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All of the course documents are PDF files so they can be printed easily, simply by clicking on the printer icon at the top left of the Adobe Reader frame. You will need to install Adobe Reader (which is free) on your computer if it is not already installed.

Wherever documents on the NZQA web site are mentioned below, you can access the relevant pages of that site easily using the third selection bar on the home page of this web site. The second selection bar can also be used for that purpose.

The recommended procedure for using this web site to revise for an achievement standard is as follows: Do Diagnostic Test 1 for achievement and then mark it and study the model answers for the questions you got wrong. Then click on "Book references" and do the exercise mentioned in relation to each of those questions. Alternatively, look for similar problems in a book or in past external NZQA exams or using http://www.studyit.org.nz. When you think you have mastered each skill you are revising, have another attempt at the relevant question in the diagnostic test. Then repeat the process using Diagnostic Test 2 if it is available. If you only got one or two questions wrong in the first test then you only need to do the corresponding questions in the second test. The corresponding questions in the two tests test the same skills. When you can answer all of the questions in an achievement diagnostic test correctly, you are ready to move on to the additional skills required for merit. This can be done using the same process as for achievement. Once you have mastered the skills required for achievement and merit, it is suggested that you try excellence practice questions (See below). Once you have done this or, if you think excellence is beyond your capability, it is recommended that you do past external (NZQA) exams. These are available from the NZQA web site. You can mark your answers using the model answers on this web site (if they are available) or using the assessment schedule (not to be confused with the assessment specifications) which is available on the NZQA web site. If you got any achievement questions wrong or needed to use the hints to do them then you should revise the topics concerned (using the book references document on this web site if it is available). Then do the same for any merit questions which you had difficulty with.

Some sources of excellence practice questions are

  • this web site,
  • revision books and
  • the last question in each of the past external examinations (At least part of each of those questions is usually related to excellence).

It should be noted that the diagnostic tests are designed to identify where you need to concentrate your revision. They are not, necessarily,. representative of the types of questions you are likely to get in the exam.

The final part of your revision for each achievement standard should be to do past NZQA exams. You can use the second selection bar on the home page of this web site to find hints and model answers for some of the past exams. For achievement standards for which there aren't any hints and model answers on this site, you can use the third selection bar to access past exams and assessment schedules.

It should be noted that the organisation of the 2009 mathematics exams can be expected to be considerably different from previous years. Typically, in the past, the questions at the beginning of the paper were for achievement, the last question was primarily for excellence and those in the middle were primarily for merit. That is not to be the case this year and, for that reason, you should do as much as you can of every question. Two example exams can be found on the NZQA web site. Click on "NCEA" at the top, "Find assessment documents" on the left hand side, "Subject specific resources" on the left hand side and then "Mathematics". There you will find links to two sample exams, one for AS90148 (Mathematics 1.2) and one for AS90292 (Mathematics 2.9).

After you have done everything mentioned above, you won't need luck when you sit the external exam.

You can expect to perform well.