General Maths/Mathematics (1 Viewer)

[agirlinatutu]

I never thought I would be starting one of these threads but I need the advice

I am in the top class for maths and I have been since year 7. This year im ranked like 11 or 13th. Tbh maths has been my worse subject this year.Ive never been top of the class but I usually sit top 10 easily. I havent had a teacher for a good half of semester one and the class has been screwed around. I have the choose my subjects next week.

I always thought that I would do Mathematics. I was talking to my teacher with a couple of friends who are in the same boat, and she reccommended that we all do General. I have looked at the General textbook and the majority of it looks simple enough. But my worry is it will be too simple. The mathemetics textbook that I looked at... well it kinda scares me. Atm my career ambition is law. So I need realitively good HSC marks. I was messing around with SAM and general scales alot worse even with excellent marks. In the same point though, Im not entirely sure I would be capable of getting like 90 + in mathematics.

Opinions? Suggestions?

Thanks in advanced.

 

[xXmuffin0manXx]

why not do advanced and then drop to standard if your finding it difficult..top 10 should be capable of advanced

 

[rolror88]

Well.. you may want to start looking for a decent maths tutor/tutoring college where you live, A lot of them start year 11 work in Term 4 this year, and if you find a private tutor, you can ask them to start teaching you year 11 work. Your class sounds similiar to mine , we have an insanely crap teacher, and a lot of the guys who don't get tutored (the non-asians pretty much) just do not get a single bit of it and just switches off and makes jokes when the teacher is talking cause he can't explain anything at all.

Law requires 99.3 ? (correct me if I'm wrong), so yea, its a long way to the top.

 

[Doctor Jolly]

My advice to you would be to do 2U Maths. Although you can always do very well and probably get into Law doing General Maths, but you'd have to do extremely well in it I'm guessing, while in 2U maths it's a little less energy, but by no means slack off.

You said that you came top of your class since Year 7, and you have only really faultered this year because of your teacher. But in saying that, you should also know that with any course, and with particular emphasis on maths you should have some initiative to do some extra study outside of your school work if you feel uncomfortable with it or if you know that you aren't learning enough at school.

You also said that you aren't too sure that you can get a 90 for Maths. I just want to say that there's always room for improvement and have you considered hiring a tutor if you are feeling stuck in maths?

Heading into Year 11 Preliminary, you will find that it is the subjects that you really love that will pull you through. So to ask, do you really really LOVE maths or are you just doing it because you have to?

 

[Iruka]

I think you should give 2-unit a try for two terms and see how you go. You can always drop down to General if you think it is taking too much time or you're not performing well. General maths has a sort of spiralling curriculum, so it is easy to pick up later if you drop down after a term or two.

It seems to me that your (comparatively) poor performance this year could be due to not having a proper teacher, rather than a lack of ability. This affects some people more than others. And it is only natural that the 2 unit material looks hard: you have never studied it before.

 

[nerdsforever]

try 2 unit, then drop to general if its hard.

EDIT: You never know until you try. you could be improving later on.

 

[agirlinatutu]

Thanks everyone.

I dont particularly enjoy maths, but I dont hate it either. To be completely honest, I don't do alot if any study outside of school. I never have needed to. I was thinking maybe if I study hard for the rest of the year, see if I can get on top of maths and improve my mark.. 2unit might not seem that daunting. I think my biggest problem is, that we got messed around without a teacher, and I got lost in the work then I kinda gave up altogether

How hard is it to drop from 2unit to general?

Yeah Law is 99.3. Its going to be hard, but I am hoping I can do it.

I go to a public school. Its crap. We dont have a ranking either because its a new school. Im hoping to change to a top 200 ranked school next year.

 

[Doctor Jolly]

Thanks everyone.

I dont particularly enjoy maths, but I dont hate it either. To be completely honest, I don't do alot if any study outside of school. I never have needed to. I was thinking maybe if I study hard for the rest of the year, see if I can get on top of maths and improve my mark.. 2unit might not seem that daunting. I think my biggest problem is, that we got messed around without a teacher, and I got lost in the work then I kinda gave up altogether

How hard is it to drop from 2unit to general?

Yeah Law is 99.3. Its going to be hard, but I am hoping I can do it.

I go to a public school. Its crap. We dont have a ranking either because its a new school. Im hoping to change to a top 200 ranked school next year.

To tell you my story, from Years 7-10 I honestly hated maths but I still found it funny how I came first in it in the grade every year for it. But then in Year 11, I absolutely loved maths. So you can see how your taste might change. And you're absolutely right, you can always improve. It's never too late. 2U isn't daunting either. You're just learning new concepts and if you don't understand it you can always ask your teacher. And if your teacher is crap, go to another one of the 7 billion maths teachers you have in your school, I'm sure they'd only be too happy to help.

