Maths Bound References

[isabellaafferi]

Hey everyone,
I will be doing further maths this year (2020) and i am just looking for help with my bound reference. I have asked a few people about how i should do it and have gotten some good responses and i decided to buy a spiral bounded notebook from Kmart and use that because i know it has enough pages (240) and it is already binded so i don't have to worry about it before exams, i was just wondering if this would be ok to use for the maths exams?

Thanks in advance   

[PhoenixxFire]

It's okay to use a spiral bound book as long as it doesn't have perforations (those dashes down along the spine that make it easy to rip out).

240 pages is too many for the exam, if you're needing to use that many pages you'll run out of time. It's okay to use a book with that many pages though, just make sure you know where the bits of information that you'll need to use are and/or have a section with the most important bits.

[isabellaafferi]

Thanks for the help, just two more questions, if i were to use normal exercise books however i had to use more than one, what would be the best way to bound them together. My brother said he was able to do it with tape before his exam.

Also, if i were too write notes during the week at my maths classes and then shorten them at the end of each week, would that be a good way to do it or should i be shortening them while i write them?

Sorry for all the questions, as you can see i'm not prepared at all.

[PhoenixxFire]

Yeah you can just tape them together, it just have to have one spine.

Also, if i were too write notes during the week at my maths classes and then shorten them at the end of each week, would that be a good way to do it or should i be shortening them while i write them?

Yeah this should be fine. You'll figure out throughout the year what works best for you. I normally had several pages of notes which I organised before each sac and put into a book to use for that sac and as my reference at the end of the year but then by the time that I got to the exam I only actually used a couple of pages with things like that standard deviation percentages and things like that which were easier to just check rather than memorise. You don't want to be using your reference to check how to do questions because it'll just end up taking too long. Shortening your notes at the end of the week rather than during is probably better because after having done some questions on that content you'll know what info actually needs to be in your notes and what stuff you know well enough to leave out.

[AngelWings]

An alternative could be to simply have cheat sheets in one section and completed notes in another. My own bound reference from a long time ago was just that: a bunch of cheat sheets (which I’d made for SACs), a log of mistakes and then each module’s notes (teacher gave printouts, so it was just a matter of collating them, taking out staples and binding them). I only ever used the cheat sheets in the end, but wanted the rest of my notes there in case I blanked and for after exam purposes e.g. to tutor others.

By the way, the VCAA rules for bound references can be found here.

[SethMillerODonnell]

Thanks for the help, just two more questions, if i were to use normal exercise books however i had to use more than one, what would be the best way to bound them together. My brother said he was able to do it with tape before his exam.

Also, if i were too write notes during the week at my maths classes and then shorten them at the end of each week, would that be a good way to do it or should i be shortening them while i write them?

Sorry for all the questions, as you can see i'm not prepared at all.

Hi there Isabellaafferi,

I believe it is not worth the risk to bind two books together. And I am going to strongly recommend that you don't use more than one book anyway. The key to a successful bound reference book is that they provide short and succinct reminders of what you already know, in case you forget something in the exam. Think about it, if you were to forget something really important in the exam, you do not want to be searching through hundreds of pages to find it.

My favourite principle when it comes to bound reference books is the KISS principal. Keep it Simple and Stupid. Use as little space to write notes on the most relevant content which make sense to you. Only include example questions if they are ones which you have done really poorly in the past. One recommendation here is that you use the left side of the page for notes and summaries and then the right side for examples. This will help you enormously in the exam if you needed to go through to look at example, as you will know that it is on the right side of the page. Likewise, if you are looking for some content or formulas which you have forgotten, you know it will be on the left side. It is a huge time saver.

You will find that the more you practise, the less you will need your bound reference book. This is why it is essential to continually review what you have written and assess is this really going to help me, or is it just filling up space on the paper which is going to waste my time on the exam? Trust me when I say this, that time means everything when it comes to SAC's and exams, you definitely do not want to waste it searching for something in your bound reference book that takes longer than needed to find. So I'd recommend updating your bound book weekly, as this will allow you to revise the content as well as sharpening the quality and readiness of your bound reference book for the next upcoming assessment at the same time.

I want you to back yourself and not overthink things. I have tutored some students in the past who have focused too heavily on making their bound reference look pretty and over analysing topics which strip them of their confidence because they feel like they are getting nowhere. Do your best to move on, come back later and refine your skills on that certain topic via other means like through practise questions.

I hope this has helped you.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me with as many questions as you like, it doesn't bother me, I'd love to help. Pm me through ATAR Notes, via mobile phone or email.

Thanks,

Seth.