Solutions to 2011 Prelim 1 EM Paper 2 (with markers report)

Both questions were well answered by

the students.

230
h
x

1(a)

Time taken =

1(b)

230
h
Time taken for return journey =
x
12

Common errors were not writing proper

statement or not putting unit (hours) at
the final answer.
Some pupils wrote

1(ci)

1(cii)

(wrong concept no mark for this part)

Some pupils did not know the formula

for solving the quadratic equation. Many
pupils did not find the average speed
for the return journey (x-12).

The average speed of the car for the return journey

58.6 km/h

1(d)

The petrol consumption =

Most pupils rounded off their answers to

37 litres or 3 significant figures.

Bearing of A from C =

This question was well answered.

2(a)

A number of students mistook the angle

to be
.

2(b)

Many students did not understand what

angle of depression was and hence wrote
300
tan 70.6 =
. Vertical height h was
h
defined with units so
852 and not
852m. The question asked for
vertical height and NOT the value of h,
so a statement is expected.

h
300
h = 300tan 70.6
h 852

2(c)

tan 70.6 =

The vertical height of the aircraft is 852 m.

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A handful of students could not identify

the correct angles when applying sine
rule, with many using
instead of
.

2(di)

AD
300
=
sin 30 sin110
300sin 30
AD =
sin110
AD = 159.6
AD 160 m
The distance AD is 160 m.

2(dii)

Most students could answer this part

correctly.

Time taken to reach D =

The runner reaches D at 1241.

This question was well answered by
majority of the students. Common error
was some pupils did not know what is
meant by the total amount and took
$105or $75x15 as the total amount.

The total amount payable by John

3(ai)

Let r be the rate of the installment.

3(aii)

The question was badly answered.

Majority of the students did not know
how to find the rate of the installment.
Many students take 945 or 1050 as
principle & also did not change 15
months to 1.25 years or ignored the 15
months in their calculation.

Interest for the installment = 1230-1050=$180

For bank A,

3(bi)

Amount in S$ = 500x1.266= $633

For bank B,
Amount in S$ =500x1.25=$625
0.5% of $625 = $3.125
Amount in S$ with commission= 625+10 = $635
He should visit bank A as he will pay the least
amount to buy US $500.

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Generally this question was not well

answered by the majority of the students.
Many students used the wrong exchange
rate to find their answers. (No mark is
awarded for wrong concepts). Common
error was no putting S$ sign for their
answer. And some students divided the
US$ to the exchange rate to obtain their
answer.
Those students got the correct answers
but did not round off their final answer to
2 decimal places.

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For Bank A,

3(bii)

Amount in S$ = 2500x1.243=3107.50
For Bank B,
Amount in S$ 2500x1.249 = S$3122.50
Commission = 3122.50x0.005=15.6125
Amount in S$ after the deduction of commission
= 3122.50-15.6125
= 3106.89
He should visit bank A as he will receive more
money as compare to bank B.
These two parts of the question were well
answered. A small number of students
were penalised for not writing the
squiggle.

4(ai)

Most were able to find

but did not
express it properly as shown in the last 2
lines of the solution on the left and hence
were penalized.

4(bi)

The two facts are :

4(bii)

1.

is parallel to
collinear.

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or

and

are

A number of students stated relationships

between OD and OE which was wrong as
question stated for
and
.

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2. The ratio of

is 3:4 or

.
Many failed to answer these two parts.

4(ci)

but it does not imply

and
. Hence writing this is not
acceptable.

4(cii)

5(a)

AG = 12 2 + 5 2
= 13 cm

This question was well answered. Only

few students not sure what is the volume
of prism and gave their answer

5(b)

AE = 132 + 6 2
14.3 cm

as

. Common errors was not

putting unit or give the wrong unit (cm2)

at the final answer.

5(c)

5(d)
or

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Volume of the prism = base area x height

5(e)

This question was not answered well.

Few students could not even start on this
question or relate this to the cosine rule.

6(a)

Some pupils round off their answers

during intermediate step.
Length of arc =

6(b)

Generally, both questions were well

answered by students. Few students did
not use the formula from the formula

or

sheet but use

or
6(c)

Area of sector MCDE =

6(d)

The total surface area

1
= 42.36 2 + 4 5 6 + 45 10 + 2 6 45
2
+ 10.84 45

length.

a =22, b= 5 and c = 11

This question was not well answered by

the majority of students. Many of them
not sure what is the total surface area of
the bread.
No unit or wrong unit for their final
answer.
Did not round off their final answer to 3
significant figures.
Well done for most students.

V= 3(n+1) or 3n+3

Did

1620 cm2

7(a)

7(bi)

simplify the formula eg

.
Did not specify the subject V or X , i.e.
leave answer as (i)3n-1, (ii)3(n+3).
Did not specify which figure has 26sq. ie
no final statement.

X = 3n-1

7(bii)

3(n-1)+2=26

7(ci)

to find the arc

3(n-1)=24

not

Did not use the results in (b) (as specify

in qn) to solve.

(n-1)=8
n=9
The figure 9 has twenty six squares.
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Did not show working how the number

of edges is derived.
Some did not do at all, those who did, got
all correct.

5(9) +2=47

7(cii)
8(a)

2
Red
die

8(b)

8(c)

Blue die
10
11
X
X
X
X
X
X

9
X
X
X

2
3
4
14
15
16

12
X
X
X

13
X
X
X

P (no on the blue die is greater than red die) =

Well done for most students, except

some did not specify the word.

P (blue die is greater than red die on both times)

Most could do this question.

=
=
P(blue die is greater than red die only once)

8(d)

Common mistake: consider one case, ie

answer did not multiply by 2.

=
=
9(a)
9(b)

p = 6 and q = 26

Well done for most students.

Mean =

Common mistakes:
No formula stated/no working for
both mean & standard deviation.
Some did not state unit for mean
A lot did not state unit for
standard deviation.
Used the abbrev for std dev as SD
A few have problems in rounding off to 3
sig. fig.

Standard deviation =
=

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9(c)

9(d)

Percentage that students who have to attend the

training course

Most could do this question.

P (Both of them jump beyond 6m )

Misconception:
assume with replacement

So gave answer as

87
245

There were a number of students who left

their answer as
without stating
the value of p. No marks were awarded
for such cases.
Many did not draw the graph properly
and hence could not obtain the gradient.
Acceptable range is between
to
.

10(a)

When x = 1,

10(c)

The line
must be drawn on the
graph paper. Acceptable range is
between
to
.

10(d)

Draw

From the graph,

Draw

10(e)

Many did not show the table of values. 1

mark will be deducted.

-2

-3

-2

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A significant number made careless

mistakes when manipulating the equation

1
1
( x 4 ) = ( x 3 6x 2 + 8x )
2
4
2( x 4 ) = ( x 3 6x 2 + 8x )

10(f)

x 6x + 6x + 8 = 0

10(b)

Many students failed to use a flexi curve to draw the graph. As such, the curvature was not
properly presented and the curve was not smooth. Marks were deducted for crooked curves and
curves with bad curvature. Students are advised to calculate additional points for better accuracy.
All lines and curves should be properly labelled with its equation.
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