Mathematics: 2, 3 & 4 Unit Tips and Tricks

This post will cover some helpful techniques and resources to use whilst studying these courses, how much studying you should be doing (and how to divide up your time), as well as some helpful study material that you should use religiously.

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Techniques

Studying maths (and doing well at it) is all about technique. You've really got to find what studying technique works for you early on and stick with it, as well as be diligent with your time. Not everyone will find this list helpful, but it is at least worth giving it a shot.

• PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE! - Practice papers, extra questions, and chapter reviews are soooo important. I know it may seem boring or a waste of your time, but trust me on this one. Doing all these practice question not only improves your understanding of the content, but helps you recognise patterns and similarities between questions; meaning you will be able to identify the types of questions and what to do to solve them much easier when the HSC comes around.

• Use your formula sheet - For me, I found it so helpful to keep a clean formula sheet in my desk fr when I was doing practice papers, and a second (or third or fourth) copy in your math books. The formula sheet kept in your math sheet is for you to label and highlight and make notes on. This helps you recall what each formula is and when to use it when you are doing exams.

• I know some of you LOVE to make aesthetically pleasing notes for your subjects (I am definitely guilty of this one myself) however save yourself the time now and don't make them for maths. Maths is all about practicing the thoeries and applying your knowledge. Although it may be helpful for you to write out notes, I suggest you spend the majority of your time doing past papers and practice questions.

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Study Time

When studying maths you've got to divide your time up between the following:

• Homework

• Finishing off any unfinished class work

• Chapter reviews (When you finish a topic)

• Practice papers (Towards the end of the year or leading up to assessment tasks)

• Study notes

Now how you divide this time is really up to you, and I suggest you try to find out what works for you ASAP. Firstly, you should consider your subject load and decide how much time per week you are willing to dedicate towards your maths: For me, I decided to put aside a minimum of 10 hours a week onto my maths courses (I did all three courses however, so don't feel pressured to do the same amount) *

Secondly, you need to consider how much homework and extra classwork you are needing to do per class. For example, if you are someone who usually finishes all there classwork and/or is quick with the homework, then you may not want to allocate as much time to doing this. But if you are someone who usually doesn't finish their class work and/or takes a bit longer to finish their homework, you may want to allocate a bit more time to do this.

Lastly, alternate between chapter reviews and practice papers (Or just times sections of the topics you have covered) every other week. This helps you with both understanding the content and preparing you by doing times practices under exam conditions.

For me, this is how I broke up my time for maths: (keep in mind this is per week, and these times were broken down into smaller sessions across my week)

• 3 Hours towards practice papers / chapter reviews

• 3 Hours towards making notes

• 4 Hours towards homework

• 0 Hour towards finishing off class work (I typically finished all my class work and so I didn't allocate any time towards this)

*You can click here to see our post on 'how much studying you should be doing'

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Study Material and Resources

So these are some links as well as other helpful resources I used to basically survive maths. These are of course what I used across the three courses, so feel free to use whatever applies to you!

• Maths Papa - A website in which you can type in your maths equation (no matter how complex) and it will give you the solution as well as some working for free

• Desmos - Demos will SAVE YOUR LIFE when it comes to the graphing topics (especially in 4U)

• The syllabus - refer to the syllabus always. Check ahead of class what you are learning and read the chapter introduction in your textbook so you have a slight idea of what to expect and can get used to the terminology prior to the lesson.

• YouTube Videos - Youtube videos are so helpful when it comes to explaining any concepts you missed or just didn't understand. For two unit maths I suggest checking out the channel ' The Organic Chemistry Tutor'

• Art of Smart - Although this company is more for tutoring, they offer loads of free resources; including past papers and practice HSC questions

• Atar Notes - Although I didn't personally use their resources for maths, I have heard very good reviews about them from some of my friends. Their notes are VERY thorough (I used them for biology) and go over the syllabus and techniques in a simple yet effective manor.

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So I hope this is helpful for you guys! Let us know if this subject specific type of post is helpful for you guys, and we can make some more for the other subjects we did.

Good luck!!