'Tips' on how to do the national high school math exam

Math is an essay test, so in addition to applying knowledge to think and find solutions, students also need to practice presentation skills. The goal is to get maximum points for questions and ideas that they can solve.

In the 2016 national high school exam, Math is one of the four compulsory subjects. This is also the subject that many students choose to form a group for admission to universities and colleges. Therefore, about two months before the exam, students need to plan an effective review.

To achieve high scores, in addition to having basic knowledge, students need to be able to solve problems of a classified nature. Below are some experiences in reviewing Math exams that I have gathered during my time teaching final year students:

Review content must closely follow the exam structure according to the instructions issued by the Ministry of Education and Training.

Full review, covering all knowledge, from basic to advanced. Along with reviewing theory are selected illustrative examples to help you understand the knowledge and know how to apply it, and there is a system of self-made exercises to consolidate theory and practice your own test-taking skills.

Math is an essay test, so in addition to applying knowledge to think and find solutions to problems, students also need to practice how to present. The goal is to get the maximum score for the questions and ideas that they can solve.

This is the final stage, so students should review the general knowledge they have learned. For Math, solving problems requires you to grasp the old knowledge from previous years. Typically, survey problems, old knowledge needs to be grasped such as derivatives and limits of the 11th grade program. Or plane geometry requires old knowledge from 10th and 9th grade.

Students need to be specific about the time to review each topic. The important knowledge, which often appears in the exam and is easy to get points, should be spent more time reviewing. All topics are reviewed, students do not "learn by heart", and also do not review indiscriminately.

With the current exam structure, about 60-70% is at an average level, so reviewing that part is relatively easy. A lot of that knowledge is in the 12th grade program, so reading and reviewing all the knowledge is not difficult to get a score of 6-7.

Students need to regularly do comprehensive practice tests to practice and improve their knowledge as well as test-taking skills. This is also very necessary because many students, when reviewing each individual topic of knowledge, perceive very quickly, apply it to solving exercises very well, but quickly forget the knowledge they have reviewed before because they have not applied it for a long time. Through practice tests, students can ask teachers to mark them to detect gaps in knowledge so that they can promptly supplement them, as well as errors in presentation so that teachers can promptly help correct them.

In addition, you must ensure your health and spirit to be able to review for the best results, divide your study time between rest and rest reasonably, and eat nutritious food. Be confident in yourself, be optimistic and study hard. There is still time for you to review what you are lacking.

Notes when taking the test

When receiving the test, students should spend about 5 minutes reading the test (equal to the time from when the test is distributed to when the test is timed), taking notes on familiar types of questions or knowing the direction of the test.

You should do the easiest questions first. Firstly, to make sure you get a good score for that part. Secondly, to relieve stress because after receiving the test, almost all candidates are nervous and worried about how difficult the test is. When you can do the first few questions fluently, you can create excitement to do the next questions.

When doing exercises, you should not be subjective, even with the easiest exercises. For Math, many students often "click their tongues" when encountering easy exercises, leading to not being able to practice being careful, losing points. Sometimes, difficult exercises are a synthesis of steps through easy exercises, the key is the idea to solve it.

You can do the test out of order. Although the current test format says the questions are arranged from easy to difficult, you do not have to do them in that order. Students should identify the questions that are “easy” for them and do them first. You should mark the questions that you have not done or skipped so that you can come back to them when you have finished the other questions.

Time should be allocated reasonably. Students should not rush into difficult questions first because it is easy to waste a lot of time without being able to do it. Drafting and using a computer to help calculate is also very important. Drafting does not need to be beautiful or clean, avoid wasting a lot of time because writing or drawing a draft is to find a way to solve the problem or to present it briefly. Using a computer to help save time mentally or calculating, but you must enter the correct data into the computer for the computer to give accurate results.

The test should be presented carefully, the solution should be clear, coherent and logical. The writing should be easy to read and clean. Do not use an eraser when doing the test. If you make a mistake, just cross it out and rewrite it. Each sentence should usually have a conclusion at the end.

The grading scale is divided into 0.25 points, so if there is a problem that you have not solved completely, just present the solved part in the essay because according to the grading answer, you can get a part of the score at that step. Getting an extra 0.25 points can increase your chances.

Do not submit your test early. Use all the time available to complete all the questions you can. Even if you are an average student and there are some questions you cannot complete (because the test is highly graded), you can use the remaining time to check the correctness of the questions you have completed.

Master Kieu Van Vuong
Math Teacher at Doan Thi Diem High School (Hanoi)