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how to improve in maths a level?

i recently had an end of topic test for maths - pure & applied. i knew i did badly in my applied one but the pure one felt ok. turns out in the end i did rlly bad on both - on the verge of a fail for my applied one !!!!!!!! does anyone have any tips on how i can improve? i feel like i do understand the content, just don’t know how to apply it onto exam questions (this was the same for gcse tbh)
thanks!!!!!
Original post by j3llyf1sh
i recently had an end of topic test for maths - pure & applied. i knew i did badly in my applied one but the pure one felt ok. turns out in the end i did rlly bad on both - on the verge of a fail for my applied one !!!!!!!! does anyone have any tips on how i can improve? i feel like i do understand the content, just don’t know how to apply it onto exam questions (this was the same for gcse tbh)
thanks!!!!!

What were they about?
Reply 2
Original post by mqb2766
What were they about?

for applied it was just the first few topics - probability & stats mostly
for pure it was algebraic expressions, quadratics, inequalities & that stuff (though i think i’m definitely not TOO bad in pure maths, just panicked a bit & made a ton of stupid calculation mistakes)
Original post by j3llyf1sh
for applied it was just the first few topics - probability & stats mostly
for pure it was algebraic expressions, quadratics, inequalities & that stuff (though i think i’m definitely not TOO bad in pure maths, just panicked a bit & made a ton of stupid calculation mistakes)

So for the probability and stats is it binomial .... or? Have you worked through the questions you got wrong / asked your teacher/classmates/here about what you tried to do?

Apart from the generic - read the textbook/watch the videos, do the textbook questions and try exam questions, reflect on problems you have etc, you probably need to break it down and focus on the particular problems youre having and typically each topics has lots of bits and you really need to be on top of most of them to answer exam questions.
Reply 4
Original post by mqb2766
So for the probability and stats is it binomial .... or? Have you worked through the questions you got wrong / asked your teacher/classmates/here about what you tried to do?

Apart from the generic - read the textbook/watch the videos, do the textbook questions and try exam questions, reflect on problems you have etc, you probably need to break it down and focus on the particular problems youre having and typically each topics has lots of bits and you really need to be on top of most of them to answer exam questions.

yes for the stats & probability it was binomial stuff. i have got myself a maths mentor (a student in the year above) who is currently helping me go through the assessment & i’m slowly beginning to understand where i went wrong.
i’ve also set myself a goal of revising 1hr of maths a day at least to try & get used to the questions.

apart from that, i guess i could try doing some more refined revision & picking out what i’m the weakest at,
thanks !!!!!
Original post by j3llyf1sh
yes for the stats & probability it was binomial stuff. i have got myself a maths mentor (a student in the year above) who is currently helping me go through the assessment & i’m slowly beginning to understand where i went wrong.
i’ve also set myself a goal of revising 1hr of maths a day at least to try & get used to the questions.

apart from that, i guess i could try doing some more refined revision & picking out what i’m the weakest at,
thanks !!!!!

If youve got some regular help/mentor, then really make use of them and ask them about things you dont understand, dont try and hide any problems. There are a few stages to becoming confident in answering questions, so regular practice is key and not sorting problems out at the time simply lets them mount up.

Id go through the tlmaths videos (for instance) as theyre reasonably clear/good, as well as reading your textbook and if there is stuff youre unsure about, discuss with your mentor. Similarly, make sure you understand assumptions/terminology in the binomial stuff so independent, mutually exclusive, conditional .... and if necessary go back over your gcse probability stats stuff. If youre having problems this early, it may be that you didnt have a good enough understanding then and its better to understand concepts on simple problems, rather than harder ones (hence the textbook exercises).
(edited 1 year ago)

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