I've always enjoyed learning maths but my enjoyment has been overshadowed by the marks I've received for MX2 through the year. I remember one or two assessments during which I just felt like ripping up the paper and walking out. The best result I've ever got from a internal assessment for MX2 was 79%. People from other schools (and even people from my own school who don't do MX2) used look at this and mockingly ask what I reckoned I was going to get in the HSC. Even though I was ranked 2nd out of 22 students, I couldn't help but wonder whether I've prepared myself well enough to get a half-decent result in the HSC. A final raw assessment mark of 74/100 did not give me any security nor confidence. Prior to the HSC, from the small discussions my classmates and I had amongst ourselves, I could tell that everybody was extremely worried and nobody had any confidence whatsoever about the HSC.
However, as I began to revise and practice by doing past HSC exam papers, I realised that it was the lack of confidence itself that has held me back. For the first few past papers I did, I was getting marks in the range of 92-96/120. When I read the solution and marked my work, I found that I had actually thought of the correction solutions to a number of the questions that I hadn't attempted. Whilst doing the practice exam, I would see a quetion that looked difficult and think "Yes, maybe I should try to solve it this way" but then I'd either tell myself "No that can't work" without trying it or try once and easily give up. As I began to notice this, I made myself stop doubting my own abilities and started to make hearty progress. I did 16 years' worth of past exam papers from 1990-2006 and by the end of it I was consistently getting 115+/120
I found the confidence to just let go, do it and enjoy it. It has paid off extremely well. I got 99/100 as my HSC exam mark for MX2 - and marginally missed out on a state rank because I had a lower assessment mark. I guess the only regret here is having not done so early enough to pocket the top rank and securing control over my own assessment mark. I won't complain though.
So I guess the moral of this story is that MX2 can't destroy your confidence as long as you remain headstrong. In this case, stubbornness is not a bad quality to have. We all recognise that MX2 is a challenging course and not everybody will come out on top of it, but still give it your best shot anyway because the results will always be better than what you would otherwise get without doing so.
Good luck to you all. Work hard, but more importantly - work smart.
