Parental advice on moving from Advanced to Standard Maths. (1 Viewer)

Murray Cod

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I'm the parent of a Year 11 kid who does well, and likes, every subject and its teacher but is struggling with Advanced Maths. Kid has previously done well in Maths and this really is the first time in kid's school career when kid hasn't gotten on with a teacher and has been demotivated about any subject. So kid is switching from Advanced to Standard Maths right now. She's doing Advanced English.

Please can some kind, clever soul tell me how we can make the most of this? We realize kid will have to do extra well in it and the other subjects but any other more nuanced advice, to do with ATAR and all, would be welcome. (Of course, kid could also 'drop Maths' for the HSC but is already doing one other soft subject but it's still a two unit subject.)
 

jazz519

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Hi first off one thing you should consider is what type of degree path she wishes to choose when she goes to university. If its something in the engineering or science related aspects then it would be a bad idea to drop down to standard maths because most engineering and science related degrees assume that you have at least advanced maths knowledge and preferably they want extension one maths as well. This means that her first semester of uni would be backtracked because she would be doing bridging courses

If those above degrees aren't really what she wants to choose later on, then disregard what I said above.

I would suggest maybe for her to also get a tutor in maths if she decides to keep advanced maths

However, if she decides to switch, she should just treat it as any other subject and put in the most effort she can. Practice papers are very important for maths to study from even in year 11
 

BLIT2014

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Also, Universities such as University of Sydney has Advanced Mathematics as compulsory for entry into degrees such as a Bachelor of Commerce so you should also consider that when making a decision whether to drop.
 

zarasved

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Best decision we ever made. Yes some catching up to do but well worth it. If you do really well in standard you will negate any effect of scaling and your daughter will have so much more time to focus on other subjects (like Eng Adv which is heavy and always counts toward ATAR)
 

dani01

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if your kid doesn't need it for the course they wish to do in uni then go for it! In kid stays in advanced this can possibly take away time from her other subjects because kid will need to spend double the time on advanced maths, meaning that kids other subjects are affected as well.
Ultimately a 90 in standard (which based off what you said i think you kid can do) is a lot better than 75 in advanced. As long as she is ranked among the first students in standard she should be fine!
Also many many people go really well in the HSC without and science or maths so really don't worry about what you call "soft subjects." as long as kid goes well in the subjects kid will be fine. even dropping maths over all wouldn't be that bad imo, if she really can't stand it.
 

cornonthecob

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As someone who deeply regrets not dropping advanced maths, I could just say you've made the correct decision. If your child has previously done well in maths, standard should be completely fine for them. If they ended up doing bad in advanced, scaling wouldn't benefit them at all anyways but even if they were to get a Band 5 in standard, then that's still a much better result than what the advanced would be.
 

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