Here are the departmental Mathematics and Maths Literacy exam papers and memos for 2011. With the final exams coming up, they are a great revision tool for learners to make sure they are ready. Good Luck!

Mathematics:

Grade 12 Maths March 2011 Paper 1

Grade 12 Maths March 2011 Paper 1 – Memo

Grade 12 Maths March 2011 Paper 2

Grade 12 Maths March 2011 Paper 2 – Memo

Mathematics Exemplar Papers:

Mathematics Grade 12 Exemplar Paper 1 June 2011

Mathematics Grade 12 Exemplar Paper 2 June 2011

Mathematics Grade 12 Exemplar Paper 1 June 2011 – Memo

Mathematics Grade 12 Exemplar Paper 2 June 2011 – Memo

Wiskunde:

Graad 12 Wiskunde Maart 2001 Vraestel 1

Graade 12 Wiskunde Maart 2011 Vraestel 1 – Memo

Graade 12 Wiskunde Maart 2011 Vraestel 2

Graad 12 Wiskunde Maart 2011 Vraestel 2 – Memo

Wiskunde Voorbeeld Eksamenvraestelle:

Wiskunde Graad 12 Voorbeeld Eksamenvraestel 1 Junie 2011

Wiskunde Graad 12 Voorbeeld Eksamenvraestel 2 Junie 2011

Wiskunde Graad 12 Voorbeeld Eksamenvraestel 1 Junie 2011 – Memo

Wiskunde graad 12 Voorbeeld Eksamenvraestel 2 Junie 2011 – Memo

Mathematical Literacy:

Grade 12 Maths Lit Paper 1 March 2011

Grade 12 Maths Lit Paper 1 March 2011 – Memo

Grade 12 Maths Lit Paper 2 March 2011

Grade 12 Maths Lit Paper 2 March 2011 – Memo

Wiskunde Geletterdheid:

Graad 12 Wiskunde Geletterdheid Maart 2011 Vraestel 1

Graad 12 Wiskunde Geletterdheid Maart 2011 Vraestel 1 – Memo

Graad 12 Wiskunde Geletterdheid Maart 2011 Vraestel 2

Graad 12 Wiskunde Geletterdheid Maart 2011 Vraestel 2 – Memo

Great news at the start of the third school term! GetSmarter, a high-touch online education company, and Teacher’s Monthly are giving away a place in the upcoming Cambridge University Press Grade 12 Mathematics course worth R5,400.

In a nutshell, this top Maths course is geared at preparing learners for the final exams and will help improve results. The course is presented online over a 12-week period and is available to any Grade 12 learner in South Africa.

As a Teacher’s Monthly reader, you can nominate ANY Grade 12 learner who you think deserves to go on this course for FREE. Bear in mind that the learner will need internet access and must be motivated about doing their best in the final maths examinations.

The learner will receive continuous proactive and personal support, and parents will receive weekly progress reports.

Course modules include:

Module 1    Logarithms
Module 2    Sequences and series
Module 3    Financial mathematics
Module 4    Relations, functions and inverses
Module 5    Calculus
Module 6    Linear programming
Module 7    Euclidean geometry
Module 8    Coordinate geometry
Module 9    Trigonometry
Module 10  Transformations
Module 11  Data handling
Module 12  Probability

Nominate someone now (if you are in Grade 12, you can nominate yourself!).

This competition closes 29 July 2011 and is only available for bonafide Grade 12 learners who are taking Mathematics.

Find out more about the course or watch the video below …

School learners spend their entire school careers working up to one final goal: passing their matric exams and ensuring a better chance at tertiary education and work in future. In recent years the matric maths pass rate has been frightening with only 30% of the candidates achieving pass marks high enough for university entrance.

Cape Town maths and science teacher, Paul Carter, who has taught at prestigious schools such as Bishops and Rondebosch Boys’ High, has teamed up with Cambridge University Press and online education company, GetSmarter, to create the Cambridge University Press Grade 12 Maths Course, which prepares learners for their final exams.

