Sunday, October 26, 2008
2008 GCE 'O' Level Maths Paper 2 for Sec 5 Pupils
My dearest Sec 5 pupils,
My apology for the delay.
Please focus your attention to the following topics: (Note: this is just a guide to help you to be more focussed in your revision. It is in no way a guarantee match of Thursday's paper)
To help you further, I will be using the following colour codes: blue - very likely topic, green - maybe only, red - no need to study le
VERY LIKELY TOPICS
1. TRIGONOMETRY - die die MUST know (super high weightage)!! Sine Rule, Cosine Rule, Angle of Elevation and Depression, shortest distance, largest angle of elevation and depression, little attention to Bearings
2. Drawing of GRAPHS - surely at least one question. (BUT no need to study distance-time and speed-time graphs because it has been tested in paper 1)
3. STATISTIC question - cumulative frequency (BUT no need to study histogram and frequency polygon, stem & leaf, mean, mode, median as these have been tested in paper 1)
4. ALGEBRA - solving quadratic equation using formula, factorisation (only grouping and difference of two squares left), evaluating algebraic fraction or equations involving algebraic fractions (BUT no need to study quadratic expansion and factorisation and making subject as these have been tested in paper 1)
5. MENSURATION- finding surface area and volume, most likely circular in nature like cone, sphere, cylinder since paper 1 only have straight edges kind of objects/figures.
6. NUMBER PATTERN - since number pattern question in paper 1 is of a very low weightage.
7. ARITHMETIC question such as financial transaction questions. (BUT no need to study compound interest le)
8. ANGLE PROPERTIES such as vert opp, alt, corr, int, adj angles on st line, angles at a pt, etc.
9. CIRCILE PROPERTIES (may combine with congruency and similarity, please revise the test paper I gave before mid-year)
10. SIMILARITY AND CONGRUENCY (Please learn proving, compare areas, etc. BUT no need comparing length, area and volume of similar objects as this has been tested in paper 1 – the one on small jug and larger jug)
11. PROBABILITIES
12. COORDINATE GEOMETRY (gradient, y-intercept, distance between two points, equation of straight line, area of triangles, shortest distance from a point to a line)
NO NEED TO STUDY LE
1. vectors
2. transformation
3. locus
4. variation (direct and inverse proportion)
5. standard form
6. inequalities
7. indices
8. speed-time and distance-time graph
9. H.C.F. and L.C.M.
10. Simultaneous equations
11. Polygons (sum of interior and exterior angles of a polygon)
Study HARD and GOOD LUCK
My apology for the delay.
Please focus your attention to the following topics: (Note: this is just a guide to help you to be more focussed in your revision. It is in no way a guarantee match of Thursday's paper)
To help you further, I will be using the following colour codes: blue - very likely topic, green - maybe only, red - no need to study le
VERY LIKELY TOPICS
1. TRIGONOMETRY - die die MUST know (super high weightage)!! Sine Rule, Cosine Rule, Angle of Elevation and Depression, shortest distance, largest angle of elevation and depression, little attention to Bearings
2. Drawing of GRAPHS - surely at least one question. (BUT no need to study distance-time and speed-time graphs because it has been tested in paper 1)
3. STATISTIC question - cumulative frequency (BUT no need to study histogram and frequency polygon, stem & leaf, mean, mode, median as these have been tested in paper 1)
4. ALGEBRA - solving quadratic equation using formula, factorisation (only grouping and difference of two squares left), evaluating algebraic fraction or equations involving algebraic fractions (BUT no need to study quadratic expansion and factorisation and making subject as these have been tested in paper 1)
5. MENSURATION- finding surface area and volume, most likely circular in nature like cone, sphere, cylinder since paper 1 only have straight edges kind of objects/figures.
6. NUMBER PATTERN - since number pattern question in paper 1 is of a very low weightage.
7. ARITHMETIC question such as financial transaction questions. (BUT no need to study compound interest le)
8. ANGLE PROPERTIES such as vert opp, alt, corr, int, adj angles on st line, angles at a pt, etc.
9. CIRCILE PROPERTIES (may combine with congruency and similarity, please revise the test paper I gave before mid-year)
10. SIMILARITY AND CONGRUENCY (Please learn proving, compare areas, etc. BUT no need comparing length, area and volume of similar objects as this has been tested in paper 1 – the one on small jug and larger jug)
11. PROBABILITIES
12. COORDINATE GEOMETRY (gradient, y-intercept, distance between two points, equation of straight line, area of triangles, shortest distance from a point to a line)
NO NEED TO STUDY LE
1. vectors
2. transformation
3. locus
4. variation (direct and inverse proportion)
