u/Jamiebaek

YES. But IF.

(A very big fat IF)

IF you consciously calibrate your aim to train your thinking, NOT to do more past papers for the sake of it.

Well what do you mean by training your thinking? How do you do that?

After several(closer to countless) stupendous trials and error for this, it came down to this one thing for me personally. I think this works best.

STEP 1: JUST DO IT
Just read the question and solve it what feels intuitive and instant for you first.

- the goal here is not to get it perfect, the goal is actually the complete opposite. It’s to fail, as this erroneous thought process of yours is the raw material for what you want to fix later on.
- In fact, the more wrong and awful you are, it’s quite better in that the juxtaposed difference between a good model answer and your answer will be more starkly polarised.

STEP 2: COMPARTMENTALISE and ARTICULATE THE THOUGHT PROCESS
After solving it your way, journal your thought process on why it was obvious for you. So VERBALLY ARTICULATE why you thought this was natural for you.

E.g) after seeing a f/g, I immediately used quotient rule because this is
(I’m getting ahead of myself but it’s sometimes the case that you need to read between the lines)

STEP3: COMPARE AND CONTRAST ( this is the real stuff, the whole point of step 1 and 2 was to do this as here is where you actually fix yourself)
Juxtapose your mathematical chain of reasoning and the model answer’s chain of reasoning. ( Guys this is how you do Proper Maths)

- What thought process did I not write out that the model answer did ( So identify the nominal differences first)

- Now the real shxt. WHY.

WHY.

Why did I not think of this certain expression. And why did the model answer think of this.

E.g.) I thought when they ask differentiation of f/g you should just do differentiation first. But the model answer has a preceding step of simplification first!

Okay so WHY. Why is doing simplification first the obvious step. -> Because simplification can lower the exponent of f/g thus we don’t need to use quotient rule.

BOOM. So that leads to…

STEP 4. EXTRACT A REVELATION
What is the new reaction circuit that I will pick up from this question? What is the tool I am equipping myself with with this question?
(Think of it like picking up a new diamond sword in Minecraft sorry guys I don’t play Minecraft)

Okay so I know from step 3 that my thought process was a detour and I also now know why.
Now we have to extract/juice out the general rule.

E.g) okay so even IF we see nominally that a quotient rule differentiation is POSSIBLE. That does not mean we should. Hence what is the extracted juice(I’m awful at analogies give me a break I’m Korean lol)
-> Even if a possible method of differentiation is obvious, hold up. Wait. There MIGHT just be a more efficient method.

STEP 5:PUT THE REPS IN
Soo this is the final step that I used to skip but this is like you ACTIVELY training your THOUGHT process.( Yh let me stick to that diamond sword analogy so now we are practicing to use that sword)
Actually start solving the problem by following the thought process that you extracted to be ideal.

———————-
Now this leads to a new topic of SPEED, I’ll talk about in the next post. But just to keep it concise, speed comes from proper thought process, not rushing. If you lack speed, it’s not an urgency problem, it’s a methodology problem.

When I was preparing for the TMUA, I used to think improvement was basically:

More questions solved = higher score.

I now realise that could not be further from the truth.
I think what matters is how much you are capable of extract from each question.

After looking at a model solution, instead of asking:
“Do I understand it?”
I started asking:
Why was this the natural thing to notice?

What clue in the question pointed towards this method?
What did I miss that the solver saw immediately?
One question analysed properly taught me far more than blasting through ten and moving on.
Curious what everyone else thinks.
Did your biggest improvements come from volume, or from spending much longer on individual problems??

Would LOVE to help out and answer any questions, DM me at Jamiebaek on Reddit!

I think almost everyone studies TMUA backwards. I did too. Don’t!

People tell you:
Do more past papers.
Solve more questions.
Make flashcards.

For Christ’s sake, even OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE Admissions pages say this!!

Frankly, None of that’s bad advice, but they miss the key point that ACTUALLY moves the needle. I remember being so frustrated HOW THE HELL CAN I DO MORE when I can’t solve the damn question!?

The problem is that everyone else is already doing exactly that. There is a finite pool of past papers that everyone else is working with.

For me, the BIGGEST improvement for ramping up my TMUA came when I started asking the PROPER QUESTIONS :
“How did they solve this?”
and started asking:
“Why was that the natural thing to think of?”

Those are COMPLETELY different questions.
A mark scheme shows you what happened. It almost never shows you why that idea came into someone’s head.

Why did after reading the same question the model answer reacted a certain way? Why did I write out this after reading the same expression, and why did the model answer write out something else? What are the general rules for such? How can I train myself to emulate those thought processes?

That “why” is where almost all the learning happens. But far too many students and even tutors place too much of an emphasis on just brute forcing through past papers under timed conditions.

This is no different from playing more pickup games and just thinking sheer volume will get you into the NBA. You will get good FOR SURE. But not enough for an NBA.

Same thing. You doing all past papers will keep you stagnating at 5.0~5.5. I know this EXACTLY because I was at this position. You doing every past paper and nothing changes, you just plateau. And it drives you fking nuts!!

