MX1: Suggested Solutions and Discussion

[jamonwindeyer]

This is the place to discuss the 2017 Mathematics Extension 1 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: Will be provided when NESA uploads the exam

Current Solutions Status: Third draft, few other small errors spotted - Usually by fourth draft I am happy to say final so be sure you let me know if you spot anything wrong!!

Multiple Choice Solutions

Question 11 Solutions

Question 12 Solutions

Question 13 Solutions

Question 14 Solutions

[taylorlucy]

That hurt!

[CyberScopes]

I walked out with around 20 marks unanswered, lucky its a spare unit RIP

[RuiAce]

I’ve had people told me that the length of the paper did it (again). Any thoughts?

(Haven’t seen your paper yet)

[CyberScopes]

I’ve had people told me that the length of the paper did it (again). Any thoughts?

(Haven’t seen your paper yet)

Yeah that was definitely a factor, I had around 15 mins to do q14 so just scrambled here and there to scab some marks

[RuiAce]

Yeah that was definitely a factor, I had around 15 mins to do q14 so just scrambled here and there to scab some marks

Oh geezus.

Like, 4u had a paper that was not necessarily hard but way too long. (And I had a uni exam just now as well that I felt was long - sorry for the irrelevant rant.) If 3u was also long I really wonder what NESA (and co, if applicable) did this year

[bobasteve]

Thoughts? I think the exam questions were pretty good but the length of it was pretty darn long. Wrote till the end luckily I finished

[RuiAce]

Thoughts? I think the exam questions were pretty good but the length of it was pretty darn long. Wrote till the end luckily I finished

About 7 people I’ve seen talk about the length now

[Opengangs]

It was okay, made the mistake of starting with x instead of a for the shm, and I didn't have enough time to fix it.

[lcamilleri.53]

The topics with usually guaranteed marks (exponential growth/decay, locus) were all at the end which removed easy marks

[MahmoudHassan2017]

Im the slowest in my class and I finished with 10 mins to go... Keeping in mind I left out 25 marks from my 4u exam because of time... Exam wasnt that long, I usually finish Ext 1 Papers with anywhere between 0-20 mins left

[Zainbow]

The length was definitely the major impact on my performance. With just five more minutes I could have done way better. Other than that, I am very confident with how I did  the projectile motion and binomial theorem were suprisingly easy tbh
This was way better than 2u though. I'll definitely get higher in 3u than 2u

[Arib]

heyyy, i reckon lenght wasnt a problem and the qeustions were reletively easy. just one or two questions which i couldnt get but did manage to do some working so might get marks for progress. mcq were very easy. And my worsy enemy, probability, was super easy felt like a 2u question

[dannimoussa]

What raw mark do you predict will align to an E4 this year?

[toasted]

What raw mark do you predict will align to an E4 this year?

I'm guessing high 70s to low 80s- around 79-82

While each question did have a little nuance to it, they were all quite doable. I found that once you got the first step to a particular question it was simply crunching the algebra (volume question, parametrics), and the last question was quite achievable as well. In saying that, I can understand why people could have struggled with the test with time and the questions. The algebra was indefinitely a time drainer and for some questions it really depended on whether you had that eureka moment.