Why this year’s HSC mathematics exam could be a tough one

A leading maths teacher has revealed her fear for today’s HSC exam as celebrity educator Eddie Woo weighs in.

Maths teachers across the state live in fear of what will be in today’s maths exam after pupils studying the standard course last year faced horror questions they had not been taught.

Vice president of the Mathematical Association of NSW said teachers feared a repeat of so-called crossover questions between the Standard and Advanced mathematics courses which had left some students stumped.

“There were some very disgruntled teachers and some very upset parents and students about the annuities question,” she said.

Ms McDaid said the problem was those questions required students to use concepts which had been taught to Advanced Mathematics students but not those in the Advanced course.

“The feedback we gave to NESA was don‘t let it happen again. They have promised they will go through a more rigorous process,” Ms McDaid said.

Alisiya Smetanina, 17 (left) and Natasha McBride, 17 from Rose Bay Secondary College. Picture: David Swift

A spokeswoman NSW Education Standards Authority, which is in charge of writing the HSC exams, said teachers had been given additional information about the shared content questions this year, which comes from topics on statistics and financial mathematics.

“To support teachers, students, and families with the course structure, this year NESA provided additional information about the shared content and how it is examined,” she said.

Celebrity maths teacher Eddie Woo from Cherrybrook Technology High in Sydney’s northwest advised this year’s students to remain cool under pressure if they faced a tricky question.

“Even though it may be a tough test — everybody is doing the same tough test,” he said.

“They are going to face an exam which challenges them — it is supposed to do that, it enables them to demonstrate all the things which they have learned and the skills they have developed.”

He said internet traffic to view his famous YouTube channel surged the night before the HSC mathematics exam as students sought to have a last-minute study session.

“Every year for a long time there is a spike in the statistics on the back-end of my channel before each HSC maths exam,” he said.

Celebrity maths Teacher Eddie Woo has some advice for Monday’s HSC students. Picture: Supplied

Rose Bay Secondary College student Alisiya Smetanina, 17, will sit the Mathematics Standard exam but said her teacher had focused on covering the common content this year.

“I am expecting to do a bit well but I don’t have high hopes because it has been a long year,” she said.

She also received some free advice from her Year 12 classmate Natasha McBride, 17, who was accelerated and did her course last year.

“Make sure in the reading time to go through and read all the questions so you have an idea of what the questions are roughly,” Natasha said.

“Timing is important too, you have to make sure you move through the test pretty quickly. It was one of the hardest parts for me.”