MATH1011 and MATH1131... which one should i choose ? (1 Viewer)

didlshak27

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i achieved HSC Mathematics 97/100 and HSC Mathematics Ext. 46/50.
so im assuming whether i do MATH1011 or MATH1131, difficulty isnt gonna be issue for me. the thing is, apprently theres the 'scaling' system in uni as well, i heard? and being the easier one, i thought MATH1011 would 'scale' less and hence, lower grade/mark. Is this true?

ps. im currently enrolled in BPsych and these options are for deciding my science elective.

thanks :)
 

Omium

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i achieved HSC Mathematics 97/100 and HSC Mathematics Ext. 46/50.
so im assuming whether i do MATH1011 or MATH1131, difficulty isnt gonna be issue for me. the thing is, apprently theres the 'scaling' system in uni as well, i heard? and being the easier one, i thought MATH1011 would 'scale' less and hence, lower grade/mark. Is this true?

ps. im currently enrolled in BPsych and these options are for deciding my science elective.

thanks :)
I suggest MATH1131, the content isn't too difficult and its a nice course.

Edit: Congrats on HSC marks and getting accepted to UNSW
 

rajeenth

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MATH1151- Math for acturial studies and finance 1A and MATH1081- Discrete mathematics. im doing b.com/b.sci and want 2 major in acturial studies.
thanks
 

chucknthem

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A lot of computer science students will do math1081 along with math1141/math1241 which is similar to math1151/math1251.

You'll be doing much harder courses when you actually start doing actuarial subjects in second/third year. :p
 

cyl123

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MATH1151: The stuff done in calculus section of this course is mainly revision on high school, but it is much more rigourous and theoretical than stuff done in high school. There are a lot of theorems introduced on things we take granted for in high school such as continuity and differentiability. Also grasping the concept of several variable calculus may be difficult.
Algebra is mainly new stuff such as matrices and vector geometry (although a good understanding of high school vectors is helpful), but questions given are much more process based (less thinking involved) and hence easier. Also statistics section done is helpful in doing second semester actuarial course ACTL1001.
Overall, Algebra prob easier than calc and the course itself is not too hard (although the exam can be a bitch)

MATH1081: Much different to anything done in HSC (except maybe perms and combs). Personally i found this subject very interesting but it really involves being able to "think outside the box" and be non-assuming in anything. Lots of new notation is introduced which may be difficult to follow at first. Overall, course is probably more challenging than MATH1151 in terms of grasping concepts, but it is a much more interesting course. Also 4 lectures in 4 days is really annoying.

Doing MATH1151 and MATH1081 is actually quite beneficial in learning the notation used by lecturers, but they arent really that closely related. However, recursive techniques learnt in MATH1081 will come in handy in doing MATH1251.
 

rajeenth

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MATH1151 and MATH 1081 r science courses rite? do i need them if i want 2 major in actuarial? Wat other subjects can i choose that is relevant 2 my course. I tried the course book but its confusing!
 

cyl123

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MATH1151 and MATH 1081 r science courses rite? do i need them if i want 2 major in actuarial? Wat other subjects can i choose that is relevant 2 my course. I tried the course book but its confusing!
MATH1151 and MATH1081 count as science courses, but MATH1151 also fulfill the prerequisites for first year commerce course (excludes ECON1202 i think) If you plan on doing maths/actl, then follow the course plan given by the unsw maths website, it is much more informative. i will give you the link. The other 2 subjects (ACCT1501-Accounting and ECON1101-Microeconomics) are core commerce courses.

School of Mathematics and Statistics - With Actuarial Studies
 

rajeenth

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thanks for the link. but say i dont want 2 do 2 math courses, wat course can the MATH1081 be substituted with that has relevance to do with acturial.
 

cyl123

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thanks for the link. but say i dont want 2 do 2 math courses, wat course can the MATH1081 be substituted with that has relevance to do with acturial.
well MATH1081 is highly recommended but not prerequisite. I guess there are no other courses in science major which relates to actuarial in first year (no real first year stats course as its covered in MATH1151). Maybe you can do a finance course (FINS1612) and then do an extra science course in a semester in the future. Im not really to sure to be honest so may need to ask someone else.

2 math courses is not too hard to handle btw.
 

didlshak27

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thanks for the recommendations guys. so it seems that MATH1131 scales more than MATH1011? or is this not true? And wat if i totally ace MATH1011, would that still be less worthy than MATH1131? (similar to getting band 6 in Eng Stndrd compared to Eng adv in HSC ). thanks
 

chucknthem

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thanks for the link. but say i dont want 2 do 2 math courses, wat course can the MATH1081 be substituted with that has relevance to do with acturial.
If you're avoiding a math course because you think it's going to be too hard, you shouldn't be doing actuarial studies:eek:

thanks for the recommendations guys. so it seems that MATH1131 scales more than MATH1011? or is this not true? And wat if i totally ace MATH1011, would that still be less worthy than MATH1131? (similar to getting band 6 in Eng Stndrd compared to Eng adv in HSC ). thanks
There is no official scaling schemes at uni. Some lecturers will scale the course a bit based on mark distributions and higher/lower versions of a course, no one really knows how much of it there is. An HD in math1011 will count the same towards your wam as getting an HD in math1131. I did math1141, and although people have suggested there is scalling between that and math1131, I certainly didn't notice it, maybe the marking was a bit easier in math1141. about 40-50% of math1141 students get Distinction or higher (where as only about 25% in math1131 get D or higher), but that's because the students who do math1141 are generally better at math, not because of any scalling.

Keep in mind that by doing math1011, you're excluding yourself from certain science courses like physics or further studies in math.
 

didlshak27

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so its not necesarrily hard to achieve HD in MATH1011, nor is it necesarily easy to get HD in MATH1131, under the effect of so called 'scailing' ?
 

rajeenth

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its not that i find maths hard. put is there any point of it?
 

ace

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i achieved HSC Mathematics 97/100 and HSC Mathematics Ext. 46/50.
so im assuming whether i do MATH1011 or MATH1131, difficulty isnt gonna be issue for me. the thing is, apprently theres the 'scaling' system in uni as well, i heard? and being the easier one, i thought MATH1011 would 'scale' less and hence, lower grade/mark. Is this true?

ps. im currently enrolled in BPsych and these options are for deciding my science elective.

thanks :)
Go with Sunny's suggestion of 1141. If you are allowed to, undertake 1151. There is no point taking a course for scaling. Scaling is this buzzword that is waved around alot. As people have mentioned, some subjects do modify numbers at the end of the day, but no one really knows which courses.

The reason I also suggest 1141 (or 1151), is because to do well in a course you need to be interested, 1141 (or 1151) will give you that interest by going into topics deeper. Stop looking for a short cut, as it might just back fire.
 

didlshak27

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Go with Sunny's suggestion of 1141. If you are allowed to, undertake 1151. There is no point taking a course for scaling. Scaling is this buzzword that is waved around alot. As people have mentioned, some subjects do modify numbers at the end of the day, but no one really knows which courses.

The reason I also suggest 1141 (or 1151), is because to do well in a course you need to be interested, 1141 (or 1151) will give you that interest by going into topics deeper. Stop looking for a short cut, as it might just back fire.
well.. im intending to transfer into something else in the 2nd year, and i just need enough marks (HD or D ) in order to trasnfer. So ye.. taking shortcut as such in the first year might actually be a smart move for me...
 

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