Thoughts on maths 3u/4u textbook (1 Viewer)

[pockysticks]

Our school uses the Maths in Focus textbook for the new 3u and 4u course. I've heard from other users that these textbooks are too easy and insufficient to prepare for actual HSC. I don't know if it's just a rumour but apparently Cambridge textbooks aren't that great for the new syllabus anymore either. Does anyone have any recommendations for other textbooks such as Terry Lee?

 

[Drdusk]

Our school uses the Maths in Focus textbook for the new 3u and 4u course. I've heard from other users that these textbooks are too easy and insufficient to prepare for actual HSC. I don't know if it's just a rumour but apparently Cambridge textbooks aren't that great for the new syllabus anymore either. Does anyone have any recommendations for other textbooks such as Terry Lee?

Definitely get off Maths in Focus ASAP. There is a new textbook that has just recently come out called ‘mastering Hsc mathematics’. Obviously it has ext1 versions as well. The ext2 version isn’t out yet I think.

I would recommend this book because I know one of the authors and I certainly know if he writes a book it’s gonna be amazing. He writes the bos trials so if you want challenging questions this book will definitely help. It is also published by MANSW iirc

Other options are Terry Lee. Personally I didn’t really like Terry lee that much because I think he skips steps in his answers. However for Ext2 this one is probably the best right now.

 

[大きい男]

Our school uses the Maths in Focus textbook for the new 3u and 4u course. I've heard from other users that these textbooks are too easy and insufficient to prepare for actual HSC. I don't know if it's just a rumour but apparently Cambridge textbooks aren't that great for the new syllabus anymore either. Does anyone have any recommendations for other textbooks such as Terry Lee?

I would recommend the New Senior Mathematics textbooks for both ext 1 and ext 2 because they offer more challenging questions than maths in focus. Cambridge ext 1 is useful, but the ext 2 textbook has far too many questions that are beyond the difficulty of what we can expect from the actual HSC.

 

[Time&moretime]

Definitely get off Maths in Focus ASAP. There is a new textbook that has just recently come out called ‘mastering Hsc mathematics’. Obviously it has ext1 versions as well. The ext2 version isn’t out yet I think.

I would recommend this book because I know one of the authors and I certainly know if he writes a book it’s gonna be amazing. He writes the bos trials so if you want challenging questions this book will definitely help. It is also published by MANSW iirc

Other options are Terry Lee. Personally I didn’t really like Terry lee that much because I think he skips steps in his answers. However for Ext2 this one is probably the best right now.

If you could elaborate on the MANSW’s book ‘Mastering HSC Mathematics’, it is a textbook with instructions, examples, questions and solutions? I am interested in purchasing the book from their website. I couldn’t locate a preview.
I have both Terry lee’s yellow and green book. Do you think they are still applicable for the new syllabus?

I would recommend the New Senior Mathematics textbooks for both ext 1 and ext 2 because they offer more challenging questions than maths in focus. Cambridge ext 1 is useful, but the ext 2 textbook has far too many questions that are beyond the difficulty of what we can expect from the actual HSC.

I also bought all three Cambridge books new syllabus but shun away from the New Senior Mathematics because someone posted on this website that there are mistakes present in the book. Is this true in your opinion? FYI, I have the previous Fitzpatrick book and bought the spiralled solution books to go with them. (Green, Blue and Red books). Would these be useful for the new syllabus and if yes, which chapters?

 

[Drdusk]

If you could elaborate on the MANSW’s book ‘Mastering HSC Mathematics’, it is a textbook with instructions, examples, questions and solutions? I am interested in purchasing the book from their website. I couldn’t locate a preview.

https://www.masteringhscmathematics.com.au/
There is a preview on their actual website. Take a look for yourself.
Since you already have MIF, I would recommend getting a textbook like the one above as MIF already explains concepts well but it's questions are way too easy.

A book like MasteringHscMathematics will suite you well as it does have very tough questions.

