May 2014 How to pass HL Maths?

[gator124]

Hey guys, I'll be taking my HL Math exams this upcoming week, and i'm pretty sure I won't be getting my IB diploma because of it. I can breeze through all my other exams. By the way, I have four HLs, which means they're are different requirements if I get a 2 or 3 in an HL. I've been doing some practice with past papers, but if you have any tips/suggestions on how to pass please comment below.

Thanks!

Edited May 11, 2014 by Sandwich
Please stop posting titles in all-caps, this is considered spamming.

[V For Vendetta.]

One does not simply pass Math HL.

[Thrashmaster]

One does not simply pass Math HL.

That's true at my school. 100% fail rate last year is rumored. I am currently in the process of dropping down to SL.

But, for the OP, that's too late, so the tips I would use if I were sticking around:

1. Skip the ones that take too long. If you're going for a 7, you need to be answering every question. But you're not going for a 7, you're going for a 4. Which means you can start answering a question, and when things get too hard, you go to the next one. There are tons of marks for getting initial steps in these problems. You'll need to be completing some of the questions, no doubt, but sometimes it isn't worth finishing. For example, there are some integral problems I did earlier this year where there were crazy hard substitutions as the second to last step in probably about an 8 mark question. The first 6 marks were pretty easy - perhaps even less then 4 minutes. But the last two were very difficult. It makes more sense to stop there then to keep going when it becomes very hard and I'm likely to make a mistake anyway.

2. Don't forget to write the basic equation before plugging in. You can get points for that too.

3. Know everything your calculator can do for you and use it when you can. You need all the time you can possibly get, so if you can shave a few minutes by graphing an intersection of lines or something like that rather than finding it algebraically, do it.

[Rigel]

You should RUN through the exam completely. A thing that you can do is right when you receive the exam, use the reading time to mark down (mentally, at least) the questions that you KNOW RIGHT ON THE SPOT (i.e. that it takes you less than 30 seconds to figure out the procedure). If you get stuck, just move on. You'll see that you will finish the exam quickly (albeit incomplete) compared to other people, and then this helps you build up confidence/competence that you can later use for the harder questions (who knows, you might even get a 6 or a 7 in the exam).

[psychologystudent501]

• Write down everything you do in the process. I may just be a Studies student (and maths is really not my thing) but I can often pick up marks for the simplest things such as writing down the equation with the numbers plugged in, as the IB credit that as knowing the right way to approach the question.
• As others have said, it might be worth skipping the tricky parts of a question but grab marks for the easy parts
• I don't know if HL has "show that..." questions like Studies does (e.g. we'll get a question saying "show that the expected frequency of women playing football is x") but if you do, they are always worth a shot, and the question after it is too-you can just take the number they tell you is correct and use it for the other components on the question

As I say, I have no idea what Maths HL looks like so this advice may be fairly unhelpful, but best of luck to you. I always feel so sorry for the HL candidates

[Jessicalalala]

Did you still remember the questions of this HL exam? Can you tell me the questions you remember ? I really need these questions....

[JohnRedstone]

I'm a Junior, and HL just started for me on August 3rd, and some of the REALLY advanced kids in my grade who take Junior and Senior HL at the same time are having trouble with some of the stuff that our teacher is giving us for the Junior Level ;-;

[Emilia1320]

I'm a Junior, and HL just started for me on August 3rd, and some of the REALLY advanced kids in my grade who take Junior and Senior HL at the same time are having trouble with some of the stuff that our teacher is giving us for the Junior Level ;-;

What are the topics you are going over atm? Just out of curiosity.

[Guest]

1. Do all the past papers or at least as many as you can. 

There are certain types of question patterns. You realise what they are by doing lots and lots of past papers. You get familiar with the things you need to do. Do them until you get sick of them. And when you get sick of them do more. Do all the variations.

