KEY POINTS:
As thousands of students begin sitting exams, one gives his perspective on his first.
NAME: AKASH RAMPAL
Age: 15
School: Papatoetoe High School
Exam: Level 1 maths
How do you think you went?
"I think I went pretty well - I was really good at algebra, graphs and numbers. In the other three exams [areas], I was also pretty good, not the best."
What mark do you give the exam paper: not achieved, achieved, merit or excellence? Why?
"Merit - because for the trigonometry, for the merit questions, it wasn't what I was expecting to come ... everything else was fine though."
What was the oddest question in the exam?
"There was nothing really."
What was the hardest question? Why?
"For me it was trigonometry because I didn't expect those types of questions. You had to calculate the angles of a square and the sides in the square ... I didn't study that area much."
Will you study the subject again next year?
"Yes, because I find maths interesting and it's fun."
What is your top study tip?
"Try and revise all the excellence questions that you have available, all the excellence questions you can get hold of, and try to see how you can answer them and get them right."
