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choosing subjects for Year 11 (1 Viewer)

michael1990

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Deer said:
Why would I not consider general?

Well for one, the information I have gathered from lurking around BoS has lead me to believe that it scales really, really, reeeeally poorly. In saying that, I also know not to choose subjects based on scaling, however, if I'm going to put myself through another 2 years of maths, and I am capable of it (even if it takes me a bit more work), I might as well do the one that will get me better marks. Right?
Also, i'm pretty sure the assumed knowledge for most Uni science courses is 2U Mathematics, not Gen.

I have talked to some of my accelerated friends about it, and they think I can handle it.
So I guess I'll pick it and see :)
Thankyou again!!
It will only scale badly if you do badly in it. But if you do well in it then it will be more benificatal for you.

Also if it is assumed knowledge, you can still do the course, you just will have to do a Mathematics course as well. I think half year to 1 year.
 

Deer

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fOR3V3RPINKKKK said:
Hi :)

Since you have been lurking around BoS, I do not know if you have or have not seen this:

http://community.boredofstudies.org/showpost.php?p=3369139&postcount=24

Basically it just shows 2 students all different subjects with the first student mainly doing low scalling subjects and the second student doing higher scaling subject than the first. notice how the one that did general maths ended up getting a higher UAI...

I, myself started of doing 2U maths. I ended up dropping half way year 12 as I even though I know I could have done it if I put in the effort, it would have taken time away from focusing on my other subjects and i know people who have told me the same thing.

For uni 2U maths was also assumed for my course. I have done a bridging course and i am coping.

But of course do wahtever you feel is best for you, (just dont say i didnt warn you :p )


Nope I had not come across that yet, thanks for showing me. I hear what you're saying, but honestly I'll probably 'learn the hard way' and try 2U like you did, just to see if I can handle it. If it's taking up too much time, I will drop back to general. Did you do 12 units? Or 10? I'm pretty sure I'll do 12.
I have thought about bridging courses too, but as of just now I hadn't spoken to anyone who had done one, and I thought they might be a bit intense. It's good to know you survived though :D

I probably should have started a new thread for this.. I sort of hijacked this one. :p
 

lyounamu

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michael1990 said:
It will only scale badly if you do badly in it. But if you do well in it then it will be more benificatal for you.

Also if it is assumed knowledge, you can still do the course, you just will have to do a Mathematics course as well. I think half year to 1 year.
For general maths, it still scales so poorly that even if you come first IN THE STATE, what you get is only 45/50. There is no guarantee that she will come either first or second or even top 10 in the state. As only the top person gets 45/50, the rest will be bound to get much less than that. Scaling is, in my opinion, something that everyone should consider. It is true that one must consider scaling as the last thing they should look but it is still important.

By the way, it is better to do certain course if it is assumed knowledge, as you will struggle through university course if you didn't do the certain assumed knowledge. Of course, you can handle it but it will just take so much more time that you will be better off doing assumed knowledge. Why not do it if you can do it?
 

michael1990

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lyounamu said:
For general maths, it still scales so poorly that even if you come first IN THE STATE, what you get is only 45/50. There is no guarantee that she will come either first or second or even top 10 in the state. As only the top person gets 45/50, the rest will be bound to get much less than that. Scaling is, in my opinion, something that everyone should consider. It is true that one must consider scaling as the last thing they should look but it is still important.
This is incorrect.
No one can say its scaling effect. As it changes from year to year depending how the state had performed.

You can however say in PAST years it has been known to scale badly.
I agree scaling should be on your mind when choosing subjects, but also how you will perform in that subject. If you cannot perform that well in 2 unit Mathematics why choose it?
As the years have gone past, the gap between 2 Unit Mathematics and General Mathematics has decreased.

lyounamu said:
By the way, it is better to do certain course if it is assumed knowledge, as you will struggle through university course if you didn't do the certain assumed knowledge. Of course, you can handle it but it will just take so much more time that you will be better off doing assumed knowledge. Why not do it if you can do it?
If you are doing a bridging course, how would you find the course harder?
But if you do badly in 2 Unit Mathematics in the HSC wouldn't you find it difficult?

I think you need to word your argument a little better.
 

huhwotsthis

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45/50 = 90%
Haven't people gotten like 97% in general maths?
I hope so because IM DOING GENERAL MATHS:)
 

michael1990

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huhwotsthis said:
45/50 = 90%
Haven't people gotten like 97% in general maths?
I hope so because IM DOING GENERAL MATHS:)
Yes you are right. At our school we got people who got 96, in their HSC mark.
 

nerdsforever

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Choose subjects that you enjoy. Do you enjoy maths? Are you good at it?

