ExamYard Lectures

Bearings

O Level Maths 4024 · Chapter 19, Bearings and constructions · 5-minute lecture

The teaching part (1 min) is free to watch. A free account opens the whole lecture: 7 practice questions, 1 real past-paper question with the answer explained, the mistakes that lose marks, the full-marks tip, a one-card summary and a quick quiz.

What this lecture covers

  1. Which way is the ship?
  2. The three rules
  3. The main directions
Read the transcript of the teaching part

Last time

Before we start: last time, in Gradient, midpoint, length, parallel and perpendicular, you learned these points. Here they are again on one card. Keep them in mind, because today builds on them.

Which way is the ship?

A pilot says: turn to two-seven-zero. A sailor says: the lighthouse is on a bearing of zero-four-five. A bearing is a direction given as an angle. It always starts from north, and it turns clockwise. Get those two rules right, and a whole page of exam questions becomes easy marks.

The three rules

Rule one: measure from the north line at the point you are leaving, or the point the question says 'from'. Rule two: always turn clockwise, the way a clock hand goes. Rule three: write three figures. Forty degrees is zero-four-zero. Seven degrees is zero-zero-seven.

The main directions

North is zero-zero-zero. East is zero-nine-zero. South is one-eight-zero. West is two-seven-zero. North-east is halfway between north and east: zero-four-five. South-west is two-two-five, and north-west is three-one-five.

How often it comes up

How often Cambridge has asked each part, counted by ExamYard from every past paper in its question bank: Bearings and scale drawings.

The whole chapter: Constructions, Scale Drawings and Bearings.

Chapter 19: Bearings and constructions

Also for O Level Maths 4024

Which topics come up most in O Level Maths 4024 past papers, counted from every paper since 2004.

The O Level Maths 4024 topical past-paper book.