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the heardest hsc paper?? (2 Viewers)

MichaelSy

New Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2008
Messages
9
Location
Balmain
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
2009 was HARD.

First of all, the put a sketching question in Q1. The first time ever. They also coupled this question with a tanget question involving exponentials. Combining two chapters into one and we are only in Q1. Also they put a trigonometric question into Q1!!!!

Q2 was sensible, still the Sigma Notation was confusing at first look. Q2 was faily balanced. There was difficulty though with Integration being pushed to the limit.

Q3. Was easy. They completely cut down this year on Coordinate Geometry! A difficult Simpsons rule question which some may have found unfair.

Q4. Involving discriminants was failrly easily with the First geometric queston asking you to prove triangles. My favourite (which I got wrong) was to ask you to draw 4 iso triangles out of 1. Pity that I didn't use the example above which is what they wanted you to do.

Q5. This was hard for 4 marks using the X and Y intercepts in Geometry. As for the probability question, that was confusing. The wording was confusing and could have been used better. And of course the clincher involving area of segment. This was still difficult as they included heavy trigonometric identities in.

Q6. Fair but tricky Volume question, no complaints. EVERY year there is a question involving growth and decay. This year they tried to spice it up BIG TIME. They used fractions, complicated language and did not give the value of A,Q nor K. This was a very difficult decay question, definately the hardest to date. Part C was just ridiculously stupid. They gave a ridiculous question involving theme park rides which just confused the hell out of everyone and really only involved simultaneous equations.

Q7. A difficult but reasonable Velocity question. Where this question varies greatly compared to other years is the inclusion of Exponentials, Algebra and Quadratic Subsition. There was A LOT of content hidden very well in this question. I am not even going to begin on Part B, this was confusing from the Get go.

Q8. Easier than 6 and 7, involved a little sketching etc. The financial question was over worded but fair.

Q9. Very very hard probability question + A completely fucking stupidly worded Maximum and Minimum problem. Definately orientated to 3 unit students, the differentiation required was fucked.

Q10. Not Attempted - Was told that it wasn't as hard as previous years.

What made this test the hardest this century: Very very very wordy questions, a lot more emphasis on the scenario of the question (possibly a different author). The wierd and bizzare mix-match of topics and they way in which they were hidden. The ammount of work relative to the marks were completely miss judged, no one had enough time. The removal of the typical stationary point question and having that spread all over the exam was a bad move.

The most Difficult Exam Paper post 1999?
2009.
M

Q7.
 

Cloesd

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2008
Messages
156
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
2009 was HARD.

First of all, the put a sketching question in Q1. The first time ever. They also coupled this question with a tanget question involving exponentials. Combining two chapters into one and we are only in Q1. Also they put a trigonometric question into Q1!!!!

Q2 was sensible, still the Sigma Notation was confusing at first look. Q2 was faily balanced. There was difficulty though with Integration being pushed to the limit.

Q3. Was easy. They completely cut down this year on Coordinate Geometry! A difficult Simpsons rule question which some may have found unfair.

Q4. Involving discriminants was failrly easily with the First geometric queston asking you to prove triangles. My favourite (which I got wrong) was to ask you to draw 4 iso triangles out of 1. Pity that I didn't use the example above which is what they wanted you to do.

Q5. This was hard for 4 marks using the X and Y intercepts in Geometry. As for the probability question, that was confusing. The wording was confusing and could have been used better. And of course the clincher involving area of segment. This was still difficult as they included heavy trigonometric identities in.

Q6. Fair but tricky Volume question, no complaints. EVERY year there is a question involving growth and decay. This year they tried to spice it up BIG TIME. They used fractions, complicated language and did not give the value of A,Q nor K. This was a very difficult decay question, definately the hardest to date. Part C was just ridiculously stupid. They gave a ridiculous question involving theme park rides which just confused the hell out of everyone and really only involved simultaneous equations.

Q7. A difficult but reasonable Velocity question. Where this question varies greatly compared to other years is the inclusion of Exponentials, Algebra and Quadratic Subsition. There was A LOT of content hidden very well in this question. I am not even going to begin on Part B, this was confusing from the Get go.

Q8. Easier than 6 and 7, involved a little sketching etc. The financial question was over worded but fair.

Q9. Very very hard probability question + A completely fucking stupidly worded Maximum and Minimum problem. Definately orientated to 3 unit students, the differentiation required was fucked.

