Is leaving a topic worthwhile?

Nikkio237

Ok, here's the thing. I'm doing Higher Maths, and I absolutely DETEST the circle in Co-ordinate Geomatry. Do people think it's worth studying it when nothing's going in? Or should I just forget about it and make sure I'm not surprised in the other questions? Is it likely to come up in the mixed questions or would it be safe to just let it be? What have other people done and how did you get on?

JC 2K3

IIRC, the circle only ever comes up in question 1 paper 2, and many people don't study it.

Yuugib

i think u better of even to study a lil bit, to do part a and b at least... u can never be too sure that there isnt going to be any surprises in the rest of the paper.. dont chance it imho

Chunky Monkey

The circle is one of the easiest questions on paper II. You'll find this is the case once you have finished your course and have gone through the past papers.

Mark200

Just learning the formulae for that topic will go a very long way, so I'd suggest doing that.

pocket aces

definitely learn the formulas! after a while the circle is not so bad at all and you never know when a nasty surprise might pop up in trigonometry or vectors...:cool:

GretchenWieners

DON'T leave out a topic, biggest mistake of my life. Missed my 1st choice by 10points after repeating!! You would've thought I'd have learnt the 1st time...

Nikkio237

We just went over it again. Still gibberish. This makes 4 times now. I know most of you said to study it anyway, but I'm probably going to get into the exam, look at the question, think it's gibberish and skip it anyways. So my question now is, what the heck am I doing wrong? Is anyone else having trouble with it?

kisaragi

I left it out... I also left out question 4 and 5 of paper 1 Didn't hurt me...

cocoa

Nikkio237 wrote: »

We just went over it again. Still gibberish. This makes 4 times now. I know most of you said to study it anyway, but I'm probably going to get into the exam, look at the question, think it's gibberish and skip it anyways. So my question now is, what the heck am I doing wrong? Is anyone else having trouble with it?

Simply put, if you could afford to leave it out, then you wouldn't be having trouble with it. There seems to be a tendency more and more these days for papers to encourage the study of every topic area. Papers show up with some easy questions and some hard questions, and unless you studied every topic, you can't take full advantage of that. As soon as you set restrictions on your options in the exam, you're lining yourself up to be caught out. Even if it does seem like a totally impossible topic right now, you can get it. You need to found your own method of learning, a lot of people like to stick at something in isolation until they get it but this can be frustrating, exhausting and time consuming, I strongly advise you 'give up quickly', that is, if something isn't working, stop, either try something else yourself or ask someone else to point you in the right direction. You probably don't have the time to waste.

Maybe your teacher is just a schmuck? or to put it a nicer way, you need to hear it taught in a new way, instead of the same old thing, which clearly isn't working.

Post some Qs on boards, ask a friend who can do the questions to show you how, ask a sibling, parent or just plain anyone to give you a hand. I hear the solutions at this site are very good : zulunotes.com

On the other hand, if you aren't aiming for a high grade, leave it out.

Nikkio237

Thanks Cocoa, sadly, I do want a high grade. My teacher's grand, it's just when we get to the questions that have twists on them, I lose it. I'm the oldest, too, and neither of my parents did HLC Maths. At least, they don't remember doing it. But I'll work through some of the questions with a friend, see if I can figure it out.

cocoa

Nikkio237 wrote: »

Thanks Cocoa, sadly, I do want a high grade. My teacher's grand, it's just when we get to the questions that have twists on them, I lose it. I'm the oldest, too, and neither of my parents did HLC Maths. At least, they don't remember doing it. But I'll work through some of the questions with a friend, see if I can figure it out.

well if you're only having trouble with the questions with the twists in them, you should still be able to handle many a and b type questions. Anytime you feel things aren't working, do an easier question, it makes you feel better, increases confidence and gives your brain time to think of a new approach to the problem.

