should i drop Maths 4U? (1 Viewer)

[dakotarella]

Currently, I am doing:
English Advanced
Maths 4U
Japanese 3U (extension included)
Chinese 3U (extension included)

I REALLY REALLY want to drop 4u Maths because I normally have to spend 2 days on the weekend just to do an exercise from the Terry Lee 4U textbook, which means less time for me to study other subjects....

I am really considering dropping 4u maths, try harder in everything else and raise my marks and ranks....

By the way,

For English and 3U Maths, I normally get in the 80s...
and for Japanese and Chinese, normally 90+.

Ever since Year Seven, I've been ranked in Top 12...
For Yr 11 actually, I came 6th in the year.

I am an overseas student, so my English isn't perfect obviously,
but I've been here too long so I am not allowed to do ESL either, which is a shame really...

I am aiming for 95 for my ATAR. (higher would be better of course.)

Provided that I try really hard to raise my marks, do you think it will be possible for me to achieve 95+ without doing 4u maths and the sciences?

My friends obviously say I shouldn't drop it, but I really can't stand doing 4U for the whole weekend, without doing anything else......
I don't think I am mentally prepared to face 4U..

I don't know, do you think I am just trying to take the easy option ?

 

[MetroMattums]

4U is 4U for a reason. It IS hard work. It is meant to test your ability to think as well as your ability to solve problems that might not have particularly straightforward solutions.

You might not be taking the easy option - but you have to consider yourself, for instance, if you would rather forgo the scaling that 4U offers for extra time in the rest of your subjects.

In the end, you have to decide yourself.

 

[arcaox]

honestly i never thought id be any good at 4u but i still ended up with a 93 so as long as your a good 3u student 4u shouldnt be much of a trouble but yes i agree that its hard to manage with time, but if your really strong in 3u id advise you to stick with 4u as a long of concepts in 4u are drawn from 3u, also atar means nothing if you can make it into your course because what you really want is to do the course you want in uni, if you only need 85 it doesnt mean you dont need to try but it means you can afford to drop 4u maths

 

[lychnobity]

Having finished the course, it's just tedious at the beginning because the standard most students require themselves to achieve is impossibly high most of the time.

Persevere and you shall reap the benefits.

It's honestly not that hard.

NB: Terry Lee exercises are not meant to be set for regular homework. they should be used to help you make the leap from medium to difficult. Don't use it to learn basics. AND some of the wording is obscure and hard to understand; it takes some getting used to.

EDIT:

I base my advice upon the fact getting an ATAR 95+ is much, much easier with ext 2 maths, your other subjects almost limit you

 

[ATAR_boy]

Having finished the course, it's just tedious at the beginning because the standard most students require themselves to achieve is impossibly high most of the time.

Persevere and you shall reap the benefits.

It's honestly not that hard.

Yes, this is absolutely correct. You MUST BE AWARE that Terry Lee's book is not for day-to-day homework. As long as you feel confident with the 4U concepts, use a variety of textbooks, do as many questions as u can (under a time limit). Anyways, I had the option of dropping 4U at the start of the HSC...I really could not cope with the work-load of 3U English, 3U Maths and 4U Maths BUT i decided to knuckle-down for 4 months leading up to the HSC, ended up getting 99 in 3U and 97 in 4U.

 

[ATAR_boy]

honestly i never thought id be any good at 4u but i still ended up with a 93 so as long as your a good 3u student 4u shouldnt be much of a trouble but yes i agree that its hard to manage with time, but if your really strong in 3u id advise you to stick with 4u as a long of concepts in 4u are drawn from 3u, also atar means nothing if you can make it into your course because what you really want is to do the course you want in uni, if you only need 85 it doesnt mean you dont need to try but it means you can afford to drop 4u maths

Umm..where did you get 85 from? This person clearly wants to achieve a minimum of 95 ATAR. Just go for it!

 

[Dx_God]

only consider dropping when ur 100% sure u can smash 2u math, because 2u math scales pretty bad and there's pretty much no room for mistakes. as for 2 days for an exercise in terry lee? there's only like 7-8 questions in each exercise and would at max take like 1 hr. and plus, u do realise that u don't need to do every single question right? i normally just do all the sample questions plus 2-3 unordinary or hard questions which roughly takes me like 15mins. the result is pretty much the same as wat u would get from doing every single question but using way less time. the only con is that ur accuracy is probably not as precise as wat u get from doing every single question but ur only spending like 1/4 or 1/5 of the effort so it's a pretty good deal. remember, study smart not study hard

 

[ninetypercent]

you have just started 4U. wait a little longer.
its hard at first, but it gets better

dropping it, indeed, will make it harder for you to get 95+ unless you are prepared to WORK VERY VERY HARD for the other subjects

persevere. 4u is worth it!

 

[cutemouse]

Haha Terry Lee... :mad1:

After having done the course, I think it's good to focus on one textbook for each topic.

I don't think Terry Lee is a good textbook for starting off. It's too hard and some stuff are really irrelevant/non HSC style questions.

What topic are you doing now?

 

[ATAR_boy]

only consider dropping when ur 100% sure u can smash 2u math, because 2u math scales pretty bad and there's pretty much no room for mistakes. as for 2 days for an exercise in terry lee? there's only like 7-8 questions in each exercise and would at max take like 1 hr. and plus, u do realise that u don't need to do every single question right? i normally just do all the sample questions plus 2-3 unordinary or hard questions which roughly takes me like 15mins. the result is pretty much the same as wat u would get from doing every single question but using way less time. the only con is that ur accuracy is probably not as precise as wat u get from doing every single question but ur only spending like 1/4 or 1/5 of the effort so it's a pretty good deal. remember, study smart not study hard

This is the perfect example of a solid 4U student. As this person says: Study SMART not hard.