Study and Maths Queries/Questions (1 Viewer)

[thomasdo1]

Hi, I'm currently in year 10 (term 4) doing accelerated maths and I'm not sure about a few things.

1) What's the difference between accelerated 2u vs 2u/3u, I've learnt the 3u prelim courses + some HSC (induction) so far. Will I be doing 2u and 3u HSC next October?
2) I'm already doing 4u in tutor and find it very fun, when do I start 4u in school, year 11 term 4 or year 12?
3) Since I'm doing 2u/3u HSC exams in year 11 (maybe depending on question 1), will I do 3u/4u in year 12 or skip 3u since I did it already? If I have a choice, should I repeat since 4u opens paths to easier 3u
4) My school was ranked 57 in 2009, but fallen to 100 -> 200, I'm pretty sure this year there's a few strong cohort??(can't tell how many there need to be to have a high school rank)
5) I'm currently ranked 1 in maths, prelim and before that, keeping this rank will the school's rank affect my internal alignment? If I fall to rank 2-5, will I still stand a chance for 99+ atar, if at all possible.
6) I know there's a lot of studying techniques and so on saying how many hours to study, but I can never find what to study!, I need more knowledge on this. First of all, should I study at all for my other Year 11 subjects, I know prelim is a good base for HSC.

Let's start with maths, what subjects do I study? Do I do the ones that are coming up in the HSC exam (worth 10%) or the prelim topics, or topics that we're learning right now, or a bit of all of them. How should I study them? past exams from different schools? past HSC questions? textbook questions? I heard textbook questions are bad (I have cambridge, MIF, fitzpatrick..etc)

What about the other subjects, do I read over the notes done in class, do prelim questions? redo questions from textbooks? I just finished year 10 yearlies, when I got the notification for the exams, I studied for the topics in the exam. I have not completed any study non related to exams simply because I don't know what to do. My subjects chosen next year are economics, physics, chem, SOR 1(catholic school), mx1, english adv. I'm thinking about dropping economics in year 12, since I'm going for mx2 which will make up 10 units already, is the prelim economics a waste of my time or should I not drop it at all?

I have already created a maths summary book on everything on 2/3u, I'm planning to add questions in there I would likely do silly mistakes on them. Does anyone have resources consisting of silly mistakes that I could have or buy? e.g x has to be positive in general form (linear), a sequence between 50-100 divisible by 3 has to start on a number divisible by 3. Always write conditions etc.

 

[authenticity]

Some answers to your Qs (anyone, please correct me if I'm wrong):

1) 2u/3u is when you've chosen to take 3u as your highest level of maths and in doing so, you're required to complete 2u. Accelerated 2u is just simply completing maths 2u early on (i.e. not in yr 12). Therefore next October, you'll be doing the HSC for the level of your accelerated course (I.e. if you're considered accelerated 2u, you'll only do HSC for 2u maths).

2) You start 4u next year term 4 (as prelims are only 3 terms, so you start HSC in term 4)

3) Well I think it sounds like you're doing accelerated 2u. By that standard, you'll be doing 3u + 4u in yr 12. Provided the opportunity, it all depends on yourself. If you find that you need the free period that will come from not having to learn 3u again, then don't repeat it. However, it also depends on your school on whether they will allow you not to take the subject. You should also probably speak to your teacher as they will have a clearer idea.

4) I'm not sure what the Q is here =S

5) Since internally you're rank 1, your mark will be completely dependent on how well you perform for your final HSC exam.
Also, you can't tell what your atar will be based on just this one subject. Your atar is based on your 10 best units. Especially since you're going to do 4u, only your 3u & 4u mark will be considered. Your accelerated course can pretty much act as a back up if you ever decide not to take up 4u.

6) Yes, you should study. Your prelim knowledge will form the basis for your HSC course (hence why you don't pick up a completely new subject in yr 12 as you won't have the foundation provided in your prelim year.)

