Traditionally what questions of the higher maths paper are chosen?

runswithascript

I know that a lot of students will study only certain sections of the higher maths curriculum in preparation for only certain questions of the exam.

Which sections are traditionally avoided, and which questions are usually prepared for?

Canard

Q5 seems to be quite avoided, and one of Matrices & Complex Numbers or Sequences & Series.

runswithascript

Patchy~ wrote: »

Q5 seems to be quite avoided, and one of Matrices & Complex Numbers or Sequences & Series.

Thanks, but can you be a bit more specific? I do not have a paper to hand.

Canard

Oh, sorry Q5 isnt really anything specific though - the (a) part is usually algebra or logs, and the (b) and (c) are things like binomial induction. I havent done that or sequences and series, but if you look on examinations.ie you'll see what theyre like

runswithascript

Patchy~ wrote: »

Oh, sorry Q5 isnt really anything specific though - the (a) part is usually algebra or logs, and the (b) and (c) are things like binomial induction. I havent done that or sequences and series, but if you look on examinations.ie you'll see what theyre like

Cool. How do most people decide which of the Matrices & Complex Numbers or Sequences & Series should be avoided.

I'm trying to decide which parts of the curriculum I should skip.

rainbowtrout

dusf wrote: »

Cool. How do most people decide which of the Matrices & Complex Numbers or Sequences & Series should be avoided.

I'm trying to decide which parts of the curriculum I should skip.

It's daft deciding what to avoid based on what randomers online tell you.

Some people don't have any choice but to avoid a question because their teacher has not taught that particular one and decided to focus on other questions.

Some decide to leave out a question because they don't like that particular topic.

You have to decide what you like and don't like and what you are good at before you make a decision on whether or not you are not going to study a topic.

No point someone here telling you to avoid Sequences and Series just cos it's not a popular question. It might be your best question, so daft to leave it out because it might appear to be unpopular. All questions are awarded the same marks. You won't get anything extra just because you attempted the most popular questions.


I know the course has changed since I did the LC, but there used to be two sections on Paper 2 of the HL Maths paper, probably the same in ordinary and you had to choose one question from section B of the paper. Our teacher taught us the calculus option, which I hated. I decided to teach myself the probability option, which wasn't popular but what I was good at. Had I gone with the popular option I would have been stuck doing a question that I found difficult and didn't like.

surfaholic

The matrices and complex numbers question is usually quite simple, as it's generally the similar stuff that comes up each year, so if you go through past questions thoroughly there's no reason you wouldn't score well in that section. On the other hand, question 5 varies a bit in what can come up; Algebra, logs, induction, binomial....I could be forgetting something.

But yeah, that's my opinion!

Canard

dusf wrote: »

Cool. How do most people decide which of the Matrices & Complex Numbers or Sequences & Series should be avoided.

I'm trying to decide which parts of the curriculum I should skip.

Well as said in the above post, teachers decide. Its because algebra and differentiation are so important to the entire course that one of the Matrices/S&S can be left out but realistically it cant - my teacher's gonna do S&S with us but matrices can be put into other questions in the same way that algebra had series and sequences in it one year as a C part.

I'd have a shot at them all and go from there