I go to a school ranked from 400-450. It's not so bad

 

[nerdsforever]

It's not hard to drop from 2unit to general, since they are both 2 unit courses.
lol Yes. Change to another school. Apply for the schools I'm applying for. lol

EDIT: did you just say that you dont like maths? ARRRRGGHHH!!!!

 

[agirlinatutu]

^ I dont hate it. Well at certain points this year I wanted to burn down the whole maths building as well as the maths part of the staffroom but thats a different story.

lol Im only applying to another public school in my area but its the best school in the area.

I think I am going to do 2unit.

 

[Doctor Jolly]

^ I dont hate it. Well at certain points this year I wanted to burn down the whole maths building as well as the maths part of the staffroom but thats a different story.

lol Im only applying to another public school in my area but its the best school in the area.

I think I am going to do 2unit.

Woah and I thought I was bad when I scribbled all over a page of the school textbook in pencil and scrunched it until the edges of it ripped ... actually, in retrospect that does sound worse

 

[Aquawhite]

You need to realise that they are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT courses. Since you are getting worse at maths and your career is aiming towards law (something that doesn't require maths) I recommend general. Because. The general maths course may be a bit more easier but its a more practical course; statistical and more for a career like accounting/business/law.

Mathematics (2unit) is very theoretical and I'm sure you would be able to do it. It's just stepping your maths up a little bit further.

 

[agirlinatutu]

Woah and I thought I was bad when I scribbled all over a page of the school textbook in pencil and scrunched it until the edges of it ripped ... actually, in retrospect that does sound worse

:uhhuh:

 

[xXmuffin0manXx]

You need to realise that they are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT courses. Since you are getting worse at maths and your career is aiming towards law (something that doesn't require maths) I recommend general. Because. The general maths course may be a bit more easier but its a more practical course; statistical and more for a career like accounting/business/law.

Mathematics (2unit) is very theoretical and I'm sure you would be able to do it. It's just stepping your maths up a little bit further.

prelim course for advanced
basic arithmetic and algebra
real functions
trig ratios
linear func
quad polyno and parbola
plane geo
tangent to a curve and derivative of a functio

hsc course for advanced
cooridnate meth in geo
applications of geo properies
geo appl. of differentiation
integration
trig func
log and exponential func.
appl of calculus to physical world
probablity
series and series aspplications

thats from my senior course guide tha my school gave me
doesnt sound too heavy theory

how can any maths be theory anyway..
sure uget a few
but the majority are all practical..

arent they ?

 

[Aquawhite]

Much maths work isn't practical in the earlier years of school?! agreed? Volume is a little pointless in a way. The really simple maths does lead up but isn't really necessary. In General Maths everything is really applicable to situations. The maths teachers have been emphasising that for ages at our school... to make sure that people choose the right maths.

The 2unit course isn't exactly applicable to much. On the other hand the Extension course is all applicable especially for my engineering course.

 

[agirlinatutu]

Year 7 draw triangles in chalk in the quad and I laugh when they get all the angles wrong lol

Most of the content you learn in school isnt really applicable to the world.

My mum told me that maths is the easiest subject to study and improve in because you can do heaps of questions.

 

[Aquawhite]

Year 7 draw triangles in chalk in the quad and I laugh when they get all the angles wrong lol

Most of the content you learn in school isnt really applicable to the world.

My mum told me that maths is the easiest subject to study and improve in because you can do heaps of questions.

Well the smaller topics in younger years often have no point unless you want to take it to extension where all the skills you learnt are fully applicable and you need the skills so that you can do all the geometry and calculus!

 

[xXmuffin0manXx]

Much maths work isn't practical in the earlier years of school?! agreed? Volume is a little pointless in a way. The really simple maths does lead up but isn't really necessary. In General Maths everything is really applicable to situations. The maths teachers have been emphasising that for ages at our school... to make sure that people choose the right maths.

The 2unit course isn't exactly applicable to much. On the other hand the Extension course is all applicable especially for my engineering course.

name me 3 topics in maths which are theory plz..you can use the entire k-12 syllabus..

 

[lyounamu]

name me 3 topics in maths which are theory plz..you can use the entire k-12 syllabus..

what do you mean by theory?

 

[Aquawhite]

name me 3 topics in maths which are theory plz..you can use the entire k-12 syllabus..

Geez.. no need to snap. I'm not going to name any for the purpose that you can always link something to another in maths and will end up being extremely relevant to the next topic. Obviously you don't see where I'm coming from....

Our maths coordinator sat us all down and spoke to us about it and was explaining the topics and recommendations in general for the type of person you are.... and what the topics involve. If you ask your teacher they will explain it to you better... I am trying to say that in comparison to general Mathematics (2u) is more theoretical and less applicable BECAUSE general is all probabilty and statistics etc.