I Vividly remember 2 weeks left for the TMUA, my personal statement is awful, and just so frustrated.

True ballers(so the 9.0 scorers) do the basics, properly. Volume that is not directed and not calibrated is just toil.
But when you aim the effort properly, you become…
GREAT.

This was my biggest mistake. I thought suffering would make me successful. No it won’t. Don’t make my mistake!!!
Over the next few posts, I’ll explain the framework I wish someone had shown me before I sat the TMUA!

For any questions DM me at Jamiebaek and I’ll answer to my best ability!

If you are a Y12/13 student in the UK or are an international student, or just on gap year and you are aiming for Oxbridge, Imperial, LSE or UCL, and you think anything along the lines of the following:

- Do as much maths as possible and the leaderboard will take care of itself.
- Just do what my teachers give out/private tutors give out as assignments and specific questions/resources will get me a good score
- I'm not int so I have a lower threshold that I need to meet/I'm int to I have too high of a threshold to reach
- I'll just drill past papers under timed conditions and hopefully I will get a 9.
- I'll rush/write faster and I will cut time.
- I'll just blindly work harder and god will take care of me.

As someone who has got a 9 in the TMUA in a third of the time (around 25 minutes in the exam for both Paper 1 and Paper 2) with less than 2 weeks of prep, I will be the first person if not the only person who will tell you none of these are true, or at least don't move the needle enough to get the results you want, fast.

Even both Oxford and Cambridge admissions pages give the advice of just do a lot of maths. There is a reason why top universities give a vague advice, it makes it overcrowded if they ACTUALLY lay out the blueprint.

Generic advice acted out brings mediocre results. If you are aiming for the absolute pinnacle(If you are not and are still thinking you can get into Oxbridge, you will be CRUSHED by those who are willing to put in the real work)

Math necessitates a certain training method of thinking. You cannot just brute force volume and let the results take care of yourself.

This is not a hard exam. You can and will get a 9 with the proper methods.

You don't need a BMO distinction, you don't need Olympiad experience, you don't need anything. I got rejected from every community college in Korea and I still made it.

DM me at JamieBaek on Reddit, I'll do everything I can help.

I know this will not make much money but it's something that I know a lot of students in the UK or maybe beyond need. SO I decided to give out completely free advice for anyone DMing me for TMUA, MAT, and A-level advice. + Cambridge, Oxford interview and personal statement advice!

Just sharing my background,

I got a 9.0 TMUA in October of 2024 in less than 20 minutes for Paper 1 and Paper 2. Applying as an international student, a private candidate and a mature student, I got invited for interview at Kings College, Cambridge. Then I got the conditional offer from St. Edmund's College, Cambridge to read econ (I was a mature student studying maths in Canada, born and raised in South Korea). But I had 3 months to cram A levels, and some terrible family matters of mum being sick etc and did not meet the conditional offer which was totally lenient as A*AA.

I felt very old at this point, because everyone my age (21) was graduating. But I knew I had it in me. So I reapplied with a gap year to read maths&CS at Christ Church, Oxford. My MAT slipped as a 68/100, due to my mental health being just fxked at this point (which was an excuse lol anyways).

Barely got a 8.0/9.0 on TMUA which is not bad but complete tragedy considering my mocks were all 9.0/9.0 in a quarter of the exam time. I got rejected from all 5 applied unis(Imperial EFDS, LSE maths&econ, UCL Maths, and last and least maths at GREENWICH!). Only one invite I got was the 3 interviews from Oxford. (2 at Christ Church and 1 at Magdalen)

ANYWAYS!! TLDR

I VIVIDLY remember during my years preparing for Cambridge and then the next year Oxford, just writing out these AWFUL personal statements during my political science lectures in uni, not having a single clue what the next step was, was too broke that not to mention tutoring, even paying for sitting the A-level exams as a mature student taking A-levels as a private candidate was a burden. I was just haunted by the vision that I knew I can get an offer at these top universities. But I ended up getting rejected from both.

Don't make the mistake I did. You CAN get in. It is not supposed to be hard. I suffered purely because I did not have the help, did not even know what A-levels were, and was just helplessly paddling. You are doing a disservice to yourself, the people around you, and GOD for not striving for something that you deserve and are fully capable of.

I ended up not getting into both Oxford and Cambridge, and it feels very very discomfortable and embarrassing to publicise my failures because I am going back to my uni in canada this summer.

But if me not overcoming my fear of helping others is a bottleneck to someone who is fully capable to study at the best universities in the world, then I can't allow that.

That's why I decided to share everything that I have learned throughout the process of applying to both Oxford and Cambridge, hopefully just at least a couple people fulfilled the dream I could not.

Even if you don't think you can get in, that's a lie that you are telling yourself. You deserve the world. DM me at @ jamiebaek on IG. I'll personally hop on calls, tutor everyone DMing me for completely free, don't pay some crazy £150/hr tutoring for something you don't need help for like wtf

All I'm asking for in return is to actually get in and live out the life I missed.