Sunday, July 23, 2006

H1, H2, H3 syllabus fo A level mathematics

As you'd have known by now, A level syallbus for Mathematics has been revamped. There is no longer any mechanics in A level math. In short, H1 Syallbus is for people who only need math for certain areas of application besides engineering. H2 is mainly concerned with science and engineering applications, while H3 is for research and varsity mathematics.

The outlines of the new syllabus can be found here:
H1
H2
H3

Interestingly, H3 syllabus consists of Geometry, ODE, Graph Theory and Combinatorics. Geometry is similar to the NUS course "Geometry: From ancient to modern", where one learns Ceva's and Menelaus' theorem. Furthermore, H3 exam questions will consist of proving statements given.

H2 syallbus is, in my opinion, Maths C plus a quarter of Further Maths. There is no longer any mechanics section, and even the statistics portion is reduced. Most notably, one is no longer expected to derive continous random variables, and t-test involving difference of 2 sample means is no longer included. The strange thing about the syallbus is that partial fractions is not mentioned at all. However, one would still need to use techniques involving the latter to do other topics such as series and integration.

The use of graphing calculators reduces the workload of the student. There will not be much questions on curve sketching, but rather more on questions on the behaviour of a function. For instance, finding asymptotes. Finding the inverse of 3x3 matrices is done by the calculator as well, and hence solving a system of 3 linear equations would not require one to use row operations anymore.

TAFN

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