Discussion and Suggested Solutions - Mathematics 2017

[jamonwindeyer]

This is the place to discuss the 2017 Mathematics Exam!! Was it good, bad, ugly? Register for a free account and scroll down to the Quick Reply window below to get involved in the discussion!

I'll be writing a set of sample solutions to this exam, but don't take them as gospel - I'm not perfect! If you think something is off give a shout below and we'll see if something needs fixing.

Link to Exam: Click Here!

Current Solutions Status: First draft uploaded!! I've done a 3 hour exam in 1 hour and 22 minutes or so, so I've made mistakes. Guarantee it. Spot them and I will be forever in your debt

Multiple Choice Solutions

Question 11 Solutions

Question 12 Solutions

Question 13 Solutions

Question 14 Solutions

Question 15 Solutions

Question 16 Solutions

MY THOUGHTS

Brutal exam. I think it suited people who had done very specific forms of study, and those who are used to solving more challenging problems - MX1 students will likely flourish (at least a little) under the pressure, 2U students only - Whoa. This is a nasty one.

- The Multiple choice was okay, a trick in Q10 and a nicely challenging one at Q9.
- Stock standard in Q11 - That parabola question was interesting. Don't think I've seen it before, finding \(a\) was definitely not self apparent.
- Q12, also fine, though volume appearing so early was the first sign of trouble. Usually appears in Q14 or later - Gulp. What's coming?
- Q13 was the last reasonable one in my opinion, everything normal. Easy curve sketch. Lots of marks up for grabs here.
- Okay, so Q14 was alright. The Simpson's Rule question was cool, algebraic manipulation to use the estimation to find a value of \(\pi\). Nice little question, reasonable challenge. Stock standard exponential growth/decay question (easy 5 marks). The area between curves question was different, but the same method was expected as usual. Just finding an unknown in a different place, really.
- Q15, geometrical proof at the start was reasonable. The annuities question was ghastly - "We've run out of loan repayment and annuities questions!" "Okay, do BOTH AT THE SAME TIME LOLOLOL". Heh - Nasty stuff. But really, not too difficult, especially if you cleverly factorise. Motion question was on the upper end of difficulty, but should have been easy to interpret. No weird graphs or anything.
- Q16, just, wtf. Easily one of the weirdest/hardest questions we've had recently. I don't think my method of just brute force was what they anticipated, because I had done most of the work in (ii) for (iii) and (iv). Would be interested to see how you guys did it!
- Geometry question at the end was hard, for sure, but the very last part on angles was fine. Weird way to end a paper.

Overall, tough exam. Lots of weird questions, lots of difficult algebra, definitely harder than last year imo. If you studied the sorts of questions from the 2000's, this would have been an easier exam, because it felt like an exam out of the 2001-2005 era. But there you go - What did you think?

[blasonduo]

ohhhhhhhh boyyyyyyyy

[RuiAce]

ohhhhhhhh boyyyyyyyy

That sounds a bit worrying

[Dylpickle01]

"AAaaaaaaaaaaaa" screamed the cohort of 2017

[Natasha.97]

Some q’s were deceptively hard

[RuiAce]

Some q’s were deceptively hard

Ewww... What made them deceptive?

[Zamura1]

Holy crap q16.

[blasonduo]

That sounds a bit worrying

It was just the last question, everything else was pretty okay, I don't think I did many mistakes, but geometry proofs are my weakness, and part of 16 was geometry I think I got 3/15 for 16, which REALLY bothers me :/ )

[Anything]

Am I the only one who struggled more with the last 2 bicycle questions than the geometry ones?

[RuiAce]

It was just the last question, everything else was pretty okay, I don't think I did many mistakes, but geometry proofs are my weakness, and part of 16 was geometry I think I got 3/15 for 16, which REALLY bothers me :/ )

Ouch!

That is gonna bug a lot of people

[lcamilleri.53]

I thought it was actually a well-designed paper. I was looking at Q16 c for like 10 minutes, completely blank and then tried similar triangles and it worked out. Some of the questions made you work hard for the marks and it felt so good working them out

[RuiAce]

Am I the only one who struggled more with the last 2 bicycle questions than the geometry ones?

Well I mean, everyone has their different strengths and weaknesses so you shouldn't worry if you're the one "here" that does. (Besides it's kinda unlikely that you were; others probably haven't come on the forums yet)

[Natasha.97]

Ewww... What made them deceptive?

There was this arithmetic and geometric sequences q that I couldn’t get for ages, had to cross out my working out multiple times  got it in the ens though :3 also the geometry proofs...

[blasonduo]

The proof for the bike was dead simple, the other parts, not so much.

Also, for some questions (such as that t^1/2 + t^2/3 - 6 = 0) I just put the answers, with no working out (i'm 100% sure they are right) I should get full marks right?

[RuiAce]

There was this arithmetic and geometric sequences q that I couldn’t get for ages, had to cross out my working out multiple times  got it in the ens though :3 also the geometry proofs...

Wait there was a fucked up series this year??

The proof for the bike was dead simple, the other parts, not so much.

Also, for some questions (such as that t^1/2 + t^2/3 - 6 = 0) I just put the answers, with no working out (i'm 100% sure they are right) I should get full marks right?

That outta depend on the question itself and what it asked you to do.

Jamon might be able to give you insight on it later if you ask it again, since he's writing up your solutions