1. Junior Maths Examination Information
This year you will be sitting one of your first formal examination (of many) in
Mathematics. The things you need to know…
1. You have a limited time (2 hours) – there are no breaks. You will have to
work consistently to get through all the paper. There are many sections
each will get you a grade (N – not achieved, A – achieved, M – merit, E –
excellence and S – for skill section for skills class only).
2. Each section will have several questions that get gradually harder. It is
important that you don’t get stuck/trapped on a difficult question. Move
onto other sections (which will have easier starter questions).
3. Being prepared is vital. That means you need to have all the right
equipment and the right preparation. The key equipment includes, pen,
pencil, ruler, protractor, and a calculator (not having a calculator will be a
big disadvantage). The preparation is based on the work this year (topics
are outlined below), you will need to study all your material so that you do
your best (study hints below).
The topics (are the ones we have learnt so far this year) include…
a) Number. b) Algebra. c) Measurement. d) Geometry. e) Prob and Stats.
Your teacher has a set of ‘checklists’ to hand out to you that fully list each topic.
Studying.
The key to success in an examination is your efforts to remember the material
this year. This is called studying. Very few people can do well in an
examination without putting in some time studying (their result will be well
below their abilities).
Study takes…
1. Time – you need to be doing at least ten hours of preparation to be truly
prepared. Break this down into manageable lengths of time (say 30min
chunks).
2. Organisation – have your material (exercise books/homework/practice
tests). Don’t just rely on reading – you’ll need to do the work. This is the
key to success, especially in Mathematics
3. Getting started is often the hardest part. Students know they need to
study but end up just sitting there. So a good place is to have questions
set up – you could copy down some from your book on paper one study
session, the next do them (just make sure you have the right answer to
check from). You’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll get good at these ones.

2. Study takes…
4. Repetition – once over is no good, repeat, repeat and repeat – you’ll remember.
5. The whole range of problems – a common mistake is people study what they
already can do. Say if the book has ten questions and you could do seven of them
way back in term one – then it’s important that you don’t only practice those seven
(but make sure you remember how you did them).
6. Get Help – studying can be a lonely experience. Remember that you have family,
friends and of course your teacher. You will get stuck at times, take these
problems and show others and get them right.
Remember –
• Studying is over to you. You teacher/parents can’t sit the test for you, they want
you to do well, but you will be the one in the examination.
• Everyone finds studying hard, and no-one really looks forward to it. It’s normal
not to want to do it, but trust us when we say “it’s very good for you”.
• Not everyone can be the top of the class. You are really competing against
yourself. These are your first examinations and a good learning experience.
The Junior Exam May Include;
Number Section…
BEDMAS, Place value, Rounding, Finding a %, Simplifying Ratios/Fractions, Converting
Improper Fractions to Mixed Numbers, Increasing/Decreasing by Fractions,
Increasing/Decreasing by %’s, Prime Factor Trees, Finding the Average, standard format,
Algebra Section…
Simplifying, Adding Like Terms, Timesing Terms, Dividing Terms, Square Root of terms,
Substitution, Solving. Continue the pattern, find the rule of a pattern, find the nth term of a
pattern, continue with pattern pictures. Factorising/Expanding. Linear Graphs (positive &
negative slopes), Horizontal & Vertical Graphs. [Yr 10 also Parabolas/Quadratics].
Measurement Section (Formula Sheet Provided)…
Compound 2d Shapes (Perimeter and Areas), Hectares, Surface Area, Using Area to Find a
Side. Converting; Litres, Time, 24 Hour Clock, Adding Time On, Weight, Distance.
Manipulation of Speed, Average Speed, Speed to find Time, Speed to Find Distance.
Volumes/Capacity.
Geometry Section…
Naming Angles, Naming Polygons, Naming Parts of a Circle, Using Protractor to Measure
Angles, Using Protractor to Draw Angle, Naming Types of Angles, Adjacent Angles on a
Straight Line, Internal Angles of a Triangle, Vertically Opposite Angles, Interior and
Exterior Angles of a Polygon, Angles on Parallel Lines. [Yr 10 also Pythagoras & Trigonometry
& Circle Geometry.]
Probability Section…
Prob in fraction/decimal. Tree Diagrams, Venn Diagrams. Mean/Median/Mode/Range/Upper
and Lower Quartile. Expected Number. Scatterplot and Box n Whisker Graphs.