I'm going to try doing Ancient History. Even though its not my career path, I'm doing it because i find it interesting :D

45/50 = 90%
Haven't people gotten like 97% in general maths?
I hope so because IM DOING GENERAL MATHS
Good luck. I'm sure you'll get a good mark.
 

lyounamu

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michael1990 said:
This is incorrect.
No one can say its scaling effect. As it changes from year to year depending how the state had performed.

You can however say in PAST years it has been known to scale badly.
I agree scaling should be on your mind when choosing subjects, but also how you will perform in that subject. If you cannot perform that well in 2 unit Mathematics why choose it?
As the years have gone past, the gap between 2 Unit Mathematics and General Mathematics has decreased.

If you are doing a bridging course, how would you find the course harder?
But if you do badly in 2 Unit Mathematics in the HSC wouldn't you find it difficult?

I think you need to word your argument a little better.
Yes I am aware of the fact that scaling comes afresh every year. But you should be aware of the fact that the scaling does not alter significantly. Sources are 2006 scaling report and 2007 scaling report. Have a look at them and you will see the differences are minimal (about 1-2 scaled marks except few language courses like Korean Background Speakers).

Are you saying that I have got no right to say that the certain course has got bad scaling? If that's what you are talking about, no one in this forum or in the website has got right to say the certain course has got bad scaling. We can even say that the scaling of Business Studies can be higher than Mathematics Extension 2 when the scaling report comes out in 2008. But we know from the fact (and common sense) that it's not going to happen. When I said the scaling is poor for General Mathematics, you should have assumed from the past scalings as I have got no idea what it's going to happen in future. Branding my comment as 'incorrect' brands as you 'ridiculous' as you have no common sense whatsoever.

You also should have read my post carefully as I never mentioned that you should choose Mathematics over General Mathematics because of scaling.
I never even said scaling should determine whether you should do the course but it is important to consider it. I was implying that the scaling of General Maths is poor and you can expect it to remain like that (or change slightly but it doesn't matter). As I mentioned earlier the scaling that you see from 2007 is going to be very much similar in 2008.

No, the gap between Mathematics and General Mathematics have not decreased. I will show you.

AVERAGE SCALED mark from General Mathematics in 2006 = 20.9/50
AVERAGE SCALED mark from Mathematics in 2006 = 30.1/50
Difference 30.1 - 20.9 = 9.2

AVERAGE SCALED mark from General Mathematics in 2007 = 21/50
AVERAGE SCALED mark from Mathematics in 2007 = 30.5/50
Difference = 30.5 - 21 = 9.5

Can you still say that the difference got closer? It doesn't seem to me! Check out the 2005 & 2006 reports as well. I checked them out. The difference got bigger (I am also aware of the fact that the scaling comes afresh).

Do you think Bridging course can solve everything? Do you realise that you need to take Bridging course WHILE you take the course? Do you realise that it is not as easy as it sounds? Let's say you struggle with Engineering Course because you didn't do Mathematics. Then, you will be struggling with Engineering Course while you are also struggling in the Bridging Course that can jeopardise the whole courses. I truly believe that everyone should do the courses that they can actually fit in and are capable of.

I reckon my argument was much well constructed then yours and mine was at least informed one. You had no sources backing you and your whole argument was out of common sense. I suggest you go back to scaling report and have a look. Find me a course where the difference in scaling has been astronomical. I bet the scaling is similar every year as the similar kind of cohort would do the course every year. In conclusion, I think you could word your argument better, that's one of the most pathetic one with no evidence behind, trying to ridicule someone's argument that is so much bettter constructed and written.

Source: http://www.uac.edu.au/pubs/pdf/2007_table_A3.pdf
http://www.uac.edu.au/pubs/pdf/2006_table_A3.pdf
 
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lyounamu

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michael1990 said:
Yes you are right. At our school we got people who got 96, in their HSC mark.
You don't even know the difference between scaled mark and aligned mark, do you?

Aligned mark doesn't make much difference. Someone in Senior Science got 98 as his/her aliigned mark. But does it mean that she/he will get 98 as his/her scaled mark? No. This ALIGNED MARK will be adjusted to SCALED MARK which was 43.8/50 = 87.6/100 (that was the top scaled mark given to the top person in the state).

