What are the benefits of doing 4 unit maths? (1 Viewer)

[nifkeh]

It's time consuming, heck if you do the school assessments, many of the people who do the 4 unit maths assessments don't finish the whole thing because not enough time. Now that could be a reason why they get 50-70%. And depending on yourself, you may or may not be able to grasp the concepts quickly, adding in more maths homework on top of 3U math. Anyway if you are willing for a challenge and ready to face difficulty and or sometimes disappointing marks, then do 4 unit. Remember you can always drop if you can't cope with it, but depending on your school, they may have not got 2U math assesment marks for you if they don't require you to do the exam which means your 2 unit maths weighting for subsequent tasks will be higher to compensate

 

[Drongoski]

Even lots of people in my general class really struggle with the concepts. Lots of people just aren't cut out for it.

One subject I dread tutoring is General. The mathematics is, for an HSC level subject, negligible. Yet many doing General still struggle. I feel bad when I'm unable to make much difference - not because I'm a bad explainer at all; it's just that some students just don't have what it takes to do maths. It is so painful to watch these poor kids struggling so hard over something so simple. I think they lack the ability to do deductive reasoning (poor logical reasoning ability).

For 4U Maths - heaps of effort and time alone are not enough. You need that one important ability - mathematical aptitude.

 

[jnney]

I took Extension 2 Maths in year 12 last year. It was very time consuming for me, in fact it probably took up most of my study time and it was still my lowest HSC score overall (88), and I still don't understand most of it. That was quite the experience. I don't regret it though, because I took the subject up as a challenge - sometimes you win, and sometimes you don't.

Anyway,

Benefits of 4u maths:

-If you really like maths, and you like challenges, you'll like 4u maths

Disadvantages:

-If you're finding the subject to be very difficult, time consumption = less time for your other subjects = potentially not do as well in other subjects than you would without 4u maths = lower ATAR

Finding a subject 'hard' is relative: There will be people who find 4u maths to be much 'easier' than advanced english, and so on and so forth.

-About the 50-70% thing, it depends. If you're school is setting super easy math exams, not sure if 50-70% is going to cut it. I think a good idea would be to find out how many people received an E4 in 2012, 2011, etc. in your school, and the marks they attained during school exams to give you a better idea of how well you should be doing.

Anyway, Good luck nonetheless!

 

[hit patel]

I took Extension 2 Maths in year 12 last year. It was very time consuming for me, in fact it probably took up most of my study time and it was still my lowest HSC score overall (88), and I still don't understand most of it. That was quite the experience. I don't regret it though, because I took the subject up as a challenge - sometimes you win, and sometimes you don't.

Anyway,

Benefits of 4u maths:

-If you really like maths, and you like challenges, you'll like 4u maths

Disadvantages:

-If you're finding the subject to be very difficult, time consumption = less time for your other subjects = potentially not do as well in other subjects than you would without 4u maths = lower ATAR

Finding a subject 'hard' is relative: There will be people who find 4u maths to be much 'easier' than advanced english, and so on and so forth.

-About the 50-70% thing, it depends. If you're school is setting super easy math exams, not sure if 50-70% is going to cut it. I think a good idea would be to find out how many people received an E4 in 2012, 2011, etc. in your school, and the marks they attained during school exams to give you a better idea of how well you should be doing.

Anyway, Good luck nonetheless!

+1
Borrow a cambridge 4u textbook from the library and compare it with three unit. Ofcourse if you like physics and choose it.

 

[hayabusaboston]

One subject I dread tutoring is General. The mathematics is, for an HSC level subject, negligible. Yet many doing General still struggle. I feel bad when I'm unable to make much difference - not because I'm a bad explainer at all; it's just that some students just don't have what it takes to do maths. It is so painful to watch these poor kids struggling so hard over something so simple. I think they lack the ability to do deductive reasoning (poor logical reasoning ability).

For 4U Maths - heaps of effort and time alone are not enough. You need that one important ability - mathematical aptitude.

You dont need to be so politically correct lol. You can just say "low IQ".

 

[v1]

Is it too hard for most people? I mean I hear it scales really well since its the hardest subject offered in high school... why is it that more people choose not to do it to do it in their hscs? Wouldn't it give them a higher chance to get a higher atar even if they were to get about 50-70%?

it depends... I found it easy and fun and others just dislike/don't choose it because of the difficulty (overrated tbh)
try it if you're capable

+1
Borrow a cambridge 4u textbook from the library and compare it with three unit. Ofcourse if you like physics and choose it.

m8 just looking at 4u without learning it makes 4u seem very hard. underlying concepts are quite simple once you learn it.
btw theres like 3% correlation with physics and 4u maths

 

[fishrushed]

Like everyone said, 4u maths is not for everyone. I think the thing is that makes it seem hard are the questions, rather than the concepts and content, which I personally find to be alright. Not to discourage anyone, but some questions can be very demanding, and force you to think a lot and unlike in 2u and 3u, where there are very defined paths to answering the question, 4u questions require you to (most of the the time) think for yourself and choose the path that you think is right. I think this is the challenging bit.
In addition, with the nature of 4u questions, doing textbook questions I don't think is sufficient, as compared to 2u and 3u. You actually have to expose yourself to a variety of questions, especially exam questions, to gain experience in thinking and applying concepts in different ways.

On the plus side, 4u maths can be quite enjoyable and interesting if you enjoy maths in general and its benefits are huge if you can pull through. Also, you will be a lot stronger in 3u compared to those who don't do 4u (most the time).