20

014
Examination
n
Report
2014 Further Mathemaatics GA 2:
2 Examination 1

GENERA
AL COM
MMENTS
The majorityy of students were
w generallyy well prepared for the 20144 Further Mathhematics exam
mination 1.

SPECIFIIC INFOR
RMATIO
ON
The tables b
below indicatee the percenttage of studen
nts who chosee each option. The correctt answer is sh
haded.

The statisticss in this reportt may be subjeect to roundin

ng errors resultting in a total less than 100 per cent.

Section A
Core: Daata analyssis
% No
Question %A %B %C %D %E Answer
1 3 85 4 1 7 0
2 1 8 10 76
6 4 1
3 2 9 86 2 1 0
4 1 12 52 29
9 5 0
5 1 95 2 1 1 0
6 37 30 4 4 25 0
7 7 6 77 5 5 0
8 8 1 24 39
9 28 0
9 12 58 10 11 8 1
10 6 6 5 6 77 0
11 6 13 4 3 73 0
12 26 9 30 32
2 3 0
13 7 11 37 30
0 14 0

The Core secction was geneerally well ansswered. Studeents performedd well on quesstions that reqquired a routinne application
of a skill in a familiar circuumstance; how
wever, they sttruggled with the graphical location of medians
m (Questtion 13).

Students perfformed less well

w on questioons that requirred deeper connceptual underrstanding to obtain
o an answ
wer. This was
clear in Quesstions 4 and 8, both of whicch required moore than a supperficial underrstanding of thhe differences between
categorical aand numerical variables.

Question 4
In Question 4 students werre asked to ideentify the num mber of categoorical variablees in a data sett. There were three:
t sex,
type of car annd postcode (ooption D); how wever, the maajority of studeents did not ch
hoose this opttion. Most stuudents decidedd
that there weere only two caategorical varriables (optionn C), possibly rejecting posttcode becausee its data valuees were
numbers. Posstcodes are nuumbers, as aree phone numbeers. However,, in both casess, these numbeers only servee as
identifiers. T
They have no other
o numerical properties. If students aree in doubt abo out classifying
g a variable ass categorical
or numerical, they should ask, ‘Does it makem sense to t answer is ‘No’, the
o calculate thee mean of this variable?’ If the
variable is caategorical. Forr postcodes, thhe answer is ‘N
No’.

Question 6
In Question 66, students weere asked to match
m a box ploot to a given dot
d plot. An innitial inspectioon of the dot plot
p indicated
that there migght be up to th
hree outliers. However,
H by using the infoormation in thee plots to locaate the upper fence
f
(Q3 + 1.5  IQR
I = 50 + 1.5  20 = 80), it was clear th o these pointss could be regarded as outliers, making
hat only two of
option A the correct answeer. The majoriity of studentss chose one off the two optioons showing th hree outliers, options that
could have been eliminated by making a quick estimaation of the loocation of the outer
o fence.

Question 8
An understannding of typess of variables wasw also requuired to answerr Question 8. The key to annswering this qquestion was
to recognise that the type ofo variable plaays a role in chhoosing an apppropriate stattistical plot whhen displayingg data. Of the
plots listed inn this question
n, only a backk-to-back stem
m plot was suittable for displaaying the assoociation betweeen a car’s
speed (a num merical variablle) and the sexx of the driverr (a categoricaal variable withh two categorries). A paralleel box plot
would also have
h been apprropriate, but was
w not given as an option.

Further Maths 1 GA 2 Exam © VICTORIAN CURRICULUM AND

A ASSESSME
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Question 12
In Question 112 students were asked to determine
d the percentage
p byy which an acttual sales figuure would channge when the
seasonal indeex is 1.25. Few
w students ansswered this quuestion correcctly. The majority of studentts chose one of
o the two
options with a 25% in the answer. This was not a queestion that couuld be answereed by inspection and a calcuulation was
required.

mula sheet:
From the form

actuual figure
seasonal inddex =
deseasonnalised figuree

Making the ddeseasonalisedd sales the subbject of the forrmula:

acctual figure
deseasonalissed figure
seaasonal index

Here, SI = 1..25, so

acctual figure
deseasonalissed figure =  0.80  actual figure
1.25

Thus, to obtaain the deseasoonalised saless for summer, the actual salees figure mustt be decreasedd by 20%.

