Common Careless Mistakes in 0606

The same handful of careless mistakes cost 0606 candidates marks every session. Examiner reports name them repeatedly, which is useful: because they’re predictable, a student can check for them deliberately rather than hoping to notice by luck. Here are the recurring ones.

Calculator mode: degrees vs radians

The single most common wrecker on Paper 2. A trigonometry answer computed in degree mode when the question is in radians (or vice versa) is completely wrong, not just slightly off. Whenever an angle is in radians, confirm the calculator is in radian mode before trusting any sine, cosine or tangent value.

Sign errors and premature rounding

Two quiet killers:

• Sign slips when expanding brackets or moving terms across an equals sign, especially with a minus outside a bracket. Re-expanding a key bracket is a fast check.
• Premature rounding: rounding partway through, then using the rounded value, corrupts the final answer. Carry full accuracy through the working and round only at the end.

The constant of integration

Every indefinite integral needs $+c$, and in kinematics or “find $y$ from $\frac{dy}{dx}$” problems that constant is then fixed by a given condition. Dropping it is one of the most common calculus errors, and it loses not just a mark but every mark that depended on the correct expression.

Instruction words: exact, hence, show that

0606 questions mean their instruction words:

• “Exact” means leave it in surd, fraction, or $\pi$ form, not as a rounded decimal.
• “Hence” means use the previous part; a fresh method may score nothing.
• “Show that” means the answer is given, so full, convincing working to reach it is the whole point.

Missing these throws away marks the maths was good enough to earn.

Turn the list into a checklist

The value of knowing these is that they become things to check for on purpose. Since they’re predictable, a quick targeted check at the end of each question, mode, signs, $+c$, instruction words, catches most of them. Tracking which ones your child personally makes, in an error log, tells them exactly what to check hardest. A specialist can spot a student’s recurring slips fast and drill them out. A trial class can start that. Message us on WhatsApp to book.