Death Conics (2 Viewers)

[cwag]

My opinion: every other topic in 4U is bearable...but conics just makes me want to crawl up into a corner somewhere and revert to the foetal position.

 

[nottellingu]

Conics is the sex !
I did it by myself in the holidays and found it awsome. On the contrary with an assesment coming up including harder 3u (circle geo and m.induction) << i am HATING it lyk crazy.

 

[tommykins]

I fucking loved conics, its simply algebra bashing.

It makes sense as well, loved every bit of it. Alot of it is pretty simple too, just gotta find the right method.

 

[Slidey]

If you're aiming for between 90 and 95 for 4u maths you can probably skip all the conics questions in the final exam as long as you're strong in 5 or 6 other topics.

Do try and learn some conics, though. The exams tend to have a hard and an easy conics question, so if you know at least the basics, you can score some easy marks.

It's knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are. Ace the easy questions of your bad topics, and all the questions of your good topics.

 

[tommykins]

If you can do the majority of the Conics questinos (95%) in cambridge, how wouuld you fair in the final exam?

 

[Foxodi]

Yes conics makes me want to go completely emo. I think I'll just grind through tons of lengthy conic questions until I rote learn every possible question/solution.

 

[pLuvia]

If you can do the majority of the Conics questinos (95%) in cambridge, how wouuld you fair in the final exam?

The problem is the cambridge questions are sometimes/usually nothing like exam type questions lol

 

[cwag]

well, we work through fitzpatrick...its just ridiculous. cambridge seems much much easier in comparison.

 

[namburger]

Conics is all about:

1. Deriving tangents/normals to a curve
2. Solving things simultaneously
3. Test of endurance: algebra = too lengthy

 

[lordo]

theres some seriously easy conics marks up for grabs. as previously said, its all about your strengths and weaknesses, but remember it takes less time for simple questions. if you can learn the basics of all major topics rather than studiously learning a few, you can spread yourself out more and give yourself a better chance.

on another note, conics SUCK. seriously, wth. we used the discriminant, trig identities, all this other crap... and still couldnt solve it. not even our teacher, who has a DOCTORATE in mathematics. gah!

 

[rooeys2]

The problem is the cambridge questions are sometimes/usually nothing like exam type questions lol

i disagree hav u done the further questions, they are exam-type questions if youv checked past hsc papers =)

 

[leoyh]

i found conics to be okay. yeah sure i agree, the algebra is a bitch and the length of the questions too. but besides that, it does make sense, and it is easy marks in some cases. its just basically locus and parametric type theories which we learn in 3u when we do the parabola anyway. its gotta be better than topics like harder 3u and mechanics

 

[onlinenooby]

Conics is decent; after a while questions get repetitve and you catch the drift.

But fuck me dead when mechanics / harder 3u comes.

 

[Affinity]

Conics is not very demanding conceptually... it's about how fast and patient you are with simplifying long expressions.

 

[tommykins]

i disagree hav u done the further questions, they are exam-type questions if youv checked past hsc papers =)

Yeah I read them f or abit then got sacred pretty much right away.

Willl hit them sometime though

 

[Slidey]

Conics is not very demanding conceptually... it's about how fast and patient you are with simplifying long expressions.

Speak for yourself Mr Maths.

It's been ages since I did conics (and even longer since I tried a harder question), but I'm of the belief that conics questions can be worded in pretty abstract ways.

They're word problems, so if you're not good at word problems, they can cause a right pain for you. Similar to mechanics, probability and circle geometry.

 

[Affinity]

Speak for yourself Mr Maths.

It's been ages since I did conics (and even longer since I tried a harder question), but I'm of the belief that conics questions can be worded in pretty abstract ways.

They're word problems, so if you're not good at word problems, they can cause a right pain for you. Similar to mechanics, probability and circle geometry.

90% of questions on conics in the HSC are quite straight forward (but long) say, prove that some line and some other line are perpendicular, or find the locus of the midpoint of something.

and almost all of these results in a series of long calculations. Compared to polynomials, geometry and some harder topics where you actually need to make an argument, conics is just slogging through

 

[solomarc20]

I can never seem to come up with the answers to the last conics questions when I practise past HSC papers. The ones in Q3-4 r generally not hard, but yeah, the ones in Q7-8 r a bitch!!!!

Anyone who wants 2 feel better about conics, try the 2006 MX2 paper, the conics questions r really straightforward!

Fingers crossed for the 2008 paper!!!

 

[YannY]

I can never seem to come up with the answers to the last conics questions when I practise past HSC papers. The ones in Q3-4 r generally not hard, but yeah, the ones in Q7-8 r a bitch!!!!

Anyone who wants 2 feel better about conics, try the 2006 MX2 paper, the conics questions r really straightforward!

Fingers crossed for the 2008 paper!!!

2008 paper is gonna be one of the hardest in this decade.

My prediction is, they always follow the simple ones to give students a shock.

 

[tommykins]

2008 paper is gonna be one of the hardest in this decade.

My prediction is, they always follow the simple ones to give students a shock.

But it being hard shouldn't have that much of an effect, I mean if I'm struggling, so is (in general) the state.