I think I know what your problem is, if you can call it a problem. (I don't mean it is an
actual problem, so don't take it literally).
I haven't seen many of your posts Agent Z, which doesn't mean that your posts aren't as valid as any other, not at all.
You remind me of someone I know from school, and I don't mean to insult you, but I will say this:
This person I know, which you remind me of:
He takes things too seriously and keeps asking "but why?". If you were a teacher, you would understand how frustrating it is to have students ask "but why" -- and I don't mean for simple concepts, but it's smart-alecky in a way, if you know what I'm saying.
Again, this is not about "you" - but more or less, it is? It's the type of student who refuses to accept textbook definitions, and moves away from the scope of the syllabus - which can be a good thing, but it isn't required/necessary. There's the type of person who takes everything you say, and takes it literally, without considering where he/she is coming from.
Questions such as "how" or "why" are high-level, and you wouldn't need to go in-depth as you have in your first post and posts to follow.
Subsequently, you'll be "pissing your pants" in effect when it comes to the HSC, because you'll be realising that
following the HSC exam, you'll think: "now, why did I have to go and learn all of that... when all I had to know was..."
I know I'm not answering your question(s), and I believe they were answered exceptionally well under the circumstances (keep in mind that we are heading towards the HSC and time is running out, for all). Ordinarily, I would be attempting to explain and cover all of your questions, but I felt that I had to say this:
"Don't stray from the syllabus and the syllabus is not always correct, why do you think they're always being revised/updated?"
Having said that, the syllabus is as complete as possible (at the time of writing), and if you know everything in the syllabus, you will be fine. If you know the textbook completely, you will be fine. But it's only when you begin to question the textbook and take things out of context that you begin to worry over nothing, stress over nothing, and generally you'll be digging your own grave in my opinion, as it's outside of the course boundaries. Sure, it's great to know the "extras/additional info" -- but that's a lesson I've found out in years 9-10 computing studies. I would talk about other things and "show off" (I hope you know what I'm talking about), but at the end of the day, you're not answering the question, as expected. The markers will be thinking: "Great, he knows his stuff, and he'll be a great employee one day, but a great HSC/IPT student - he is not".
There's one more thing I should add, and it is as follows:
Do not try and link theory/concepts in IPT with real-world scenarios and applications of IPT to our world
Why? It is virtually impossible to
strictly adhere to IPT, when trying to compare it with the real-world.
That's the difficulty exam writers face when creating exams. You can't link theory with practice
completely, so the exams themselves allow for some sort of overlap between what you have been taught at school, with some sort of "example" from real life -- such examples might not even exist, it's only to be used in the exam, and there is no correlation between say, what Qantas uses in their databases and what the IPT textbook states.
It's just an example to highlight a concept. Some real-world applications will apply relevant/similar concepts in IPT, but the exams themselves don't link real-world applications to IPT, it is IPT which tries to adapt to the real-world (sorry if this is sounding Matrix-esque).
I hope you understand. The way I see it, is that you are beginning to question the syllabus and pushing yourself so far as to "not-know" what is to be expected. (I know you have your syllabus, and you can reference it, fantastic), but you shouldn't need to go further than what the syllabus states, and if a textbook doesn't agree with another, then you'll need to compromise, not every text is correct.
I'm going to shut up now, and I'm sure you'll be "hating" me, but I'm really hoping you can see where I'm coming from.
"Accept it, and regurgitate it" would be my advice to you, sorry.
