Inquiries of a confused 4U student. (1 Viewer)

[ze-]

Hey guys, few questions:

1)How do you actually set out to learn whole topics independently? Sometimes textbook explanations can be a bit insufficient to attempt the exercises efficiently.

2) When do you typically jump into past paper questions? Only when you've finished a whole topic during your self-study? Or rather, after finishing relevant textbook exercises?

3) How do some of you integrate (lol) the 4U Marathons within your study? During your leisure time? Or is it an important aspect of your schedule to advance your knowledge of the 4U content?

Thanks

 

[Paradoxica]

I just go around absorbing knowledge like a Katamari ball picking up the landscape junk. This also consequentially implies none of my knowledge is sorted effectively.

 

[ze-]

Haha thanks for that Do you ever intend to sort out your vast Katamari ball of mathematical concepts?

Anyone else? Any advice is helpful

 

[porcupinetree]

Hey guys, few questions:

1)How do you actually set out to learn whole topics independently? Sometimes textbook explanations can be a bit insufficient to attempt the exercises efficiently.

Use several textbooks, watch youtube videos addressing the given concept (e.g. Eddie Woo), research online

2) When do you typically jump into past paper questions? Only when you've finished a whole topic during your self-study? Or rather, after finishing relevant textbook exercises?

Personally, I didn't really start going through past papers until I had a good understanding of most of the topics in the course. To make it easier for yourself, I'd recommend not jumping into past paper questions (on a specific topic) until you've learnt the whole topic. Side note: I didn't actually start doing past HSC papers until 1-2 months before the actual HSC exam; before that, I just did past trial papers from various schools.

3) How do some of you integrate (lol) the 4U Marathons within your study? During your leisure time? Or is it an important aspect of your schedule to advance your knowledge of the 4U content?

Thanks

For me it was more of a leisure thing.

 

[Drsoccerball]

The marathons are usually something you go on after you've finished all assigned work and looking for a challenge.

 

[ze-]

Thank you so much guys!!!!!

 

[seanieg89]

Hey guys, few questions:

1)How do you actually set out to learn whole topics independently? Sometimes textbook explanations can be a bit insufficient to attempt the exercises efficiently.

2) When do you typically jump into past paper questions? Only when you've finished a whole topic during your self-study? Or rather, after finishing relevant textbook exercises?

3) How do some of you integrate (lol) the 4U Marathons within your study? During your leisure time? Or is it an important aspect of your schedule to advance your knowledge of the 4U content?

Thanks

1. Read the theory from the textbook, but read it actively. When you learn the definition of a new class of objects (eg complex numbers), or a new technique (integration by parts), play around with it a bit! See what you can do with these things that you couldn't before. Similarly, when you read a new theorem, try to prove it yourself before you read the book/internet proof. I guarantee you will understand the mathematics better this way, even if you fail in your efforts.

The nice thing about this way of learning is that is translates very well to harder mathematics, even if it probably isn't the most efficient way of learning, say, general maths.

If you understand the theory properly, then exercises/exam questions shouldn't be too difficult, so make sure you get those solid fundamentals before trying to optimise your question answering process.

2. When you are confident in your knowledge of the theory you can grind these. At first, just do a few easy ones after first learning a topic to test you aren't doing anything super wrong. At this stage, accuracy is more important than speed, so resist the urge to check answers until you are quite sure. (I.e. you would bet money against someone that you were right). If you cannot be that sure about your answers, then it is likely you don't have as full a grasp of the material as you need yet, so go back to that.

3. It's been ages since I was a 4u student lol, but back when I was I would use sources like bos to just find challenging and interesting problems on the fringes of curriculum and beyond. It is not an essential step in perform well in the HSC exams at all, but it probably will make you a better mathematician overall if you push yourself with some of these things. The satisfaction/fun from pushing yourself to solve things at the edge of your capabilities (and from seeing your capabilities improve with time) can be immense.

 

[T-R-O-L-O-L]

1. Read the theory from the textbook, but read it actively. When you learn the definition of a new class of objects (eg complex numbers), or a new technique (integration by parts), play around with it a bit! See what you can do with these things that you couldn't before. Similarly, when you read a new theorem, try to prove it yourself before you read the book/internet proof. I guarantee you will understand the mathematics better this way, even if you fail in your efforts.

The nice thing about this way of learning is that is translates very well to harder mathematics, even if it probably isn't the most efficient way of learning, say, general maths.

If you understand the theory properly, then exercises/exam questions shouldn't be too difficult, so make sure you get those solid fundamentals before trying to optimise your question answering process.

2. When you are confident in your knowledge of the theory you can grind these. At first, just do a few easy ones after first learning a topic to test you aren't doing anything super wrong. At this stage, accuracy is more important than speed, so resist the urge to check answers until you are quite sure. (I.e. you would bet money against someone that you were right). If you cannot be that sure about your answers, then it is likely you don't have as full a grasp of the material as you need yet, so go back to that.

3. It's been ages since I was a 4u student lol, but back when I was I would use sources like bos to just find challenging and interesting problems on the fringes of curriculum and beyond. It is not an essential step in perform well in the HSC exams at all, but it probably will make you a better mathematician overall if you push yourself with some of these things. The satisfaction/fun from pushing yourself to solve things at the edge of your capabilities (and from seeing your capabilities improve with time) can be immense.

Good advice seanig89, but what did you do when it came to past papers?

 

[seanieg89]

Good advice seanig89, but what did you do when it came to past papers?

Wait till I knew the course well enough to be very sure of when I was right/wrong, then I did a bunch of past papers.

Before then I mostly just sought out standalone hard / interesting / extracurricular problems and did them in class / at home instead of my classwork/homework. I thought a lot about the course though, even if I didn't do as many of the routine exercises as others. In a lot of ways though, I was not very good as a "student" in terms of study habits etc, so I am probably not the best person to try to emulate.

Everyone has something that can work for them.