On new HSC and Extensions. (1 Viewer)

[kami]

Given all the rumours of a revamp for the HSC, I thought I'd ask this question:
What does everyone think of the current extension programs? Should they be changed? Should the higher level ones like 4u math, 4u english or 3u history count for prelim? Or should we have extensions for more subjects like in the old Hsc, such as 3u legal & 4u science?
Personally I think 4u Science should be brought back in, simply because the current science courses don't seem that fantastic a preparation for university.

 

[Slidey]

For a comprehensive disucssion of the extension mathematics courses and their place in the HSC, see this thread: http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=62306

I would certainly appreciate some extension chemistry and extension biology!

 

[Trev]

Slide, you don't even do biology. Or would this be an extra-curricular activity for you?

 

[fakingtheday]

It's too late for me to care. I'm happy with my 10 units.

 

[lala2]

What's 4U Science?

 

[kami]

I think in the old syllabus they had a course where youd do basically an advanced science program which gave you equivalent knowledge of having done the four sciences(not senior science) which you cant do with 6u science rule

 

[white_spazzy]

personally i would love to see an extension society and culture and an extension ancient history (which is specifically based on ancient and not modern like the extension history course at our school)...i think ext bio would be good too.

hehe that would give me a grand total of 15 units lol (12+3 i suggested)

 

[kami]

personally i would love to see an extension society and culture and an extension ancient history (which is specifically based on ancient and not modern like the extension history course at our school)...i think ext bio would be good too.

hehe that would give me a grand total of 15 units lol (12+3 i suggested)

But I thought the Extension History course was based on both, with a selection of higher level modern and ancient topics which are chosen by the school.?

 

[wrong_turn]

history extension is like a whole different subject in comparison to the 2u histories. its got a philosophical feel, which is quite demanding. from what i heard, histroy extension is liek a first year uni course. however, it is done in high school obviously.

i would like to see extension legal to come in. i enjoy doing legal studies, and i feel that it is quite restricted.

 

[Abbeygale]

I would like to see a legal extension. At the start of this year I had to choose between MH and Legal because of a timetable clash (I changed schools). I went with modern so that I could do History Extension. If there was a Legal extension, I probably would have gone with that instead.

Wasn't there once a Society and Culture extension which was cancelled? I remember my teacher talking about it.

 

[kami]

There used to be extensions for art, legal, business, society & culture, science & computing

 

[wrong_turn]

rom what i heard, the people who did 4U subjects had to be the best of the best to able to understand the work. however, nowadays, the extension subjects are made, so that they can be handled by a majority of students who enjoy doing a subject, rather than having to be academically proficient in it.

 

[kami]

which is a bit silly, you would not be able to do as well as you need to in ext math if you werent good at it and the same should apply for the other extensions

 

[pirotess4]

I would like to see a legal extension. At the start of this year I had to choose between MH and Legal because of a timetable clash (I changed schools). I went with modern so that I could do History Extension. If there was a Legal extension, I probably would have gone with that instead.

Wasn't there once a Society and Culture extension which was cancelled? I remember my teacher talking about it.

There was an extension Society and Culture?? Whoa! Serious? I'm going to go ask my teacher about that. I wonder why it was cancelled, maybe no-one wanted to do it or something. I do sometimes wish there was exntension Ancient History without all this boring stuff on Pericles etc. On more interesting stuff like the Battle of Kadesh in Egypt and things like that. i was going to do extension history but it's all just modern, that's what the teacher told me and it sounded really hard as well.

 

[wrong_turn]

its not only modern history. though the focus is not on that particular aspect. it is more specified in the meaning of what history is, or shows. and you can do ancient historians!!

 

[etc. etc. etc.]

It'd be great if there was still a 3U Visual Arts course.... To cater for those of us that *aren't* doing it for a bludge and genuinely want to further our practical/theoritcal skills. And damn I bet that'd pull my UAI right up.

I wonder why there is Music I + Music II.... and Music Extension - but for Visual Arts and Drama they cut out the 3U course?

 

[kami]

Well, the Board reviewed their curriculum then and decided there was insufficient rationale for their courses or something along those lines. In other words they thought there was no point in having these courses. There seems to be little reasoning behind that thought though as there are still unofficial extensions in some subjects like art that are endorsed by the board but don't contribute to our UAIs.

 

[Estel]

I have five qualms with the current state of affairs:
-English Adv. is retarded
-all the sciences are retarded
-Mathematics isn't compulsory
-there is no medieval history course
-can't do the distinction courses without accelerating

There's no real need for more extension courses. What would they serve to do? Lower the standard of the original course? (like maths, like English...)

 

[pirotess4]

It'd be great if there was still a 3U Visual Arts course.... To cater for those of us that *aren't* doing it for a bludge and genuinely want to further our practical/theoritcal skills. And damn I bet that'd pull my UAI right up.

I wonder why there is Music I + Music II.... and Music Extension - but for Visual Arts and Drama they cut out the 3U course?

There was a Drama 3 unit course? Are you serious!? Why the heck would they cut that out for, that would have been sooooooo cool. Would have seperated the bludgers right from the beginning........hmm....well in my school they're planning to cut the Drama course out of the curriculum all together. Something about it not being a real subject (the same with dance) but for some reason food tech isn't going to be fazed out. Oh well, since i'm in yr 12 it won't affect me but i feel sorry for all those juniors in the future that won't have a chance to do it.

 

[pirotess4]

I have five qualms with the current state of affairs:
-English Adv. is retarded
-all the sciences are retarded
-Mathematics isn't compulsory
-there is no medieval history course
-can't do the distinction courses without accelerating

There's no real need for more extension courses. What would they serve to do? Lower the standard of the original course? (like maths, like English...)

I agree and disagree. Sciences are retarded, and it would be cool if there was a medieval course that would be awesome. But i disagree with the whole Mathematics and English thing. I love English Adv. i reckon it's hard but really good, it's for those students that don't feel comfortable in the Standard course and feel like they are wasting their time there when they could be doing things at their own pace at a higher standard to the standard english people.

Mathematics should NOT be compulsory. I really hated maths and if it was compulsory my UAI would have been dragged down significantly, it was just a waste of my time sitting there learning about formulas I'll probably never use in my life. There are many kinds of intelligences but most of them can be seperated into two, English and Maths. I do well at English but shit at Maths and there are people that are really good at Maths but do really shit at English. So i think having the Extensions in their respective areas really helps them to bring up their UAI. I love the extensions. I don't think they bring down the standard of the original course but rather add another level to it. Without extension English i don't know where i'd be...........even though sometimes English Adv. topics can be a pain in the butt!