Others make a calculated assessment of the marks – this year,the hardest question represented five marks from a total of 100 – and figure it’s not worth their time;they do what they can to gain one or two points and then move on to other questions.
James Mackay,an extension 2 mathematics student from the Scots College,works through the hardest question in the 2021 exam.
In a time-pressured and difficult exam,strategy can sometimes be as important as the maths itself.
This year’s HSC cohort found the high-level four-unit maths paper more difficult than in previous years.
“People were saying it was five times harder than last year’s paper,” said James Mackay,a year 12 student at The Scots College in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
This was the second time that new mathematics syllabuses,so some students thought the NSW Education Standards Authority escalated the difficulty level. The hardest question involved vectors – the newest topic in the updated syllabus – as well as proof.
James Mackay from The Scots College tackles the infamous question 16b of the extension 2 mathematics HSC exam.Dominic Lorrimer
There was also a slight twist in that students were asked to “justify” a certain result. “It was an interesting verb they used. It required us to prove a particular result while introducing another topic from the syllabus,” James said.
“There was a lot of wording[you had to go through] under time and exam conditions. You might have missed aspects of the question. You’ve got to be careful that you address all the different points.
“A lot of[students] got halfway through or found one value of theta,but couldn’t justify the second part of the question. It was made difficult by the fact it’s a five-mark question,but there’s no lead-in to each section;they just throw it all at you and you’re expected to methodically work through the question to make sure you get the five marks.”
Angelina Ocokoljic,from Broughton Anglican College near Campbelltown,also completed the question.
“What makes this a hard question is,not only is there a lot not to unpack for a five-marker which requires a lot of justification,but it’s a very complex and unusual situation which requires a strong understanding of basic concepts. This can easily be overlooked in an exam situation,” she said.
“Realising the fact that,when two vectors are perpendicular,their dot product is zero,is a starting point. Then it’s going back to what the question needs you to find,and simplifying it going from there.”
But while it may sound simple,Angelina said student consensus was that the paper was extremely difficult. “This question in particular was very challenging. Not a fan favourite,” she said.
Want to have a go yourself? Take a look at the question and compare it with James’ working below.
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