COMMON ERRORS

The most common errors came from people misunderstanding the question.

From now on I am going to insist that everyone does a KWC protocol for every question.

Remember:

• K - What do I know (underline)
• W - What do I want to know (put a box around)
• C - Are there any special conditions (put a circle around)

Using a KWC to break down a question

NEXT I PUT A BOX AROUND WHAT THE QUESTION WANTS ME TO WORK OUT

NEXT I PUT A CIRCLE AROUND ANY SPECIAL CONDITIONS SUCH AS THE UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

NOW I START ANNOTATING THE QUESTION

The question tells me that each of the three hexagons are regular.

PARTS AND WHOLES

I start to think about parts and wholes, and realise that one regular hexagon is part of the whole shape made up of three regular hexagons.

I draw one part, i.e. one regular hexagon. Because it is regular, I put a hash mark on each side to show they are all the same length.

NOW I CONTINUE ANNOTATING THE QUESTION

The question tells me that the perimeter of a regular hexagons is 18cm.

PARTS AND WHOLES

I start to think about a new whole, and realise that one regular hexagon is a whole.

This whole is made up of six parts, the sides of the hexagon.

Since it is a regular hexagon, the sides are all the same length.

I do 18/6 since I want to divide the whole perimeter into 6 equal parts. This means each side of the hexagon is 3cm.

(I know the units are cm because I circled them earlier)

PARTS AND WHOLES

I start to think about the whole perimeter of the shape.

This perimeter is made up of parts, which are the sides of a hexagon. I need to know how many sides there are as part of the perimeter.

PARTS AND WHOLES

I count the sides that make up the perimeter, and see that there are 12 sides.

Each side is 3cm, so I do 12 x 3 and get 36cm as the total perimeter.