AS/A Levels

S1 ( EDEXCEL), it was easy but I made loads of mistakes the first time I went through it. Managed to spot them when Checking, so I think I might have dropped about 3 marks max.
Last question was hard and my friend seems to think I did a bit wrong, anyhow on that normal distribution question when it asked for why would the teacher use a normal distribution was it because the data was not that skewed and the medium/Mode/Mean were all in the same Class?
 
I remember looking through it at first and thinking 'okay 7 questions that's fine' then when I got to the end I noticed there was a question 8 and thought 'well there goes my time management.'

I thought the paper seemed fairly easy with the exception of the last bits of question 8, and it took me a little more time than it probably should have to figure out how to do 6 which I had to come back to (I think it was that I didn't notice the complementary probability between P(A'nB') and P(AUB) or whatever letters it was that they used). On the plus side I don't have the impending feeling of doom that I tend to get after taking M1.

Also for that normal distribution one, I thought it had something to do with them using continuous data but to be honest it could be anything... Written answers don't belong on maths papers! :p
 
Lightnix said:
I remember looking through it at first and thinking 'okay 7 questions that's fine' then when I got to the end I noticed there was a question 8 and thought 'well there goes my time management.'

I thought the paper seemed fairly easy with the exception of the last bits of question 8, and it took me a little more time than it probably should have to figure out how to do 6 which I had to come back to (I think it was that I didn't notice the complementary probability between P(A'nB') and P(AUB) or whatever letters it was that they used). On the plus side I don't have the impending feeling of doom that I tend to get after taking M1.

Also for that normal distribution one, I thought it had something to do with them using continuous data but to be honest it could be anything... Written answers don't belong on maths papers! :p
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Uh, well I feel pretty confident that I got 80+ UMS as the grade boundaries are so low, I also can imagine that a ton of people mucked up on that Regression question by using a rounded B.
Also did you get p(ANB) as 0.15 and then you proved it was not independent by doing P(A)*P(B) and it came out to 0.05.
There was that teacher question where it asked why it might not be reliable, I said because it had a small sample size and 25 was outside of the data range.

Pretty much that last question for the bit second before Last I did.
4 4 2
4 2 4
2 4 4.
4 4 4
So there were those four ways, so I just worked the probabilities for each way then added them. My friend insists that you only count 4 4 2/2 4 4/4 2 4 as one, But I am not really sure.
 
chaosdestro0 said:
Dropped 3 marks as far as I know :).
I could even get 100 % UMS if I am lucky.
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Ugh, well done, but generally speaking comments like these are such tasteless things to say. You never know who might have not done so well.

I tend to never reveal to my peers how well I do these days. Don't publicly wallow in defeat, don't crow about your victories. Maybe it's just me!
 
chaosdestro0 said:
Uh, well I feel pretty confident that I got 80+ UMS as the grade boundaries are so low, I also can imagine that a ton of people mucked up on that Regression question by using a rounded B.
Also did you get p(ANB) as 0.15 and then you proved it was not independent by doing P(A)*P(B) and it came out to 0.05.
There was that teacher question where it asked why it might not be reliable, I said because it had a small sample size and 25 was outside of the data range.

Pretty much that last question for the bit second before Last I did.
4 4 2
4 2 4
2 4 4.
4 4 4
So there were those four ways, so I just worked the probabilities for each way then added them. My friend insists that you only count 4 4 2/2 4 4/4 2 4 as one, But I am not really sure.
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For the independence question I used the where independent, P(A|B)=P(A) identity and showed that P(A|B) was not equal to P(A), so basically the same result.

Also for the foot length one, I'm fairly confident I put the right answer now that I found the paper:

The data ranges from 20-27cm. For parts c and d they ask you to estimate using a child's foot size of 25cm and to comment on that. It makes sense that a comment on that would be that the estimate is reliable because you're interpolating the result from within the given range of data used to create the line of regression.

Part e then asks you to comment on why making an estimate based on the teacher's foot size of 25cm would be unreliable, and I'm fairly sure that the only thing it could be (given they tend to leave sample size out of these) is that it may be unreliable because the data used to create the regression equation came from children, and that is likely a poor/unapplicable model for adults.

