I think i cocked up my subjects (2 Viewers)

[justinw]

okay so, i'm planning on doing mining engineering at university.
Anyway, when i picked my subjects i thought i just needed 2 unit maths, but apparently 3 unit is recommended, is this a necessity or just a recommendation. Im doing physics, geography and ipt which kinda correspond.
Anyone know if this will damage my chances of getting the course i want.
BTW i'm not too great at maths but i can cope with 2 unit OK, but 3 unit would be struggle i think.

Any help greatly appreciated

 

[henry08]

Well, if it is 'recommended' as you say, then it is just that, a recommendation. It will vary depending on the university. Even if you don't have it and it is required, you could always do a bridging course offered by the uni for it etc.

 

[justinw]

Well, if it is 'recommended' as you say, then it is just that, a recommendation. It will vary depending on the university. Even if you don't have it and it is required, you could always do a bridging course offered by the uni for it etc.

thats just it, i dont want to spend an extra 12 months at uni, thanks for the reply champ

 

[scaredytiger]

extra 12 months?

 

[Mature Lamb]

Don't bridging courses go through the whole course in like.. less than a month?

 

[witide]

If you struggle with 3 unit, you better pick up your game. University will move onto 4 unit concepts and beyond pretty quickly. It won't necessarily build on topics from school, but will require a similar level of sophistication to answer.

On the other hand, people from all mathematical backgrounds have succeeded at university level. I did 3 unit maths and failed half of my subjects, whereas my friends who did general maths are doing fine. Put the effort in and you'll do well.

 

[justinw]

on the uni website it has "assumed knowledge" (is that compulsary)
band 5 OR hsc extension, i dont get it, is it a choice of extension, or band 5 in 2 unit, or band 5 in extension.
sorry im new to this shit.
Do yous guy's rekon the maths for engineering at uni would be extension 1 or 2 shit, cant see why you would need such complex maths for mining.

 

[witide]

It will say that for basic engineering maths. If you did extension, then no worries. If you did normal, then they'd expect you to have at least gotten a band 5. But forget about it for now, you've already chosen your subjects, and you'll never be rejected from uni for not meeting the assumed knowledge. Just concentrate on getting into your course and you'll be directed for what to do later.

Oh and you'd better stay away if you don't think maths is required for engineering. As I said before, it's fairly sophisticated, and moves beyond 3/4 unit without necessarily building on the same concepts.

 

[justinw]

Oh and you'd better stay away if you don't think maths is required for engineering. As I said before, it's fairly sophisticated, and moves beyond 3/4 unit without necessarily building on the same concepts.

Yeah i had a read of the syllabus outline, looks as if they cut all the crap and only teach what you need to know, and its not that long your doing maths for, you just use it the whole course. And it has like a preparation part, then an in depth part. I think anyway.
Thanks for your answer too

 

[MJOLNIR]

Short answer - don't panic. You'll be fine regardless of which subjects you do as long as you get the required ATAR. There are a couple of things to consider though.

HSC plus provides bonus points for good performance in relevant courses (physics, maths, ext 1 and ext 2 for engineering). Irrelevant if you get the required ATAR.

The FEAS interviewers (for alternate entry) will be antsy about you not doing ext 1 if you need to go through that path. They tried to push me into a new diploma course for assumed knowledge, which sounds like what you're talking about with wasting 12 months? You can pretty much ignore that if you know what you're doing, and again, it's irrelevant if you get the required ATAR.

As far as the assumed knowledge goes, the course content does move fairly quickly for Math 1A. You're expected to know certain concepts beforehand, and it's up to you to learn it by yourself if you don't. It's really easy to get behind with the workload, so you're not doing yourself any favours by having to do extra work. For that reason, the bridging course is a really good idea. It's about $300 and you go 2-3 days a week through February before the semester starts, with the side benefit of getting you into the lecture/tute routine.

Bottom line - you're not screwed. Earn a good ATAR, do the bridging course if you think you need it and you'll be fine.