Common Study Mistakes that IB Math Student Makes
Mathematics is a subject that is horrifying for the majority of students across the world. But it is way tougher for IBDP students to score well in the Math exam. Because it requires diligent study and focuses to pass IB’s math exam. As an IB math scholar, it’s kind of normal for you to fall behind. Because IB’s math includes a vast study of versatile topics and this course cover these topics at a quick rate. You should be aware of all the mistakes and setbacks and should try to overcome them. So, that you can prepare yourself well for the IB exam.
Unorganized Preparation:
If you are also preparing for IBDP so you should be organized about subjects and topics. Prepare those topics that are important and difficult. According to the previous IBDP toppers, it’s crucial to be organized, Because IB has such a vast syllabus. And mind that you can’t pass or top the exam by an overnight study before the exam. You should organize and be consistent while preparing for the IB math exam.
Skipping difficult material:
Human brain always seeks the path of least resistance where our mind happily allows us to do the things that are easy to do. That’s why you always ended up practicing the topics that you have mastered before. You have to avoid this mistake and try your best to do other topics that you found difficult. And that’s why you feel stressed and overloaded a day before the exam.
Getting used to the calculator:
Calculators are not allowed in exam 1, they can be used in exam 2. Too much dependency of students on a calculator is one of the most common and silly mistakes. As you know that a calculator is not taking care of brackets while doing calculations which led to the wrong answers. You should avoid this mistake and attempt to perform calculations by hand. Avoid mind calculations which can also lead you to score less in exams.
Cramming before the exams:
There is a lot of studying required to succeed in the IB Math curriculum. Too many students postpone the tiresome task of studying, and then ended up cramming in the final days before a test. However, cognitive science research has shown that this crash course method is largely ineffective. You must space out your learning and do consistent reviews to make significant learning progress. As well as taking time. Pre-exam cramming only results in short-term retention, which is not helpful in the long term.
Common mistakes during IB math exam:
Writing wrong units:
Using wrong units is a familiar blunder that lots of students are doing in exams. Oftentimes, while solving an equation we prefer to leave it out to the units for later to save up time. Or sometimes we perform some silly mistakes as a question is asked in grams and we answered in kilograms. So you should look after these small mistakes which could be the possible reasons for your less scores.
Writing wrong variables:
Writing wrong units is a frequent and wrong practice that IB math students are performing. You have also noticed that sometimes we write a wrong variable and then use this wrong variable while answering the whole equation. This blunder can also happen to you while using a calculator as the keys of a calculator are too close to each other that you ended up having wrong calculations.
Unreadable writing:
Your writing can be splendid when you are not in hurry but it can also be atrocious when you are in hurry. Often, you have noticed how your 6 or 9 looks like 0 or 7 like 1, and so on. That’s confusing for the examiner while checking your exam and again you ended up scoring less on exams. It all is a product of hurry, which is important as you running short of time. But writing and digits should at least be readable to the checker.
Using wrong operational signs:
It is another error that is often encountered which can lead you to score from exceptional to average. Sometimes you forgot to put operational signs. Sometimes you forgot the rules of integers e.g. when a negative integer is treated with another negative one will yield another negative integer and when one negative integer is added to a positive integer can yield to positive or negative looking whichever integer has the highest value.
It is normal because you merely have 5 minutes to solve 5 equations. But you should try to minimize this mistake. And I think you know what to do, don’t you?
Incorrect reading of the problem:
Every answer is indeed in its question. Often you score less not because of carelessness it’s because of the incorrect approach to a problem. Sometimes teacher asks a simple question in a tricky manner that left you confused because you haven’t read the problem properly. You should try to understand the question properly to avoid silly mistakes like writing the wrong units or variables.
Few tips to avoid these errors:
As a learner, you must know where you went wrong. You can identify your mistakes by looking at your class tests or monthly exams. By doing so you will be able to know about the areas you’re weakened in and the areas that need more improvement.
This quote by Paul Halmos is quite self-explanatory. That you should not be afraid of math. To learn Math you need to practice Math.
Tribe Topper play a very important part when it comes to avoiding mistakes and practicing, different levels of Problems.
You can solve previous tests and use them as study material. That will help you to understand the pattern of the exam as well as the speed of writing the exam.
You should try to focus on one topic at one time for a better understanding of that particular topic by doing key concepts and then chapter wise question banks.
For a clear understanding of a topic, you can hire a private tutor or can subscribe to some of the online websites like tribe topper that provide study material and crash courses for IBDP students.
