Examiner’s Report

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Summer 2018

Pearson Edexcel GCE Mathematics

In Further Pure (8FM0_21) Paper 21
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Summer 2018
Publications Code 8FM0_21_1806_ER
All the material in this publication is copyright
© Pearson Education Ltd 2018
Introduction

This paper was generally accessible and there were plenty of opportunities for a
typical E grade student to gain some marks across all questions. There were some
testing questions involving coordinate geometry and inequalities that allowed the
paper to discriminate well between the higher grades.

In a significant number of cases, students’ solutions, particularly to Q5, proved

difficult to read. This was a result of either poor handwriting, incoherent working or
disorganised presentation.

In summary, Q1, Q2(a) and Q4(a) were a good source of marks for the average
student, mainly testing standard ideas and techniques, whereas Q2(b), Q3, Q4(b) and
Q5(a) were discriminating at the higher grades. Q5(b) proved to be the most
challenging question on the paper.

Question 1

This was an accessible question with some students losing the final mark in part (b).

2t 1 t2  x
In part (a), most students recalled sin x  and cos x  , where t  tan  
1 t 2
1 t 2
2
and substituted these into the given 5sin x  12cos x  2. Nearly all students correctly
 2t   1 t2 
manipulated 5  2 
 12  2 
 2 to give the required result 7t 2  5t  5  0.
 1 t   1 t 
There were a few students who wrote down incorrect t-formulae for cos x such as
1 t2 2t
cos x  or cos x  .
1 t 2
1 t2

In part (b), most students correctly solved the equation 7t 2  5t  5  0 by using the
quadratic formula. At this stage some students manipulated a correct
 x  5  165  5  165 
tan    to give an incorrect x  arctan   . Other students who
2 14  7 
x
achieved a correct   29.26412..., 51.88499... then halved (rather than doubled)
2
their results to give an incorrect x  14.6 , 25.9. It was pleasing that a
significant number of students provided a fully correct solution to achieve both angles
x   58.5, 108.5 correct to one decimal place. Other common errors included
failing to round their final answers to one decimal place; premature rounding earlier
on in their working which led a loss of accuracy in their value(s) for x; rejecting
negative values for x and additional solutions found in the range 180  x  180.
2t 1 t2
A few students substituted their values for t into both sin x  and cos x  .
1 t2 1 t2
Some were successful, but this method gave additional solutions and these were rarely
eliminated.
Question 2

This was a well-answered question with many students scoring full marks in part (a).

 d 
In part (a), most students applied two iterations of  n 1   n  h   for n  0, 1
 dt n
with 0  80 and found their estimate for the temperature of the coffee 3 minutes
after it was put in the room. The most common error was using an incorrect value for
h such as 0.1, 0.15 or 1. Some students applied an incorrect 0  60.

In part (b), some students demonstrated a very good understanding of the model by
suggesting that ‘k should be decreased to become a smaller positive value’. Many
students suggested that ‘the value of k would need to be decreased’ which was
allowed as an acceptable suggestion. Incorrect suggestions included ‘increase the
value of k’, ‘k should become more negative’ or ‘k should satisfy 1  k  0 ’.

Question 3

This question discriminated well between students of all abilities.

There were a variety of methods which were used to find the correct critical values
3
 , 3, 1,  3. Most students, who were generally more successful, rearranged the
5
x 1 x 1
printed inequality 2  to give 2   0 and combined
x  2x  3 x3 x  2x  3 x  3
5x  3
their algebraic fractions to achieve  0. Other students, who
( x  3)( x  1)( x  3)
multiplied both sides of the printed inequality by ( x  3)2 ( x  1)2 ( x  3)2 usually made
a number of algebraic and manipulation errors, although some manipulated the result
to give a correct ( x  3)( x  1)( x  3)(5x  3)  0. In both of these methods, a
significant number of students made a bracketing error by manipulating a correct
factor ( x( x  3)  ( x  3)( x  1)) to give an incorrect ( x  3) or an incorrect ( x  3). A
few students, obtained a correct quartic inequality 5x4  8x3  42 x2  72 x  27  0
followed by a correct ( x  3)( x  1)( x  3)(5x  3)  0. Most students understood the
method of finding critical values and usually identified the correct regions. Many
students, who did not consider the validity of their answer at x  3, 1,  3, wrote
3
down an incorrect answer  3  x  1    x  3. Only a minority of students
5
3
completed the problem by writing down a correct  3  x  1    x  3.
5

Question 4
This question was accessible to most students, but it was clear that there were a few
students who had not revised the vector cross product formula.

Most students arrived at the given answer in part (a) by applying the method
1
AB  AC . Some students found the correct answer by applying the vector cross
2
product between two other edges of triangle ABC. A few students arrived at the given
1 ˆ ), where angle BAC ˆ had been
answer by applying the formula AB AC sin( BAC
2
found by using the scalar product formula.

In part (b), many students applied the correct method

1
6
 
AD AB  AC to find the
volume of the crystal. There were several manipulation and calculation errors seen in
evaluating the volume with some students evaluating AB  AC to give an incorrect
 10   74 
1    
74i  26 j  69k. Some students, who obtained a correct   2    26  ,
6    
  5   69 
1
evaluated this incorrectly to give (740)2  ( 52)2  ( 345) 2 . Many students
6
converted the units correctly to find the density, with a few students converting the
lengths to centimetres before evaluating the volume. The formula for density was
Volume
known by most students, but there were instances of density written as ,
Mass
(Mass)(Volume) or (Mass)  (Volume).

Question 5

This question discriminated well across higher ability students with part (a) more
successfully answered than part (b). There were a significant minority of students
who made no attempt or no creditable attempt at this question. It was clear that some
of these students had not revised this area of the specification.

Some students were familiar with what was required in part (a). Students used a
dy
variety of methods to find with the most common being to make y the subject in
dx
dy c2
order to find   2 . Other students used implicit differentiation or the chain rule
dx x
with parametric equations. Some students used the coordinates of P to obtain an
dy
expression for in terms of p, which was followed by a correct method for finding
dx
the gradient of the normal in terms of p. Many students who progressed this far
usually applied a correct straight-line method and achieved the given equation
p3 x  py  c(1  p 4 )  0. A few students who did not use a calculus method to find
dy 1
  2 lost marks in part (a).
dx p
Part (b) proved to be more challenging for many students, although a few students
produced fully correct and sometimes elegant solutions. A significant number of
c2 c2
students made some progress by correctly substituting y  or x  into the
x y
given normal equation. Many students proceeded to form a 3-term quadratic
equation, with some students at this stage unable to make any further progress. Of
those who attempted to solve the quadratic equation, most used the quadratic formula.
In many cases the algebra became cumbersome and many made algebraic errors
which resulted in their being unable to find either the x or y coordinate of Q. Those
who found the coordinates for Q usually produced a correct method for finding the
coordinates of the midpoint of PQ.
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