Advanced Math Units (1 Viewer)

[captainhelium]

Hey there,

I think this has been posted somewhere before but I was just wondering whether I should do the normal or advanced maths units in first year - in particular, the one for 'Linear Algebra' and 'Calculus of One Variable'.

My majors will be Neuroscience and Data Science. I've heard that taking advanced units may be useful for Data Science but to be honest, I really don't know if I should do these advanced courses. Although I did Ext 2 Maths, I didn't do very well in it and my Ext 1 Maths mark wasn't as high as some people I know (although it was mid-E4).

Also, I've heard that it's probably easier to get a higher WAM/GPA since I've heard that advanced units don't scale anymore (I don't know if this is true though).

Could anyone please advise me on what I should do?

Thanks!

 

[engineering]

You need to decide your priorities.

http://www.maths.usyd.edu.au/ub/daners/selftest/selftest.cgi Suggest that 4 unit maths and an ATAR of 90 or more a good predictors of ability to handle the course.

However you have also mentioned GPA.

Do you want (perceived) easier units for what you hope might mean higher GPA (for whatever reason you want that GPA) , or do you want to challenge yourself and make use of the talents that you have the opportunities you have already received.

 

[captainhelium]

You need to decide your priorities.

http://www.maths.usyd.edu.au/ub/daners/selftest/selftest.cgi Suggest that 4 unit maths and an ATAR of 90 or more a good predictors of ability to handle the course.

However you have also mentioned GPA.

Do you want (perceived) easier units for what you hope might mean higher GPA (for whatever reason you want that GPA) , or do you want to challenge yourself and make use of the talents that you have the opportunities you have already received.

Thanks for that! I guess the reason why the GPA concerns me is because I'm hoping to transfer to another course (either postgraduate or undergraduate medicine in particular) and one of the factors for entry was your GPA so I guess I am kinda concerned about it.

Just a quick question though - do you know if these advanced math units scale? Really appreciate your help anyways!

 

[sida1049]

Thanks for that! I guess the reason why the GPA concerns me is because I'm hoping to transfer to another course (either postgraduate or undergraduate medicine in particular) and one of the factors for entry was your GPA so I guess I am kinda concerned about it.

Just a quick question though - do you know if these advanced math units scale? Really appreciate your help anyways!

Officially, they don't scale.

However, if the lecturers see fit, they may 1. adjust the weighting of assignments, 2. adjust the marking criteria of assignments/exams and/or 3. apply the bettermark principle (where if you do better in a certain section in your final exam than you did in your quiz, then your quiz will not contribute to your final mark and your final will contribute to more of your mark). For this reason, I've sometimes received marks that were almost unreasonably high, despite the faculty "officially" having phased out scaling.

That said, lecturers do this if they realise that their assessments were much more difficult than intended, so if you prioritise your marks over everything else, of course you should take mainstream units.

But if you genuinely find mathematics interesting and want to study more of it properly, then you should take the advanced units. I mean after all, if you are someone who feels that way, chances are you can probably do well in advanced units anyway.

Also, remember that your HSC performance and marks are not good indicators of how well you'll do at uni. It doesn't matter if you got an E3 in extension 2 and all your peers went to private/selective schools with state ranks or whatever bs, as long as you stay on top of your work and are genuinely interested in the subject, you will do well.

Good luck!

 

[captainhelium]

Officially, they don't scale.

However, if the lecturers see fit, they may 1. adjust the weighting of assignments, 2. adjust the marking criteria of assignments/exams and/or 3. apply the bettermark principle (where if you do better in a certain section in your final exam than you did in your quiz, then your quiz will not contribute to your final mark and your final will contribute to more of your mark). For this reason, I've sometimes received marks that were almost unreasonably high, despite the faculty "officially" having phased out scaling.

That said, lecturers do this if they realise that their assessments were much more difficult than intended, so if you prioritise your marks over everything else, of course you should take mainstream units.

But if you genuinely find mathematics interesting and want to study more of it properly, then you should take the advanced units. I mean after all, if you are someone who feels that way, chances are you can probably do well in advanced units anyway.

Also, remember that your HSC performance and marks are not good indicators of how well you'll do at uni. It doesn't matter if you got an E3 in extension 2 and all your peers went to private/selective schools with state ranks or whatever bs, as long as you stay on top of your work and are genuinely interested in the subject, you will do well.

Good luck!

Thanks so much for the explanation and advice! I really appreciate it

 

[sida1049]

Thanks so much for the explanation and advice! I really appreciate it

No problem!

Also, I forgot to mention: one of the best aspects of taking the advanced units is your cohort; your peers will be people who also find mathematics interesting, and are motivated to study it. In contrast, people who take the mainstream units often do it because they have to, not because they want to, so it's harder to meet people who want to properly study and discuss maths problems with you.

Tutorials in maths are "board tutorials", where you get in small groups of 3-4 and work on maths problems together on a whiteboard of your own. So you can see why it's really important to consider the kind of people you'll be studying with over the next few years.