16 replies to this topic

[broxibabi]

Im a lil worried about my maths. I only have the past paper book(2000-2003)2 work from. I have the 1992 paper...I think its that year anyway,and Iv already done the 1994 paper,but I don't think thats enough for me because its fair to say maths isnt my strongest subject! What else can I do as practise? Anyone got any ideas at all?
During August and Christmas time we had a terrible teacher...I mean TERRIBLE. We had no clue about anything and could only manage to do NAB level questions. Then he retired and we got a different teacher and it was totally different! She put a proper B-type question infront of us and we all just stared at it! Before,we had only got 1 piece of homework in 6 months...thats how bad a state our class was in! Our new teacher was shocked at the work we couldn't do, so i think if we hadn't got a change I wouldn't even be allowed to sit Higher. Our school's maths department isn't the best though, its been in the paper this year beacuse theres been so many complaints made about the teaching!!!
Anyway...if anyone could offer any good suggestions id be really grateful!! Especially tips on how to do any of the last questions at the end of Paper 2's. Thanx a lot!

[AndyW]

There's a specimen paper with solutions on the SQA web site you can download (www.sqa.org.uk). However, if you don't understand the material there's little point in trying endless past papers - you'd probably be better reading through the notes in the Courses section of this web site.

If there's a particular Paper II question you can't solve, ask here and someone will explain it.

[keith]

www.mathsrevision.com has fully worked Past Paper Questions, and Revision notes.

[james1]

I'd strongly suggest doing the new higher papers ONLY.

Some silly people think that if they go back ten years especially for Maths they will be able to do most questions. for one, the syllabus has continuously changed. the new higher papers are sufficient.

dont do every paper u can possibly get as it simply is a waste of time.

[Dave]

i think what james1 is trying to say ( perhaps a little harshly) is that doing older papers will be a waste of time because some questions you can't do and this will kill your confidence. BUT your not "silly"

[George]

If you are looking for extra practice, doing older papers will certainly do you no harm. As Dave points out, there may be some questions you can't do, so don't worry too much about that.

Andy's advice is also good; if you're having trouble with any questions, I'm sure you'll be able to get help here.

[AndyW]

[Discogirl17]

Often if you find Maths hard its not that you can't do the question but that you dont understand what it is asking you, as well as doing past papers, even whilst your doing them think about the question that is being asked identify what type of question its is , do the question and look at the solutions. In the exam you will therefore also identify the type of question being asked and having already possibly done a question on the same topic before and focussed on the steps of how to do it for some time then you will quickly recall how to do it.

[xpurple_starsx]

The questions at the end of Paper 2 will be the hardest ones in the paper. If you can't get it all don't worry about it, even if you can get part of it you're doing great!

The bbc has a maths section on bitesize. It has tips and notes on how to do certain parts and questions that have been asked by students and answered by teachers so you might find that helpful! If you need any help just ask and good luck!

[Ally]

Certainly the more examples you do, the more easier you will find maths.

But you may find that you just can't do some of the old past papers questions, this might be the trigonometry ones which I think have been altered. They are certainly different from the Trig questions asked in the new syllabus.

[Jonathan]

i would hardly call doing older papers "silly". Although the syllabus may have changed, the questions that are still asked this year are harder than and are more challenging. Therefore, if you can do harder questions than ones that come up, then there is no harm whatsoever

[james1]

Highers are definitely easier nowadays so are AH compared to CSYS!

[Discogirl17]

Yes that is true in a sense but in a sense the courses are also harder as there are now marks being awarded for trivial things which if you forget to do will bring you down a bit for instance the concluding senetences at the end of a Maths question. Working even! I do think that Jonathan's point is very valid, the more hard examples you do- the more prepared you are and therefore you will be relieved to see very much easier questions in the exam and will whizz through them at lightning speed.

[Dave]

thats good advice but you also have to make sure you don't lose marks in the easier questions and on arithmatic. Also you can now lose marks for bad communication like not explain why you get a negitive area in finds area under graph questions

There has been a general tread of people neglecting easy question in studying and finding they lose marks in them unnecessarily because they have forgotton what to do

[Allan]

[Dave]

simply that piece of the graph is below the x-axis so your answer is negitive but in real terms its the positive of your answer

[Discogirl17]

Yeh that seems pretty sensible.