Maths

sternn

Just a question...do you think i can get at least a B in maths if i know how to do all of the last 6 years exam papers?
I have been doing them over the last few days, and have completed each one without any help....that would be lying....with help from www.examinations.ie for 3/4 of the part c's.
Is there much more that can be asked outside these papers do you reckon?

Tula

firstly fair dues to you for doing them all by yourself i think thats a good sign. secondly ordinary maths or higher maths?

Naikon

Sorry for hijacking this thread but would it be enough to do back to 1997 to get a B+ in ordinary maths considering the courses changed since then?
I have finished as far as 2001 on my own also over the past few days again without help other than the use of marking schemes for C parts sometimes.

Nehpets

I'm doing higher and only going back to 00

ninebeanrows

I can do most back to 2001 but sometimes i cry when i head past 1999... like Inegration for example, the 1999 and 1997 papers made me cringe.. dont wanna go back any further too scared:eek:

Naikon

Actually I think the 2002 paper(ordinary) is probably the worst so far.
Its worded differently and doesent even have a marking scheme on examinations.ie , and some of the C questions are just plain awkward and weird in comparison to other years excluding the 1994 paper which is again a little different in wording.
Dont know if its the case for honours but a mate told me they are getting harder apparently?

sternn

Sorry!! meant to say im doin higher level

dan719

If you actually go back to '94 it is to your advantage as they have used some of the stranger questions again.

Nehpets

I'm hoping they won't come up

Mushy

I'm doing honours, and depending on the section, I can do quite well on most without looking back. Going back to at least 2001 on every section, only the odd part b and some part c's catch me out. I'm sure you should get along fine with doing the last 6 years, maybe push yourself that bit more if you want the B

dan719

But it is quite possible they will!

SamHamilton

Do you reckon this years paper will be an easy one considering last years disaster (I say disaster but I, personally, don't see what the fuss was about)? Plus, I heard somewhere, I think here, that the number of students taking higher level this year is the lowest in a long time. You think they'd take this into account and try to make it more popular by making it easier?:D

dan719

No I think it will be a hard paper, thats the impression given by the teachers- apparently the SEC is 'trawling the course' to catch people out. Oh well.:(

SamHamilton

to catch people out

How unfair!

I think this year will be quite hard because if I was setting the paper, I'd want it to seem like last years paper was fine, that I hadn't done anything wrong. Best way to do that is give a repeat of that paper!

I'm quite happy with maths though. I'm totally skipping the series' questions, unless there's no series part in Q5. I might do that as an extra question. 4&5 on paper 1 are supposed to be easy and they're the least likely questions to be messed with by the examiners but I couldn't be bothered learning more formulas for the series questions. Still havn't learned the proofs!:rolleyes: They're for the night before I think!:)

I hate vectors. Just thought I'd throw that in!

Nehpets

dan719 wrote:

If you actually go back to '94 it is to your advantage as they have used some of the stranger questions again.

Course changed in '97 anyway :P

dan719

No it didn't. The new course was first examined in 1994.

dan719

SamHamilton wrote:

How unfair!

I think this year will be quite hard because if I was setting the paper, I'd want it to seem like last years paper was fine, that I hadn't done anything wrong. Best way to do that is give a repeat of that paper!

I'm quite happy with maths though. I'm totally skipping the series' questions, unless there's no series part in Q5. I might do that as an extra question. 4&5 on paper 1 are supposed to be easy and they're the least likely questions to be messed with by the examiners but I couldn't be bothered learning more formulas for the series questions. Still havn't learned the proofs!:rolleyes: They're for the night before I think!:)

I hate vectors. Just thought I'd throw that in!

There are hardly any fomula's, and most of them are derived from the rest. Series is a really easy question, as in question 5.

SamHamilton

There are hardly any fomula's, and most of them are derived from the rest. Series is a really easy question, as in question 5.

Yeah, but i have a soft spot for diff. and int. Series seems mind-numbingly boring but I might have a gander of the formula the night before and try it if I get an ugly int. question.

dan719

dan719 wrote:

No it didn't. The new course was first examined in 1994.

http://examinations.ie/index.php?l=en&mc=en&sc=sy

dan719

Oh well guess i am sickened. Forget about it.

JC 2K3

^That's a typo, we had this argument before. Course changed in 1994 , not 1997.

I just did 1994 paper 1 as a self-test. Finished it in 1 hour 20 mins and got 91%, boo-yeah!

dan719

JC 2K3 I thought so too! Go us!:D

cocoa

not questioning your correctness here, but out of curiosity, how did you find out it was a typo?

Naikon

Well, I looked through some of the old papers before 97(Ordinary) and the algebra question 3(C) in paper one in at least two years contains a graph so I guess they are slightly different, as Question six is usually the functions and graph question.
In saying that some parts like the Q7 Calculus question has not changed much in comparison to all the other questions.

Also note before 97 the Exams were set by the "Department of Education" whereas afterwards it was "Department of Education and Science", this could be irrelevant but its interesting to note.
I know they look very similar, but I doubt the Webmaster would not notice such a typo by now on the SEC site.
Who Knows????????

JC 2K3

cocoa wrote:

not questioning your correctness here, but out of curiosity, how did you find out it was a typo?

-The 1994-96 papers say that one must "indicate where a calculator has been used", yet calculators weren't allowed on the old syllabus.
-Through googling I found a couple of websites(including education.ie) that said the course changed in 1994.
-I have a set of EdCo exam papers from 1997 and the papers before 1994 are "1994 Department Sample Paper" and EdCo sample papers.
-In all fairness, why would EdCo include exam papers that aren't on the syllabus in their book of exam papers? Especially seeing as in other subjects they always have sample papers if the course has changed.

Proof by induction.

Pythia

I'd go back as far as you could. It's very important to be able to do the part c's if you're going for a high grade. The further back you go, the more experience you have. I bought a good book when I did the LC which had the answers to all the LC Higher Maths papers. It might be handy to look through it and look at the answers to some difficult questions, rather than spend time going over easy questions you already know how to do.

JC 2K3

Pythia wrote:

I'd go back as far as you could. It's very important to be able to do the part c's if you're going for a high grade. The further back you go, the more experience you have. I bought a good book when I did the LC which had the answers to all the LC Higher Maths papers. It might be handy to look through it and look at the answers to some difficult questions, rather than spend time going over easy questions you already know how to do.

Yup, I agree. By "answers" do you mean "solutions" though? Because the answers are at the back of the exam papers anyway...

The marking schemes(ie. solutions) going back to 2001 are available to us, members of the internet generation, online at www.examinations.ie

Considering 2006 was generally considered harder than 2001-2005, I personally find it a bit of a waste of time doing some of the (pretty easy) questions from those years. I always feel I've accomplished something more when doing papers from 1994-2000.

I got an old book of EdCo exam papers recently from 1997 with 6/7 sample papers in it I haven't seen before, which should come in handy for these last few days when I want to test myself as much as possible.