Getting Ready for Your A-Level H2 Math Exam: Best Strategies
As your A-level H2 math paper is approaching, you’re probably wondering about strategies that can help you be more successful.
Needless to say, there are things you can to make your preparation more focused and tailored to the specifics of the exam. A-level exams are marked on a bell curve. This means that your performance and that of other test takers both matter. As per Ministry of Education (MOE) stipulations, about 50 per cent of the students that go through the exam on a given year will get an A.
At Annexe Project, we have a ton of experience helping students prepare for their A-level H2 math exams. Here are a couple of the approaches that we recommend for better preparedness.
Time-Management!
This is a major essential that so many test takers fail accounting for!
The situation can become even more complicated when it comes to math exams.
You see, when you focus on solving one problem, you can easily forget about all of the additional work that you’ll need to do. This way, to get one answer correct, you may deprive yourself of the opportunity to complete the entire exam.
Good time management involves a few simple steps you can practice at home.
For a start, scan the entire exam when you receive it. H2 math is a six-hour exam split in two papers of three hours each. Paper one focuses on math alone while the second one brings together math and statistics. As you can see, it’s very easy to get overwhelmed and confused.
Pinpoint the questions that you know how to solve and deal with those first in a quick and efficient manner. The rest of your time can be dedicated to addressing more complex inquiries and handling all of the calculations in a calm and collected manner.
Some students prefer to tackle the difficult questions first instead. If you’re one of these students, set a time limit for work on an individual problem. When the time expires, move on to the next question.
Here’s a general guideline you can follow: each three-hour set consists of 12 questions. This means you should be spending approximately 15 minutes of your time on an individual question.
Get to Know Your Calculator
Your graphic calculator (GC) should already be your best friend. There are problems you cannot solve without its use. Hence, it’s essential to know how to input data and which functionalities will yield the result you’re looking for.
Not only are there questions that accept a “by GC” as the answer, you can also use the calculator to double check the results you’ve obtained for other problems.
Many students stumble on problems that are labelled as “using algebraic method.” This means you should show your work and the steps that you followed to reach the final outcome. What this statement doesn’t mean is that you cannot use the calculator to double check the final result you’re getting. You can! And you definitely should.
Do JC Papers for Maximum Preparedness
Revision is very important but you should know how to approach it correctly.
Luckily, the rules are once again pretty simple.
Before going into full JC papers, try tackling topical papers first. This will reduce the workload and help for better concentration. Check out our A-Level H2 Math Paper model answers here.
If you are doing several of the same topic, give yourself breaks between the sessions. Your brain can become overload and stuck if you maintain the same study schedule for hours at a time. Quick breaks make you more productive and they help you utilise your brain to its full potential.
When taking a practice exam, make the environment similar to what it would be like on the big day. Time yourself and get rid of distractions. While this can be difficult at home, it’s of paramount importance for a realistic experience.
Finally, always check your results and analyse your performance on different papers. A skilled tutor can help you pinpoint the biggest weaknesses and the mathematical fields that you need to work on more.
Know Your Goal in Advance!
If you’re looking for an A in your H2 math, your grade has to be 80 per cent or higher.
To get such a result, you need to do a number of things in advance. Being familiar with all of the question types is essential. Doing preparatory tests under a time limit is something else you should do regularly in the weeks leading up to the exam.
A-Level H2 math tuition is another type of investment in preparedness that will pay off in a good result. So, if you are attempting to get the highest score possible, you need to understand the minimum preparedness level and how you can go over that threshold.
There is one final, very important thing to understand – acing your exam is not about beating the system. It’s about getting in-depth knowledge as much as possible. While math can be a challenging subject, there’s a finite number of questions. If you focus on the ones that trouble you the most, you will increase your chances of exam success.
Being prepared for an exam does not have to involve sleepless nights and long hours of staring at a problem you simply cannot fathom. You should work smart instead of hard if you want to deliver the best performance to your abilities. A knowledgeable tutor and the right learning program can help you accomplish the goal. The Annexe Project tutors are here to guide you – contact us today to find out more.