new syllabus from 2024 ??? (1 Viewer)

[moonsuyoung]

They do that with Science Extension so it couldn't be too bad I guess.

Is science extension good? How come a lot of people don't do it?

 

[Ksalu]

Is science extension good? How come a lot of people don't do it?

from my understanding, not many schools offer it. Probably due to small demand from students? Idk

 

[carrotsss]

Probably due to small demand from students? Idk

it’s the most popular extension at my school (even more than maths/english extension 1)

 

[Etho_x]

Is science extension good? How come a lot of people don't do it?

I did it for 2 terms, then dropped it for a reason I will outline below. The subject is of beneficial value if you intend on studying Science in university - particularly if your university course has a lot of research and experiments involved. SciX covers some scientific philosophy, in-depth scientific research techniques, and statistical analysis. Additionally, you complete a major independent research task for a topic of your choosing. All in all, a good preparatory course for uni Science.

In relation to why many people don't do it, the main reason is that SciX is not offered in many schools. Furthermore, SciX (even for 1 unit) is a very demanding subject - you begin your independent research task almost instantly and the amount of research which has to go into the task can be quite overwhelming. When I initially did SciX, there were about 13 people in the class. When I dropped the subject, 10 people had already dropped before me - all for the same reason: extremely demanding.

One other reason which not many people talk about (though I had this conversation with my teacher at the time who brought it up) is the scaling outcomes - the chance of getting an E4 is rather small. In the 2022 candidature of 658 students, only 8.4% received an E4 in comparison to 70.51% which received an E3. (https://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/ebos/static/BDHSC_2022_12_15345.html)

Just as a note to anyone who wants to consider doing this subject, I would not recommend doing this subject alongside another extension subject unless you can handle work pressure and can manage your time well.

 

[Vall]

Is science extension good? How come a lot of people don't do it?

I think its good for people looking to do science at uni (like someone above me said)
I did it for a term then dropped in the first assessment block because I quite simply didn't have time for it (at that point I was doing 13 units). I also had absolutely no idea of what my research project was going to be (so I couldn't really complete the assessment task).

 

[seremify007]

It is also important to note that despite the age of the IPT syllabus, IPT is not an entirely outdated subject. In fact, several concepts that the current syllabus covers are still relevant and are likely to continue to be relevant in the long term. IPT can therefore still provide you with a solid technological foundation that you can further support by taking Software Design and Development in your particular case. If you approach this subject in an effective way, I am certain that your experience of taking IPT will be pleasant.

Second this. Even I still think about the concepts I learnt in IPT back in the day when it comes to reading flowcharts and working out database schemas in my finance role. Newer ways of handling data beyond just the traditional relational databases and understanding optimal structures when building to meet specific requirements (eg regulators) is important, and the skillset also gave me a huge advantage when it came to reviewing things like Alteryx workflows and the logic behind them. Beyond this, understanding how data structures work also helped me in building machine learning capabilities in my previous role and enabled me to better understand the technical whitepapers on algorithms, which I was then able to use to steer the project towards certain methodologies and be fully aware of the benefits and limitations of such approaches.

The new Enterprise Computing course sounds really compelling particularly with topics like cybersecurity and data visualisation, but even the existing IPT course still has a lot of useful concepts which upon reflection (some 15 years after I did my HSC) was probably the most forward-thinking of all my subjects in terms of usefulness beyond high school.