The A Maths topical revision is now over.
From here on, you will appromixately score around 50% in the 1st set of papers.
It may seem a far cry from the 80% minimum acceptable score. But do not be discouraged.
As I have repeatedly said, 80% of the marks willl definitely come from the 30 core question types which comprise the topical revision. I estimate the average student will be near the 50% mark because the topical revision was not meant to bring you to the standard required. The rationale being, " Why practise 10 questions of each types to perfect the question type when we will encounter the same questions again and again later in paper practise... so let's just concentrate on remembering the sequences and do the perfecting at the paper practise stage." This is to SAVE time and effort.
Ok back to the plan. In the worse case scenario, 80% of the marks will come from core questions and 20% will come from questions requiring independent thinking.
Know yourself! Know from experience whether your success rate at independent questions or discover it in the early stage of paper practise. Make a plan on how you will get the 80%. As follow, these are the main factors affecting your scores.
- Proficency at core questions
- Success rate in handling independent questions
- Speed and handwriting
- Checking
- Mental readiness
Likewise, there is plenty of paper practise so that you can practise on how best to get the most marks in the minimum time and get familar with how to check if your solutions are correct by the various techniques.
Familarity with the format will ensure that your speed is up to the requirement.
Now halfway through the paper format revision, we will have to pause to take stock of your performance. If you hit the required 80% score consistently, then ok all is fine and dandy. We can relax unless you want an A1 no matter what. Then we will shift to targeting a minimum of 85%.
But if you are still lying in the 50% zone... then I will be panicking because I will be scrambling to prevent the 1st C I have seen from a student.
That does not happen because all a student need to do to score at least a B3 is merely a reasonable 80% success rate at the core questions.
However, the chances of being at 70% only in the halfway mark of paper practise is quite common. At this point in time, YOU will have to look seriously at where another 10% is going to come from... the remedy depends on individual situation. So kindly do the paper seriously so we can identify the problem(s) correctly.
