How to Do Your Maths CBA

So what actually is the CBA?

It’s a classroom-based assessment that takes place during the Junior Cycle for a chosen subject. The CBA is broken down into 2 parts: CBA 1 is an oral communication project delivered by the student (during 2nd Year) and CBA 2 is a portfolio of the students’ work on their chosen topic.

For Maths CBA 1, student’s have to choose whichever aspect of maths they find interesting and conduct an investigation on it over a three week period. Students have a lot of freedom to choose whichever topic they find interesting! For example:

‘How much would it cost to build and run a carpark for an entire year and what would be the return from it?‘ This example involves financial maths, area and volume, ratios etc.

OR

‘Should the zoo invest in a cheetah enclosure?‘ This example involves statistics, area and volume, financial maths etc.

After deciding what area to investigate and gathering their data, the students will present their findings in 400-600 words in a format of their own choosing such as a PowerPoint presentation, a report etc.

Here’s a lovely example online I found and great example I found on YouTube:

How is the CBA assessed?

Unlike most exams which are given a percentage grade, the CBA is graded by descriptors ranging from ‘Yet to Meet Expectations’ to ‘Exceptional’.

Teachers use the ‘Features of Quality‘ tool to assess the CBA’s and decide your grade so its ideal to familiarise yourself with this and see where you can earn marks.

How to know which CBA topic to choose?

It’s completely personal! Whatever topics you find interesting – television, sports, music, food, movies… the list is endless! All you need to do is figure out how maths can be involved in your area of interest. And don’t worry, there is a way to link maths to EVERYTHING, so you shouldn’t be stuck when trying to decide what topic to choose.

What are the guidelines for the CBA?

Well, its’ broken down into steps which you can use as a template to follow when writing your report. They involve defining your problem, finding a strategy to solve it, solving the problem itself, and reporting your findings.

Here are my top tips before you start:

1. Make it interesting! If you are interested in your topic, that will make your overall CBA interesting and, therefore, guarantee a high grade for you. Run your idea by your teacher first too to ask their advice.
2. Show your work! Just like a maths exam, you can’t just state your answer and not explain how you got there. The same goes for your CBA. Make sure you explain all of your workings in detail with clear labels for your headings.
3. Be Unique! It’s hard to stand out from the crowd, but if you and all of your friends investigate a similar topic it will be boring. You should compare ideas with your friends as it might spark inspiration, but under no circumstances should ye copy each other.

If you want to read more about my advice for the JC, check out my Ultimate 2nd Year Guide