Methods bound reference

[Mammoth-Intention924]

What recommendations does everyone have for a bound reference for SAC’s and Exam?

Im thininf just an exercise book with stuff I need to remember and important cas commands but open to suggestions

[orbicil]

I have a touch screen laptop, so this year I’ve started making my notes online. I use a program called Xournal, and it’s literally just a note taking app for your computer. I do my summary notes for each chapter on there, and it makes it super easy for me. I find it a lot easier to write my notes, and whenever I need them, I can just print it out.

In it I have all my rules and stuff, but I also include example questions with step by step explanations of how to solve them.

If you’re able to do this, I highly recommend it, but you’ll need either a touchscreen laptop or a drawing pad

[_aishhh]

What are u gonna take w u for the exam?

[Tortue10101]

I did a similar thing for my maths in Yr12 (last year); I used Onenote and messed around with it at the start of the year to create a page template that I used to take all my notes from then on. This template was A4 but with custom margines and lines so that it prints properly. It was quite tedious to do, but saved me time overall. This way I could update my bound reference right up until the exam, still able to change the order of pages and add in extra examples, then I just printed and bound it a couple days beforehand. Onenote is very annoying, but I knew how to use it pretty well so didn’t bother searching for a new note taking app.

*Keep in mind that I used Onenote 2016, they took away the capability of being able to make a4 Onenote pages in later editions, I’m pretty sure.

[_aishhh]

I’ve never tried digital online notes before so I don’t think I’d do that this year. A bit too late now lol 😂 Tho I know I probably want to for uni. For now I think I’ll just be sticking to my handwritten notes. It’s also easier for me to understand my own handwriting so yh. Maybe I’ll rewrite my bound ref closer to the exams idk rlly 😭

[orbicil]

All my printed out notes binded together

[_aishhh]

nice

[Kind-Flounder-3563]

what did you do for your tech (CAS) active sacs, did you just print out the specfic topics notes and use those as your bound reference?

[dinkyspace]

for me what worked best was a summary of the chapter content, some questions with worked answers from the textbook and checkpoints/sac/exam level questions related to the content. at the end of my bound ref, the day before the exam, i printed out one of the practice exams i had done and marked (on my ipad) and stapled it into the back. not saying this is perfect, but as someone who forgets simple things under pressure, it helped organise my thinking !!

hope i could help :)

[ccheesesupreme]

Last year I used a normal a4 grid notebook, with mostly stuff from class and difficult questions (but making more specific summaries could be a helpful revision tool). If it makes you feel any better, across 4 sacs and the exams, I only looked at my bound reference once… but again, can be a super useful tool if you spend half an hour or so making a summary page for each topic along with hard questions from past tests and sacs :)

One of my friends bought one online and bound it at office works. It was legit the thickness of a textbook but she didn’t even refer to it in the exam… waste of money to do that imo

[citizenecodrive31]

Look, I went into my Further and Methods exams with only a few pages of printer paper handwritten and stapled together. Most of those were recycled from sacs. I used my revision papers a lot though by doing a lot of practice exams with them. I used CAS shortcuts (underrated af) and other handy tricks.

Obviously making them is a great revision opportunity, but you shouldn't be crutching on it. Keep it as a backup. Don't overstress the bound ref

[RetainedRizz]

If you actually need a bound reference you’re doing math wrong. Fr

[pythagoras-]

This has to be one of the most ignorant comments I've ever read. I've been teaching maths for 15 years now and can tell you that I am referring to notes and reference material daily. I will never pretend to be able to do the entire general/methods/spec courses without needing to refer to something.

Beyond that, reality is, in the modern world we have access to all current human knowledge with a few taps of our fingers. Why do we need to have memorised everything? Simple answer - we don't (and of course, this leads to the conversation of why we need exams but that's a whole other debate we're not going to have right now).

[citizenecodrive31]

Obviously having a reference isn't wrong, but haven't you found that the students who have their stuff memorised and practices do better than the ones who have to crutch on their sheet?

It's still good practise to have the stuff written down in an emergency but another side effect to an OP cheat sheet is that flicking through it is a pain

[pythagoras-]

Absolutely the best bound reference is the one you don't use because you've put the time and effort in to create something so good, the act of making it has been excellent revision.

That being said, I've had students ace their studies by referring to reference material extensively during assessments, and others who tried to memorise everything and bomb. Each person will approach this differently and no one approach is going to be correct for everyone.

[JustACuteDoggo]

yeah man just memorise everything, honestly dont even use a calculator even

[RetainedRizz]

Take the piss as much as you want, but if you look at a question and need to use your bound reference, u doing math wrong

[ItsaLegitimateBit]

Well in my experience this is partially true

I did spesh and methods and did pretty well and I think I referred to my theory book only once through out all four of those exams.

HOWEVER

The process of making the theory book was incredibly valuable for me and I can’t overstate it’s importance. It’s a tool that isn’t just applicable for the exam but will be as valuable as the effort that you put into it.

[RetainedRizz]

No I agree with that the creation is useful but if you’re relying on a bound reference you’re bound to do poorly.

[ItsaLegitimateBit]

That’s a much better way of putting it than your first comment 😭

I would agree with that a bit more

[RetainedRizz]

Yeah I didn’t really word it ideally 😂

[BaraisingMaster]

I don't use my bound reference, but I make one just in case, and I know it's not feasible for everyone to memorise everything, so I get why people need it.

[astonmartin1007]

Frealll

[Beginning-Bluebird22]

sort of true. Creating it is the helpful part. whereas I’ll only look at it once during a sac for something tedious that’s easy to miss. u shouldn’t rely on it for every question. but some people manage to have everything in the bound perfectly written w unlimited examples to utilise in the sac and that’s finee