As a general statement, when you study for your exams, double check with the syllabus to ensure that you've covered all the bullet points. Doing prelim Qs will help. Especially in regards to chem and phys where you will be asked to work out problems. Doing the textbook Qs ensure that you actually understand the concepts and the applications of formulas. Similarly for past papers, they also determine whether you understand the concepts of the course or not. You also may have different preferences for maths textbooks. However I can tell you assuredly that if you can complete the extension questions of the Cambridge textbook, you are very well on your way to doing quite well. Also, Terry Lee textbooks are beneficial as they actually provide the working out to the Q's (unlike many other maths textbooks!)

In regards to economics, whether you want to put time in it is your choice. You may change your mind about doing exactly 12 units and regret not paying attention in class. If you're definitive in dropping, then perhaps it would be more wise to concentrate on the subjects you know you will definitely complete for HSC.

 

[strawberrye]

You should probably make your own notes on silly mistakes to avoid, because everyone's silly mistakes are different, and silly mistakes can change between topics The sample silly mistakes you pointed out are not really silly mistakes, they are more like reminders or tips

 

[thomasdo1]

Some answers to your Qs (anyone, please correct me if I'm wrong):

1) 2u/3u is when you've chosen to take 3u as your highest level of maths and in doing so, you're required to complete 2u. Accelerated 2u is just simply completing maths 2u early on (i.e. not in yr 12). Therefore next October, you'll be doing the HSC for the level of your accelerated course (I.e. if you're considered accelerated 2u, you'll only do HSC for 2u maths).

2) You start 4u next year term 4 (as prelims are only 3 terms, so you start HSC in term 4)

3) Well I think it sounds like you're doing accelerated 2u. By that standard, you'll be doing 3u + 4u in yr 12. Provided the opportunity, it all depends on yourself. If you find that you need the free period that will come from not having to learn 3u again, then don't repeat it. However, it also depends on your school on whether they will allow you not to take the subject. You should also probably speak to your teacher as they will have a clearer idea.

4) I'm not sure what the Q is here =S

5) Since internally you're rank 1, your mark will be completely dependent on how well you perform for your final HSC exam.
Also, you can't tell what your atar will be based on just this one subject. Your atar is based on your 10 best units. Especially since you're going to do 4u, only your 3u & 4u mark will be considered. Your accelerated course can pretty much act as a back up if you ever decide not to take up 4u.

6) Yes, you should study. Your prelim knowledge will form the basis for your HSC course (hence why you don't pick up a completely new subject in yr 12 as you won't have the foundation provided in your prelim year.)

As a general statement, when you study for your exams, double check with the syllabus to ensure that you've covered all the bullet points. Doing prelim Qs will help. Especially in regards to chem and phys where you will be asked to work out problems. Doing the textbook Qs ensure that you actually understand the concepts and the applications of formulas. Similarly for past papers, they also determine whether you understand the concepts of the course or not. You also may have different preferences for maths textbooks. However I can tell you assuredly that if you can complete the extension questions of the Cambridge textbook, you are very well on your way to doing quite well. Also, Terry Lee textbooks are beneficial as they actually provide the working out to the Q's (unlike many other maths textbooks!)

In regards to economics, whether you want to put time in it is your choice. You may change your mind about doing exactly 12 units and regret not paying attention in class. If you're definitive in dropping, then perhaps it would be more wise to concentrate on the subjects you know you will definitely complete for HSC.

thanks for replying, what I was questioning in question 4 was that I'm not sure if I have a strong cohort or not. How many people need to get A's to get right now in year 10 to get your schools rank up? Because I heard you get aligned better with a strong cohort

You should probably make your own notes on silly mistakes to avoid, because everyone's silly mistakes are different, and silly mistakes can change between topics The sample silly mistakes you pointed out are not really silly mistakes, they are more like reminders or tips

I guess I should start now, would be painful to start learning about the mistake in an exam. Thanks for the reply btw

 

[authenticity]

thanks for replying, what I was questioning in question 4 was that I'm not sure if I have a strong cohort or not. How many people need to get A's to get right now in year 10 to get your schools rank up? Because I heard you get aligned better with a strong cohort

This is probably not going to help, but it's hard to say how many A's are needed. At my school, it was only in year 11 did people actually start putting more effort in. Year 12 just gets even more competitive.
It is better to have a strong cohort, but I don't think it's possible to tell at the moment.