As of the 12th of September, 2023, several of our Year 11 MTA students have sat their very first exam. A gruelling, long hour of quadratics and mind-boggling word problems. In the hour of hardcore thinking, pen scraping and tear-streaked faces, some students were left feeling uneasy and queasy. What’s worse? A full day of learning afterwards, and exchanging of “I got this-” and “How on earth did you get that?!”, leaving students feeling more on edge than they had before. At least there is a large gap between the exam and the results…four long months.
For any of those students who do not know what the MCAT is, or were not aware that it occurred, (like my friends), the MCAT is one of the three exams students taking MTA (Mathematics with Algebra) have to sit. It is an exam purely based on algebra, using skills and tricks to answer tricky questions designed to make even the brightest students weep. We have been studying this topic since the beginning of Term 3, having spent gruelling hours studying at home and many, many boring lessons in class. (Sorry Mr Jupp).
“Stupid. Just Stupid,” said one of the many students who had to sit the exam at 8:15am on that fateful Tuesday morning. “I found it reasonable,” countered Mr Jupp, a strong enthusiast of algebra. Mr Jupp has been a strong supporter of his MTA classes, encouraging them to always strive for Merit. The question is…how confident are the students after the MCAT? I looked among my peers after the MCAT and all I saw was fear. I personally felt tears spring to my eyes at least twice during the exam. “Why won’t this factorise?!”
“The derived grade was easier” complained a student, unhappy with the difficulty of the actual exam. “Headache-inducing,” a student said with a tired expression. “I enjoyed the exam. It was slightly different to what we learned in class so it took time to adapt, but was still do-able and quite easy when applying the same thinking and strategies. I like exams in general so it was lots of fun. It made me excited for exams at the end of the year,” yet another student added. Another student simply commented “AHHH!”, when asked his opinions on the MCAT. “The test wasn’t bad, just confusing. I found it kinda easy,” commented another, making me question my very way of thinking. With all these different opinions, who is to say which of them was right? Was the MCAT difficult? Or was it easy?
“It is a matter of an individual’s mathematical strengths. Their ability to apply skills to new questions,” said one of the Math teachers. “The 2023 exam I feel had a good variety of questions that tested the algebraic skills that students need to know. There were a number of challenging questions to test high-end thinking, as well as appropriate entry-level ones quite similar to problems seen before. Overall, I felt it was a fair and reasonable test”. Suffice it to say, with all these comments from students and the teachers playing neutral, we can assume the level of difficulty from the MCAT was a matter of the person, their strengths, and how confident they are in their mathematical abilities.
The MCAT was do-able, and to all those people thinking they failed or are second guessing themselves, judging from these comments it is fair to say you did well. I personally found the MCAT to be a slight challenge to what I had studied, but found some of the questions recognisable and familiar. I assume this would be the case with most individuals, and judging from the comments I have heard from other students, I feel most would agree with me.
To all the students that completed the MCAT, congratulations. I wish you all the best. And to the teachers, thank you for all your support and kindness during this time. Thank you to Mr Jupp, my Maths teacher, who made me push myself to strive for Merit. Even when my brain hurt and an Achieved sounded so much better. A special thanks to the tutors who stayed behind after school to help us as well. All your work is greatly appreciated, and I, among others, thank you all for that.
We can all leave this nightmarish experience feeling lighter, the weight of the big algebra exam lifted off our shoulders. We have learnt valuable lessons about how the exams work, which will undoubtedly allow us to feel more prepared and confident for our other externals at the end of the year. We are out of the woods…for now.
Ashleigh Jordaan – Year 11
