How do i ACTUALLY get better at the TMUA?

I have done all the past papers and checked my answers. i even made a speadsheet with all the mistakes i made. But ive gotten around 9/20 on both papers consistently from my first paper. I feel like im not improving at all and its making me lose my mind. Ive also done like 10 of the MAT papers, much to the same effect.
Does anybody have any tips or ways to improve my work or learn better from mistakes?

Reply 1

DFranklin

18

Pretty impossible to tell without more information. Why do *you* think you're not improving? (Or to put it another way, why are you only getting 9/20 - is there any kind of common theme?).

You imply a lot of it is mistakes - so the obvious question is "are you checking your answers?"

Reply 2

MaxAOC

2

Original post by bigalphanick

I have done all the past papers and checked my answers. i even made a speadsheet with all the mistakes i made. But ive gotten around 9/20 on both papers consistently from my first paper. I feel like im not improving at all and its making me lose my mind. Ive also done like 10 of the MAT papers, much to the same effect.
Does anybody have any tips or ways to improve my work or learn better from mistakes?

Are you just doing a question and then checking your answer?

Instead, you may want to write out your solution and then not check the answer right away, but instead read your solution and think about it. Does it make sense? Are you sure it is correct? If not why not? Does everything logically follow? Can someone else follow what you wrote and agree with you?

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 3

bigalphanick

OP

2

Original post by DFranklin

Pretty impossible to tell without more information. Why do *you* think you're not improving? (Or to put it another way, why are you only getting 9/20 - is there any kind of common theme?).
You imply a lot of it is mistakes - so the obvious question is "are you checking your answers?"

About 3 or 4 questions per paper, I make a mistake like forgetting to integrate an expression, transposition errors or selecting the range of a function as its inputs rather than the values on the y-axis. I'm inclined to call these silly mistakes but they occur so frequently that i there there must be a reason behind them. I do briefly check over my answers, but due to the fast-paced nature of the exam I hardly have time to thoroughly do so.The other marks are lost when I can't see the method to solve a problem. I thought that this would be a skill that would come with practice but evidently I haven't been noticing paths to get a solution any more than I did at the beginning.

Reply 4

bigalphanick

OP

2

Original post by MaxAOC

Are you just doing a question and then checking your answer?
Instead, you may want to write out your solution and then not check the answer right away, but instead read your solution and think about it. Does it make sense? Are you sure it is correct? If not why not? Does everything logically follow? Can someone else follow what you wrote and agree with you?

A lot of the time I can either see the solution to a problem or just don't know where to start. On occasion I get through half the problem with the correct method and then just cant see where to go with it next.

Reply 5

tonyiptony

11

Original post by bigalphanick

About 3 or 4 questions per paper, I make a mistake like forgetting to integrate an expression, transposition errors or selecting the range of a function as its inputs rather than the values on the y-axis. I'm inclined to call these silly mistakes but they occur so frequently that i there there must be a reason behind them. I do briefly check over my answers, but due to the fast-paced nature of the exam I hardly have time to thoroughly do so.The other marks are lost when I can't see the method to solve a problem. I thought that this would be a skill that would come with practice but evidently I haven't been noticing paths to get a solution any more than I did at the beginning.

Hmm... probably still too vague to tell. Have you talked with your teacher about it?

"Silly mistakes"
That's easy - read the problems slower and solve them slowerer. Fast-pace nature be damned. Aim for accuracy first.
Though I must admit it is easier said than done - it's kind of a shift in mindset.
One thing I almost always do is to write down what is given and what is our goal.
(Off tangent: Since I've been deep into this new rabbit hole, if you happen to watch pilot cockpit recordings, this is what we're doing - repeating what the air traffic controller's/question setters' instructions back, as a sign of acknowledgement.)

"Can't see a method"
Well, that's about general problem solving, isn't it? There really isn't a "best strategy" tbh.
Have you noted what problems that falls in this category? Any concrete examples you might want to share? If there are too many of them, then your fundamentals might be shaky.
Usually for TMUA, there really aren't a lot of ways to naturally start a problem.

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 6

MaxAOC

2

Original post by bigalphanick

A lot of the time I can either see the solution to a problem or just don't know where to start. On occasion I get through half the problem with the correct method and then just cant see where to go with it next.

If you could post a picture of an example question where this happens, along with your working.

How do i ACTUALLY get better at the TMUA?

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