Q10. Not Attempted - Was told that it wasn't as hard as previous years.

What made this test the hardest this century: Very very very wordy questions, a lot more emphasis on the scenario of the question (possibly a different author). The wierd and bizzare mix-match of topics and they way in which they were hidden. The ammount of work relative to the marks were completely miss judged, no one had enough time. The removal of the typical stationary point question and having that spread all over the exam was a bad move.

The most Difficult Exam Paper post 1999?
2009.
M

Q7.

I did well except for question 8.. When i tried to find the minimum cost for running the cableing to the oil-rig, the minimum i came up with was HIGH than a straight line across the sea.
 

posey-rose

The lost member
Joined
Mar 7, 2008
Messages
139
Location
Bathurst
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
2009 by far was the hardest thing.


wtf to the rollercoaster question.

the other question with the probablity of the guy finding his car in the parkinglot... if you cant remember for 5 days straight where you parked, you are an idiot... who cares if you can figure out the probablity of finding it.

from what i heard, it seems that the maths exams for general, mathematics, ext 1 and 2 were all really difficult...

kind of wished i had another 2 units to fall back on... oh well fingers crossed for a band 4 (possibly a band 5???)
 

xFusion

Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2008
Messages
161
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
2009 was HARD.

First of all, the put a sketching question in Q1. The first time ever. They also coupled this question with a tanget question involving exponentials. Combining two chapters into one and we are only in Q1. Also they put a trigonometric question into Q1!!!!

Q2 was sensible, still the Sigma Notation was confusing at first look. Q2 was faily balanced. There was difficulty though with Integration being pushed to the limit.

Q3. Was easy. They completely cut down this year on Coordinate Geometry! A difficult Simpsons rule question which some may have found unfair.

Q4. Involving discriminants was failrly easily with the First geometric queston asking you to prove triangles. My favourite (which I got wrong) was to ask you to draw 4 iso triangles out of 1. Pity that I didn't use the example above which is what they wanted you to do.

Q5. This was hard for 4 marks using the X and Y intercepts in Geometry. As for the probability question, that was confusing. The wording was confusing and could have been used better. And of course the clincher involving area of segment. This was still difficult as they included heavy trigonometric identities in.

Q6. Fair but tricky Volume question, no complaints. EVERY year there is a question involving growth and decay. This year they tried to spice it up BIG TIME. They used fractions, complicated language and did not give the value of A,Q nor K. This was a very difficult decay question, definately the hardest to date. Part C was just ridiculously stupid. They gave a ridiculous question involving theme park rides which just confused the hell out of everyone and really only involved simultaneous equations.

Q7. A difficult but reasonable Velocity question. Where this question varies greatly compared to other years is the inclusion of Exponentials, Algebra and Quadratic Subsition. There was A LOT of content hidden very well in this question. I am not even going to begin on Part B, this was confusing from the Get go.

Q8. Easier than 6 and 7, involved a little sketching etc. The financial question was over worded but fair.

Q9. Very very hard probability question + A completely fucking stupidly worded Maximum and Minimum problem. Definately orientated to 3 unit students, the differentiation required was fucked.

Q10. Not Attempted - Was told that it wasn't as hard as previous years.

What made this test the hardest this century: Very very very wordy questions, a lot more emphasis on the scenario of the question (possibly a different author). The wierd and bizzare mix-match of topics and they way in which they were hidden. The ammount of work relative to the marks were completely miss judged, no one had enough time. The removal of the typical stationary point question and having that spread all over the exam was a bad move.

The most Difficult Exam Paper post 1999?
2009.
M

Q7.
This paper also did not contain one of those shit easy calculator substitution questions usually worth 2 marks lol
 

lyounamu

Reborn
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
Messages
9,998
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
Hardest to score may be 2009. But the hardest score to do extremely well is either 2000 or 2003.

Their hardest questions >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 2009's hardest question.

SOURCE: Refer to "SNOW Q" from 2000. Only ONE person in the state got it apparently.
 

markness

New Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2008
Messages
4
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2009
I did well except for question 8.. When i tried to find the minimum cost for running the cableing to the oil-rig, the minimum i came up with was HIGH than a straight line across the sea.
I think the mysterious differentiation god thought that by going backwards you would get money, It was kind of annoying because I did a whole bunch of calculus and testing my weird answer thinking I got it wrong. Eventually I just said the cheapest option would be to go straight from the oil rig to the power station. I'm pretty sure that's right, can anyone confirm?

