A simple Easter Egg on Desmos, we have an ellipse and the sine function – note the transformations of the sine function.
Or not quite so simple from WolframAlpha…
Staying with WolframAlpha, on the subject of Easter eggs, I must return to this definition. See… WolframAlpha – a little fun!
New from Pearson Edexcel – A Level Further Mathematics Topic Tests. These form part of the summer 2022 support and use questions taken from past papers, SAMS, Specimen and mock papers. Tests are available in both Word and pdf format for Papers 1 and 2 (9 tests), and Papers 3A (7 tests), 3B (8 tests), 3C (5 tests), and 3D )5 tests.
These tests follow a similar format to the A Level Mathematics Topic Tests described in this post, Mathematics Worked Examples – A Level.
The first test in the Paper 1 and 2 pack for example is on Proof, 7 questions provide comprehensive coverage of Proof.
Whilst not written for the advance information, the following resources may be useful if you are searching by topic for Further Maths:
It’s April, so we should start with a calendar. From Wayne Chadburn, I do like his little bit of Maths each day calendars, see these for March, April and May. Whilst March might be done – do check the three calendars as these have been written to focus on each of the three papers and the topic lists announced by Edexcel. Whilst written with Edexcel in mind these are great revision resources whichever board you use. Full solutions are provided.
These have been added to Examinations 2022, an extensive collection of resources for revision for Summer 2022 examinations, mostly GCSE, but some A level also.
Several additions have been made to this collection recently. I have included from Mr Neill, a brilliant resource, all Edexcel, AQA and OCR GCSE maths questions by topic with answers from June 2017 to Nov 2020 (9-1), available all on pdf, PowerPoint or Promethean.
Holidays vary but I know many are still at school and I can see from my blog statistics that people are searching for Easter-themed activities – an updated page of Easter activities is available, Mathematics for Easter.
Challenge Prompts from Andrew Stewart-Brown provides just what the title says, a video prompt for students trying Maths Challenge questions. With the Junior Maths Challenge approaching in April this is an ideal time to look at this excellent resource if you have not done so. Papers covered by the resource are for Junior, 2014-2021 and Intermediate, 2015-2017. The resource is accessible on tablets and mobile phones as well as computers.
With the latest interface, students can be set a paper to attempt on their own, go to the website and enter their answers. If the answer is not correct, they are presented with the video. Students can listen to the question being read, watch the prompt at which point many will be able to solve the problem.
This is an ideal resource for students preparing for the Maths Challenges, but of course, is also excellent for any student working on their problem-solving skills. Highly recommended!
The BSRLM published an article on the development of challenge prompts based on a presentation given at their online conference in Summer 2021, see paper 20 here.
Remember that it is possible to access Maths Challenge questions by topic for Junior, Intermediate and Senior from Dr Frosts’s wonderful website full of outstanding resources. Very conveniently it is possible to download zip files of questions by topic, choose a resource, for example, Senior Maths Challenge questions by topic and you will see the option to download all files. You can also search the UKMT database by topic.
From UKMT you can look at full solutions for recent papers also note the investigations and solutions to individual questions for the Junior, Intermediate and Senior competitions. The UKMT Solo Competitions page provides a useful index to resources. Solutions are also available for follow on rounds.
The investigations take a question further.
Have a look for example at the solutions and investigation for the 2020 paper.
On the outstanding Diagnostic Questions site, you can choose Maths Challenge questions by topic for the Junior, Intermediate and Senior Challenges by choosing the Themed Quizzes option. These quizzes consist of sets of four or five questions grouped by topic. (Log in to Diagnostic Questions to use the link.)
For further challenging problems see the post, Polya – Problem Solving which includes many recommendations.
See also these posts:
On the subject of starters – short questions can make ideal revision starters – a reminder of some great resources:
On TES, from SNO, this Excel spreadsheet generates an endless supply of 1 mark questions with the option to display the answers, making an ideal starter. Two versions are available, you can choose 5 or 10 questions to display.
Check this great resource from Mr Kingsley, an ideal starter, there are 80 sets of 10 1 and 2 mark questions in this file.
We start every foundation lesson with a booklet of ten 1&2 mark questions, aimed at repetition. Builds up in difficulty in both calc & non-calc topics. 80 pages worth. Seems to help reduce errors at the start of papers. Feel free to take a look. https://t.co/qdPT8P7UDu pic.twitter.com/v9U2fwyegM— Mr Kingsley (@KingsleyMaths) February 12, 2021
Edexcel’s Practice Papers include freely available Foundation Tier one mark questions. There are calculator and non-calculator paper questions and mark schemes from June 2017 through to June 2019 (non-calculator) and to November 2019 for the calculator questions.
On Corbett Maths you will find a complete collection of Practice Papers, note the Revision resources, including A Bit of Everything Papers; the Foundation papers with 116 questions provide very comprehensive syllabus coverage! Each paper includes a contents list with the relevant teaching video.
From Mr Neill, a brilliant resource, all Edexcel, AQA and OCR GCSE maths questions categorised by topic with answers from June 2017 to Nov 2020 (9-1), available all on pdf, PowerPoint or Promethean.
This Custom Starter from Transum, is one I have featured before, it allows teachers to select the number of questions and the topics to include; scroll down the page and choose the topics you want from the Concept Selection. It is possible to save a particular selection of topics as the URL for your selection will be generated. It is also possible to drag the panels so your questions are displayed in the desired order. The beginning of a lesson can be an ideal time to review previous learning.