The 12-week fully supported online extra maths course gives learners the opportunity to revise the complete matric maths syllabus in time for the final exams and learn the practical skills to pass their exams and achieve higher grades. It also allows for parents to be kept up to date on children’s progress by emailing parents detailed weekly reports. The course is clearly structured, monitored and highly supported by both Carter and an administrator. Learners can test their knowledge and get prompt answers to their questions on the discussion forums.

As the course is presented entirely online through GetSmarter’s user-friendly online learning platform, learners can study whenever and wherever they are, fitting revision into a daily schedule without the disruption and hidden costs associated with tutors, afterschool classes and travelling. Achieving an excellent mark in matric maths is no easy feat but learning to work hard in school will build a strong work ethic that will be invaluable in university or working life. For more information about the Cambridge University Press Grade 12 Maths course, contact Lyndsay on 021 447 7565 or visit www.GetSmarter.co.za.

Passionate Cape Town maths and science teacher, Paul Carter, has teamed up with Cambridge University Press and South Africa’s leading online training company to create an eLearning project that he hopes will help improve the struggling matric maths pass rate. Carter feels this is the next step in his quest to make maths more accessible to those who think they can’t do it.

Of the 263,034 pupils who wrote the mathematics paper in 2010, 14% fewer than in 2009, only 47.4% of matric candidates passed the final exam, with a shockingly low 30.9% achieving the marks required for a university entrance.

When the class of 2010 received their results earlier this year, the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, said, “We are certainly not happy with the current number of passes in mathematics.” She went on to explain that the department is committed to continue investing resources and time to ensure that the quality of maths and its pass rate improve this year. Carter decided to step up and do something about the discouraging pass rates.

Speaking from his Cape Town home, Carter explained, “There is a real need in South Africa for improved maths education and I felt compelled to close the gap.” Many university faculties, especially the most popular engineering, science and commerce ones, place a heavy weighting on maths results. South Africa needs engineers, businesspeople and other skilled mathematical workers to break the cycle of poverty and improve the country’s overall welfare.

Carter has been teaching maths and science since 1997, including at two of Cape Town’s most prestigious schools, Bishops and Rondebosch Boys’ High, and has authored 15 books, including all five of the Study & Master Mathematics Study Guides. He has also written features for publications like Hip2B2.

He explained that the Cambridge University Press Grade 12 Maths course is available to all matrics throughout South Africa who have internet access and covers everything learners need to prepare for their final matric maths exam. Spanning 12 weeks and covering the entire grade 12 maths curriculum, learners are provided with a platform where revision and rich feedback is possible when teachers are on leave and even during school holidays, when the all-too-important revision process is neglected.

Learners will be able to interact online with other matrics from around the country, share ideas and advice, and confront their maths demons in the safety and anonymity of an online forum. Parents will also be able to keep track of their children’s progress with detailed weekly feedback and will eliminate commuting time to extra maths classes.

The course starts on 1 August 2011. Contact Lyndsay on 021 447 7565 or lyndsay@getsmarter.co.za, or visit www.getsmarter.co.za for more information.

Past exam papers are normally a mission to find. TestGrab, a new service launched recently by EvaluNet, offers past exam papers for download from their web site, all based on the grade 12 matric exams for South Africa.

Subjects included are:

• Accounting
• Afrikaans
• Business Studies
• CAT
• Consumer Studies
• Economics
• English
• Geography
• History
• Hospitality Studies
• IT
• Life Science
• Mathematics
• Maths Literacy
• Physical Science
• Tourism

These past papers are based on the 2010 March and November matric exams. The past papers can be accessed from the Free Stuff section of the TestGrab web site.

The replacement of the old Senior Certificate with the new National Senior Certificate (NSC) in 2008 was greeted with considerable suspicion. Once the results of the first cohort was released, various commentators speculated in the press about the standard of the examination and its associated curriculum.

