Which Add Math formulas are given, and which to memorise

Every formula in Add Math falls into one of two categories: the 24 formulas printed on the exam's formula list, which you look up rather than recall, and everything else in the syllabus, which has to already be in your memory when you sit down to answer a question. Confusing the two is one of the quieter reasons students lose time and marks, either wasting minutes searching the list for something that was never on it, or trying to recall something they could simply have looked up.

The list groups its 24 given formulas into four areas, and knowing the shape of each group is often enough to recognise a question's formula on sight.

• Algebra (6), the quadratic formula, the change-of-base rule for logarithms, and the n-th term and sum formulas for both arithmetic and geometric progressions.
• Statistics (6), the standard (z) score, binomial probability, permutations, combinations, the price index, and the composite index.
• Trigonometry (9), the Pythagorean identity, the two related identities for $\sec^{2}$ and $\operatorname{cosec}^{2}$, the sum and difference formulas for sine, cosine and tangent, and the double angle formulas for sine, cosine and tangent.
• Geometry (3), the sine rule, the cosine rule, and the area of a triangle using two sides and the included angle.

Because the given list is short and specific, most of the working mathematics of Add Math is not on it. Differentiation and integration are the clearest example: the rules for differentiating a power, a product, a quotient, or a composite function, and the corresponding rules for integrating them, appear constantly across both papers but are nowhere on the formula list.

The basic laws of indices and logarithms, how $a^{m} \times a^{n}$ combines, how $\log(mn)$ splits, work the same way: you use them in almost every algebra question, and none of them are printed for you.

• The differentiation rules for powers, products, quotients, and composite (chain-rule) functions, together with the matching integration rules.
• The laws of indices and logarithms that let you simplify and solve exponential and logarithmic equations.
• Coordinate geometry basics, finding a gradient, a midpoint, or a distance between two points, which come up as a step inside many longer questions rather than as a formula you look up.
• The general shape and key features of standard graphs, since sketching and interpreting graphs is tested directly and doesn't appear as an item on the formula list.

The clearest way to see the split in action is a question that needs both a memorised rule and a given formula in the same solution.

Since the formula list is fixed, the only variable in this picture is how well you know everything else. Building a short personal list of what you tend to forget is more useful than re-reading the whole syllabus evenly.

• After each practice set, note down any result you had to pause and think about, not to look it up, but to notice it's a gap in your memory.
• Group your own list by chapter rather than by formula type, since that's how questions actually present themselves, a calculus question, a coordinate geometry question.
• Re-test yourself on that shorter list regularly, rather than passively re-reading the syllabus from the start each time.

Over a few weeks this turns a vague sense of 'I should know this' into a specific, shrinking list you can actually close out.

For most students, it's genuinely hard to know which formula belongs to which category until someone checks their working question by question. A teacher working one-to-one can quickly spot whether you're fumbling for a formula you should already remember, or trying to recall something you could simply have looked up, and build your personal memorise list with you from there.

Our teachers are experienced; lessons are taught online, in English, while the SPM papers themselves are set bilingually in Bahasa Melayu and English.

If you'd like help sorting out your own list, a one-hour paid trial class, at the teacher's own rate, from RM50 per hour depending on experience, is a good way to start. We won't promise a grade, but knowing exactly what to memorise versus what to look up often saves more study time than most students realise.