Good in Extension 2, but crap in Extension 1... (1 Viewer)

[Trebla]

I dunno if this belongs in the Mathematics Extension 2 forum or the Mathematics Extension 1 forum, but anyway....
After all the assessment tasks and trial exams, I seem to have a very annoying problem. I'm doing fairly well in Extension 2 (4th in the trial and approx 3rd-4th overall), but I am doing relatively crap in Extension 1 (15th in trial and probably overall as well). A lot of people who I beat in Extension 2 are hammering me in Extension 1. Whilst everyone is working on improving their Extension 2 marks, I have to work on improving my Extension 1 marks. In fact, some of the non-Extension 2 people (i.e. do 3 units of Maths) are beating me in Extension 1 overall....
Although I try equally hard in both, my guess is that I may be subconsciously slacking off in Extension 1 from the assumption that Extension 2 would help my Extension 1 knowledge....lol...it's just a guess/theory....
My question is, how do I work on bumping up my Extension 1 mark/rank in the HSC without having to sacrifice my Extension 2 time for it? (since I want my Extension 2 rank to remain if not rise)...because I would be very pissed off if my Extension 2 mark turns out to be a lot higher than my Extension 1 mark.....

 

[Riviet]

Nah it's right, the thread would be more appropriate in this forum since not all extension 1 students do the extension 2 course.

I'm doing well in extension 1 (2nd/30ish) and pretty good in 4 unit (4th/12). This has been the case through the year mainly because my basics are solid and have really helped me in harder 3 unit questions all over the course.

how do I work on bumping up my Extension 1 mark/rank in the HSC without having to sacrifice my Extension 2 time for it? (since I want my Extension 2 rank to remain if not rise)...because I would be very pissed off if my Extension 2 mark turns out to be a lot higher than my Extension 1 mark.....

Do as many harder 3 unit type questions you can, especially in overlapping topics like integration and polynomials. This will improve your confidence and make 3 unit topics seem like nothing (in terms of difficulty) compared to 4 unit type questions. Other overlapping topics of 4u onto 3u are projectile motion, harder motion/SHM, harder binomial theorem and probability.

 

[bboyelement]

i find 3 unit really easy like integration, inverse function and circles and so i have no problem in 3 unit. but i would think you are slacking at topics such as SHM, projectiles, rates of change binomials and stuff you dont cover in 4 unit ... what you can do is get a text book that you havent done before and do questions from each topic which shouldnt take you long at all ... dont do past papers until you have a thorough knowledge of the whole course.
for the last 2 days i have been busting my ass on 3 unit cambridge and have covered all projectiles and SHM, probability ...

 

[housemouse]

I reckon you have an advantage as you can easily fix up your problems in 3 unit in this month and questions in the 3 unit exams are pretty much the same each year.

 

[Affinity]

yeah.. jsut make sure you work fast enough.. for the 3U exam..
it's 7 questions in 1.5 hours or was it 2.... man forgot

 

[alcalder]

It is understandable that you may be doing better in 4U over 3U (Ext2 over Ext1) since there are some topics in 4U that are not in 3U at all - eg complex numbers.

I would look at your 3U problems and see if you can target what it is exactly that is bringing you down.

Is it
- understanding of concepts?
- algebraic manipulation?
- seeing where the answer may lie?
- remembering formulae?

Once you have worked out where the weakness is, then you can work on fixing it. Sometimes it can be simple algebraic manipulation that lets you down with the "easier" topics.

Hope that helps. PM me if you want to chat more about it.

 

[Porcia]

dude ur symptoms fit exactly mine. i too was 15th in trials for 3u math and 4th for 4u math... i think its due to the way our brains work: 3u is memorisable shit which im crap at, and 4u is more eclectic

 

[joesmith1975]

same 4u im better at than 3u also projectiles in 3u is harder than 4 u motion i recoken and also some of the harder 3u in the 4 u exam is a mess

 

[pLuvia]

Same here, I'm 2nd in 4u, but 5th in 3u

 

[Riviet]

It doesn't really make much sense to me why you guys have higher ranking 3u maths. Is it the silly mistakes or just a weakness in a particular 3u topic? Or maybe it's that easy vs. hard factor that plays in, ie when you can do all the hard questions (in 4u) but screw up on easier questions (in 3u)?

 

[Dimsimmer]

Yeh, in the term 1 assessment, i got 34/60 for 3u and 38/50 for 4u in terms of marks. It was probably because i slacked off in 3u where i didnt spend enough time on it. But i dont think i have this problem at the moment since i got 62/84 for 3u and 70/120 for 4u in the trials.

 

[Raginsheep]

Same here, I'm 2nd in 4u, but 5th in 3u

I don't know the full picture or anything but that isn't rally bad. I'd more worried only if you were like top 3 and only managed top 20.

You guys better hope its not a general trend through out the whole class of 06 or your screwed

 

[pLuvia]

The reason is because those who were also talented at maths, only stayed at the level of 3u and did not anticipate on taking up 4u maths, so that's why my rank is higher in 4u then 3u

 

[gamecw]

a lot of ppl just concentrate on studying 4unit, since it is a harder subject... ive heard from many ppl that they r failin 3 unit but doin good in 4unit etc..

well i personality think that im beta at 3, 4unit than 2u maths, as i rarely came 1st in 2unit..