April 2011

And what did everybody think of the paper?

I was suprised to see 6 by 6 matrix in the last question

 

Lol I think i turned mine into a 7x7 - my answer was technically correct - as in it did what the question said it should do.

However it was possible to do it much more efficiently - it could be done using 5 states total, just under the time pressure I couldn't see it during the exam. Thats life I guess.

Now its wait and see until the results come out

 

I though it was an easyish paper just very long and couldn't finish it. The graduation question threw me a bit as I couldn't get how to do a grouping of signs test with 1 +ve sign and 7 -ve signs. Also, the kaplan m question took me ages to do although it was easy!!!!

 

I also had a problem with the grouping of signs test as the values did not appear in the tables and it was necessary to calculate the statistics via the formula given....


Did you compute the 6 by 6 matrix (stationary distribution) in the last question? It was so much calculations and I wish I have stated with that question...

It seemed to me that I've spent too much time describing lots of answers and time was pressing me too much in the end...

 

how was it 7 by 7?

 

The last question needed 5 states only to be markov. Only one of the 4 states needed splitting into two states.

 

Yeah, I also only needed to split one state up... other than that the rules made no difference to the other states

Not sure if it's just me but the papers still don't seem to be on the site!?! Even though they're supposed to be there from the week beginning 2 May (and it's 3 May in some parts of the world now)

 

overall i thought that this was the friendliest ct4 paper that i have seen, however i found some of the questions very time consuming and somehow found myself with only 30 mins for the last two monster questions.

i did manage to get a 5x5 matrix for the last bit but managed to mess up all of the rest of that question due to time pressure and panic

guess i need to sort out my exam technique in time for the resit huh?

did anyone else struggle with time pressure on this paper? any tips that you guys may have on general exam technique for the CT exams would be greatly appreciated... what works for you guys?

 

My usual strategy is to ease into the exam with a simple bookwork question or two, and gain easy, quick marks. Then I try to tackle the last question and work backwards. This way, I tackle the harder, longer stuff when I'm most awake and less tired or brain drained... and if I have to rush at the end, it will be much easier to rush through 4 or 5 shorter questions than 1 to 2 long, tough ones which (by their mere size) can intimidate you and make you panic! Of course, I'm not rigid in this way, and will skip a question if it's problematic initially only to return to it later. The danger in this approach is that it's possible to overlook or miss out a question or, in your rush, forget to come back to a question you have left out initially.

 

I guess different strategies work for different people. Normally I just start with quesction 1 and work forward with the questions I can do, being careful not to waste time with a question whose answer I'll reallu need to rack my brain to almost get to, so normally I leave this questions out, hoping to come to them in the end.
But even with this strategy in this exam I never got to the last question though I know I wldav had a pretty fine attemp at it were it not for lack of time.
I dont think I would rate this paper as an easy one, nay... Having missed all the 19 marks worth of the last question, I hope the passmark falls below 60

 

Ha! I passed! CT4, take that!!! Cheers

 

Congrats
I also made it - despite my 7 by 7 abomination - however that was the only part of the paper i did something fundamentally wrong so I think i deserved the pass

 

Me too cleared CT4...and CT2 as well