Is 4 unit maths getting easier ? (1 Viewer)

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Zen2613

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Hey all,
So with the hsc exam coming up tomorrow, everyone's been doing past papers non-stop.
Does anyone get the feeling that the papers before 2000s were significantly harder than this century's papers ? It's almost as if 4 unit is very gradually getting easier, or is it just me ?
Man I wish I'd done it back then, all that extra stuff like euler's identity, circle geometry locus etc...
 
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Because the HSC is slowly shifting away from proof-based courses, firstly by guiding you through the question, then by dumbing down the question, until they replace conics with statistics, and introduce difference equations. This makes HSC applied, not pure. >:
 
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omegadot

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InteGrand said:
It's been getting easier for decades.
Click to expand...
Too true. Just look at a HSC Level 1 exam from the late 1960s. Many of the topics covered then are now only done at first-year university these days (infinite series, power series, coordinate geometry in space, matices, and modular arithmetic). And just look at the recent change in the format of the examination from eight written questions down to six plus ten lucky guesses (I do understand multiple choice questions can be made very difficult and tricky at times, but....).

One thing the 2/3/4 unit mathematics syllabuses managed to escape was the across the board dumping down of the HSC which took place in 2001. How mathematics managed to escape at the time I do not know. One only needs to look at what happened to subjects such as physics which these days is nothing more than a course about physics rather than in physics to get an idea of how narrow their escape was. So I guess the recent proposed changes for 2/3/4 unit mathematics that are now afoot is just a case of the bureaucrats finally catching up with the many mathematics teachers and academics who have fought so long and hard at retaining rigourous mathematics syllabuses in our schools. Enjoy it while it lasts and good luck for tomorrow!
 
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omegadot said:
Too true. Just look at a HSC Level 1 exam from the late 1960s. Many of the topics covered then are now only done at first-year university these days (infinite series, power series, coordinate geometry in space, matices, and modular arithmetic). And just look at the recent change in the format of the examination from eight written questions down to six plus ten lucky guesses (I do understand multiple choice questions can be made very difficult and tricky at times, but....).

One thing the 2/3/4 unit mathematics syllabuses managed to escape was the across the board dumping down of the HSC which took place in 2001. How mathematics managed to escape at the time I do not know. One only needs to look at what happened to subjects such as physics which these days is nothing more than a course about physics rather than in physics to get an idea of how narrow their escape was. So I guess the recent proposed changes for 2/3/4 unit mathematics that are now afoot is just a case of the bureaucrats finally catching up with the many mathematics teachers and academics who have fought so long and hard at retaining rigourous mathematics syllabuses in our schools. Enjoy it while it lasts and good luck for tomorrow!
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What's the main reason most subjects have been dumbed down so much (both compared to 1960's, and also compared to pre-2001)?
 
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omegadot

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InteGrand said:
What's the main reason most subjects have been dumbed down so much (both compared to 1960's, and also compared to pre-2001)?
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The movement to mass upper secondary education (and now higher education).
 
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InteGrand

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omegadot said:
The movement to mass upper secondary education (and now higher education).
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I'm not entirely sure I get what you mean. Are you saying the students were beginning to find it hard to cope with the old difficulty, so they dumbed it down?
 
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omegadot

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InteGrand said:
I'm not entirely sure I get what you mean. Are you saying the students were beginning to find it hard to cope with the old difficulty, so they dumbed it down?
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The percentage of people who went on and finished the last two years of secondary school was for much to the 20th century very low. Those who did go on and complete the last two years of school were those who were usually the most capable and were motivated to do so. Nowadays, all students are essentially forced to stay at school unless they can prove they have found work. So with all these extra students now filling thge ranks of Year 11 and 12, what is to be done with them? They need to do something, and placed somewhere, and all this creates downward pressure to dumb down. Granted, it's a slow process but it is ultimately a consequence of a shift in student demographics we have seen in recent times.
 
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omegadot said:
The percentage of people who went on and finished the last two years of secondary school was for much to the 20th century very low. Those who did go on and complete the last two years of school were those who were usually the most capable and were motivated to do so. Nowadays, all students are essentially forced to stay at school unless they can prove they have found work. So with all these extra students now filling thge ranks of Year 11 and 12, what is to be done with them? They need to do something, and placed somewhere, and all this creates downward pressure to dumb down. Granted, it's a slow process but it is ultimately a consequence of a shift in student demographics we have seen in recent times.
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Introduce Extension 3 mathematics. Where ext 2 and ext 3 count for 2 units each if you pick it.
add uni shit to ext 3 maths.
 
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omegadot said:
The percentage of people who went on and finished the last two years of secondary school was for much to the 20th century very low. Those who did go on and complete the last two years of school were those who were usually the most capable and were motivated to do so. Nowadays, all students are essentially forced to stay at school unless they can prove they have found work. So with all these extra students now filling thge ranks of Year 11 and 12, what is to be done with them? They need to do something, and placed somewhere, and all this creates downward pressure to dumb down. Granted, it's a slow process but it is ultimately a consequence of a shift in student demographics we have seen in recent times.
Click to expand...
Maybe they could have made a "General" stream for the sciences, like they have for maths. Then, they could have kept the sciences as they were and not dumbed them down, so those who wanted a dumbed down version could do the General versions. I guess this was considered infeasible by the Board (if they considered it).
 
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