One piece of advice-try to have consistent performance across all your subjects, because one unit of mathematics will definitely count towards your ATAR no matter what, so try to transform your mentality on Maths from a subject that you are 'weakest at' to a subject you have the most opportunities to improve upon-The only way you can study for maths is essentially to understand mathematical concepts, apply your understanding by practice questions of increasing difficulty, and checking your answers and working out with those provided by the textbook or with your teacher/tutor. Before each maths exam, I would also do a summary of all the formulas that I would need and all the tips and tricks for each topic and revise over that before the exam. Below is an extract from a senior study guide that I have complied that highlights my tips for maximising your Maths potential
MY TOP TIPS FOR YOU TO ACE MATHS
One very important tip is to avoid exposing yourself to new, difficult questions the day before the exam-you would often be panicked and this would worsen your exam performance because you are not entering the exam with a calm, clear mind.
For homework, I would write out the question, write my working out, and ticked or crossed my own work by marking my answers with those of the textbook. And if I got a question wrong, I would re-do it several times until I get it right or I could ask my teacher. When I understood the mathematical concepts, I would then do practice trial papers to consolidate my knowledge.
One last important tip I can give you is that you need to ask questions the minute you don't understand something-don't leave any maths lessons without understanding everything about the maths concept conveyed-because maths is a sort of accumulative subject where if you don't understand something and don't clarify it, it can have a snowball effect. I have a habit of writing tips on the silly mistakes I've made or tips to do a certain type of question alongside questions I got wrong and I re-do these questions before the exam and remind myself to avoid making these mistakes.
MATHS is a subject that needs to be practiced on a daily basis, you cannot get away with studying it the day before the actual exam. You need to understand the approach to achieve a solution to the problems, not just knowing how to answer a problem, but knowing the different types of problems you can encounter in any topic and the variation in the solution method to achieve them. Essentially, practice, practice, practice is the key to succeed in Maths.
For the full guide, feel free to visit:
http://community.boredofstudies.org...how-excel-senior-year-studies-yr-11-12-a.html
