Maths Exam Technique

[Dais_Deorum]

Hi guys,
I couldn't find much on this on ATAR Notes and I'm in dire need of a good technique. At the moment, if there isn't time pressure, I can get most questions right in Spesh and Methods, but that is going through one at a time in sequence from question 1 to the final question. I had a spesh SAC a couple of days ago, and though I knew how to answer the harder questions at the end, I never reached them. What are some techniques you guys use to balance getting questions right (perfectionism) with time efficiency?

Thanks !!

[lemonlemonlemon]

Hi guys,
I couldn't find much on this on ATAR Notes and I'm in dire need of a good technique. At the moment, if there isn't time pressure, I can get most questions right in Spesh and Methods, but that is going through one at a time in sequence from question 1 to the final question. I had a spesh SAC a couple of days ago, and though I knew how to answer the harder questions at the end, I never reached them. What are some techniques you guys use to balance getting questions right (perfectionism) with time efficiency?

Thanks !!

I think you need to do more prac sacs/exams under sac/exam conditions.

[jazcstuart]

Hi, I actually do HSC not VCE, but I think the question applies to both  This is something I struggle with as well.
I agree that practicing under exam conditions will help you get faster. I know in our exams, there are the same types of questions that come up in every paper, so if you know exactly how to approach those questions and get really fast you will save time for the harder questions.
If I am running out of time at the end, I look at the mark allocations and try and decide which questions will give the most marks for the least amount of work.
Unfortunately there isn't really much else you can do except practice, you'll get there in the end!

[PhoenixxFire]

Hey,

Something I’ve heard of but never tried is to write down what time it should be when you get to a certain part of the SAC.

So like say you have a 60 mark SAC and you have 60minutes (just to make it easy), you know you have a minute per mark. So if your SAC starts at 2pm you flick through and write 2:20 after the question worth the 20th mark (you can do this every page or just halfway through or whatever works for you).

That way if you get to that point and it’s 2:30 you know that you need to hurry up - if it’s 2:15 you know you have more time to make sure you get them right.

As people said above though, you do just need to practice so you get used to how fast you have to work through it, without going so fast that you make silly mistakes.