CSCA Mathematics: format, topics and difficulty from real papers

Mathematics is the one CSCA subject every applicant takes. The figures below come from tagging the real past papers in our bank by topic and difficulty, question by question.

Format

• 48 multiple-choice questions in 60 minutes, which gives you 75 seconds per question.
• Four options per question and one correct answer. A wrong answer costs nothing, so answer every question.
• Paper language: Chinese or English.
• The exam is computer-based, with an on-screen timer and a question grid for moving between questions. Our mock exams use the same timer and question grid.
• The paper is scored out of 100.

Topic weights

The topic mix stays stable from one sitting to the next:

• Functions, sets and algebra: about half of the paper. This block covers domain and range, logarithms and exponents, inequalities and sequences.
• Trigonometry and vectors: about a quarter.
• Solid and analytic geometry: about one question in eight. This block covers lines, conic sections and spatial reasoning.
• Probability, statistics and counting: a few questions in each paper.
• Other topics, such as complex numbers: the remaining few questions.

An hour of practice on functions covers far more of the paper than an hour on the rare topics. The question bank filters by these topics.

Difficulty and question style

By our tagging, about half of the questions are fundamentals, about two in five are at standard textbook level, and about one in ten is hard. Word problems with a real-life setting make up about 2% of the paper. Most questions are short and use symbols more than words: the median question is 87 characters long.

With 75 seconds per question, answer the fundamentals first and return to the hard questions at the end.

Practise in the same format

• Free CSCA Mathematics questions with worked solutions
• Real past papers under real timing
• A free 10-question sample paper (PDF)