In the light of this, the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) commissioned a benchmarking study undertaken by the United Kingdom’s National Agency (NARIC), which provides comparison information on international education and qualifications.

The report, published in May 2010, found that ‘the features of the NSC indicate a qualification with an underlying level that is both robust and fit for the purposes of examination senior secondary school levels’ and that ‘[i]n terms of the qualification’s comparability, the report concludes that the National Senior Certificate at Grade 12 is broadly comparable to the GCE A-S level’.

This is certainly good news and has been greeted with a generally positive response. Umalusi (the statutory body which sets and monitors standards for the GET and FET in South Africa ), stated that it is to be welcomed that this report, along with one of their own, reflects ‘positively on the new South African matric qualification’. Professor Crain Soudien, Deputy Vice Chancellor of UCT and Chairman of the IEB, said that he was ‘pleased with the outcome of the evaluation … as it re-assures South Africans that the new National Senior Certificate and its underpinning curriculum are recognized to be of an international standard by a credible organization’.

Not all, however, are convinced. In the first place, it has been pointed out that the report does not necessarily show, as the media release regarding the publication of the report that the NSC ‘shows SA’s National Senior Certificate compares favourably with international standards’: is shows only that it compares with the UK’s GCE A-S level.

Secondly, as one critic pointed out, the report is ‘misleading’ because it implies that it is a good preparation for higher education, whereas in fact the National Benchmarking Test, used by many of South Africa’s universities and universities of technology to assess prospective students, shows that there is no correlation between good marks achieved by candidates for the NSC and the success of students at university.

Thirdly, there was a great deal of scepticism about what happened during the marking process in 2008.  One can have a good standard paper, but if the marking is lenient for ‘cooked’, it can skew the results At the time, I tried to get the then-DoE to respond to some of the queries, but without success.  So I published an article entitled ‘More Questions than Answers’.  Here are some of the unanswered questions:

• The DA claimed that they had been approached by two teachers, one of whom had informed them that colleagues who were marking Maths and Science papers had been told to increase the marks of weaker Matric candidates – for example, boosting marks of 20% to 30% – which is a pass.  Is this true?
• Besides the allegations of boosting marks attained, there were also questions raised about the marking memos which seemed to favour the weaker candidates. For example, it was reported that a candidate who answered a question in History could not, in terms of the marking grid, get 0 – even if he/she had written nonsense. This is not how the official grid works. So how did this happen?  Where was the decision  made— at national, provincial, or marking centre level?  If not national or provincial, are these authorities aware of the decision?
• We were similarly informed by markers in one province that, in English Home Language, a candidate could not get below 6 out of 25 (i.e. 24%) for a setwork essay. This would mean that a candidate only actually had to get 16% in terms of real content to achieve a pass of 40% – (i.e. 6 marks’ worth of sense).  We were  also informed that, when marking the letter in the written work paper, markers were instructed to ignore the format and just mark on content. While content is the key aspect, the format is also important. This is not what the memo says. Is this true?

Many people are also concerned about the adjustments made at Umalusi level. Having experienced the process, I can say that this is misplaced concern, for the following reasons:

• Umalusi is an independent body – it does not answer to the education authorities.
• It operates within parameters (e.g. the range of adjustment that may be may be made).
• Adjustments are made according to previous norms (admittedly not really available for the first round, but there were previous norms that could serve as guidelines).
• The adjustments have been all the years – not just now – for the simple reason that one cannot guarantee that the paper is exactly of the same standard from year to year.
• Downward adjustments are also made.

In the light of the above, one can feel confident that the papers are at least on a par with the British GCE A-S level.  But is this as positive as it seems?  Besides the unanswered queries about the marking, it needs also to be noted that there are critics in the UK who maintain that the British papers have been ‘dumbed down’ – in which case, while we can take comfort that our standards are not rock bottom, we can hardly be proud to that our papers compare favourably with their papers. It is clear that much more research needs to be down before we can boast of our the high standard of our examinations and curriculum.