The person you are talking about would have got 96 as his/her aligned mark, he/she would have got between 45 and 40 out of 50. So as I said, whatever the top aligned mark was (it was 99 in HSC in 2007), that person got 90 as his/her scaled mark.

Please come back for an argument if you have any decent knowledge on scaling & aligning WITH evidence. I don't want to babysit someone who has got absolute no idea on how the scaling works despite the fact that you are doing HSC (and you are one year above me).

Source: 2007 scaling report (if you want to have a look go to UAC http://www.uac.edu.au/admin/uai.html#act).
 
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bobos2

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law said:
Look, the board of studies confuses everyone just so they can pull a few strings and keep James Ruse College coming first every year and everyone else is none the wiser!
that is hilarious.
 

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I have no evidence to back up this position (sorry, lyounamu!), but if you found the 2U course too difficult in the first place, wouldn't you find the uni bridging course in itself difficult, and the rest of the course which required it? Obviously there are special cases, but as a general rule if you couldn't cope with the higher course (2U), perhaps the uni course you wanted to do isn't for you?

Just a thought, not any kind of well-constructed argument :)
 

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fOR3V3RPINKKKK said:
The thing about bridging courses is that they only teach you the stuff that you need for your course so it isn't as bad as people who havn't done it think it is.
I see, that makes sense then :) But it would still make sense to me to at least give it a try, like you did. I have a friend who was really good at maths in year 10, but then this year she dropped down to Maths A (=general maths) because she figured she could just do a bridging course or something, even though she could easily have done well in Maths B...and had it 'scale' better and everything. Oh well, to each his own :) Doesn't matter all that much anyway...
 

nick3157

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forget scaling, dont even worry about that. pick what u think ud be interested in cos ull do 100% better in them. if you look at the university guides and stuff ull see that maths isn't a prerequisite for anything except business and science courses, so if u dont think thats what u want to do then i wouldnt bother with any maths (i did 2 unit until halfway throught the hsc and gave up) at all. and if u pick something that u dont like, u can change it to something else in the first few weeks of year 11 anyway so dont stress about that. just pick what u like and what u think ud be good at.
 

lyounamu

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nick3157 said:
forget scaling, dont even worry about that. pick what u think ud be interested in cos ull do 100% better in them. if you look at the university guides and stuff ull see that maths isn't a prerequisite for anything except business and science courses, so if u dont think thats what u want to do then i wouldnt bother with any maths (i did 2 unit until halfway throught the hsc and gave up) at all. and if u pick something that u dont like, u can change it to something else in the first few weeks of year 11 anyway so dont stress about that. just pick what u like and what u think ud be good at.
While the above post seems to be the stance that everyone should take, it is also better (if not important) to look at the scaling as well. There are certain subjects that may jeopardise your UAI goal. However, whatever happens you should take the above admonition as a top priority.
 

melanieeeee.

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nick3157 said:
forget scaling, dont even worry about that. pick what u think ud be interested in cos ull do 100% better in them. if you look at the university guides and stuff ull see that maths isn't a prerequisite for anything except business and science courses, so if u dont think thats what u want to do then i wouldnt bother with any maths (i did 2 unit until halfway throught the hsc and gave up) at all. and if u pick something that u dont like, u can change it to something else in the first few weeks of year 11 anyway so dont stress about that. just pick what u like and what u think ud be good at.

i 100% agree :)
 

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u know grade 10 was the best year. dont think too ahead.. just enjoy it
 

Lolita25

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WHATEVER YOU DO, choose subjects u will be happy with and not when ur in mid year 12 and say "why did i do this subject?"

The teacher does matter regardless of the scaling or difficulty of the subject.

Make sure u have a variety of subjects like science, humanities so that in the future, you can have that assumed knowledge.

If i could turn back time....boy would i pick different subjects and NOT BE TEACHING MYSELF DUE TO THE STUPIDITY OF TEACHERS
 

d3vilz

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jazzbaby said:
u know grade 10 was the best year. dont think too ahead.. just enjoy it
i agree there.
make the most of yr 10 (in terms of study, going out, mucking around at school and etc..) coz this year will go by so fast.
 

melanieeeee.

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d3vilz said:
i agree there.
make the most of yr 10 (in terms of study, going out, mucking around at school and etc..) coz this year will go by so fast.
not as fast as year 11 though. literally.
 

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