How should I study in the holidays for this subject? (1 Viewer)

[Interdice]

My strongest subject is Maths Advanced and my weakest is Extension 1.

My go to method for advanced is trial paper and win.

I'm too dumb for Ext trial papers. I never get the harder questions corect. Did 2009 and 2018 Excel HSC. I did yr11 diffential calculus, polynomials, trig, and year 12 vectors/projectile motion.

I don't really want to go back to the textbook and relearn all of year 11s topics. Seems like a waste of time. Pearson questions are so ass.

Edrolo probably won't help much either.

How should I study

 

[jimmysmith560]

Essentially, the method of preparation for Mathematics Extension 1 should not differ significantly from that for Mathematics Advanced. While your study strategy for Mathematics Advanced is working for you as intended, reaching the same standard of performance in Mathematics Extension 1, despite the same method usually working, is trickier because of the higher difficulty of concepts when compared to Mathematics Advanced. Based on this, I would recommend two things:

• Apply a more systematic approach to completing past trial exam papers - This is primarily concerned with sorting the trial papers according to their difficulty, with less difficult papers (which may be from lower-ranked schools) being the ones that you should attempt first so that you can correctly solve questions relating to the concepts that you mentioned while still becoming familiar with exam-style questions (as opposed to textbook questions). As your confidence with each concept increases, you may subsequently attempt more difficult papers to further challenge yourself, the difference here being that at such a point, you would have already developed an ability to recognise concepts and patterns, which would hopefully assist you in solving the more difficult questions.
• Make a list of all the questions that you were unable to solve correctly - You can probably discuss each question in-depth, including the thought process behind solving each of them, with your teacher and/or your tutor. This would hopefully allow you to become aware of elements that you may have previously overlooked going forward.

Alternatively, you may wish to consider dropping Mathematics Extension 1. I think that this should only be considered as a last resort, that is, if you reach a point where you strongly believe that improvement to a sufficiently high level cannot be made. Unless you need Mathematics Extension 1, for example, if it is treated as assumed knowledge for a university degree that you wish to study, you have the ability to drop it. While this would mean that you would no longer have one backup unit, the time that you would spend studying for Mathematics Extension 1 could instead be allocated towards some of your other subjects, especially if Mathematics Extension 1 ends up being your lowest-performing subject, in which case it would not count towards your ATAR in the first place.

I hope this helps!

 

[synthesisFR]

I don't do this personally but i hear about a lot of ppl who make 'technique' notes for each topic on docs . E.g for vector proof questions where they give u the modulus, ur most likely gonna have to start with it and develop ur way to the required result like in that past hsc q14, or that for direction of motion questions in projectile, u always want to examine x' and y'. It should be really helpful if ur struggling, and doing this would help you know where to start for more difficult questions.

If u don't understand a topic instantly, its probably because ur teacher is trash. Most school teachers aren't the best despite having a literal degree at teaching..my math tutor only has to explain a topic in detail once and none of us struggle with the topics to the point where we can just start doing difficult questions right of the bat.
If ur struggling conceptually, asking ur friends or here would be a good idea.

 

[Interdice]

Essentially, the method of preparation for Mathematics Extension 1 should not differ significantly from that for Mathematics Advanced. While your study strategy for Mathematics Advanced is working for you as intended, reaching the same standard of performance in Mathematics Extension 1, despite the same method usually working, is trickier because of the higher difficulty of concepts when compared to Mathematics Advanced. Based on this, I would recommend two things:

• Apply a more systematic approach to completing past trial exam papers - This is primarily concerned with sorting the trial papers according to their difficulty, with less difficult papers (which may be from lower-ranked schools) being the ones that you should attempt first so that you can correctly solve questions relating to the concepts that you mentioned while still becoming familiar with exam-style questions (as opposed to textbook questions). As your confidence with each concept increases, you may subsequently attempt more difficult papers to further challenge yourself, the difference here being that at such a point, you would have already developed an ability to recognise concepts and patterns, which would hopefully assist you in solving the more difficult questions.
• Make a list of all the questions that you were unable to solve correctly - You can probably discuss each question in-depth, including the thought process behind solving each of them, with your teacher and/or your tutor. This would hopefully allow you to become aware of elements that you may have previously overlooked going forward.

Alternatively, you may wish to consider dropping Mathematics Extension 1. I think that this should only be considered as a last resort, that is, if you reach a point where you strongly believe that improvement to a sufficiently high level cannot be made. Unless you need Mathematics Extension 1, for example, if it is treated as assumed knowledge for a university degree that you wish to study, you have the ability to drop it. While this would mean that you would no longer have one backup unit, the time that you would spend studying for Mathematics Extension 1 could instead be allocated towards some of your other subjects, especially if Mathematics Extension 1 ends up being your lowest-performing subject, in which case it would not count towards your ATAR in the first place.

I hope this helps!

Good suggestions. Easier trial papers seems wise. However my non-selective school has exams that are just as difficult as selective schools. Only one/two guys got the question at the end of the paper, which was harder than any minima/maxima problem I saw at any selective school paper. I don't think school makes much of a difference. I will give cherrybrook and killara papers a try though.

I don't have a tutor, and my math teacher is busy. I usually bombard r/homeworkhelp lol. I don't really wanna drop extension. I want to do computer science next year

 

[jimmysmith560]

Hi,

I did my math ex 1 exam for this term which is worth 25% for internals. It was terrible, I ran out of time, made up some numbers, and I estimated myself with a mark of 83% ish. I was coming first in task 1 (worth 20%), and the next set of people was only like 3% behind me, and my rank is going to definitely drop after this exam. There are like 5 people (including me) competing for rank 1.
Do I still have the chance to recover rank 1?

Many thanks,

Pinky

First, the performance of your peers is relevant in terms of determining whether your rank will be lower following your performance in your exam and if so, how much your rank will drop. 83% does not seem like a bad mark and your position may end up not being as bad as you think it will be, especially if the rest of the cohort did not perform at a higher standard, unless it was considered to be an easy exam, in which case the performance of your cohort may end up being favourable. Of course, you know your circumstances best.

However, your favourable performance in task 1 (and the fact that it led you to placing first), as well as the fact that there is 55% of your internal performance that is yet to be determined, indicate that, should you lose your position following this exam, you are able to recover your rank. This means that going forward, you should do your utmost to thoroughly prepare for your upcoming assessment tasks/exams, which will hopefully allow you to perform at the highest possible standard in those, and ultimately maximise your chances of recovering your rank. From that point, you will have placed yourself in a comfortable position as you approach your Mathematics Extension HSC exam.

I hope this helps!