Next Monday (that is Monday 7th December) we have our third #mathsjournalclub discussion. We will be chatting about Ellie Darlington’s article “Contrasts in Mathematical Challenges in A-Level Mathematics and Further Mathematics, and Undergraduate Examinations“.
I have enjoyed re-reading this article and have thought of a few things to think about / discuss in Monday:
- The findings certainly match my experience of undergraduate mathematics, do they yours? Personally I think closer to 60% of undergraduate exams would be category A.
- Do wee agree that the MATH taxonomy is a useful way to categorise math examination questions?
- What are the limitations of the MATH taxonomy?
- Is this difference between sixth form and undergraduate exams actually a problem?
- There is a suggestion that this taxonomy isn’t much affected by student’s perception of difficulty. Do you think this is true?
I particularly like the table of questions as categorised by the taxonomy:
I would like to know if the final A-Level standard question is from a real paper as it is unlike any A-Level question I have seen. And I’m also not sure what kind of answer they are looking for as it is actually dependent on the type of integrand (that is, whether you get super-convergence effects).
I’m looking forward to discussions this article on Monday 7th December 2015. I hope you can make it.