It's been a while since I did the circle but if I recall correctly there's quite a few formulae to learn, which is annoying on the one hand, but on the other hand, means the questions cannot change that much. There's only a certain number of 'twist types' they can use, get comfortable with those and you'll be fine.

Chunky Monkey

Nikkio I had problems with the c part circle questions too. That was until I got the Less Stress maths revision book (paper II) and the LC solutions book. I attempted the questions, checked the solutions and if I got it wrong went through it again step by step. You'll get it eventually It's a question of not being scared and allowing your mind to freeze up. Let it flow.

Yuugib

I revised the topic a couple of day ago from the solution book too, it actually wasnt that bad when u follow an example first and then do it ur self
SO deffinetely try to follow monkeys advise u ll get there at least to a and b part
and remember to get A1 u are allowed to lose 60 marks all together.. that is 30 marks from each paper, that is to get 90% so i guess if u do everythin esle completely right than u might have a chance of still doing pretty damn good.. but other wise i wouldnt advise again to leave out anythin

Challenged

Nikkio, I got all the solutions free on the internet with every topic like the circle broken down into lessons. It made it so easy.
Website is www.studentxpress.ie/papers.htm

Yuugib

Mmm tryin to do vectors by my self now.. geezz nothing makes it easy eh.. i m with u nikkio only with different problem

Overheal

To be honest I have thus far had to use every topic of math I have ever covered in Secondary school, and Im only the 2nd year into my course. And then some.

It depends on what you plan to do: If you're doing anything that involves any sort of math (and has a math requirement, say) - then by all means study it all: because you will have to know it as part of the course.

Mine required at minimum a B in Ordinary: but when you get into the course you will be learning all sorts of new math and having to learn a lot of the honors math anyway: like differentiation. And yes, I deal heavilly in co-ordinate geometry myself.

Moral of the post: dont base your decision on what to study completely on whether it will help you pass the exams in june - study it because it will be relevant in the years to come.

Challenged

On paper 1, you can safely leave out Question 3 (Complex Numbers and Matrices). If you do this however, learn the proof of De Moivre's theorem by induction as I have seen this asked in Question 5 where proof by induction is examined.

On paper 2 you can leave out the Circle (question 1) and/or Vectors (question 3). You cannot do the circle without knowing the line very well.

Chunky Monkey

But Q3 paper I is a beauty of a question!

Donald-Duck

Maths is one of the most predictable exams on the leaving cert, meaning, you can pick and choose the topics you want to do without any trouble. Every 2-3years the same questions up on each question, just do 5-6 years exam papers and you'll pretty much be covered for anything that will come up.

So yes, you can leave out the circle.

And make sure you do the calculus/integration topics, its the easiest 150 marks on the paper.

Yuugib

now now.. leaving out two qs.. this is a bit bad - u loosing out 100m strait away..
in order to get A1 u re allowed to lose 60 from both papers.. now leavin one qs out is berable but u never know what might come up in other part c's ..
unless if u re not looking for the top mark.. then its up to u

cocoa

Yuugib wrote: »

now now.. leaving out two qs.. this is a bit bad - u loosing out 100m strait away..
in order to get A1 u re allowed to lose 60 from both papers.. now leavin one qs out is berable but u never know what might come up in other part c's ..
unless if u re not looking for the top mark.. then its up to u

umm, leaving out two Qs isn't losing out on 100 marks...

you can, hypothetically leave out two Qs per paper and still get 100%...

Nikkio237

I agree, I love the Matrices q. Thank you for the link, by the way, Challenged. I think it could really help. And how much is the Less Stress book? I have another one, can't remember the name right now, but it's there. Is the Less Stress the best one out there?

Yuugib

its around 10 euros as all the revision books are cant say for sure if that is the best one..

lolz i just found out 2day that we only have to do 6 qs on the higher paper it just made my day

Chunky Monkey

It's the only one I've used. It's pretty much just a load of examples. Good to use first and then go through papers using solution book.