How To Prepare for Math

It is a question that knocks the mind of every pre-engineering student " How much difficult is the ECAT Test?? Would I be able to pass the test?? How should one be preparing for it??
Let's find out the answer to this question.

What actually a difficult question is??
Anything that is hard to deal with, hard to accomplish or hard to understand is termed as difficult.
At this stage I shall say that "Difficulty" is a relative term. This is because it is possible that a question that appears difficult to you is easiest for another fellow.
Now this is the point which needs to be sorted out. Why a question is difficult for you and easy for the other guy??
Since, this article is related to Math so I shall be dealing with it.

“You are what you practice most.”

Math is such a field that needs a lot of practice. Today we know that 3!=3 x 2 x 1=6 , this is because we were taught this and we have been practicing this for a long time , now how many of us now that 0.5! = sq.root pi / 2 ??
Hardly a few of us would know this. Why is this so?? We have learnt about factorial then why we are unaware of this thing??
This is the stage where practice matters a lot. Practice does not include the written work merely. Searching the web for additional knowledge is also a part of the practice. The problem with our teens is that they are restricted to the course books only. They are unaware of the world outside. We people need a little exposure.
Now continuing with the above example, if I and u are asked about 0.5! Then for you it would be a difficult task but for me it will be easy as I have read this thing. The same thing happens in an exam, more specifically in an ECAT test. The Questions till 2010 were easy and were from the textbooks usually but the trend changed in 2011 and 2012. Now the math portion is conceptual. An ordinary student would hardly be able to solve 15/30 questions in the test. However an extra-ordinary student would be able to solve 20+ questions and hardly 1 or 2 would solve 30/30 and getting all these correct.
Those who are going to appear in ECAT 2013 should follow a quote " Think out of the Box", in simple words you can say "Think Zara hat k" :-)
I believe that Fsc books are enough for ECAT provided one knows all the concepts of the book. If you prepare textbooks then I assure you can get 25+ questions correct in ECAT which is an honor in itself ^_^
To get 30/30 you have to refresh the knowledge of the matric math ( only a few concepts ).

I'll recommend that make that much practice that makes you to learn the queries (and answers too :D). You might be thinking that this person is gone mad and other such thoughts might be making a way in your minds but I am damn serious. Let me share my experience! What I did when I was in Fsc. I bought several bundles of paper and once I get started I used to finish at-least a bundle which contains 30-40 sheets or 60-80 leaves. When I started doing much practice it took time at beginning and I used to get bored but as the time passed I started to love math, I enjoyed doing it, whenever I was free I used to solve questions. In a shot I used to finish a chapter, almost 2 months before the exams. And the condition was that after my math paper my study room was full of these practice papers and the room was spacious. Piles of registers and sheets were there. What was the result of this much practice??
The result of all this was that in my college exams I used to score 100% in almost all the tests plus in academy I became one of the strongest candidate of math I am mentioning this because after matric I wanted to study biology and wanted to become doctor but entered engineering field because my dad wanted this. With practice everything is possible and so I diverted my direction because knowing the fact that I ace in math more than bio.
Now let me tell you the condition of my Board examination. I was late in my exam but still I was happy because it was math paper. I was not entangled by any confusion or tension at all because I believed in my practice. When I was given the paper, I looked at it and sniggered and asked just this is the paper? My classmates were rumoring that the paper is tough. When I read the paper I started solving. I started from the Long questions. I did 3 of them in almost 30 minutes and got them checked too. After these I started short questions. There were 37 short questions and we were to solve 25 only. I started and solved 25 questions in almost another half hour. I inquired myself what if I solve the rest too? I started solving the rest but now with a slow speed because the required portion was complete and now I was trying to make my paper a bit beautiful ^_^
I solved the remaining 12 questions in another half an hour , and believe me I didn't stick on any question. Now I was left with two extra long questions and an hour. I tried my best to solve these two questions in slow speed but these got finished in half an hour only :/
Still there was half an hour and I was told not to leave the exam center before time. So I reviewed the whole paper within 10-15 minutes and after that I placed my paper aside and helped my college fellows in solving the paper :D
When I came out of the exam center there was a continuous smirk on my face. That was due to satisfaction. When I told my teachers that I solved the entire paper they said to me that I was the first student in their history who did this :)
That moment was one of the best moment of my life ^_^
And I had no tension for the result. I was sure to score 100/100 and the same happened.
Now about ECAT, sincerely speaking I didn't prepared math portion for ECAT or any other test. I appeared in tests of GIKI, PIEAS, NUST, ECAT and in all these I got an upper-hand due to math although I didn't prepare in those days. I took these tests in 2011. Now again in 2012 i took ECAT just for practice. In all tests I used to start from math so i followed the same trend in this test. In first attempt I solved 15/30 questions. After these i moved on solving the portion which I knew and came back to math. In second attempt I solved 10 more questions and these were now 25/30. Again I moved to the rest of portions which I left unsolved in first attempt. When I did those I was left with 5 minutes and there were 5 questions of math. I tried those and was able to solve 3 more and the time ended, So, I solved 28/30 questions even after a year and majority were at 15/30 and even the board topper solved 15 questions. When I came to know this my happiness was at its peak ^_^ .
Now when the key was uploaded i matched the answers and got 25 correct and 3 wrong.
I asked from a number of students who took the test and among those I was the top scorer in math :) This was an admiration for me, after a year I was able to score that much good. What is the reason behind this?? The practice that I did in Fsc.
And one thing to be told, I did’ not ignore other subjects. But math became my favorite so I gave more time to math.
I want you all to do this much practice so that eve after years you are able to solve the math portion.

The more you practice in sweat, the less you bleed in battle.
Start this practice right now. Just buy bundles of bundles and start from the very start and move till end. And yeah, remember in the first attempt, solve all the questions and each and every example of the book, in next attempt emit questions which are similar to others. e.g. if there are 5 questions that are similar them attempt only 3 of them. In next question solve 2 of them and in next solve 1. Now this will be stage when you'll be start learning the questions automatically. Ask you teachers to take your test once you are completed with your book, or a chapter or even with a single exercise. Keep on practicing till all the errors are omitted from your work.
Now this was the task that all do but on different scales. Let us talk about the web surfing. IF you think you have done enough practice and are able to solve all questions then move on to the web. Type a selective topic and see its questions. Now you will encounter some questions which you didn't face in the book. Try them out. If u are unable to solve then ask for the solution. And do read a few lines about the topics from the web. This will open up your box (brain) and then you would be able to think out of the box. Try this and you can be a maths-master having a grip on the entire math you have studied :-)

“Tomorrow’s victory is today’s practice.”