Structure and calculation common mistakes

Common mistakes

• Powers and roots common mistake 1

  Writing a final answer without showing the method that justifies it. This can weaken answers for: [Foundation and Higher] Recognise powers of 2, 3, 4 and 5 and estimate powers and roots of positive numbers..

  Fix itShow the method first, then give the final answer in the required form. Apply this directly to Powers and roots.

• Indices and roots common mistake 1

  Writing a final answer without showing the method that justifies it. This can weaken answers for: [Foundation and Higher] Calculate with roots and integer indices..

  Fix itShow the method first, then give the final answer in the required form. Apply this directly to Indices and roots.

• Indices and roots common mistake 1

  Writing a final answer without showing the method that justifies it. This can weaken answers for: [Higher only] Calculate with fractional indices..

  Fix itShow the method first, then give the final answer in the required form. Apply this directly to Indices and roots.

• Exact calculation common mistake 1

  Writing a final answer without showing the method that justifies it. This can weaken answers for: [Foundation and Higher] Calculate exactly with fractions and exact multiples of pi..

  Fix itShow the method first, then give the final answer in the required form. Apply this directly to Exact calculation.

• Exact calculation common mistake 1

  Writing a final answer without showing the method that justifies it. This can weaken answers for: [Higher only] Calculate exactly with surds, simplify surd expressions involving squares and rationalise denominators..

  Fix itShow the method first, then give the final answer in the required form. Apply this directly to Exact calculation.

• Standard form common mistake 1

  Writing a final answer without showing the method that justifies it. This can weaken answers for: [Foundation and Higher] Calculate with and interpret standard form A x 10^n, where 1 <= A < 10 and n is an integer..

  Fix itShow the method first, then give the final answer in the required form. Apply this directly to Standard form.

• Standard form common mistake 1

  Writing a final answer without showing the method that justifies it. This can weaken answers for: [Foundation and Higher] Interpret calculator displays involving standard form..

  Fix itShow the method first, then give the final answer in the required form. Apply this directly to Standard form.