Trying to memorise HSC Maths formulae can be a complete pain.
No one cares enough about all these weird letters and numbers to actually commit every single one to memory, but of course that one where you thought, ‘they’ll never examine this’ will always pop up in the exam.
So how can you memorise HSC Maths formulae without feeling like you’re just shoving letters and numbers into your brain?
Don’t sweat it! Here are the 99+ ATAR scorer’s 5 tips to memorise HSC Maths formulae!
1. Write it Out
2. Use the Units
3. Learn your Derivations
4. Keep a Personal Formula Sheet
5. Get Creative
Tip #1: Just write it out!
It’s actually shocking how much more easily you’ll retain information if you just write it out.
Don’t just read it from your textbook or Google a formula – write it out in your own notes, with your own hand.
Taking that action, rather than just passively expecting the formula to float into your brain, will help you to memorise maths formulae.
If you’re feeling extra fun, try to write in different colours – this will also help your memory retention.
Tip #2: Use the units!
This doesn’t work for 100% of formulae but when it does, it’s an extremely powerful fact check.
If there are units involved, like kilometres per hour for speed, remember the units have to be the same on both sides.
So if speed in in km/h on the left hand side of the equation, the left hand side has to be distance (in kilometres) divided by time (in hours), or some other way that makes the units match up!
It mightn’t sound all that useful, but if you have any quantities with units, you’ve got an instant way to either develop the formula from scratch, or test your ‘hmmm this looks about right, let’s give it a shot’ half-remembered formula.
Tip #3: Learn your derivations!
Don’t forget that for every formula you’ll ever see, some poor person had to spend years thinking it up, testing it and then finally proving it. Don’t let all their hard work go to waste!
If you keep yourself familiar with the derivation of a formula, you’ll find three things happen.
You’ll understand how to work with it more clearly, you’ll have less trouble remembering it and, even if you can’t quite remember it when push comes to shove, you can prove it on the spot!
Note: this can consume lots of time if it’s a complicated formula. It may be best to finish the rest of the paper first. User discretion is advised.
Tip #4: Keep a personal formula sheet
Remember in trick #1 we said to write them out?
Yeah, about that – write them out on a separate sheet of paper, not just into your notebook.
If they’re in with the rest of your notes, no matter how many highlighters you use to make them stand out, they’ll still disappear into the recesses of the book somehow.
So keep a sheet with all of your formulae, so you can refer to it quickly and easily if you need to, but hopefully you would’ve learnt to memorise maths formulae!
Discover the the different types of notes you can use in Maths in our step by step guide.
Tip #5 – Get Creative
Now that doesn’t sound very mathematical!
But engaging your creative bits can be a great a way to get more of your brain firing, and help lay down the synapses where these sorts of memories are encoded. Develop rhymes, mnemonics, anything!
In my class, our teacher made a joke out of calling the Pythagorean Identity “the mother”, which led to it being called Susan, after my own mother, which then to every single trigonometric identity having a name.
It sounds stupid, but whenever any of us needed to remember an identity, we’d think “Oh, Alice would come in handy here” or “This question clearly calls for Charlotte.”
What started as a joke turned into a very powerful memory device that all of us leaned on quite heavily – I, at least, still do to this day!
Need help getting on track with HSC Maths? Take a look at how our K-12 Tutors in Liverpool enhance student results!
So there you have it!
Your memory is a surprisingly easy beast to master, with a little bit of thought and effort.
So use these tricks to turn your hard work into smart work in order to memorise HSC Maths formulae!
Looking for extra help and support with HSC Maths?
We pride ourselves on our inspirational HSC Maths coaches and mentors!
We offer tutoring and mentoring for Years K-12 in a variety of subjects, with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or at one of our state of the art campuses in Hornsby or the Hills (for those in need of Rouse Hill tutoring)!
To find out more and get started with an inspirational tutor and mentor get in touch today!
Give us a ring on 1300 267 888, email us at [email protected] or check us out on TikTok!
Matt Saunders is a huge nerd who first got into writing through fan-fiction. He’d known science was the path for him since a young age, and after discovering a particular love of bad chemistry jokes (and chemistry too), he’s gone onto to study Forensic Chemistry at UTS. His HSC in 2014 was defined in equal parts by schoolwork and stagecraft, which left him, weirdly enough, with a love of Maths strong enough to inspire him to tutor any level, along with 7-10 Science and HSC Chemistry.
