Extension 2 Exam Technique

[jkhoo]

Hey y'all! I just wanted to know your methods and exam techniques for Maths, especially Extension 2. I find that I get really tired and stressed around 2 hours in and my brain just turns to mush ... any help is appreciated!

[birdwing341]

Hey y'all! I just wanted to know your methods and exam techniques for Maths, especially Extension 2. I find that I get really tired and stressed around 2 hours in and my brain just turns to mush ... any help is appreciated!

Tbh seeing the school name Ruse makes me wary of giving advice considering you're probably better than me. And your tests are infinitely harder, so I fully understand that your head turns to mush. Hopefully for the actual HSC it'll be much easier. But that said, my exam technique is quite simple and works quite well.

Basically; work through the paper in reading time, don't attempt multiple choice. Look for harder questions you haven't seen before, and kind of think about the methods you might use to address these questions. I know that two individuals who were extremely successful (state ranks) both used this method, and would often spend about 2-3 minutes writing down their notes on what techniques they would use so when they came back to that question, they would know how to do it. Aside from that, don't leave any question blank, if you come across a harder proof question, work at it backwards (so you know what to get to) and then rewrite it nicely.

Other than that work hard and work well

[RuiAce]

Hey y'all! I just wanted to know your methods and exam techniques for Maths, especially Extension 2. I find that I get really tired and stressed around 2 hours in and my brain just turns to mush ... any help is appreciated!

Well then the question becomes what do your eyes tell you around 2 hours in that causes you to stress?

Getting tired isn't abnormal, but at the end of the day all I see in front of me are questions. If you're going to stress then the first thing you need to do is breathe and calm back down. That's not just for MX2; that's for every course (just that it may be more likely for MX2 due to the intensity of the exam). Because if you're going to keep stressing then you don't get anywhere.

Hence the question becomes what do you stress over. Is it something about Q16 of the paper that's stressing you, or is it because you begin to worry about silly mistakes? Or could it be something else?

Tbh seeing the school name Ruse makes me wary of giving advice considering you're probably better than me.

James Ruse is a magnificent school and I trust he is an excellent student. But that doesn't necessarily mean you should compare yourself like that either. And actually I don't feel their papers are the hardest either - Sydney Grammar papers are.

[birdwing341]

Well then the question becomes what do your eyes tell you around 2 hours in that causes you to stress?

Getting tired isn't abnormal, but at the end of the day all I see in front of me are questions. If you're going to stress then the first thing you need to do is breathe and calm back down. That's not just for MX2; that's for every course (just that it may be more likely for MX2 due to the intensity of the exam). Because if you're going to keep stressing then you don't get anywhere.

Hence the question becomes what do you stress over. Is it something about Q16 of the paper that's stressing you, or is it because you begin to worry about silly mistakes? Or could it be something else?
James Ruse is a magnificent school and I trust he is an excellent student. But that doesn't necessarily mean you should compare yourself like that either. And actually I don't feel their papers are the hardest either - Sydney Grammar papers are.

Who said it was a he

[RuiAce]

Who said it was a he

"She" works if applicable

[MarkThor]

Hey birdwing, I like your exam advice, and good to hear that it's used by state rankers too!
Does anyone follow strict times for when they should be aiming to be on a certain question e.g. be on Question 15 by the 2 hour mark?
Because I feel like this would help you stay on track and not run out of time (which I always end up doing).

[RuiAce]

Hey birdwing, I like your exam advice, and good to hear that it's used by state rankers too!
Does anyone follow strict times for when they should be aiming to be on a certain question e.g. be on Question 15 by the 2 hour mark?
Because I feel like this would help you stay on track and not run out of time (which I always end up doing).

Whilst I did have this sort of mindset on the day, I never bothered when I was studying. I hardly did any 4u papers under exam conditions during the lead-up; that was far too tiring. It was better to just take my time.

Especially given that most past papers (i.e. before 2011) had no M/C and were virtually unfinishable within the 3 hour block.

However in the exam, I followed a simple rule of thumb - 3 hours, 6 long response questions, so spend at most 30min on each section. Technically this doesn't factor in the M/C but it didn't matter anyway.


You definitely want to manage your time well in the exam. But however much time you spend should be up to you. Arguably, it's more important that you don't spend too long on a question at the start; focus on getting the easy marks first. Some marks in Q16 are freebies and can be scabbed more easily than a Q14 style problem.

[MarkThor]

Hi Rui, thanks for the advice! Recently I've been doing a lot of past papers prior to 2011 and so that might be one of the reasons why I keep running out of time. How many past papers did you do before your HSC?

[RuiAce]

Hi Rui, thanks for the advice! Recently I've been doing a lot of past papers prior to 2011 and so that might be one of the reasons why I keep running out of time. How many past papers did you do before your HSC?

2001-2014, all of them. That was me.

But keep in mind I had more free time because a) too reluctant to do past papers for English and b) I didn't have to do my MX1 exam that year.

Running out of time in papers without the M/C is perfectly normal for 4U. Whilst I might've been a tiny bit ineffective at times, it took me 4 hours to do each 4U paper before 2012.

[MarkThor]

Ok cool, thanks Rui. I intend to do all of the past papers from 2001-2015 too.
If I have a bit of time do you think it is worth doing a few of the past papers prior to 2001?

[RuiAce]

Ok cool, thanks Rui. I intend to do all of the past papers from 2001-2015 too.
If I have a bit of time do you think it is worth doing a few of the past papers prior to 2001?

Nothing stopping you from doing it. Jamon went all the way back to 1980 with his MX1....................................

I don't really see it as necessary, but it's definitely good practice. Questions get noticeably tougher before 2001.

[MarkThor]

Might give one or two papers a try then  .

[RuiAce]

Might give one or two papers a try then  .

Interested in how you go

Answers are available here, but if you're still stuck you know where to find me/Jake

[MarkThor]

Awesome! Thanks Rui!! Was finding it quite hard to find any solutions for the 2001, 2002 & 2003 exams too

[sunshinelollipops]

Hey Rui

In terms of preparation for next friday (OH GOD ITS SO SOON). Do u reckon start from 2015 and work backwards? Or start from the time they began with MC qs?