.
Think that nearly a year of work will all have been judged in less than a month's time - we gotta keep at it and not let our foot off the gas.
I'm looking at my Google Calendar right now and the end is literally in sight, I can't wait lol.
Best of luck, keep going!
You should become a motivational speaker mate
Best of luck in your exams too!
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**DAY 273** (feel like I should be making a joke about the Kelvin scale here)
I'm enjoying further maths significantly more than physics at the moment. The questions are much more interesting & there's so much more content in the 7 modules compared to the 2 phys modules. Today I did past papers for M2, M3, S2, S3 and FP2 (not FP3 unfortunately) but I haven't had time to mark them all yet. I'm getting in a bad habit of not marking my papers after I finish them and then having to go back to it 2 or 3 days later :/
Tonight I think I'll do a little physics revision. Perhaps a past paper for unit 4 or maybe just go through some notes. My weakest topic is probably electromagnetic induction, purely because they like to ask some wordy questions in it... I know the theory well but sometimes I'll miss out what I see as "trivial points" which the markscheme actually awards for. I do this too in questions that ask to explain v =√(GM/r) and how the rotational curve provides evidence for dark matter.
Expect another update towards the end of the week.
Matt
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I'm enjoying further maths significantly more than physics at the moment. The questions are much more interesting & there's so much more content in the 7 modules compared to the 2 phys modules. Today I did past papers for M2, M3, S2, S3 and FP2 (not FP3 unfortunately) but I haven't had time to mark them all yet. I'm getting in a bad habit of not marking my papers after I finish them and then having to go back to it 2 or 3 days later :/
Tonight I think I'll do a little physics revision. Perhaps a past paper for unit 4 or maybe just go through some notes. My weakest topic is probably electromagnetic induction, purely because they like to ask some wordy questions in it... I know the theory well but sometimes I'll miss out what I see as "trivial points" which the markscheme actually awards for. I do this too in questions that ask to explain v =√(GM/r) and how the rotational curve provides evidence for dark matter.
Expect another update towards the end of the week.
Matt
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I've been keeping up with your thread for a long time now and omg I don't know how you manage to do so much. What time do you start and finish revision in a day? And how do you not lose focus and get distracted?
Good luck with your exams!
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Good luck with your exams!
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Original post by ExamsCry
I've been keeping up with your thread for a long time now and omg I don't know how you manage to do so much. What time do you start and finish revision in a day? And how do you not lose focus and get distracted?
Good luck with your exams!
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Good luck with your exams!
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Thanks for following my posts it means a lot! I usually start around 7.45am as I find that I'm most productive early on in the day. I aim to do 3/4 past papers (or equivalent if taking notes) before lunch then 1 or 2 after lunch. I tend not to revise past 5/6pm ish as I'm way less efficient and I like to have my evenings off!
As for not getting distracted... It's really hard. In the past I've deleted all social media and only used my phone past 6pm in the evenings. I did this last year between April -June but I found it quite isolating so didnt do it this year. I have deleted Facebook and Twitter quite recently as I found myself procrastinating on them a lot. Right now I'm just trying to be as strict as possible with myself; I constantly remind myself that I need at least 3a*s to get into my firm uni so that acts as motivation for me! I must admit that the longer this exam season drags on, the more I lose focus. There's only so many times you can go over a topic / do past papers until the monotony kicks in.
Good luck with your studies and exams!
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What are your exam boards for Maths and Physics?
Original post by Dynamic_Vicz
What are your exam boards for Maths and Physics?
I'm welsh so do WJEC for all my exams. The physics is new spec
Original post by 98matt
Thanks for following my posts it means a lot! I usually start around 7.45am as I find that I'm most productive early on in the day. I aim to do 3/4 past papers (or equivalent if taking notes) before lunch then 1 or 2 after lunch. I tend not to revise past 5/6pm ish as I'm way less efficient and I like to have my evenings off!
As for not getting distracted... It's really hard. In the past I've deleted all social media and only used my phone past 6pm in the evenings. I did this last year between April -June but I found it quite isolating so didnt do it this year. I have deleted Facebook and Twitter quite recently as I found myself procrastinating on them a lot. Right now I'm just trying to be as strict as possible with myself; I constantly remind myself that I need at least 3a*s to get into my firm uni so that acts as motivation for me! I must admit that the longer this exam season drags on, the more I lose focus. There's only so many times you can go over a topic / do past papers until the monotony kicks in.
Good luck with your studies and exams!
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As for not getting distracted... It's really hard. In the past I've deleted all social media and only used my phone past 6pm in the evenings. I did this last year between April -June but I found it quite isolating so didnt do it this year. I have deleted Facebook and Twitter quite recently as I found myself procrastinating on them a lot. Right now I'm just trying to be as strict as possible with myself; I constantly remind myself that I need at least 3a*s to get into my firm uni so that acts as motivation for me! I must admit that the longer this exam season drags on, the more I lose focus. There's only so many times you can go over a topic / do past papers until the monotony kicks in.
Good luck with your studies and exams!
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Ahhh, I'll definitely try that routine. Thank you!
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