5. standard form
6. inequalities
7. indices
8. speed-time and distance-time graph
9. H.C.F. and L.C.M.
10. Simultaneous equations
11. Polygons (sum of interior and exterior angles of a polygon)
Study HARD and GOOD LUCK
Saturday, October 25, 2008
2008 GCE 'O' Level Maths Paper 2 for Sec 4 Express and Sec 4 NA doing O Level
My dearest Sec 4 Express and Sec 4NA pupils,
Please focus your attention on the following topics for your revision for Paper 2: (Note: this is just a guide to help you to be more focussed in your revision. It is in no way a guarantee match of Thursday's paper)
To help you further, I will be using the following colour codes: blue - very likely topic, green - maybe only, red - no need to study le. I will also try to link you to the ten-year series (2008 edition). Will include the 2007 edition once I get a copy of it in school on Tuesday. Please try questions in exam papers from other schools as well because the questions in the Ten-Year Series are quite limited and are scattered all over the place.
VERY LIKELY TOPICS
Numbers & Algebra
1. Number Pattern (Ten-year Series 2008 Page 46 - 49)
2. Graph (Ten-year Series 2008 Page 63 - 67)
• plotting of points & drawing of curves
• estimation of gradients by drawing tangents, finding the point given the gradient (for addition maths pupils, please use differentiation to check your answers)
• add lines or curves to the original graph to solve equations, inequalities
• find equation of curve (for questions in which points are given but equation not given)
Please note that I will be putting up past years O level questions with answers on Graph (those that are different from what you have been practising) in e-learn portal by 12 noon on 29 Oct, Wednesday. Please remember to refer to them.
3. Problems derived from practical situations (Ten-year Series 2008 Page 38 - 41, some of the problems can also be found from page 35 - 37)
• utilities bills
• hire-purchase
• simple interest and compound interest
• money exchange
• taxation
4. Formulating equation to solve problem (Ten-year series 2008 Page 73 - 76)
Geometry
5. Angle properties (Ten-year Series 2008 Page 97 - 98 ignore polygon, Page 111 - 114)
• circle properties
• parallel lines
6. Congruency & Similarity (Ten-year Series 2008 Page 104 - 108, ignore similar objects: big bucket vs small bucket)
May even combine with circle properties
7. Trigonometry (Ten-year Series 2008 Page 120 - 126)
• sine rule, cosine rule
• area of triangle using half x a x b sine C
• 2- and 3- dimension problems (focus on angle of elevation, depression, shortest distance, largest angle of elevation and depression, little focus on bearings)
8. Mensuration (132 - 140)
• radian measure (arc length, sector, conversion from radian to degree and vice-versa)
• volume and total surface area (very likely)
9. Statistics (Ten-Year Series 2008 Page 157 - 164)
• mean and standard deviation
• comparing spread (consistency based on standard deviation)
• comparing performance (based on mean (more likely) or median)
10. Probability (Ten-year Series 2008 Page 169 - 170)
Next up are the topics that may also be tested
MAYBE ONLY
Algebra
1. Factorisation by grouping and difference of two squares
2. Algebraic fractions
• simplify expressions or solve equations involving algebraic fractions
Geometry
3. Angle properties (right, acute, obtuse, reflex, vert opp, adj angles on st line, angles at a pt, alt angles, corr angles, int angles)
4. Coordinate geometry (quite unlikely but if it appears, will test on finding equation in the form of y = mx + c and finding area)
Statistics
5. Cumulative frequency
6. Mean, mode, median (quite unlikely but if it appears, will be test on finding possible values of x such that the median/mode comes from a particular group)
Finally, the topics that you may choose to give little or no attention to:
NO NEED TO STUDY LE
Numbers and Algebra
1. Matrices
2. Set
3. Percentages, ratio, rate, proportion
4. H.C.F. and L.C.M.
5. Very large and very small numbers (Mega, Giga, Nano, Pico, etc)
6. Standard form
7. Indices
8. Factorisation and expansion of quadratic expressions except difference of two squares
9. All algebraic manipulation except factorisation by grouping, algebraic fractions and formulating equation to solve problem
10. Solving inequalities
11. Sketching of quadratic curves
Geometry
13. Properties of polygons ((n-2) x 180 degrees, sum of ext angles = 360 degrees, etc)
14. Construction of bisectors
15. Vectors
Statistics
16. Stem & Leaf diagram, box-and-whisker diagram, histogram
Hope that this analysis will help you to be more focussed in your revision.
