Exam Overview
The Foundation and Pre-Calculus Math 10 provincial exam is a 60 question multiple choice test. There are three sections on the exam pertaining to the topics explored in this course. The first section is 12 questions long and students are not allowed to use a calculator. Once a student finishes this first section they may not return to it. The second section contains 42 multiple choice questions. The final section contains 6 problems the student must solve and record an answer for.
Students will have 2 hours to complete the exam, though an extra hour will be given if needed. There is the option to take either a paper or electronic exam. Electronic exams are more readily available and offered at more times. If you desire a paper exam it must be requested ahead of time so please alert your teacher well in advance.
Certain calculators are allowed on the exam. To make sure your calculator is one of these see the Calculator Policy. Be sure that the calculator you take into the exam is one you are familiar working with. You should be able to perform the following operations with your calculator; addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, operations with exponents, roots and trigonometric functions (sine, cosine, and tangent).
Test Taking Strategies
It is important to manage your time effectively on a multiple choice test. Ideally you want to leave the test having answered EVERY question to the best of your ability. The best way to accomplish this is to work through the test answering all the questions you are familiar with first. Skip the others. Then once you have reached the end of the test go back and look at the more difficult problems. This is a fairly straightforward process on paper exams but is a bit more tricky on the electronic exams. In the exam preparation assignments below you will be directed to try this strategy in a practice electronic exam.
On the exam you will have access to data pages containing a wealth of information, formulas, equations,and conversion factors you can use during the exam. Become familiar with the content of these pages and how to access them in an eExam.
Problem Solving Tip
When completing multiple choice tests remember that one of the answers listed is the correct one. On difficult problems you can often eliminate obviously wrong answers and then chose the best one from those that remain. If you are really stuck on a problem you can work backwards, checking each supposed solution till you find the correct one. It is best to use these strategies at the end of an exam on any problems you find really difficult. Also note that some questions may seem silly or confusing. Do your best to pick the most logical answer. Remember you want to leave the test having answered every question. You wont be marked down for wrong answers. Every answered problem, even guesses, is a possible point in your favor.
Preparation Assignments
Give yourself 4-6 weeks to complete these preparation assignments after you have completed the course work for this course. Example if you aim to take an exam on June 20th, plan to finish working through your Math resources by mid to late May.
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| Practice Exams | |||||||||||||
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First access a practice provincial exam. Select and download practice exam A or B and the answer key. Note: Practice exams M, N, R and T are only partial exams. They are good for review but will not give you a good sense of what the entire exam will be like.
Make a chart to present the questions you missed. List what mistake caused you to make that error. Example:
Submit this chart to your teacher and discuss strategies for further study. (Many may be addressed below.) |
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Next go the practice exam cite and try out an eExam. Logging into the exam requires a PEN number and session number. Do not be confused. Simply click on one of the blue options for Sample A or B and the computer will enter these fields for you. Then click submit. Once the e-Exam loads explore the format and the content. Play around till you are able to:
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| Further Study | |||||||||||||
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After you have taken one or two practice exams and analyzed your results, identify areas you need to review. Use the resources you explored this term and your SNAP or KEY study guides to review material. This may take some time so plan to spend between 2-4 weeks on this section. Many of you will have completed your course work using a home learning curriculum (Teaching Textbooks, Math U See, Saxon ...) that may present material in a different way then the provincial exam. Now is the time to pull out your study guide, either SNAP or The Key. Work through this manual in the following manner. For each section read the instructional portion. If the content is familiar try a few of the problems. If you feel confident and solve them correctly move on to the next section. When you come to a section that is more challenging or new to you spend more time and complete more problems, till you are confident with the material. Review your main math book or use the Khan Academy website for more instruction in difficult areas. Continue this pattern until you have worked through the entire study guide (SNAP or Key). |
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During your review take some time to read through two teacher version practice exams. These exams contain helpful comments for most of the problems describing the intent or rational of the problem and what it is testing. This will help you develop a sense of what a problem is asking and better enable you to solve them. There are two teacher versions to explore. |
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| Once you have reviewed, try a practice exam again and note your improvement. If you are not satisfied with your mark discuss strategies with your teacher for further review. |