FAQ

Q: What happened to Further Mathematics T (FMT)?
A: With the introduction to the new modular system in 2013, the Malaysian Examination Council (MPM) did a major change in syllabus for all the 3 Mathematics papers in STPM. The old Further Mathematics T paper is replaced by a new paper of the same name without the letter 'T'. The syllabus has changed quite a lot, with the 4 chapters of statistics removed and placed in Mathematics T, some 10 chapters remained with minor changes, and the addition of quite a lot of University level Mathematics.

Unfortunately, this syllabus only lasted for 2 years: the Malaysian Examination Council has decided that Further Mathematics will not be offered as an STPM subject anymore with effect from May 2014. Sad-nya.


Q: Do you plan to update your blog, or reorganize to suit the new syllabus?
A: No, for three reasons:

1. The subject is no longer being offered, I have no motivation to update this;
2. There are some new chapters which I have never learned before, so I might not be able to teach those chapters well. Besides, I'm a physicist, Math is not my field of expertise;
3. I hope to let this blog as an archive, so that 10 years down the road, people will see and know how the Mathematics syllabus was 10 years ago. Haha.

Q: Where could I get the syllabus for Further Mathematics (FM)?
It is no longer available at Majlis Peperiksaan Malaysia's website, but you can get both the old and new syllabus from here.


Q: What are your recommended books to study FM?
1. Gaulter, B. & Gaulter, M. (2001) Further Pure Mathematics, Oxford Press.

It covers chapters like Groups, Eigenvalues & Eigenvectors, parts of Vector Spaces & Transformation Geometry, Hyperbolic & Inverse Hyperbolic Functions, Techniques & Applications of Integration, a bit of Infinite Sequences & Series, and Differential Equations.













2. Bostock, L., Chandler, S., & Rourke, C., (2002) Further Pure Mathematics, Stanley Thornes.

This book acts as the helper for the previous one. The only important thing in this book is actually Transformation Geometry. But because the previous book is a "book of little words", This one gives the explanations.














3. Anton, H., Bivens, I., & Davis, S. (2002) Calculus, John Wiley.

You need it if you want to understand Vector-valued Functions and Partial Derivatives. I used this book for one of my undergraduate modules, by the way...













4. Rosen, K. H. (2003) Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications, McGraw-Hill.

You need this book to do Logic and Proofs, Sets & Boolean Algebras, Number Theory, Counting, Recurrence Relations, Graphs and Relations. Basically these are chapters 1 to 7. This is probably the most expensive one.












You probably noticed that I left out the chapter Plane Geometry. It is actually from the old syllabus of Maths T paper 2, I'm not sure where to get resources for this chapter though...

Q: Where can I get the past year papers for FM?

A: I have uploaded the past year papers for Further Mathematics T on my Google Drive, you can find them here. I'm not sure whether they will be of much help though, since FM is non-existent now...


Q: Does FM help in coping with Maths in universities?

A: Yes, and really a lot! That's especially if you plan to do Engineering, Physics or Mathematics. You find it faster to catch up with the syllabus after taking it in STPM. Now with this new syllabus, you will be even more awesome in university. I suggest that you go through every chapter in your free time after your STPM / A-levels while waiting to get into university, it will definitely help!


Q: I read through the past year papers. I don't understand a single thing what the questions are talking about. Is this normal?

A: That's definitely normal if you are looking at it for the first time. 

Q: Do you produce FM notes?

A: My blog is actually my own 'lecture notes' for the old syllabus. You can print them and compile them, but don't sell without my permission, haha...

Q: Where do I get more exercises on FM questions?

A: Buy the textbooks above, do all the questions in the book. If you want more, try other related university level books from libraries and etc which have similar topics.

Q: Actually who introduced and inspired you to take Further Mathematics T?

Well, it was first my initiative. I wanted to take an extra STPM subject, but it was between Geography and Further Mathematics T (FMT). Since FMT is more relevant to my studies, I decided to give it a try. I looked up on the internet and realized the horror of the subject, and was about to give up (I even wrote that in my diary).

But somehow I met this retired teacher from Chung Ling, Penang on his website. Mr Ooi Chin Wah, told me that he was willing to help me if I had any questions. So I sensed a little bit of hope, I took up the challenge, bought the books, and started self studying. It wasn't easy though, even school teachers thought I was crazy.

There were other sources of help too. ReCom.org was one place which helped me too, as I had seniors there to ask questions for help. Then there was also Ng Xin Zhao, whom I stumbled upon his blog, and found his blog helpful. He got an A for it, and it inspired me to work harder. You can also check out the Further Mathematics T Facebook Page for more help from seniors etc.


Q: Can I post questions as comments in your blog, and ask you for help to solve them?

A: Well... Not a good idea. Firstly, I seldom check my blog. Secondly, some chapters (especially the discrete maths and the statistics) I really haven't used for a long time, and had forgotten how to solve them. Maybe you should ask someone else to help...

Q: I have a question, but it is not listed here!

A: Comment below. As long as they are not irrelevant (e.g. I want coursework answers), I'll answer you, and it will be inserted into this post next time. :)