I'm actually pretty happy with this years paper. I had a look at that snow question, I had no idea, the questions in this years were easier than that one. Even though I flunked the 3 unit exam, I think that really helped with the differentiating and what not. I can see how only 2 unit people may have had trouble.

From my point of view, this years seems easier than previous years. Maybe just because it happened to focus on my strong points ie differentiating/integrating and probability. I'm just happy we didn't get one of those ultra difficult question.
Also question 10 was really easy compared to some I've seen.
 

shady145

Banned
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Dec 4, 2008
Messages
1,687
Gender
Female
HSC
2014
a book my friend has says 1993 was the hardest...
whoever said the further u go back the harder they get? i dnt agree, i did 1986-2008 papers and 1986 was definetely the easiest. got 120 in 1 hr 10 mins... they got slightly 'harder' as u went through. my teacher told me the syllabus changes slightly in 2001, maybe thats y some ppl see older harder
 

fuller45

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
Messages
57
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
I agree with lyounamu, this test would have been the hardest for people expressed by:
avg (less then) people (less then) very good (i am noob poster and when i use < it screws up)


People like that (me(avg)) would have found all the crazy weird q9 style questions throughout the exam really hard and wasted a lot of time, compared to 2003 which they could breeze through till q9.

However people>very good wouldn't have found 2009 as hard as 2003 because they wouldn't have had much trouble with the crazy weird ones, and q10 would have been refreshingly easy.

But for the avg candidate i would say this was the hardest (it was for me anyway, from doing around 1998 -> 2008 practice exams)
 
Last edited:

Thecorey0

Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2008
Messages
428
Location
Goldstein
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
I agree with lyounamu, this test would have been the hardest for people expressed by:
avg (less then) people (less then) very good (i am noob poster and when i use < it screws up)


People like that (me(avg)) would have found all the crazy weird q9 style questions throughout the exam really hard and wasted a lot of time, compared to 2003 which they could breeze through till q9.

However people>very good wouldn't have found 2009 as hard as 2003 because they wouldn't have had much trouble with the crazy weird ones, and q10 would have been refreshingly easy.

But for the avg candidate i would say this was the hardest (it was for me anyway, from doing around 1998 -> 2008 practice exams)
The exam was not hard. The questions were not hard. Wat made it out to be percieved hard was that people understood the math but not the logic. The rollercoaster question, and the pipeline question (a easier version of q6a 2000 ironically in the 3u paper) did not test your mathematical abilities, they tested your thinking abilities. Maths is about problem solving, not just adding numbers and memorising methods. Hence this exam caught out those that knew the theory, but did not understand it. Another reason why it is percieved to be hard is, with stats showing that the majority of students don't score well on q10 no matter what the year is, and hence the 'easieness' of this year's q10 isn' taken into consideration but rather only the earlier questions most people attempt. Personally, it is my belief that this style of exam will and should be continued. My two cents.
 
Last edited:

fuller45

Member
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Sep 23, 2008
Messages
57
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
I agree with you on that it tested the knowledge behind the maths a lot more then just knowing formula's, and that's kinda what i was trying to say. its because of that i think more people would have found this test harder then the 2003, which was just simple stuff up to q9 or so. Considering this is the bored of studies forum the reaction to the test was pretty bad. meh just my 2 cents also.
 

xFusion

Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2008
Messages
161
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
The exam was not hard. The questions were not hard. Wat made it out to be percieved hard was that people understood the math but not the logic. The rollercoaster question, and the pipeline question (a easier version of q6a 2000 ironically in the 3u paper) did not test your mathematical abilities, they tested your thinking abilities. Maths is about problem solving, not just adding numbers and memorising methods. Hence this exam caught out those that knew the theory, but did not understand it. Another reason why it is percieved to be hard is, with stats showing that the majority of students don't score well on q10 no matter what the year is, and hence the 'easieness' of this year's q10 isn' taken into consideration but rather only the earlier questions most people attempt. Personally, it is my belief that this style of exam will and should be continued. My two cents.
I also agree that they should continue testing this style. Like with english they are trying to minimise rote learning (although I know I would have failed bad without memorisation for english XD). Issnt problem solving what makes it maths?
 

greenie1113

Bone Saw is ready
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Jul 30, 2009
Messages
153
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Undisclosed
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2010
lol yeah just realised that i spelt hardest wrong XD
oopsie
 

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