Think you can handle NCEA maths exam?

By STUART DYE

"It was three hours long and I was still writing when they said 'Put your pens down'," said Michaela Rooney, with a mixture of relief and anxiety, after finishing her maths exam yesterday.

"I think I did okay, but it was hard," said the 16-year-old Avondale College student.

"My parents would not have been able to do it."

Tens of thousands of students completed NCEA maths level 1 yesterday and, according to some at Avondale College, it remains one of the most dreaded tests.

Monique Grigg, 15, agreed with classmate Michaela that it was difficult but said her three-hours-a-day study for the past week had stood her in good stead.

But 16-year-old Schalk Nel said he found it more difficult than the practice exams.

He was also very conscious throughout of reaching the necessary standard for excellence, which added to the exam pressure.

Maths is the second biggest subject in candidate numbers, after English, with more than 90,000 students sitting a paper this year.

Yesterday's level 1 bore little resemblance to maths exams of old when one bulky booklet would contain all the questions.

The students were faced with six booklets on different subjects including, use straightforward algebraic methods and solve equations; use geometric reasoning to solve problems; and determine probabilities. Between them, the papers were worth a total of 16 credits.

Despite the different NCEA system in schools today, the problems faced by candidates seem familiar.

"I finished with 10 minutes to go and had to rush back and try to check the answers, but there were some that I just couldn't do," said Chris Williams. "No one likes exams."

Avondale College has one of the country's largest school rolls and more than 1 per cent of all the country's NCEA candidates.

Deputy principal Greg Watson said it was a huge operation for such a big school.

"However, everything is running smoothly ... so far."

Test yourself

Q1 At the Olympic Games, New Zealand has one competitor in each of the 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke and 100m butterfly. The backstroke swimmer has a probability of 0.18 of qualifying for the final. The breaststroke swimmer has a probability of 0.10 of qualifying. The butterfly swimmer has a probability of 0.28 of qualifying. What is the probability that there will be at least two New Zealanders in the finals?

Q2 Expand and simplify: (3x - 1)(2x + 5)

Q3 For the Olympic Games, silver medals are made from silver and copper in the ratio silver : copper = 37 : 3

A silver medal weighs 569 grams. Find the weight of silver in a silver medal. Answers

There are no exams today.

Answers

1) 0.08632

2) 6x2 + 13x 5.

3) 526.325 grams