The MCAT is the Mathematical Common Assessment Task that's part of NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement) Level 1 Mathematics and Statistics taken by Year 11 students in New Zealand.
Not to be confused with the college admission test done by potential medical students around the world, the NCEA MCAT is a secondary school exam.
The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) seems to love acronyms, which can make everything more confusing, but if you're in Year 11 or the parent of a child in Year 11 in New Zealand, the MCAT is something that needs to be prepared for.
There are lots of different ways to study and revise for different subjects, but one of the best ways to prepare for standardised exams like the MCAT is by doing past papers.
Here's how to find them and the best ways to use them.
How to Find Past Papers
With national exams in most countries, there's usually an organisation or body responsible for creating and administering the exams.
In the case of the MCAT, it's the aforementioned NZQA. If you're looking for past papers, this is the place you need to look first as these are the official past papers from previous years.
There are also private companies that offer sample questions and papers, but since these aren't validated or confirmed by NZQA, we can't speak to their quality or how useful they are as a revision tool.
As for the official past papers, you can find them on the NZQA website under “Qualifications and Standards”. The Mathematical Common Assessment Test is part of the Achievement Standard 91027 (AS91027) and by searching this standard, you can find out more information about the standard itself, access past papers, and even read the reports from previous years.
Though it's quite dry, it's worth reading the Achievement Standard if your teacher hasn't gone through it with you. This explains the areas of mathematics that are tested on the exam, what the different grades are, and what you need to do to get each grade.
Make sure that you're reading the most up-to-date Achievement Standard as the standards for previous years are still available. All standards are available as .pdfs and Word Documents and in English or Māori.
How to Use Past Papers
Past papers are an excellent resource for studying for any exam, but you have to make sure you get the most out of them. Here's what you should use past papers for.
Understand the Format of the Exam
Past papers are a great way to see the exam format. Since every second counts in every exam, being familiar with the format means you won't waste time working out what you need to do.
This can also help you manage your time, which is critical. Even really good students can underperform on exams because they didn't properly manage their time, spent too much time on certain questions, or ran out of time before being able to answer questions they would have definitely answered correctly.
Again, this is a good time to check the achievement standards and the various documents provided by the NZQA on the exam itself, what's expected of students, and what the Mathematics Common Assessment Task tests students on. As always, all of these documents and resources are available in both English and Maori.
Plan Your Study Schedule and Revision Plan According to the Exam
Once you know the format of the exam and are familiar with it, you can create a study schedule for revising for the MCAT.
Use past papers to work out what you know, what you need to learn, and how long this will all take you.
Start with a diagnostic test and don't worry about the result, just do the exam as if it were the real thing. You can then mark the exam and see how you did.
The first time you do this might be disappointing, but that's the point. You want to work out exactly where you are and the work that it'll take to get the best possible results in the exam.
Familiarise Yourself with Taking the Exam
Knowing the format of the exam is one thing, knowing how it feels to sit down and do the exam is another. The more you practise taking the exam, the more you'll get a feel for how long questions take, whether you're spending too long on a question, and what answer the question is looking for.
Other than an early diagnostic test, you won't really want to sit the full exam with past papers until closer to the day of your exam. You can start by just doing parts of past papers, especially the parts that cover the areas you've been studying or revising. The closer you get to the day of your exam, the more time you should be spending doing past papers.
Mark Your Past Papers
The most important part of using past papers as a revision tool is marking them to find out where you went wrong. You need to carefully analyse your answers to see why you didn't get the right answer.
Ask yourself whether or not you really understand the question, made a mistake, or just ran out of time. If you know why you got a question wrong, then you can take steps to make sure you don't make the same mistake again.
If you didn't understand the question, look at what the question is looking for and see if this is a common question type that's appeared in the other past papers you've used.
When you get the question wrong because you don't know the answer, you might want to go back to that particular area of study and spend some more time doing these kinds of questions.
For questions you got wrong because you ran out of time or didn't even get to attempt the question, work out where you're spending too much time, the questions you could answer more quickly, or if there are any areas of the exam you should be prioritising.
Practise Makes Perfect
The more practice papers you use and do, the better you'll get at them. After all, exams test both your knowledge of said subject and your ability to do the exam.
Regular practice, ideally in exam conditions, will make you much better at taking the exam. You'd be surprised how much easier exams are when you know what's likely to be on the exam and are less nervous when taking them.
This isn't to say that past papers make you impervious to nerves, but exams are far less scary when you're used to taking the exam, know the format inside-out, and have answered questions just like these dozens of times before.
Other Ways to Study for the MCAT
Past papers are just one of the tools you can use to get the best possible results on the exam. You also need to revise what's on the exam and understand the mathematical concepts that you're being tested on.
Here are some of the other ways you can prepare for it.
Know the Maths that's on the MCAT
By looking at the Achievement Standard, you'll see exactly which mathematical concepts the MCAT tests. The title of the MCAT is “Apply algebraic procedures in solving problems” and that's what you have to know how to do.
You can look through the Achievement Standard for more details, but the MCAT includes:
- factoring
- expanding
- simplifying algebraic expressions involving exponents
- substituting values into formulae
- manipulating and simplifying expressions
- rearranging formulae
- solving linear equations
- solving quadratic equations
- solving simple equations involving exponents
- solving pairs of simultaneous linear equations with two unknowns
Books and Guides
You can find NCEA walkthroughs and guides for every subject including maths. You can also get workbooks to practise the various question types and do activities relating to what you're expected to do on the exam.
Websites
There are also websites for NCEA subjects that include the books mentioned above and guides as well as practice questions, past papers, and other useful resources.
Videos
There are plenty of videos covering and explaining NCEA subjects and exams including the MCAT. Most of these can be found for free on YouTube and can be useful if you're struggling to wrap your head around the Achievement Standard and what it really means.
Private Tutors
It can be really useful to have someone there to help you revise or prepare for the MCAT, including by using past papers.
You can find private tutors for all levels and budgets so whether you need help with maths in general, the MCAT, other NCEA subjects, or study skills, you're in luck. There are plenty of tutoring websites like ours where you just need to search for a subject or skill and where you live to find potential tutors.
Thanks to the internet, there are also plenty of tutors across New Zealand and around the world who can help you. As long as you have a decent internet connection and a webcam, you can learn with online tutors and for those on a budget, they're often more affordable than their face-to-face counterparts since they don't have to travel to each student.
A lot of students dread the Mathematical Common Assessment Task, but with the right resources and information and properly preparing for it, you'll do fine!
Enjoyed this article? Leave a rating!
Loading...