 

[vinlatte]

If you could elaborate on the MANSW’s book ‘Mastering HSC Mathematics’, it is a textbook with instructions, examples, questions and solutions? I am interested in purchasing the book from their website. I couldn’t locate a preview.
I have both Terry lee’s yellow and green book. Do you think they are still applicable for the new syllabus?
I also bought all three Cambridge books new syllabus but shun away from the New Senior Mathematics because someone posted on this website that there are mistakes present in the book. Is this true in your opinion? FYI, I have the previous Fitzpatrick book and bought the spiralled solution books to go with them. (Green, Blue and Red books). Would these be useful for the new syllabus and if yes, which chapters?

Yes, there are errors in some answers but it's like one in each chapter. It's not often but it's annoying when it is incorrect. It's usually the question in the exercise has a typo in the answers (MX2 book had a typo in complex polynomials). But the textbook is still good to use for concepts and medium difficulty questions. My teacher uses this as the primary textbook.

Most of the topics would be similar in between the old and new, I think they removed conics in MX2.

I'm considering upgrading to Cambridge textbooks. Are their textbooks as good as people say?

 

[catha230]

There is a preview on their actual website. Take a look for yourself.
Since you already have MIF, I would recommend getting a textbook like the one above as MIF already explains concepts well but it's questions are way too easy.

A book like MasteringHscMathematics will suite you well as it does have very tough questions.

Highly second this. I have purchased this and can conform that the questions are very interesting. The only downside is that it contains some typo errors since it’s new and the author hasn’t published solution for year 12 3u yet.

 

[Drdusk]

Highly second this. I have purchased this and can conform that the questions are very interesting. The only downside is that it contains some typo errors since it’s new and the author hasn’t published solution for year 12 3u yet.

One of the authors is actually a user on this website. His username is Carrotsticks.
You can just message him about the typos so he could correct them for future copies or something.

 

[Carrotsticks]

Hi all <3

I am one of the authors of the MANSW book "Mastering Mathematics", and I'm so glad it's starting to gain traction in the student community now.

So to address a few points:

- Yes! It is comprehensive and has loads of questions. Not just textbook questions, but interesting ones too that show you cool things you can do with the maths that you're currently learning. A lot of those questions are either made up from myself from scratch, or are well-known mathematical results that I've developed high-school friendly proofs of and guided you towards. If you are aiming for a high Band 6, these are the ones for you!

- This is our first ever edition, and yes we have a few typos ='( We're not like the big publishing companies like Cambridge where they have a team of people working on it including answer checking. This book was simply a job done with myself and my lovely co-author Anne. Things get missed and we have an errata on our website to address all the mistakes that we've found so far since printing. We will most likely release a second edition which will correct all of these, as well as updates to address the changes to the syllabus that were made two weeks ago. Yes, NESA just added a new dot point in the syllabus after releasing it and after the books were made.

- We are currently working our hardest to get solutions out, and are about to release five chapters of solutions in the next few days. It's difficult because I'm working my hardest to get the Extension 2 book out in time, and Anne is working her hardest to get solutions out. I hope everybody reading this can understand that we really are doing our best as a team of two <3

Please spread the love everybody!

 

[Time&moretime]

Yes, there are errors in some answers but it's like one in each chapter. It's not often but it's annoying when it is incorrect. It's usually the question in the exercise has a typo in the answers (MX2 book had a typo in complex polynomials). But the textbook is still good to use for concepts and medium difficulty questions. My teacher uses this as the primary textbook.

Most of the topics would be similar in between the old and new, I think they removed conics in MX2.

I'm considering upgrading to Cambridge textbooks. Are their textbooks as good as people say?

The new syllabus Cambridge Ext 1 textbook weighs a ton. It includes the Adv Maths course too, which explains the weight. I honestly am unable to give you a satisfiable comment. I been inundated with assignments. I can say that it looks a lot like the Cambridge Maths textbooks for year 7 to 10. Format is similar. I bought it because my sibling has the old 3U Cambridge Year 11 textbook (brown in colour) and says it is very good.

