2 Unit or General? (1 Viewer)

[Mrkingofstuff]

I'm in a slight dilemma and would like some advice.

Basically, I should be on course to reach somewhere around my atar goal of 95 without 2U Math (as it stands right now). I actually decided to start working in math this year but after a relatively hard exam (for 3 Unit students as well), I'm certain to get 40-60% for the first task weighted 15%. I didn't find myself struggling with content before the exam, it's more so the difficulty of the test took the majority people by surprise. The average will probably be quite low.
I would drop to general but for two reasons:
- I'm leaning towards commerce/economics at Uni and it is assumed knowledge.
- The general course looks extremely boring and I do actually have some inherent interest in calculus and probability.

So I have three questions:
1. Am I screwed in achieving a band 5 result which I assume will not bring my atar down?
2. What mark in general would I have to achieve to be better (after scaling) than a band 5 2U mark?
3. Would I be able to do general and then learn any necessary assumed knowledge before/during uni? (I see a bridging course is an unnecessary expense and hindrance, I mean on my own with a textbook)

I honestly really do not want to drop to general, but I don't want to bring down my atar. I could be overreacting after a hard first task but I just want to get this clear.

 

[Bobbo1]

It doesn't matter what raw mark you got in the test: it's all about your standing in the cohort. The task is only worth 15% which will have a very minimal impact on your overall maths mark and any band is possible at this early stage. Don't waste your time with General, you seem like a capable student so stick to 2U Maths...

 

[Ricktatorship]

I'm in a slight dilemma and would like some advice.

Basically, I should be on course to reach somewhere around my atar goal of 95 without 2U Math (as it stands right now). I actually decided to start working in math this year but after a relatively hard exam (for 3 Unit students as well), I'm certain to get 40-60% for the first task weighted 15%. I didn't find myself struggling with content before the exam, it's more so the difficulty of the test took the majority people by surprise. The average will probably be quite low.
I would drop to general but for two reasons:
- I'm leaning towards commerce/economics at Uni and it is assumed knowledge.
- The general course looks extremely boring and I do actually have some inherent interest in calculus and probability.

So I have three questions:
1. Am I screwed in achieving a band 5 result which I assume will not bring my atar down?
2. What mark in general would I have to achieve to be better (after scaling) than a band 5 2U mark?
3. Would I be able to do general and then learn any necessary assumed knowledge before/during uni? (I see a bridging course is an unnecessary expense and hindrance, I mean on my own with a textbook)

I honestly really do not want to drop to general, but I don't want to bring down my atar. I could be overreacting after a hard first task but I just want to get this clear.

1. As perviously said, it depends on your rank, and your marks will be scaled accordingly depending on how ewll the cohort does in the HSC exams.
2. 90+ defs
3. From what I;ve heard, its only few chapters of required knowledge in commerce/ecos. Ask at the subforum for what they are, I've forgotten

also: if you find that you struggle with the 2U content, and can drop to general, seriously think about it. As you could do most of the stuff in 2U, you could ace the test and get 95+ in the HSC, which would defs get you a better result than 85 2U.

 

[Mrkingofstuff]

1. As perviously said, it depends on your rank, and your marks will be scaled accordingly depending on how ewll the cohort does in the HSC exams.
2. 90+ defs
3. From what I;ve heard, its only few chapters of required knowledge in commerce/ecos. Ask at the subforum for what they are, I've forgotten

also: if you find that you struggle with the 2U content, and can drop to general, seriously think about it. As you could do most of the stuff in 2U, you could ace the test and get 95+ in the HSC, which would defs get you a better result than 85 2U.

I got to a selective school ranked 20-40 and I believe our cohort generally gets 40ish band 6s in 2U. Not sure to what extent that helps me make my decision.

Also I think it's worth mentioning that I have put very little effort into maths over the past 5 years (I did 5.2). I honestly feel like I am capable now that I see it's not that hard but my result will not reflect that. I don't want to be chasing a good result which may never come but I think it's doable.

 

[Shadowdude]

So enoilgam encouraged me to go here, so... let's see how this goes:

I'm in a slight dilemma and would like some advice.

Basically, I should be on course to reach somewhere around my atar goal of 95 without 2U Math (as it stands right now). I actually decided to start working in math this year but after a relatively hard exam (for 3 Unit students as well), I'm certain to get 40-60% for the first task weighted 15%. I didn't find myself struggling with content before the exam, it's more so the difficulty of the test took the majority people by surprise. The average will probably be quite low.
I would drop to general but for two reasons:
- I'm leaning towards commerce/economics at Uni and it is assumed knowledge.
- The general course looks extremely boring and I do actually have some inherent interest in calculus and probability.