Malcolm Venter

The 2009 Matric results have, once again, revealed the sad state of our education system, with two out of every five who wrote failing, and with a pass rate 2% lower than in 2008. The pass rates for gateway subjects such as Maths, Science and Accounting, and the failure rate for Home Language were also alarming. We must, however, give Minister Motshekga her due – for a change, there was no ducking and diving and sensational spinning. The results also put paid to the view – often held by those who do not want believe that anything good can be done by the government (or South Africa) – that standards are dropping in order to get good results. As President Zuma put it, the drop in the pass rate was an indication of ‘the rigour of our examinations’.

The key question which arises is: Why should this be so? Various factors have been mentioned: poor (or unqualified) teachers; lack of resources; ineffective school leadership; poor socio-economic circumstances; and so on. All of these are valid and need to be addressed. However, there is one simple but vital factor which seems to have escaped the notice of analysts.

And it relates to the point made by the President – the ‘rigour of our examinations’. The National Senior Certificate (NSC) is based, in the end, on an examination system: School-based Assessment accounts for only 25% of the final mark; and even this is moderated beforehand and then, if severely out of sync with the final examination mark, is adjusted to bring it in line. Which means that, in the end, it is actually part of the exam system.

But the problem arises from the huge gap in the types of assessment between the GET and FET bands. In FET, the main emphasis is on tests and exams: the Subject Assessment Guidelines (SAGS) pay lip-service to other types of assessment. It is stated (page 1) that Continuous Assessment should use ‘various types of assessment forms, methods and tools’. But this is not reflected in the actual requirements for assessment: each subject must include two exams and two tests (out of seven for most subjects). Although it is then stated that the remaining tasks (three for most subjects) ‘should not be tests or examinations’ and that they should include such assessments as ‘debates, presentations, projects, simulations, written reports, practical tasks, performances, exhibitions and research projects’, the actual requirements per subject ignore these. In the languages, for example, all the tasks are pencil-and-paper tasks (other than the assessment of speaking the language). Similarly, in History, the SAG states that ‘the remaining three tasks should make use of different forms of assessment such as source-based writing, assignments or investigations’ – all pen-and-paper. In other words, the assessment tasks are all exam-orientated, and therefore help to prepare learners for the final NSC examination.

Not so at the GET level – one could believe that the two bands are unrelated. Here examinations are non-existent – and even tests are relegated to one of many different forms of assessment. The Assessment Guidelines (Annexure A) mention tests, but then go on to list a host of other types of assessment as equal in status. Where schools veer away from this variety, they are slammed for relying on ‘pen-and-paper tests’. The result is that learners are suddenly thrust into exam-mode in Grade 10 – and, to make matters worse – the end-of-year-exam counts 75% of the total mark.

Who would consider a sports programme which did not coach the players for the game? Who would consider producing a play without rehearsals? And yet this is what we do with our learners: for nine years, they play around with little tasks set on little pieces of work, most often in collaboration with others; and then, suddenly, in the last three years, they are expected to handle examinations which demand sitting and concentrating for a long period of time, answering demanding questions – on their own – based on large sections of work.

This is one of the reasons why the schools which have not obeyed the letter of the law and used more tests and have – skande! – set exams for learners in primary school and in Grades 8 and 9 of the high school have fared better in the final exams than those that have allowed themselves to be browbeaten my zealous bureaucrats and Whole-School evaluators.

If the Department wants to improve the matric results, then, one of the things they must do is to relegate the ‘other’ types of assessment to informal daily assessment, and to require schools to draw up an assessment programme which consists of tests, research assignments and examinations focussed on preparing learners for an end-of-year examination, from primary school upwards, which forms a major part of the overall assessment – possibly starting with 50% in primary school, and then gradually increasing to 75% in high school.