effective learning method

How To Create Math PowerNotes For Revision of Tests & Exams

I was looking at some of the ways readers found this website and one of the search terms was f*ree gce o level math notes and exam questions.

Well, personally during my school life, I was "spoonfed" with lots of notes! Gosh, I wonder how many trees we have to sacrifice for this. Of all those notes, the irony is that I realize those which I have added on my "personal touch" in terms of my own sidenotes, post-it-notes, tea-stains and perhaps sometimes, the faint residue of saliva mark LOL....these are the notes which have proven to be very effective in helping me to learn well and score in exams.

Now, my point is that ALL students should have your own set of notes. Something that is unique to yourself only and not just notes you get from your teachers, tutors, guidebooks etc... I am not saying that these notes are not good, in fact many have excellent content and structure but as each of us is unique in your own learning styles and patterns. I strongly encourage and urge you to make your own PowerNotes.

Making notes is really simple. For me in the subject of Maths, I use lots of diagrams and short abbreviations to help me to understand the abstracts. Here are 6 Simple Tips for you to make Effective PowerNotes :

Use Colors, 3 colors are good. Too many colors are distracting.
Write in point forms to allow easy understanding.
Keep it to a A4 page for each topic
Write it out yourself.
Continously update with new realization :)
Use it for revision of tests & exams!!!

Enjoy your PowerNotes!

What else do you want on this blog?

Hello everyone,

I know there are on average over 100 readers viewing this blog on a regular basis. Some of you are facing challenges with Math, some are good with the subject but seeking more easier learning methods,some of you are parents or tutors looking for inspiration for your child or yourself.

So I am writing this post to gather from you - my valued readers what else do you want to see on this site in addition to what you see. As you can see, this site is nothing more than my many years of teaching experience of different types of students and some of the strategies which have proven to have worked effectively for them. But this is what I think would be useful only.

The important thing is that you must find them beneficial. So tell me what else do you want to read about, the improvements to the structure of the site so that this blog is more friendly for you for all levels.

"Tell Me What Else You Want On This Blog"

Loudspeaker Photo by Meg Pickard

I look forward in hearing from you! Simply drop me a comment in the space below.

Cheers,

alwaysLovely

PS: "It's only when you ask, that you will get"

How to prepare for Maths common test

Hi everyone,

The Chinese New Year is just over. Certainly hope you have received lots of gifts, plenty of blessings, many ang paos...

Well, I am certain amdist all these festive moods, many of you or perhaps just some are in fact using this holiday period to mug for your upcoming common tests, aren't you?

Today, I am going to share with you guys some tips on preparing for your Maths Common Test, Exams or Quizzes.

The Visualization Tool Revisit

Hi everyone,

Recently I was reading through the last few months of blogpost and I came across this post "The Visualization Tool" so I decided to write about the "Visualization Tool" revisited :)

Now this visualization is so powerful that anyone can apply it to any areas of your life, be it school, work, relationships, success ... It's simply seeing and experiencing how you want your future to be like...

Recently I was interested in the advertisements I saw, even one of the banks is using the visualization technique : "Dreaming of the future;Preparing For it Today" and there is the iconic symbol of a red arc which looks like a umbrella. *Guess the name of the bank?

To do well in any areas, it is exactly the same. First you must be clear of what you want at the end and you got to see YOURSELF achieving it, how did you feel, who was with you, what were you saying, what were you doing?

Differentiation Basic Techniques

The big thing for Sec 4 A-Math ( Oh yar, since this blog has quite a number of visitors from other countries, I think it is important for me to mention that Secondary 3 - 4 is known as Grade 9 - 10 in other countries) is CALCULUS.

Well, you will hardly find this word in your A-Math textbook but you see a bulk of the chapters dedicated to Differentiation & Integration. These 2 topics are like freezing and melting processes.

Why? Because they are simply opposite of each other !

I am going to talk about the techniques of differentiation.

There are 3 main types for Sec 4 level ; you ought to learn these techniques real well and know when to apply each one of them as application problems follow after the basics.

Chain Rule
Product Rule
Quotient Rule reserved for fractions. * But some fractions can skip this rule

My personal favourite is No. 2 - Product Rule. Well, let's see the technique in action.

Differentiate with respect to x:

Now to do this, you can apply Product Rule - Differentiate Copy + Differentiate Copy

Now from this example, we notice some patterns, if you have a constant ( a fixed number) in front, you can simply focused on differentiating the portion with x involved. For example in this case, Focus on Differentiating so now, we don't even have to use product rule :

Leave the constant in front
Differentiate the portion with x involved by Power Front - Power Down by 1-Differentiate within also known as your Chain Rule. BINGO!

By realizing this pattern, it will save you some time and less pen ink as well.

Certainly hope it is useful.

:-)

alwaysLovely

Photo by just another paul

You can't memorize Maths!

Yes, it's the truth!

You can't memorize Maths! Rote learning has been deemed as "study dead books" in chinese : du si shu. Yes you can have really good memory but knowledge learnt by pure memorization doesn't get retain long enough and most importantly, it is simply a waste of time and resources since you can't really apply what you have memorized to questions unless you have completely understand the fundamentals and the linkage.

The reason for me posting this up is that I was shocked to find one math tutor with this approach