Aga Khan University Examination Board

Notes from E-Marking Center on SSC II General Mathematics Examination May 2014

Introduction
This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of SSC Part II (Class X)
General Mathematics. It contains comments on candidates’ responses to the 2014 Secondary
School Certificate (SSC-II) Examination, indicating the quality of the responses and highlighting
their relative strengths and weaknesses.

General Comments

This report includes overall comments on students’ performance on every question and some
specific examples of students’ responses which support the mentioned comments. Please note
that the descriptive comments represent an overall perception of the better and weaker responses
as gathered from the e-marking session. Whereas, the candidates’ responses shared in this
document represent some specific example(s) of the mentioned comments.

Teachers and candidates should be aware that examiners may ask questions that address the
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) in a manner that require candidates to respond by integrating
knowledge, understanding and application skills they have developed during the course of study.
Candidates are advised to read and comprehend each question carefully before writing the
response to fulfil the demand of the question.

This year an improvement in overall performance of the candidates is observed. However weaker
responses revealed that candidates had problems with the multiplication and division of algebraic
expressions and application of algebraic formulae to solve related problems.

Question 1

Detailed Comments

Question 1a(i)

Better responses displayed that candidates had a clear understanding of algebraic operations and
application of the formulae to simplify the given algebraic expressions. One such response is
shown below:

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Weaker responses exhibited that candidates either wrote erroneous formulae or made mistake in
cancellation of the factors. Some of the candidates did not convert the division sign into the
multiplication sign resulting in the wrong result. For example see the following response:

Question 1a(ii)

Better responses showed that candidates were clear about the concept of rationalizing, the
denominator and usage of formula for simplification to get the right answer. For example see the
following response:

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Weaker responses indicated that candidates squared the denominators to rationalize it, instead of
multiplying and dividing the denominator by its conjugate. In some responses candidates added
1
the value of x and which was not required in the question. One such response is as follows:
x

Question 1b

Better responses indicated that the students were proficient at solving problems related to the
formulae (a + b)2 and (a − b )2 . They found the correct value of a- b by using the required
formulae. For example see the following response:

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Weaker responses displayed that candidates were able to write the formulae correctly but were
unable to apply the formulae appropriately in order to find the value of a-b. One such response
is shown below:

Question 2

Question 2a

Better responses indicated that candidates were well-versed with the process of factorization of
cubic polynomials. They not only used the given factor but also used the long division method to
find the second degree polynomial. In the end, they used breaking of middle term to complete the
factorization process. For example see the following response:

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 Weaker responses displayed that the candidates did not have a clear understanding of
factorization of cubic polynomials hence they were unable to solve the given problem. Many of
the candidates were unable to perform the long division method and made different sorts of
mistakes in the process.

In some cases, the candidates proved that x-2 is the factor of the given polynomial which was
already given in the question. One such example is given below.

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Question 2b(i)

Better responses informed the correct use of the formula to accomplish the required
factorization.

This is shown in the response below:

Weaker responses displayed that candidates wrote the formula correctly but were unable to write
the given expression in the form of formula and subsequently were unable to complete the
factorization process. One such responses is shown below.

Question 2b(ii)

Better responses showed clear understanding of the concept of zeros of polynomial. They
correctly substituted the given values in the expression to accomplish the required verification.
For example see the following response.

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Weaker responses indicated candidates’ lack of knowledge about the zero of polynomials and
thus made various types of mistakes. One of the examples is shown below:

Question 3

Question 3a

Better responses indicated that candidates had a clear understanding of algebraic operations and
application of formulae to simplify algebraic expressions. One such response is shown below:

Weaker responses showed that the candidates were either unable to take xy common from the
denominator or they made mistake in the application of the formula ( x − y )( x + y ) = x 2 − y 2 ,
which resulted in the erroneous solution of the question.

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Question 3b(i)

Better responses displayed that candidates either deployed factorization method or long division
method. They followed the steps systematically to avoid any mistakes. In using factorization
method they used the breaking of middle term or formula to get the factors and then to calculate
square root of the given algebraic expression. One of the responses is as follows:

Weaker responses revealed various types of mistakes in division methods. These mistakes were
specifically seen in the proper use of signs. In factorization method the responses exhibited that
candidates had failed to factorize the expression and as result they were unable to calculate the
square root of the given algebraic expression. Some of the responses also showed the mistakes in
calculating the square root of the expression. One such response is as follows:

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Question 3b(ii)

This question carried a credit of one mark and it was generally a well attempted question.

