Maths Tests

Hello everybody!

Unless you were sick, away, at strings, or extremely lucky, you have probably had a maths test today. It was on linear graphs; a topic which appeared to be of a quarter science, a quarter finance, a quarter maths and the rest was dot-to-dot. I’m not sure about you, but I didn’t go too well. At any rate, it has inspired this post on:

MATHS TESTS

Okay, firstly here’s a joke:
Q: How many legs does an octopus have?
A: Eight
This one was courtesy of year 5 maths. It does make you wonder, who makes these maths worksheets?

But back to the point, maths tests can be exceedingly stressful experiences, but with the right steps, they could become mildly acceptable. Enjoyable even. And then again, maybe not…

Firstly though, it’s very important to realise that although maths tests can’t technically be studied for and certainly can’t be crammed for, it is possible to study for maths. It’s very much like what the language teachers say, “a little every day”. If you do, maybe one or two questions every single day, you’ll eventually find that you can do them much more efficiently and easily.

Another integral aspect of maths tests are the point allocation. You need to know what your strengths are:

1. You’re better at the skills section. In this case, by all means work the test out in order. It gives you time to perfect the skills and thus get a better mark. However, despite having less time for skills, doing analysis first would give you more opportunity to do well on this section, especially since it is usually worth more marks.

2. You’re more analysis oriented. Here, it would be ideal to do the analysis section first. It is often worth more marks, and you will have a more relaxing end to the test.

Contrary to belief, people often think analysis is harder. Teachers think that we think it’s harder too, meaning they often make numbers more convenient. The important thing with analysis is:
1. Show working out, if not for the teacher at least for yourself
2. Check everything carefully
3. If the answer is an unusual fraction, check it even more carefully
4. Draw diagrams
5. Label and USE the diagrams

Personally, I often find that skills can sometime be more difficult. They use weird numbers resulting in strange answers, so it’s difficult to tell whether you are correct or not without re-doing the whole question. Also, generally working out will not earn you any points, so careless errors are very easy to make.
Finally, I will sum this up with my top tips for maths tests:
1. Check if your teacher prefers pen or pencil
2. Show all working
3. If there is a sentence question, use a sentence answer
4. Draw and use diagrams where appropriate
5. Check everything
6. Read all questions before starting, it often calms me down
7. Revise by doing a little very often
8. Watch the time
9. If you are struggling, move on and answer it later, but don’t leave any blanks
10. My personal top tip from today’s experience: Don’t stab yourself with lead pacers where the lead may get stuck in your finger. It not only creates frightening stains on your test, but it also wastes between 10-20mins of time.

Anyway, happy testing! Or not…

ihearthorses