morganforrest
Member
I like to mix it up quite a lot. So one subject all day is definitely NOT for me. 6 hours of Chemistry/English....shoot me now!
For me, 2-2.5 hours works best. So i tend to alternate doing 3 or 4 subjects a day. Though having said that, if I get into a really good rhythm on one subject I'll keep going with it. Though this really only happened before Trials when I was still making my study notes. I might get into a rhythm with Modern so I'd go for hours and hours on it.
As for Maths (I'm talking mathematics, ext 1 and ext 2....I'm not sure if this will work for general???) past papers are definitely the best way to study it. Write yourself up a little formula book (best way to do this is to buy the excel one which lays out all the formula's req'd by the syllabus and summarise that). Memorise these formulas as best you can. Then get 50 - 30001456741561678 past papers (make sure they have solutions).
Now sit down and put all that knowledge into practice. Go through each question attempting them cold (ie without notes). If you look at a question and can't remember the req'd formula, write down your best guess as to what it is, then compare it to your formula book. Generally once you've got the formula you need you'll be able to do it.
As you progress, you'll find Question One will become a real breeze. So ditch it for a couple of papers (remember to go back to it though, you dont want to get out of practice) and concentrate on questions you have difficulty with (Questions 9 and 10 is where you'll usually find the curly ones. Don't jump straight to the solutions when you're faced with a question you don't know. Remember that at this point, and particularly with this subject, you are trying to LEARN, to UNDERSTAND, rather than cram for regurgitation. If you can solve a problem for yourself rather than looking at this solutions and going *oh thats how you do it.....forget* you will have a much better chance of learning and understanding the process of answering questions.
I got myself a whiteboard (i find it easier to write on and look at/change pluses to minuses when i realise i cocked up. Have a real shot at getting the answer, even if you find urself sitting staring for five/ten minutes. Churn through options in ur brain, if u hit on a good idea...pursue it for a while until you feel it really is going nowhere (though for MX1/2 remember that our questions have a nasty habit of looking disgustingly complicated before randomly imploding to a nice neat solution)
If you really have no idea how to do it and are getting frustrated, check the first line or so of the solutions (if its a show that... or prove... question) to get an idea of how to approach it. This is why its important to have worked solutions, not just answers. That way you know how to approach the question.
Once you have the answer, mark the question on a sheet of paper and the next day, or a couple of days later when you've forgotten the answer, have another stab at it to see if you can do it this time.
So in short guys, practice practice practice is the way to study for maths!!!
For me, 2-2.5 hours works best. So i tend to alternate doing 3 or 4 subjects a day. Though having said that, if I get into a really good rhythm on one subject I'll keep going with it. Though this really only happened before Trials when I was still making my study notes. I might get into a rhythm with Modern so I'd go for hours and hours on it.
As for Maths (I'm talking mathematics, ext 1 and ext 2....I'm not sure if this will work for general???) past papers are definitely the best way to study it. Write yourself up a little formula book (best way to do this is to buy the excel one which lays out all the formula's req'd by the syllabus and summarise that). Memorise these formulas as best you can. Then get 50 - 30001456741561678 past papers (make sure they have solutions).
Now sit down and put all that knowledge into practice. Go through each question attempting them cold (ie without notes). If you look at a question and can't remember the req'd formula, write down your best guess as to what it is, then compare it to your formula book. Generally once you've got the formula you need you'll be able to do it.
As you progress, you'll find Question One will become a real breeze. So ditch it for a couple of papers (remember to go back to it though, you dont want to get out of practice) and concentrate on questions you have difficulty with (Questions 9 and 10 is where you'll usually find the curly ones. Don't jump straight to the solutions when you're faced with a question you don't know. Remember that at this point, and particularly with this subject, you are trying to LEARN, to UNDERSTAND, rather than cram for regurgitation. If you can solve a problem for yourself rather than looking at this solutions and going *oh thats how you do it.....forget* you will have a much better chance of learning and understanding the process of answering questions.
I got myself a whiteboard (i find it easier to write on and look at/change pluses to minuses when i realise i cocked up. Have a real shot at getting the answer, even if you find urself sitting staring for five/ten minutes. Churn through options in ur brain, if u hit on a good idea...pursue it for a while until you feel it really is going nowhere (though for MX1/2 remember that our questions have a nasty habit of looking disgustingly complicated before randomly imploding to a nice neat solution)
If you really have no idea how to do it and are getting frustrated, check the first line or so of the solutions (if its a show that... or prove... question) to get an idea of how to approach it. This is why its important to have worked solutions, not just answers. That way you know how to approach the question.
Once you have the answer, mark the question on a sheet of paper and the next day, or a couple of days later when you've forgotten the answer, have another stab at it to see if you can do it this time.
So in short guys, practice practice practice is the way to study for maths!!!