Study hard and Good Luck.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Ng Song Seng
Please focus your attention on the following topics for your revision for Paper 2: (Note: this is just a guide to help you to be more focussed in your revision. It is in no way a guarantee match of Thursday's paper)
To help you further, I will be using the following colour codes: blue - very likely topic, green - maybe only, red - no need to study le. I will also try to link you to the ten-year series (2008 edition). Will include the 2007 edition once I get a copy of it in school on Tuesday. Please try questions in exam papers from other schools as well because the questions in the Ten-Year Series are quite limited and are scattered all over the place.
VERY LIKELY TOPICS
Numbers & Algebra
1. Number Pattern (Ten-year Series 2008 Page 46 - 49)
2. Graph (Ten-year Series 2008 Page 63 - 67)
• plotting of points & drawing of curves
• estimation of gradients by drawing tangents, finding the point given the gradient (for addition maths pupils, please use differentiation to check your answers)
• add lines or curves to the original graph to solve equations, inequalities
• find equation of curve (for questions in which points are given but equation not given)
Please note that I will be putting up past years O level questions with answers on Graph (those that are different from what you have been practising) in e-learn portal by 12 noon on 29 Oct, Wednesday. Please remember to refer to them.
3. Problems derived from practical situations (Ten-year Series 2008 Page 38 - 41, some of the problems can also be found from page 35 - 37)
• utilities bills
• hire-purchase
• simple interest and compound interest
• money exchange
• taxation
4. Formulating equation to solve problem (Ten-year series 2008 Page 73 - 76)
Geometry
5. Angle properties (Ten-year Series 2008 Page 97 - 98 ignore polygon, Page 111 - 114)
• circle properties
• parallel lines
6. Congruency & Similarity (Ten-year Series 2008 Page 104 - 108, ignore similar objects: big bucket vs small bucket)
May even combine with circle properties
7. Trigonometry (Ten-year Series 2008 Page 120 - 126)
• sine rule, cosine rule
• area of triangle using half x a x b sine C
• 2- and 3- dimension problems (focus on angle of elevation, depression, shortest distance, largest angle of elevation and depression, little focus on bearings)
8. Mensuration (132 - 140)
• radian measure (arc length, sector, conversion from radian to degree and vice-versa)
• volume and total surface area (very likely)
9. Statistics (Ten-Year Series 2008 Page 157 - 164)
• mean and standard deviation
• comparing spread (consistency based on standard deviation)
• comparing performance (based on mean (more likely) or median)
10. Probability (Ten-year Series 2008 Page 169 - 170)
Next up are the topics that may also be tested
MAYBE ONLY
Algebra
1. Factorisation by grouping and difference of two squares
2. Algebraic fractions
• simplify expressions or solve equations involving algebraic fractions
Geometry
3. Angle properties (right, acute, obtuse, reflex, vert opp, adj angles on st line, angles at a pt, alt angles, corr angles, int angles)
4. Coordinate geometry (quite unlikely but if it appears, will test on finding equation in the form of y = mx + c and finding area)
Statistics
5. Cumulative frequency
6. Mean, mode, median (quite unlikely but if it appears, will be test on finding possible values of x such that the median/mode comes from a particular group)
Finally, the topics that you may choose to give little or no attention to:
NO NEED TO STUDY LE
Numbers and Algebra
1. Matrices
2. Set
3. Percentages, ratio, rate, proportion
4. H.C.F. and L.C.M.
5. Very large and very small numbers (Mega, Giga, Nano, Pico, etc)
6. Standard form
7. Indices
8. Factorisation and expansion of quadratic expressions except difference of two squares
9. All algebraic manipulation except factorisation by grouping, algebraic fractions and formulating equation to solve problem
10. Solving inequalities
11. Sketching of quadratic curves
12. Distance-time and Speed-time graphs
Geometry
13. Properties of polygons ((n-2) x 180 degrees, sum of ext angles = 360 degrees, etc)
14. Construction of bisectors
15. Vectors
Statistics
16. Stem & Leaf diagram, box-and-whisker diagram, histogram
Hope that this analysis will help you to be more focussed in your revision.
Study hard and Good Luck.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Ng Song Seng