 

[mani88]

Hi all <3

I am one of the authors of the MANSW book "Mastering Mathematics", and I'm so glad it's starting to gain traction in the student community now.

So to address a few points:

- Yes! It is comprehensive and has loads of questions. Not just textbook questions, but interesting ones too that show you cool things you can do with the maths that you're currently learning. A lot of those questions are either made up from myself from scratch, or are well-known mathematical results that I've developed high-school friendly proofs of and guided you towards. If you are aiming for a high Band 6, these are the ones for you!

- This is our first ever edition, and yes we have a few typos ='( We're not like the big publishing companies like Cambridge where they have a team of people working on it including answer checking. This book was simply a job done with myself and my lovely co-author Anne. Things get missed and we have an errata on our website to address all the mistakes that we've found so far since printing. We will most likely release a second edition which will correct all of these, as well as updates to address the changes to the syllabus that were made two weeks ago. Yes, NESA just added a new dot point in the syllabus after releasing it and after the books were made.

- We are currently working our hardest to get solutions out, and are about to release five chapters of solutions in the next few days. It's difficult because I'm working my hardest to get the Extension 2 book out in time, and Anne is working her hardest to get solutions out. I hope everybody reading this can understand that we really are doing our best as a team of two <3

Please spread the love everybody!

I would love to get this book, how many weeks would it take for the 2nd edition to come out??? And I was also wondering whether there was a preview of the book, I couldn't find any on the site. Thank You

 

[Carrotsticks]

I would love to get this book, how many weeks would it take for the 2nd edition to come out??? And I was also wondering whether there was a preview of the book, I couldn't find any on the site. Thank You

We're not going to do a second edition until at least after the 2020 HSC. This is because NESA was really unclear on a few things so a lot of the authors (myself included) just did what we felt made the most sense based on our experience as teachers and as mathematicians. After 2020 HSC you can expect there'll be a lot of calibration of the texts out there regarding content and difficulty.

On the main site, there are previews of the books when you click on the image. Hope you like what you see =)

 

[vinlatte]

The new syllabus Cambridge Ext 1 textbook weighs a ton. It includes the Adv Maths course too, which explains the weight. I honestly am unable to give you a satisfiable comment. I been inundated with assignments. I can say that it looks a lot like the Cambridge Maths textbooks for year 7 to 10. Format is similar. I bought it because my sibling has the old 3U Cambridge Year 11 textbook (brown in colour) and says it is very good.

Ah, I'm planning to "borrow" an old syllabus Cambridge textbook for MX2 to read over the holidays. I saw it in a deputy's office and I asked my math teacher, they were willing to steal it haha.

I haven't used Cambridge or any textbook in junior years, so the format would be completely new for me. Fingers crossed it's worth reading.

 

[mani88]

We're not going to do a second edition until at least after the 2020 HSC. This is because NESA was really unclear on a few things so a lot of the authors (myself included) just did what we felt made the most sense based on our experience as teachers and as mathematicians. After 2020 HSC you can expect there'll be a lot of calibration of the texts out there regarding content and difficulty.

On the main site, there are previews of the books when you click on the image. Hope you like what you see =)

I can't seem to visit the site for the preview, if I click on the link that DrDusk provided, it takes me to a building website

 

[Drdusk]

I can't seem to visit the site for the preview, if I click on the link that DrDusk provided, it takes me to a building website

Haha what seriously?
It works perfectly for all of us so idk.

 

[pikachu975]

When I did 4u in 2017 I did have a few textbooks like fitzpatrick, terry lee, patel, etc, but I only found them useful for learning the content. Once I did some questions to learn the content I just did papers which actually helped 100x more than textbook questions which imo should just be done to learn the basics.

Anyway I haven’t googled it too much but since Carrotsticks is an author of a new textbook, definitely check it out since he’s amazing at maths and teaching

 

[Magu2449]

So, Terry Lee or Mastering Mathematics? Which one is better?