Using 4/3 Unit Techniques in 3/2 Unit Exam

[frog1944]

Hi,

As a 4 unit student are you allowed to use the techniques you've learnt in a 3 unit or 2 unit exam? Similarly, can you use those techniques (or 3 unit techniques) in a 2 unit exam? Or do you just have to use technique that are specifically taught in that course?

Thanks

[RuiAce]

Hi,

As a 4 unit student are you allowed to use the techniques you've learnt in a 3 unit or 2 unit exam? Similarly, can you use those techniques (or 3 unit techniques) in a 2 unit exam? Or do you just have to use technique that are specifically taught in that course?

Thanks

Definitely use 2/3U formulae if you need them. Some questions can't be done without them.

[Wales]

Definitely use 2/3U formulae if you need them. Some questions can't be done without them.

Yeah my teacher mentioned similar ideas.

He also mentioned one time the 4u students were furious because in their 3u exam Superannuation was put into it and the 4u students hadn't learnt that. Is that a common occurance? Lucky for you and I we sat 2u Accellerated but for those who didn't being faced with a similar scenario would certainly annoy me greatly..

[RuiAce]

Yeah my teacher mentioned similar ideas.

He also mentioned one time the 4u students were furious because in their 3u exam Superannuation was put into it and the 4u students hadn't learnt that. Is that a common occurance? Lucky for you and I we sat 2u Accellerated but for those who didn't being faced with a similar scenario would certainly annoy me greatly..

Saw it once in all of my 3U papers. But that being said, when it appeared, it was definitely harder than the average question type in 2U.

It's just a nuisance. It's not something that you can't self-learn. People hate it mostly because it's just tedious.

[frog1944]

Definitely use 2/3U formulae if you need them. Some questions can't be done without them.

Thanks, I meant not so much the using 2/3U in the 4 unit exam, but using 4 Unit techniques in a 3/2 unit exam. E.g. In a 2 unit exam it said find the . You could consider the graph of the curve and approach it that way ... but if you weren't certain on how to do that would you be allowed to use integration by parts (4U technique) to solve the 2U question in the exam?

[RuiAce]

This gets a lot of debate.

Technically, there's nothing preventing you from doing so. Some teachers are even for this idea. But at the same time, if the question was designed for a 2U paper then it's expected that students use techniques from the 2U course to solve it. Other teachers believe this to be quite important and I can sorta see why - you're meant to be assessed on your understanding the course.

There's no concrete answer to it. What I'd say is that if you want to use it, go for it when it gives you something more convenient to work with. Otherwise, probably not worth it.

[jamonwindeyer]

I've never heard anything about this specifically either, but the way I approach this is like this: They probably won't give you marks for working out if it doesn't match the expected method(s). So I'd assume that you could do it as long as the answer ends up being correct - If you get it wrong it could backfire because the criteria could restrict how they award partial marks

[frog1944]

That makes sense. I'll be careful if I ever use it in an exam, thanks guys