Module 11: Numbeer pattern

ns
% Noo
Question %A %B %C %D %E
Answ
wer
1 99 1 0 0 0 0
2 9 2 85 2 1 0
3 5 19 5 677 5 0
4 8 2 9 6 75 0
5 6 63 10 166 4 1
6 2 2 15 6 74 0
7 6 11 42 199 21 0
8 23 40 11 11 13 0
9 10 17 17 444 12 1

The questionns in Module 1:

1 Number pattterns were veery well answeered. Studentss performed well
w on questioons that
required a routine applicattion of arithmeetic and geommetric sequences in familiar circumstancees. Students deemonstrated a
general comppetence with difference
d equuations and theeir applicationns.

Question 7
The questionn stated that thhe first two terrms in a Fibonnacci-related sequence
s weree p and q. Thee question requuired studentss
to find the diifference in vaalue between tthe fourth andd fifth terms inn terms of p annd q.
A straightforrward way to answer
a this quuestion was too form a table and use the baasic property of a Fibonaccci-related
sequence to ggenerate the first
fi five termss of this sequeence. For exam
mple:
term numberr 1 2 3 4 5
value p q p+q p + 2q
q 2p + 3q
Thus, the diffference betweeen the fourth and fifth term
ms is 2p + 3q – (p + 2q) = p + q, which coorresponded too option C.

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Module 22: Geomeetry and trigonome

t etry
% Noo
Question %A %B %C %D %E
Answeer
1 5 83 8 1 2 0
2 2 2 90 4 1 0
3 6 4 5 822 2 0
4 15 17 49 155 3 1
5 10 11 6 677 4 1
6 16 14 14 122 43 1
7 57 8 4 144 17 1
8 8 69 8 122 1 1
9 9 25 26 333 6 1
The questionns in Module 2: 2 Geometry and
a trigonomeetry were veryy well answereed. Students werew generallyy correct in
answering quuestions that required
r a routtine applicatioon of geometriic and trigono
ometric techniques in a rangge of contexts
including thee use of bearinngs.

Question 9
Many studennts struggled too correctly annswer Questionn 9, which invvolved the scaaling of surfacce areas. The task in
Question 9 was
w to determiine the surfacee area of the middle
m sectionn of a cone, givven that the suurface area off the top
section was 1180 cm2.

One solutionn strategy was to use scalingg to first find the

t total surfacce area of the middle and toop sections coombined. The
surface area oof the top secttion could theen be subtracteed to find the shaded area.

SA middle + top = 180 (15/9)2 = 500 cm2

SA middle = SA
A middle + top– SA
A middle

= (5500 –180) cm2 = 320 cm2 (ooption D)

Module 33: Graphs and relaations

% Noo
Question %A %B %C %D %E
Answer
1 4 81 12 2 1 0
2 19 5 18 7 50 0
3 3 14 7 74
4 1 0
4 9 68 7 7 9 0
5 65 8 11 11 5 0
6 2 4 7 75
5 11 1
7 3 64 15 11 6 0
8 11 55 13 13
3 7 1
9 17 12 45 7 19 1

The majorityy of questions in Module 3 were

w very welll answered.

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Module 44: Busineess-related

d mathem
matics
% Noo
Question %A %B %C %D %E
Answer
1 1 9 4 85
5 1 0
2 20 10 59 4 7 0
3 8 16 57 13
3 5 1
4 3 2 6 7 83 0
5 8 9 76 5 2 1
6 23 18 17 36
6 5 1
7 10 55 20 5 9 1
8 6 13 12 57
7 10 1
9 5 13 10 53
3 18 1

Student perfoormance on Module

M 4: Busiiness-related mathematics
m w similar too the performaance of studennts in other
was
modules. Stuudents generallly performed well on questtions that requuired the routinne applicationn of percentagge change, the
principles off simple and coompound inteerest, and straight line/flat raate and reduciing balance deepreciation. Questions
Q that
required the rroutine appliccation of a finaancial solver for
f solution were
w also well answered.

