Hi i'm from SAJC and i'm stressed out...After studying and finishing up the syllabus, my grades are not upto par as i am at the C's and D's. I take PCEM. How do i improve my grades and prepare for the A levels.. if i used these midyear/prelim results as an indicator then things don't look very good.. i heard our jc papers are harder but i'm still worried..
How do i know for a fact that i'll be prepared for A levels when it comes and that i can get A's and B's.. I know i have to keep practicing, but do i do this like O levels where i keep doing the TYS over and over again or do i need to buy all the jc prelim papers and do it over and over again? Please help, :)
well, you have to know what is hindering you from getting your As and Bs. from the way you have described, it seemed that you do not lack practice and I have the impression that the problem lies with your understanding of the concepts.
are you sure that you have grasped and understood the concepts (regardless of PCEM, but mainly the sciences) thoroughly? you've got to read and digest the knowledge, if not you can't apply those concepts when the questions demand that. so, spend some time to clarify any doubts you have with regards to those concepts before practising, otherwise you won't be able to maximise your practices.
other than the above situation, is it also possible that you are not accustomed to the stressful conditions of having to complete the paper within a stipulated time? try to do timed-practices (though it requires a lot of discipline without supervision :S) and see how you fare. recalling knowledge under exam stress needs practice too.
i hope my advice would be of help, and lastly, take things easy :D
Hi Hellblender,
Get familiar with concepts and skills that are often assessed for all your subjects. For mathematics, be sure that you know these:
http://wenshih.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/pure-mathematics-checklist-2010.pdf
Below is the set of skills and concepts for probability and statistics I have posted in another thread, with some revisions added here:
Topic 1: Permutations and combinations
- Application of multiplication, addition and mutual exclusion principles.
- Solving problems involving arrangements related to lines, circles
and beads.
- Solving problems involving restrictions and repetitions.
- Problems that have appeared so far include: arrangement of people in a line and circle, selection of people to form groups, arrangement of letters, arrangement of digits (with probability assessed at the same time).
Topic 2: Probability
- Application of multiplication, addition and mutual exclusion principles.
- Appreciation of mutually exclusive and independent events.
- Solving problems involving conditional probabilities.
- Solving problems involving the use of tables of outcomes (e.g.
sum of two die scores), Venn diagrams and tree diagrams.
- Solving problems involving the use of an infinite geometric
progression.
For example: A and B play a game in which they each throw a die in
turn until someone throws a six. Find the probability that A wins
if he starts the game.
- Application of permutations and combinations in finding
probabilities.
Topic 3: Binomial and Poisson distributions
- Finding Binomial and Poisson probabilities.
- Solving problems involving conditional probabilities.
- Commenting on the appropriateness of using Binomial/Poisson
distribution for a random variable.
- Finding unknowns (n, p for Binomial or mean for Poisson) based on
given probabilities.
- Finding probabilities involving the sum of Poisson
variables.
- Solving problems involving a combination of Binomial and Poisson
distributions.
- Using the Poisson distribution to approximate the Binomial
distribution.
Topic 4: Normal distribution
- Finding Normal probabilities.
- Solving problems involving conditional probabilities.
- Commenting on the appropriateness of using Normal distribution
for a random variable.
- Finding unknowns (mean, standard deviation or variance) based on
given probabilities.
- Finding unknowns like the value a that satisfies P(X > a) =
given probability.
- Solving problems involving the linear combination of independent
Normal variables, i.e. aX + bY.
- Appreciating the difference between nX and X_1 + X_2 + ... +
X_n.
- Using the Normal distribution to approximate the Binomial
distribution with continuity correction.
- Using the Normal distribution to approximate the Poisson
distribution with continuity correction.
Topic 5: Sampling
- Commenting on the appropriateness of sampling methods (random,
systematic, stratified, quota) for given contexts.
- Solving problems involving the sampling distribution from a
normal distribution.
- Application of the Central Limit Theorem.
Topic 6: Hypothesis testing
- Finding of unbiased estimates of the population mean and
variance from a sample.
- Appreciation of the meaning of p-value and level of
significance.
- Solving problems involving the t-test and z-test.
- Obtaining inequalities involving the level of significance,
mu-zero (value of the population mean), sample size or population mean.
Topic 7: Regression and correlation
- Sketching a scatter diagram and using it to comment on the
relationship between variables or to identify a data pair which
should be regarded as suspect.
- Appreciation of the independent and dependent variables.
- Appreciation of the cases where the product moment correlation
coefficient (r) is negative, positive, zero.
- Finding the equations of regression lines and r from the given
data.
- Finding unknowns, e.g. pair of x, y values, given the data.
- Using equations of regression lines to estimate values and
commenting on their reliability (based on interpolation/extrapolation or suitability of the linear model).
- Application of a square, reciprocal or logarithmic transformation
to achieve linearity for non-linear relationships between
variables.
- Effect on r when there is a change of units in a variable or a translation of values of a variable.
When you practise, be smart by being very selective of what you want to reinforce of your concepts and skills, since time is limited and you have to study other subjects too. For example: if you are practising for Maths you do not need to spend three hours to do a full paper, instead you may select questions that cover all five core areas of pure maths (functions and graphs, sequences and series, calculus, vectors and complex numbers) with marks adding up to 50 and then spend 1.5 hours to complete them. Take SAJC 2010 prelim paper 1 for instance, attempt these questions:
Q5 (which covers functions) [9]
Q8 (which covers AP/GP) [10]
Q11 (which covers integration techniques) [13]
Q7 (which covers plane problems) [11]
Q4 (which covers, for the most part, De Moivre's theorem) [8]
which add up to 51 marks, just slightly over 1.5 hours.
This strategy can easily be applied to other school papers, based on my experience.
Jiayou, the best is yet to be!
Cheers,
Wen Shih
Hey dude, chill and relax. I never gotten an "A" for any of my subjects until the A level exam itself, Haha. If you can hit top 20-30% of your cohort, you are actually quite safe for an A for that particular subject.
P: memorize all the definitions and the formulas, understand the concepts and start doing all the exam papers
C: pure memorization. Yes, it still works for A level
M: Just do all your exam papers
E: pure memorization and understand all the concepts