 

2. Answers.

After completing a past paper, go through the answers and pay careful attention to where they give the mark in the workings. Memorise how they give marks and how they solve questions. Only do this after a complete run through of the paper.

 

3. Master the calculations.

Easy marks come with accurate calculations. Repeat the calculations that you are the best at until you master them and do even more practice on the things you find difficult. Things such as differentiation and integration must become easy as breathing.

 

In the end your practice and training is all that matters. Practice everything that can possibly come out. When you are worried or scared just practice. Don't make yourself regret that you haven't practiced enough after the exam. Substitute talent with practice.

 

Follow all other advice in the thread because they're good too.

 

edit: Wait why are people posting in this 1 year old thread? Stupid me.

Edited August 24, 2015 by JYC

[JohnRedstone]

 

I'm a Junior, and HL just started for me on August 3rd, and some of the REALLY advanced kids in my grade who take Junior and Senior HL at the same time are having trouble with some of the stuff that our teacher is giving us for the Junior Level ;-;

What are the topics you are going over atm? Just out of curiosity.

 

We don't even know ._. We had to do a mock IA on how to expand any trinomial to any nth power using a formula/expression that we had to make ourselves, then a bit of polynomial inequality review as well as complex conjugates (for binomials, since they are used with binomials quite frequently), and now we just derived the sum of roots, product of roots, and sum of product of roots with, you guessed it, polynomials, using Vieta's Theorem. (By sum of roots: x₁+x₂+x₃ , product of roots: x₁x₂x₃​ , and sum of product of roots: (x₁x₂)+(x₁x₃)+(x₂x₃) ) This week, we'll be finding what the actual roots are, since all we can find from something like x₁+x₂+x₃ is x₁+x₂+x₃=-b/a.

[JohnRedstone]

1. Do all the past papers or at least as many as you can. 

There are certain types of question patterns. You realise what they are by doing lots and lots of past papers. You get familiar with the things you need to do. Do them until you get sick of them. And when you get sick of them do more. Do all the variations.

 

2. Answers.

After completing a past paper, go through the answers and pay careful attention to where they give the mark in the workings. Memorise how they give marks and how they solve questions. Only do this after a complete run through of the paper.

 

3. Master the calculations.

Easy marks come with accurate calculations. Repeat the calculations that you are the best at until you master them and do even more practice on the things you find difficult. Things such as differentiation and integration must become easy as breathing.

 

In the end your practice and training is all that matters. Practice everything that can possibly come out. When you are worried or scared just practice. Don't make yourself regret that you haven't practiced enough after the exam. Substitute talent with practice.

 

Follow all other advice in the thread because they're good too.

 

edit: Wait why are people posting in this 1 year old thread? Stupid me.

 

1. Do all the past papers or at least as many as you can. 

There are certain types of question patterns. You realise what they are by doing lots and lots of past papers. You get familiar with the things you need to do. Do them until you get sick of them. And when you get sick of them do more. Do all the variations.

 

2. Answers.

After completing a past paper, go through the answers and pay careful attention to where they give the mark in the workings. Memorise how they give marks and how they solve questions. Only do this after a complete run through of the paper.

 

3. Master the calculations.

Easy marks come with accurate calculations. Repeat the calculations that you are the best at until you master them and do even more practice on the things you find difficult. Things such as differentiation and integration must become easy as breathing.

 

In the end your practice and training is all that matters. Practice everything that can possibly come out. When you are worried or scared just practice. Don't make yourself regret that you haven't practiced enough after the exam. Substitute talent with practice.

 

Follow all other advice in the thread because they're good too.

 

edit: Wait why are people posting in this 1 year old thread? Stupid me.

Sorry, new to this forum, and didn't think people would care about a dead post.

[Emmi]

Sorry, new to this forum, and didn't think people would care about a dead post.

 

We advise people not to do this, mainly because the original posters usually no longer visit the forum and as such won't view your replies if you're responding to their question. In the future, just create a new topic.