Question 4

Question 4(i)

Better responses showed that the candidates had a clear understanding of liner equations and
their solution. They shifted the constants on one side of the equation and found the value of the
variable correctly. One of the examples of better responses is as follows:

Weaker responses displayed that candidates made mistakes while shifting the constants to the
right hand side of the equation. One such example is shown below:

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Question 4(ii)

Better responses indicated that the students were competent in solving problems related to
solution set of inequality and its representation on number line. Similarly they used the
mathematical operations of inequality correctly and have found the solution set in set builder
notation. They also managed to represent the solution set on the number line. See one of the
responses in the following example:

Weaker responses displayed that candidates made mistakes in multiplication of inequality by

negative sign to find the value of x. They also made mistakes in writing the solution set and
subsequently made mistake in representing the solution set on the number line. For example see
the response given below:

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Question 5a

Better responses indicated that the candidates were skilled in solving the quadratic equation by
factorization method or quadratic formula method. One example of a better response is shown
below:

Weaker responses revealed that candidates made mistakes in breaking the middle term. These
include sign and factorization errors. In using quadratic formula method the mistakes were seen
either in identifying the values of a, b and c or in the wrong substitution of these values in the
quadratic formula. In solving quadratic formula the hierarchy of mathematical operations was
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disregarded by the candidates. Even mistakes are observed in finding the square root of the
discriminant. One such response is as follows:

Question 5b

Better responses showed that the candidates followed all the steps involved in the method of
completing square systematically and solved the given quadratic equation. One of the responses
is given below:

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Weaker responses informed that the candidates solved the question by using factorization
method or formula method, instead of using the method asked, therefore no credit was awarded
to such responses. Other responses indicated the fact that candidates were not fully aware of the
procedure of completing the square method and they made different kinds of mistakes during
the process.

One such response is shown below:

Question 6

Question 6a

Better responses exhibited that candidates had a clear understanding of the operations on
matrices and were therefore able to solve the question correctly. The candidates aptly performed
the addition, subtraction and scalar multiplication of matrices to find the value of matrix X. One
such response is
given below.

Weaker responses revealed that the candidates’ knowledge is below par regarding matrices
operations. Some of the candidates made mistakes in the scalar multiplication of the matrices and
assumed the value of X to solve the question. See the response below:

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Question 6b

Better responses indicated that candidates had a sound knowledge of various concepts of
matrices i.e. additive inverse, transpose of a matrix, determinant of a matrix, additive identity
and multiplicative identity. See response belows:

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Weaker responses reported that the candidates made mistakes in writing the different quantities
related to the matrices. See response below:

Question 7

Better responses displayed that candidates had a good understanding of the theorems which were
used in the following question. They used the concepts of interior and exterior angles, adjacent
angles and vertically opposite angles aptly to find the value of the missing angles in the diagram.
One such response is shown below:

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Weaker responses informed that the candidates were unable to grasp most of the concepts
embedded in the given problem. Consequently, they could not find the required values. However
most of them managed to calculate the value of a. one of the examples of such responses is given
below:

Question 8

Better responses indicated that the candidates were adept at drawing the triangle. They also
skillfully executed the process of drawing the angle bisectors to prove that the angle bisectors
are concurrent. One such example is given below:

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Weaker responses displayed that candidates were able to draw the equilateral triangle but failed
to draw the angle bisectors to prove their concurrency. One such response is given below:

Question 9

Better responses informed that the candidates were able to find the area of the compound figure
by breaking the figure into the simple geometrical figures (circle and square) and then added the
area of the semicircle to the area of square. In the end they divided the area by 2 to get the area
of the shaded portion. One such response is given below.

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Weaker responses displayed that the candidates divided the compound figures in to the simple
figure but calculated the area incorrectly resulting in a loss of marks. One such example is given
below:

Question 10

Better responses showed that the candidates applied the distance formula between two points to
calculate the measurement of the three sides of the given triangle. And based on the length of the
sides they accomplished the required proof. One such response is shown below:

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Weaker responses revealed that the candidates had inaccurately applied the distance formula and
subsequently were unable to prove the required result. For example see the following response:

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