How to ace your next Math paper?

Math may seem as a daunting untranslatable language of hieroglyphics. But trust us, with a little bit of practice, these tips, and some luck 🍀, you'll be able to ace your next math paper.

It's important to note that math is not like a lot of subjects. You can't read it like Economics or remember vocabulary like Spanish, or can you? You know whatever we said in the last two sentences, right? Just forget about that.

This is a COMMON MISCONCEPTION!!!

Math can be studied and here's a list of the ways to study it:

1. Practice Questions & Write Notes. Now, these notes won't be like traditional notes. But, they would contain your steps / process for solving these questions. Know how to mentally solve a question and 75% of the work is done.

2. Use flashcards to track the questions you got wrong. Now, don't just have a list of the questions. Use IBSpectrum's 3-Step Process!

IBSPECTRUM's 3-Step Process:

1. Write / Take a screenshot of the question you got wrong.

2. Write why you got it wrong? What assumption did you make that made the answer choice wrong?

3. What could have been done to make the answer correct? What can you do next time to get the answer better? Were you lacking something concept-wise or was it a silly-mistake?

Aahhh yes! The Silly Mistakes. They get you every time. Well, it's something that hasn't been shed on a lot, but these are the ones that work - and I mean REALLY work.

Tips to reduce the infamous "Silly Mistakes":

• Whilst solving problems in your notebook, make sure to curate a list of your mistakes / new learnings. This is not just a way to catalogue your mistakes but has several crucial purposes:

  • Helps you find trends in your mistake. Let's say you got 9 mistakes in a statistics question while 2 questions in a function question. Now, we know that you should invest a larger portion of time on statistics rather than functions. This helps a lot with last-minute preparations the day before the exam. 😅

  • When doing a past paper exam, make sure to review this list of mistakes. Through repetition, you will slowly eliminate these silly mistakes. Trust us!

  • If you are not doing a last-minute preparation, you can review this list of mistakes rather than solving more / newer problems. Not only is this a more efficient way of revision but also reduces your anxiety as your brain is not compressed with a myriad of last-minute information.

Resources for improving your Math Skills 🧮:

• Our Channel, of course!

• Revision Village: Though a paid resource, revision village is free of cost for the first unit and the second unit. You just need to log-in to access the second unit. I would highly recommend talking with your friends and trying to split up the cost. It works for a lot of us!

• HEGARTYMATHS (this is only recommended for AI SL or AA SL students who are looking to strengthen their conceptual understanding of a certain concept from the ground up).

• Fuse School (again this is only recommended for a greater conceptual understanding)

• Reddit: Though this is not something we endorse, you can find copies of textbooks, notes, and (shhh shared revision village account passwords 🤫). If anyone asks, we didn't tell you!

• PAST PAPERS: Though past papers may be a bit hard to find recently, make sure to visit this link to get the papers.

Thanks for reading this blog! Make sure to check out on our other articles and videos for more information!

Author: Jahnavi Thejo Prakash | @ibspectrum