Using the A level resources

Each module’s resources have a chapter structure, which mirrors its textbook.  In addition to this the Pure Mathematics Core resources are also accessible in a form based on the latest QCA GCE Mathematics Core, so that they are easy to use for schools/colleges who are using any textbooks and are suitable to support any of the awarding body A/AS Mathematics specifications.

Chapters

Each chapter has:

• A Chapter Assessment, made up of exam standard questions covering the material addressed by the chapter. Students should treat these as open-book exams and aim to score at least 80%. This is work that students would typically hand to their tutors to gain feedback. e.g. Complex numbers chapter assessment
• A Glossary, which gives definitions of the mathematical terms used in the chapter, in the context of the work covered. e.g. Complex Numbers Glossary

Sections

Each chapter has its resources divided into sections (between 1 and 5, depending on the module and chapter). These sections have a common structure and are designed to be mathematically coherent chunks of work. They are not intended necessarily to take equal amounts of time or effort; they just break the work in each chapter into manageable sections.

Each section has the following elements:

Resources

• A Study plan, which gives some background and introduction to the mathematics covered in the section. It details what reading should be done from the textbook and where/how the supplementary notes and other section. e.g Study plan
  resources could be used. It also suggests questions to attempt from the textbook exercises covered in the section.
• Some Notes and examples, which expand textbook examples and often give extra explanations, tips and examples. Sometimes they also include extension material. e.g. Notes and examples
  
• A Crucial points section, which lists the common mistakes students make with the mathematics covered in the section and explains why they are wrong. e.g. Crucial points
  
• Many sections also feature Additional exercises of questions not featured in any textbooks. e.g. Additional exercises

In addition to this many sections have interactive resources and/or active learning resources. These are intended to enhance students’ learning of the mathematics covered.

• Interactive questions for practising techniques. e.g. Multiplying complex numbers
• Flash-based rsources (designed to display well on an IWB). e.g. Working with complex numbers, Multiplication and division in the Argand
• Active learning resources. e.g. Complex numbers puzzle

Hints and solutions

These are available for the additional exercises and also specified questions in the MEI textbooks. These solutions provide more help than the answers as they are presented in the back of the textbooks,

Each question specified in a section has a fully worked solution and many questions also have hints. There are up to three levels of hint per question. The first level of hint should point students in the right direction; the next level gives a little more help and level 3 even more.

The worked solutions are also useful to show students how to set out clear answers to mathematical questions. Usually they are hand-written, so they show students directly what is expected of their own solutions.

• Exercise A Q2
  
• Complex Numbers Exercise A Leve1 1 Hints
  
• Complex Numbers AdditiExercise A Solutions

Section Tests

A Multiple Choice test, which covers all of the mathematics students should have learned in the section. Each test has 10 questions with options A, B, C, D & E (where E is "I don't know"). Students score 3 marks for a correct answer, 1 for "I don't know' and 0 for guessing. The pass mark is 23/30.

• Tests take between 30 and 90 minutes each.
• They should be printed from the web site and worked out on paper.
• Students’ choices are entered onto a form accessed from the section page on the web site. This allows immediate feedback on their score, which questions were answered incorrectly and worked solutions (only if the pass mark is achieved).

If a student fails a test twice, she/he cannot re-take it unless their tutor enables them to. Since students are told which questions they got wrong after their first attempt, they should really be able to pass it the second time. If they don’t pass on their second try, they probably need help from their tutor.

Each time a test is taken the responses and score are written to the student’s record on a database, which can be accessed by their tutor. Tutors can also enter assessment scores and comments onto their students’ records. Students can access their own test records from a link in the bottom bar of any page in the module web resources

Distracters (the wrong answers) are chosen, where possible, to anticipate the errors students are likely to make. This means the tests are very useful for diagnostic purposes. Tutors can see what answer their students gave for each question.

e.g. Complex numbers 1 SECTION TEST

Teachers' Resources

Each chapter contains a section of Teachers' Resources which are only available when logged-on as a tutor. These contain full worked solutions of the chapter assessments, editable versions of the chapters assessments in Word format and full worked solutions to the multi-choice tests.