Also rofl my attempt at Q8 parts e,f and g were so wrong.

Anyway. I'm sick of thinking about S1. Core 3 aho!
 
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Lightnix said:
For the independence question I used the where independent, P(A|B)=P(A) identity and showed that P(A|B) was not equal to P(A), so basically the same result.

Also for the foot length one, I'm fairly confident I put the right answer now that I found the paper:

The data ranges from 20-27cm. For parts c and d they ask you to estimate using a child's foot size of 25cm and to comment on that. It makes sense that a comment on that would be that the estimate is reliable because you're interpolating the result from within the given range of data used to create the line of regression.

Part e then asks you to comment on why making an estimate based on the teacher's foot size of 25cm would be unreliable, and I'm fairly sure that the only thing it could be (given they tend to leave sample size out of these) is that it may be unreliable because the data used to create the regression equation came from children, and that is likely a poor/unapplicable model for adults.

Also rofl my attempt at Q8 parts e,f and g were so wrong.

Anyway. I'm sick of thinking about S1. Core 3 aho!
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Yeah, you are right I got one mark out of that bit wrong however I managed to get the second mark by mentioning the sample size, Good luck about core 3! Core 2 is approaching quickly as well, once that's done I can relax till Physics where I will be lucky if I scrape through it without a breakdown.
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If you look at the grade boundaries it is almost as if the June papers are harder than the January papers as the grade boundaries are much lower which is quite interesting as it seems the January papers were easier.
Session 100' 90' 80' 70' 60' 50' 40'
Jan-01 72 65 58 51 44 37 31
Jun-01 67 61 55 49 44 39 34
Jan-02 64 58 52 46 40 35 30
Jun-02 65 58 51 44 37 31 25
Nov-02 70 64 58 52 46 40 34
Jan-03 63 57 51 45 39 33 27
Jun-03 75 69 62 55 48 41 35
Nov-03 67 61 55 49 44 39 34
Jan-04 72 66 60 54 48 42 36
Jun-04 71 64 57 50 44 38 32
Nov-04 69 63 57 51 45 40 35
Jan-05 68 62 56 50 44 39 34
Jun-05 67 60 53 46 39 32 25
Jan-06 75 69 62 55 48 41 35
Jun-06 71 65 59 53 47 41 35
Jan-07 75 68 61 54 48 42 36
Jun-07 72 65 58 51 44 37 30
Jan-08 75 69 63 56 50 44 38
Jun-08 72 66 60 54 48 42 37
Jan-09 71 64 57 50 43 36 30
Jun-09 75 68 60 52 44 36 29
Jan-10 75 70 65 58 51 45 39
Jun-10 69 62 55 48 41 35 29
Jan-11 73 66 59 52 45 38 3
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chaosdestro0 said:
I really doubt this is possible unless you are superhuman.
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Plenty possible to get good grades without much effort if you have an aptitude for it. I have a friend who spends most of his day taking drugs and drink each evening and he's doing a PhD in Fuel Resources or fuel something or other.
 
Unless we're talking about essay-based exams, I can't imagine how you'd get a decent mark on an A-Level paper without some past paper practice, having the exact same mindset as the person who wrote the exam or being extremely lucky. The thing is they aren't just interested in whether you know the content or not, you sometimes simply have to have a prior knowledge of the kinds of things they award marks for as often they ask vague questions for which multiple responses could be relevant. Anybody who has ever gone through an AQA A2 biology/human biology ISA mark scheme can attest to that I think.
 
Lightnix said:
Unless we're talking about essay-based exams, I can't imagine how you'd get a decent mark on an A-Level paper without some past paper practice, having the exact same mindset as the person who wrote the exam or being extremely lucky. The thing is they aren't just interested in whether you know the content or not, you sometimes simply have to have a prior knowledge of the kinds of things they award marks for as often they ask vague questions for which multiple responses could be relevant. Anybody who has ever gone through an AQA A2 biology/human biology ISA mark scheme can attest to that I think.
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I agree, doesn't make it right. You should be judged on your knowledge and understanding of a subject, not your ability to regurgitate facts in a way that pleases the exam board. Then again, should you even be judged? Who knows :p
 
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