freshfaced333 Posted October 3, 2014 Report Share Posted October 3, 2014 (edited) So after a summer of studying for my Y1 exam, I felt prepared and confident that I would get at least a 5. However, when I started the exam, I started panicking, and everything I have learnt started to slip from my mind. I made careless differentiation steps, and I forget how graph simple trig equations (sin2x) altogether! I am really having trouble understanding the exam questions and my anxiety is not helping. I really need at least a 5, as my scores will be sent to universities soon.... does anyone have tips to just relax before exams? Any last-minute review guides/tips? I think the problem may be that I do not have a very effective revision strategy right now... I'm just jumping everywhere because as soon as I realize I forgot how to do binomial probability while doing a trig question, I jump and try to figure out all sorts of things. the worst thing is I actually know the math, but cannot seem to apply it during the exams. tips anyone? Edited October 3, 2014 by freshfaced333 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandwich Posted October 3, 2014 Report Share Posted October 3, 2014 I used to have this problem! I spent the 24 hours before my final exam doing differentiation and integration, got that section of the paper and realised I'd forgotten completely how to do it. Got to the matrices section and realised I couldn't remember which line to start with. ETC! I genuinely thought I'd failed the final Maths exam Fortunately I must have remembered enough of the rest! My advice is basically to repeatedly do each type of question over and over (as in literally each type - do a 'classic' version of each, rather than lots of a single type) and then when you get into the exam, then spend the first 5 minutes writing out all of the rules for everything you know you might blank on. It would help to have come up with a little list of rules beforehand that you're used to writing out, to save time. Once it's all there written down on the paper, you know you can't actually find yourself in a situation of having forgotten it all, so you can relax and just approach the questions much more logically. Otherwise the frisson of panic at knowing you don't remember how to do something is certainly something which can throw you off for the entire exam! It's much easier in the calculator paper because you can use the calculator to estimate things/it does the methods for you, often, and you can re-construct the method from scratch. Although the HL Maths papers I think you need to be a bit more mathematically sound in order to figure out what the hell the question is asking you to do, so I don't know if just memorising how to do each question would work Maybe drop down to SL if you're really struggling and that's an option? There's really no point in taking 4 HLs and ditching your scores. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
freshfaced333 Posted October 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 the problem is, I know the math very well - I can do all the practice drill questions, but when it comes to IB questions, specifically, I blank out. It just seems so intimidating. I need HL math for uni, and my schools scheduling system made it so that I had no choice but to do 4 HLs. Math is my only real struggle right now... my other problem is the consolidation of notes... how do you organize your notes and stuff so that you are not wasting half your studying time organizing notes? any good books for HL math? I already have the Hase and harris, the oxford 2012 edition, the oxford and hase and harris study guide, and the IBDP orange book. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.