Students struuggled with thhe calculation of effective innterest and shoowed a poor understanding
u of how intereest is
calculated at each stage in a reducing baalance loan.
Question 6
The majorityy of students did
d not correcttly answer thiss question on determining an
a effective in
nterest rate.
Calculating aan effective innterest problem
m is a two-stepp process.
Step 1 involvved calculating
g the flat rate of interest.
interest paid = total amoun mount owed = 61  80 – 10000 = $1080 = $80
nt repaid – am

 intereest paid   80 
flat rate of innterest ( rf ) =    100     100  16%
 amount owedd  time in yearss   10000  0.5 
Step 2 involvved converting
g this flat rate of interest intto an effectivee rate of intereest.
For n paymennts,
 2n  26
effective interest =    rf    16  27.422 ...% (option D)
 n 1   6 1 
Question 9
Question 9 asked students to calculate thhe amount of the final paym
ment for a reduucing balancee loan.
Again, this w
was a two-stepp problem.
Step 1 involvved calculating
g the future vaalue of the loaan after 47 payyments.
Using a finanncial solver, th
his amount is found to be $802.39...
Step 2 requirred adding a month’s
m interest to this amouunt to find thee final paymennt.
 4.75 
final paymennt = 802.3911.... + 802.3911...    = $805.57 to the nearest cent (option E)
E
 12  100
0
While most sstudents couldd correctly usee their financiaal solver to finnd the amountt still owed affter the secondd last
payment hadd been made ($$802.39), theyy apparently failed
fa to realisee that this amoount would atttract interest during
d the
last month off the loan.

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Module 55: Networrks and decision

d mathemati
m ics
% Noo
Question %A %B %C %D %E
Answer
1 1 10 1 87
7 1 0
2 11 0 0 88 0 0
3 2 2 75 19
9 2 0
4 59 3 22 10
0 6 0
5 84 5 3 3 5 0
6 3 69 15 10
0 4 0
7 58 10 15 10
0 7 0
8 12 12 17 18 40 0
9 4 39 9 23
3 24 0

Questions in the Networkss and decisionn mathematics module weree generally verry well answeered, with the notable
n
exceptions off Questions 7 and 9.

Students gennerally perform

med well on quuestions that required
r knowwledge of the general
g properrties of graphss, and
eulerian and hamiltonian paths
p and circuuits. They werre also generaally able to sollve problems involving
i the application
of Prim’s alggorithm and deetermining thee shortest pathh by inspectionn.

Students struuggled with recognising a pllanar graph when

w drawn in non-planar foorm (Questionn 7) and correcctly
identifying thhe minimum cut
c in a practiccal flow probllem with moree than one sou
urce (Question
n 9).

Question 7
In this questiion, students were
w given fouur graphs and asked how many m were plannar; however, few students answered
correctly (opption E, 4). Thhe majority of students chosse option A, 0.. This suggestts that most stuudents were unaware
u that
intersecting edges
e in a grap
ph do not autoomatically preeclude the graaph from beingg planar.

Question 9
This questionn assessed thee implicit assuumption made about the prooperties of min
nimum cut whhen applying thhe minimum
cut/maximum m flow theorem m, but many students
s did not
n answer corrrectly.

A flow netwoork with two sources

s (two ccar parks) and
d a single sinkk (the exit) wass provided. While
W Cut C haad the
minimum cappacity, neitherr it nor Cut A separated botth sources (carr parks) from the sink. Thuus, neither of thhese cuts
could be usedd to determinee the minimumm flow. Of thee three cuts thhat did separatte both sources from the sinnk, Cut D had
the minimumm capacity and d hence determmined the maxximum flow.

Module 66: Matricces

% Noo
Question %A %B %C %D %E
Answer
1 92 1 0 1 5 0
2 2 80 12 5 1 0
3 11 68 7 8 5 1
4 10 2 77 2 9 0
5 10 5 69 8 8 0
6 16 17 7 16
6 42 2
7 15 6 3 64
4 12 1
8 11 9 10 8 60 1
9 14 17 40 19
9 11 1

The majorityy of questions in Module 6: Matrices werre generally veery well answered.

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