So I have three questions:
1. Am I screwed in achieving a band 5 result which I assume will not bring my atar down?
2. What mark in general would I have to achieve to be better (after scaling) than a band 5 2U mark?
3. Would I be able to do general and then learn any necessary assumed knowledge before/during uni? (I see a bridging course is an unnecessary expense and hindrance, I mean on my own with a textbook)

I honestly really do not want to drop to general, but I don't want to bring down my atar. I could be overreacting after a hard first task but I just want to get this clear.

1. As other people said kinda, this task is weighted at 15%. Which means it counts as 7.5% for your HSC mark in total. Which sounds kind of bad, but you have to remember school assessments are moderated - so in reality, all that really matters is your rank in the class. You say you don't struggle with the content, then that's great! It means you'll be ranked highly - or should mean that - once results are back. Moral of the story: No, this doesn't affect it at all pretty much. If you are ranked highly in class, and you're confident in your ability, you might even end up with a Band 6.

2. Since you can't predict scaling because it's a secret process undertaken by the UAC - we can't really give you an answer. But you'd have to get around full marks, if not full marks, to be better than a Band 5 2u mark.

3. You could do that. But if you're thinking of dropping to General because of one bad result, then I think that's a bad move. I personally got 36% in my 3u prelim yearly - but it was a hard test and the top mark was 39% anyway, so I wasn't too fussed. Also, self-learning has downsides and upsides - main downsides are that you have to take time out of your holidays to do work, and there is also a question of: "What's relevant?" For instance, will you need your co-ordinate geometry in 2u for uni? I can say "Not really, no" - but it's a bit fussy that way.


My advice to you is to not drop down to General. You say you're good at maths and feeling good about it, well that's good. It means you should end up with a good mark that will probably boost your ATAR.

Now, if you start going badly and you're not feeling good about 2u and your rank in the class is slipping to around last - then I'd talk to your teacher and ask them if you're cut out for 2u. You go to a selective school anyway, so your teacher should have a good idea about what results are 'good enough' for 2u student.



and with that... yay 10 000 posts

 

[Mrkingofstuff]

So enoilgam encouraged me to go here, so... let's see how this goes:



1. As other people said kinda, this task is weighted at 15%. Which means it counts as 7.5% for your HSC mark in total. Which sounds kind of bad, but you have to remember school assessments are moderated - so in reality, all that really matters is your rank in the class. You say you don't struggle with the content, then that's great! It means you'll be ranked highly - or should mean that - once results are back. Moral of the story: No, this doesn't affect it at all pretty much. If you are ranked highly in class, and you're confident in your ability, you might even end up with a Band 6.

2. Since you can't predict scaling because it's a secret process undertaken by the UAC - we can't really give you an answer. But you'd have to get around full marks, if not full marks, to be better than a Band 5 2u mark.

3. You could do that. But if you're thinking of dropping to General because of one bad result, then I think that's a bad move. I personally got 36% in my 3u prelim yearly - but it was a hard test and the top mark was 39% anyway, so I wasn't too fussed. Also, self-learning has downsides and upsides - main downsides are that you have to take time out of your holidays to do work, and there is also a question of: "What's relevant?" For instance, will you need your co-ordinate geometry in 2u for uni? I can say "Not really, no" - but it's a bit fussy that way.


My advice to you is to not drop down to General. You say you're good at maths and feeling good about it, well that's good. It means you should end up with a good mark that will probably boost your ATAR.

Now, if you start going badly and you're not feeling good about 2u and your rank in the class is slipping to around last - then I'd talk to your teacher and ask them if you're cut out for 2u. You go to a selective school anyway, so your teacher should have a good idea about what results are 'good enough' for 2u student.



and with that... yay 10 000 posts

Thanks for the advice. Ill see how the average is for the exam before reacting. It's more the fact that I've never really tried in maths and I felt I was prepared for once, it rattled my confidence more than anything. But I know that in year 12 the result counts as well so I want to make an informed decision.

 

[brent012]

General typically tests preliminary heavily so if you were to drop you would have to catch up on all the year 11 work you missed, even then you would be behind in getting practise with general maths style questions which are often quite wordy. From my understanding some people who drop from 2u to general late just don't go as well as they could because of that so it's another thing to keep in mind.

 

[enoilgam]

General typically tests preliminary heavily so if you were to drop you would have to catch up on all the year 11 work you missed, even then you would be behind in getting practise with general maths style questions which are often quite wordy. From my understanding some people who drop from 2u to general late just don't go as well as they could because of that so it's another thing to keep in mind.

I think this is an important consideration. General might be quite a bit easier than 2 unit, but the content can be a bit different. So you potentially could have to do quite a bit of catching up.

Otherwise, I would pretty much go with what Shadowdude said and hang onto 2 unit for now.

 

[T-Hud]

General is very easy, but as many have said, the content can be challenging for 2U students as it is very different.

 

[Capt Rifle]

stick with 2u

 

[iSplicer]

Please not general.

 

[Magical Kebab]

I'd say work harder and stick with 2u... But ur best off discussing the issue with your teacher and/or head teacher.
Good luck.