Comparison of Maths Ext 2 books (2 Viewers)

[Undermyskin]

Mine uses S.Patel: I have a different view here 'cuz it's probably the better one compared to Cambridge in terms of a wide range of samples, ways of explaining problems and the the number of exercises.

Cambridge still appeals to me more tho. Don't know why, maybe because it looks better, sounds cooler? Anyway, it requires more thinkings when looking at its examples so it's a good thing tho. The types of questions are also cool, hard but not boring. I like it.

Does anyone has the '50 tips...'? It is said a lot of questions in this year paper are quite identical to those in that book! Wow. I'm hunting it now, really.

 

[jkwii]

well coroneos is good but i think u need to use it with patel (not excel!)... im wokring wid dem and finding it much easier before... btw dont work through every bloody question itll kill u..

 

[badquinton304]

Ive got Cambridge and Coroneos. I learn from both and do the excercises from both. However I do plan on buying the fitzpatrick, terry lee book and the 4u mini hscs book too, for harder questions and hsc questions.

 

[kony]

cambridge books no longer reflect the style of exam questions.

 

[Kujah]

cambridge books no longer reflect the style of exam questions.

What do you mean? As in they're inappropriate and unrealistic compared to the HSC exam questions?

 

[d1arrh0eaz]

What do you mean? As in they're inappropriate and unrealistic compared to the HSC exam questions?

like, conics, we arent required to do locus on anything but rectangular hyperbola, but terry lee + patel both have questions on them. its great practice, but not required. other stuff im not too sure abt (cambridge i cant quite remember)

 

[rooeys2]

terry lee compleletely kills my brain and i DONT feel good after doing it, although it has full solutions and all =/..still sometimes his methods take too long when theres quicker alternatives

cambridge all the way =D so wat IS the best txtbook thatl reflect exam type questions?

i admit the hsc ques are harder than txtbook questions

 

[jcurry]

I have only just started doing 4unit this term as my school was screwing me around since i was the only one wanting to do it, so i need to use several textbooks.
ATM my favourite would is Cambridge as it asks the hard questions plus the author teaches at my school
I also have the copy of Patels book and find that the solutions he/she gives are not very good and tend to skip some worked answers
I also have a copy of an Excel book but i dont know if this is considered a "textbook" as such but find that this book is helpful

 

[rooeys2]

I have only just started doing 4unit this term as my school was screwing me around since i was the only one wanting to do it, so i need to use several textbooks.
ATM my favourite would is Cambridge as it asks the hard questions plus the author teaches at my school
I also have the copy of Patels book and find that the solutions he/she gives are not very good and tend to skip some worked answers
I also have a copy of an Excel book but i dont know if this is considered a "textbook" as such but find that this book is helpful

wow ur lucky wat skoo is it btw? i dont like excel 4unit >=[

 

[jcurry]

i got to terra sancta at quakers hill

 

[gcchick]

We're using Cambridge and were also told to get Fitzpatrick from the library. However, we never use Fitzpatrick.

Cambridge, as someone has said, skips steps when they provide examples, leaving you wondering how they got there when you're stuck halfway between steps! But the questions are good, of varying difficulty and fairly fulfilling. =]

 

[Yamapi]

In my experience i found cambridge to be the best book for a large portion of subjects but yeah diffrent books diffrent sections which are decent. Well here is a list of the books i used and the topics i found them useful in

Complex numbers:
Patel (great for complex)
Cambridge
Terry Lee

Conics:
Cambridge (best book you'll ever find)
Terry Lee (if you're struggling and need worked answers)
and Fitzpatrick if you want to fuck with your mind... those questions when you get past around about 17 are ridiculous.

Integration:
Cambridge (enough said)
Terry Lee (again good guide to everything)
Coroneus (100 questions at the back do them all and you should be set)

Volumes:
TEST PAPERS
Cambridge (good for methods)
Fitzpatrick (methods are slightly diffrent)
Terry Lee
Patel
I just recommend all of them since volumes is a subject where you have to use your mind a bit more and not just solve the question but complete it in the least amount of time possible, so you have to know how to take the proper slice and what not. There are multiple methods they use and they name it diffrently i.e. washer method, cylinder method and the method where they unfold the cylinder into a rectanglular prism.

Graphs:
Terry Lee (this book is the best graphing book ever, in my opinion)
Side note. Don't make your graphs look pretty or anything aim for efficency, two straight lines label the axis and the origin mark and mark any noteworthy points.

Mechanics:
Patel(has an extraneous section)
Cambridge(slightly difficult)
Terry Lee(if you're lost)

Polynomials:
Terry Lee
Patel

Harder 3U:
Terry Lee ( i liked it cause harder 3u was my worst subject and this explained Perms and combs as well as harder binomial really well)
Cambridge (for the circles very nice circles)


All in all the 2 essential books i think you can't do without would be
Terry Lee (covers everything in full detail with worked solutions, the worked solutions were always a saviour.)

Cambridge (it'll take you a while getting used to, don't beleive all the crap that people say about how it's too difficult and dosn't cover everything in full detail. I beleived that when i first started 4u and didn't buy it until just before trials, and boy how wrong were my preconceived notions.)

The best practice you can ever get is PAST PAPERS, if you do enough of these you can beat anyone, there used to be a site where they had hundreds of papers from numeous schools but i can't find it anymore. Well good luck and if you fail your school marks dw ( i got 90 school mark and still ended up with 96 exam mark)

 

[gypo king]

cambridge is good enough for me, but sometimes the questions arnt clear enough. i reckon having both cambridge and terry lee is the way to go

 

[bell531]

We're using Cambridge and Coroneos, both are pretty good btw, but I'm thinking of getting a Terry Lee book cos i've heard his has good worked solutions. Where should i pick up a new copy?

 

[annabackwards]

We're using Cambridge and Patel at school, but my teacher gets us questions from other books if she deems it necessary.

I'm using Coroneos for Extension 1 and i used it for 2U and my only problem with it is that it doesn't have worked answers so i'm glad i'm not using it for Extension 2.

I use Excel for Extension 2 when i'm a bit lost doing homework because the fully worked answers are excellent and i like the questions there; great revision.

 

[ahhliss]

We use Fitzpatrick plus the sheets the teacher gets from various sources. If I did all those sheets and Fitzpatrick would it be enough?


Also I bought Cambridge 3U for the 3U course, should I continue doing and revising it even though I'm done with 3U? (hopefully I'm done with 3U) Harder 3U is examined in Extension 2 isn't it?

 

[Aerath]

We're using Cambridge and Coroneos, both are pretty good btw, but I'm thinking of getting a Terry Lee book cos i've heard his has good worked solutions. Where should i pick up a new copy?

Pretty much any book store.

 

[Dragonmaster262]

I'm going to start 3 unit maths in about a month but I'm worried because my school uses Maths in Focus. I've read on some other forums that it's not a good book. I'm thinking on buying Cambridge and Terry Lee. Do those books cover the entire stage 6 syllabus or only Year 12 work? I usually shop at the Mount Druitt shopping mall. Do any of you know if I can buy Terry Lee and Cambridge there?

 

[Timothy.Siu]

ok,

i think fitzpatrick is definitely the best textbook for its size. its slack to fitzpatrick if u compare books double its size!!! (especially 3unit cambridge)
so fitzpatrick is the best size to quality ratio
have fun guys

 

[kevda1st]

I dont know about you guys but while i was working through conics in flitzpatrick, i found flitzpatrick just ridiculous. Pages and pages of pointless algebra, by the end you cannot even recognise the original question was related to conics.

I found that Patel was best for conics.