Edexcel Maths Paper: Goes Trending on Twitter - Too hard

[Grimhound]

As I sat staring at the sample questions, I realized that everything I ever knew about math save for the basics has slipped out of my brain in the 11 years since high school. I wish there was some good way of doing a refresher and speeding through concepts I was never able to get through without having to take a series of college courses.

If you guys know of one, please share.

[papaya]

[QUOTE=Grimhound;47899686]As I sat staring at the sample questions, I realized that everything I ever knew about math save for the basics has slipped out of my brain in the 11 years since high school. I wish there was some good way of doing a refresher and speeding through concepts I was never able to get through without having to take a series of college courses.

If you guys know of one, please share.[/QUOTE]

plenty of videos online that'll cover the basics of just about anything if you know what you're looking for

[Terminutter]

[QUOTE=Grimhound;47899686]As I sat staring at the sample questions, I realized that everything I ever knew about math save for the basics has slipped out of my brain in the 11 years since high school. I wish there was some good way of doing a refresher and speeding through concepts I was never able to get through without having to take a series of college courses.

If you guys know of one, please share.[/QUOTE]

As has been said, there are loads of videos online, but you might like [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/z6pfb9q"]bbc bitesize[/URL]. I never personally liked it, but I've heard primary school teachers say they use it to brush up on things sometimes. :v:

[Jaguar]

[QUOTE=Grimhound;47899686]As I sat staring at the sample questions, I realized that everything I ever knew about math save for the basics has slipped out of my brain in the 11 years since high school. I wish there was some good way of doing a refresher and speeding through concepts I was never able to get through without having to take a series of college courses.

If you guys know of one, please share.[/QUOTE]

[url]https://www.khanacademy.org/[/url]

[booster]

How much time do you get for this test?

[Crisp]

GCSE tests are usually about an hour, some exceptions of course but longer tests are usually reserved for higher up education

[Shotz]

[QUOTE=booster;47900744]How much time do you get for this test?[/QUOTE]

1:45h

[BenJammin']

I feel like everyone on facepunch is a genius at math except me and I feel terrible for it.

[AxeI]

[QUOTE=BenJammin';47901892]I feel like everyone on facepunch is a genius at math except me and I feel terrible for it.[/QUOTE]
Nah not really, and those who are are generally in uni and study in math-intensive fields. That probability question may seem trivial to those of us who are used to much more advanced stuff but for high-school students it's a lot less so.

[find me]

[img]http://s7.postimg.org/spz4ttvaj/ass.png[/img]

This isn't even math.

[r0b0tsquid]

[QUOTE=find me;47902248][img]http://s7.postimg.org/spz4ttvaj/ass.png[/img]

This isn't even math.[/QUOTE]

Students feel the same way about those questions too, it wasn't that long ago that I was doing GCSE maths :v:

[tau]

[QUOTE=find me;47902248][img]http://s7.postimg.org/spz4ttvaj/ass.png[/img]

This isn't even math.[/QUOTE]

I guess it's relevant to statistics, but generally there are some things which need to be covered but aren't within any field people study at gcse so they get shoved in with the most relevant subject, e.g. AQA Physics GCSE includes how to wire a plug, and both chemistry and geography teach you the structure of the Earth.

[thisguy123]

I'll say this, after skimming through that paper some of those questions are just plain stupid.

for example [quote]Hannah has n sweets, 6 are orange and the rest are yellow. The chance of her getting two orange sweets is 1/3. Prove N^2 - N - 90 = 0[/quote]

sure the answer is fucking 10 but that equation is confusingly worded and does not make the problem any more mathematically difficult.

Heck you could remove the bit about the fucking sweets and it would be just as easily solvable.

Making a simple problem more complicated via the use of unnecessarily complicated language and segments that serve no purpose does not make a question more academically challenging, it just makes half the question pointless drivel.

I think this XKCD strip explains the concept nicely.

[img]http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/words_that_end_in_gry.png[/img]

[Turnips5]

[QUOTE=thisguy123;47906968]I'll say this, after skimming through that paper some of those questions are just plain stupid.

for example

sure the answer is fucking 10 but that equation is confusingly worded and does not make the problem any more mathematically difficult.[/QUOTE]

yeah except that's because you're looking at the OP's bastardised version of it. here's the actual question on the exam:

[img]http://i.imgur.com/buzivCW.jpg[/img]

even with OP's version, I really don't see how it's hard to understand what it's asking for

[Headhumpy]

[QUOTE=thisguy123;47906968]I'll say this, after skimming through that paper some of those questions are just plain stupid.

for example

sure the answer is fucking 10 but that equation is confusingly worded and does not make the problem any more mathematically difficult.

Heck you could remove the bit about the fucking sweets and it would be just as easily solvable.

Making a simple problem more complicated via the use of unnecessarily complicated language and segments that serve no purpose does not make a question more academically challenging, it just makes half the question pointless drivel.[/QUOTE]

You still didn't get the point of the question.

The question is asking you to show that, given a particular condition for N, you can express N as that particular equation. If you just went ahead and solved for N, then you have demonstrated no understanding of the question.

[Noss]

What schools really need to address is the "why will we ever need to do this?" attitude.

If schools can demonstrate why they are learning the subject, and how these can actually be applied in real life (examples about pizza and sweets do not count), then students will be more engaged in the subject and will perform better as they are able to put these skills in to practice in real life.

I got a B for GCSE maths, which isn't considered too bad. However, since taking my exams 4 years ago, I have since forgotten the majority of algebra and would not be able to do half the questions on this exam.

Schools currently teach to pass exams - not to function in real life.

[Shibbey]

[QUOTE=Noss;47907064]What schools really need to address is the "why will we ever need to do this?" attitude.

If schools can demonstrate why they are learning the subject, and how these can actually be applied in real life (examples about pizza and sweets do not count), then students will be more engaged in the subject and will perform better as they are able to put these skills in to practice in real life.

I got a B for GCSE maths, which isn't considered too bad. However, since taking my exams 4 years ago, I have since forgotten the majority of algebra and would not be able to do half the questions on this exam.

Schools currently teach to pass exams - not to function in real life.[/QUOTE]

I think it's not just a case of the relevance of the subject to people's day-to-day lives, there are plenty of subjects that teach you little to do with modern life and will only really be relevant in specialist fields that people enjoy. Maths is just supremely fucking dull to the majority of people, and it's very difficult to make people who do not give a shit try and learn about it

Which is also why I think the plan to make it a mandatory subject until you're 18 is a terrible idea, it'll just fill up the classes with people who don't want to be there and won't try to the detriment of the few who do actually want to take the subject

[Doom64hunter]

[QUOTE=Turnips5;47907014]yeah except that's because you're looking at the OP's bastardised version of it. here's the actual question on the exam:

[img]http://i.imgur.com/buzivCW.jpg[/img]

even with OP's version, I really don't see how it's hard to understand what it's asking for[/QUOTE]

The part about "n^2 - n -90 = 0" is even supposed to make the question easier - you'd get there if you wanted to calculate the amount of sweets in total anyways. By showing you the equation they're actually showing you the right solution for a) and are making it possible to solve the second part without knowing anything about probability. You only need to show how to get there, which is easy if you studied basic probability.

The problem about this question is actually not the question itself -- it's that students get taken aback far too easily when presented with something that doesn't 100% exactly look like how they studied for it.