some ext2 thoughts, anyone relate to me? (1 Viewer)

[yonezwxu]

So im in year 12 and ive done my first two tasks for ext 1 and ext 2 maths and im wondering if anyone who did the hsc or is doing it now feels the same way.

I haven't gotten my ranks yet or my ext 2 task back but i walked out of the ext 2 exam pretty bummed and disappointed in myself, and talking to friends made realise i most likely will score lower than them. I thought i was prepared enough, like i know u can't exactly feel 100% prepared for a maths exam but i opened the paper and saw like a bunch/few questions that i instantly knew i wouldn't be able to do, and luckily i did manage to solve and clutch one or two of those hard questions towards the end (like one of them i managed to get the LHS of the proof but not the RHS?? i was so confused). I went through the fitzpatrick textbook and did the chapter review questions and also did cambridge review questions and did a bunch of past papers, tbh i could have done more and definitely started studying earlier and worked harder but it just feels like even tho im trying to grind it out, it feels like my results won't be a reflection of my efforts which is just frustrating

I know i haven't gotten my paper back but knowing that my ext 2 class is small like 22 people i can't help but feel anxious and worried and angry at myself and my ranks. Btw the avg rank for a E4 for my school is top 4 ranks so it kinda just feels like ive shot myself in the foot. Im not sure what else i should do, everyone keeps saying oh if u grind it out and really lock in u will do well and i want to believe in that but i can't help but doubt myself. I know that compared to my peers maths is definitely a little less natural to me so i am aware that i need to work harder, like when i go through textbooks eg: cambridge, terry lee i do find the exercises hard and ik i shouldn't be so fixated on the textbook problems but ive committed to ext 2 already so im not sure how i should push forward. Like im very much willing to go all in for ext2 and hopefully get the scaling benefit cause maths is my best performing subject after all. I know i have potential and im trying to believe in myself and be patient with myself cause lets be honest maths ext2 is tough.

And for year 11 for ext 1 my rankings for the first 2 tasks were always stable near 20ish and for prelims ive managed to break into the lower end of to top 20, but it kinda feels like breaking into top 10 is near impossible bc everyone is just so smart. Like im just scraping the band 6 range for ext1 tbh.

Im not really sure if this is just a mindset/mentality issue but i know that i need to push forward regardless and keep grinding and try to not give up cause if i give up it really is over...

If anyone can i guess offer their experience or their perspective on this or just any takeaways they had or any effective methods to prepare for the next exam or just anything useful 🫂

 

[Burnt_Out]

Hi, I also am doing Extension 2 maths this year as well. Keep in mind that I'm from a top selective school and so, my experience of math is a lot different from yours. I also regard math as a fun subject to do.

Regarding my perspective of math, I started to see math as more of a test of applying methods and to me, determining the method to get there is really important and is probably an innate thing (although I do believe it comes from practice), actually practicing the method is really easy. Take for example, this question (BH 2023 HY Q13d)

For the first question, I instantly know that this relates to z + 1/z and that this question just requires a lot of algebra. For the second question, I see it as a polynomial question that requires a quadratic to solve and equating the angle with the solution to that polynomial. I feel that around 70%-80% of the questions (in top selective schools at least) can be seen pretty easily once trained. These kinds of questions should also be quick and easy which can help you for the more challenging questions. For the rest of questions (especially proofs) that are not so obvious (the non obvious questions), the best thing to do (imo) is to consider all of the methods that you know and see if the method will bring yourself closer to the answer. For example, (BH 2024 HY Q14c):

For the second part, I literally just tried to consider any method (since) that brings me towards the proof and eventually (I went through a couple of ways), I got to the answer. Although you may look at the answers and think that is obvious, in exam conditions, it does weird things to you and so, I usually do past papers as a means to retain the things I do know but also, see challenging questions that I aim to remember the method for such that I can use if the question calls for that method. Keep in mind, these kinds of questions will separate yourself from the good to the great.

In terms of mentality, I usually don't really focus on the cohort and usually focus on myself and improving on myself (growth mentality ahh) and so (this is a hot take), I usually see my percentages instead of cohort ranking as more important to me and I usually don't think of my past task results too much and just aim to do good next task. For me, an indicator that you are doing well is that most of the questions (70-80%) are easy in the sense that you know exactly what to do and how you're going to the answer and that for the challenging questions, you don't require too much time (time that you can just use on that question) in order for you to get to the right answer. Like I said, this comes from a guy who has always has just been good at maths and idk if its really gonna help you oh god its 11:38pm and I've been typing this for like 30 minutes.

 

[idkkdi]

So im in year 12 and ive done my first two tasks for ext 1 and ext 2 maths and im wondering if anyone who did the hsc or is doing it now feels the same way.

I haven't gotten my ranks yet or my ext 2 task back but i walked out of the ext 2 exam pretty bummed and disappointed in myself, and talking to friends made realise i most likely will score lower than them. I thought i was prepared enough, like i know u can't exactly feel 100% prepared for a maths exam but i opened the paper and saw like a bunch/few questions that i instantly knew i wouldn't be able to do, and luckily i did manage to solve and clutch one or two of those hard questions towards the end (like one of them i managed to get the LHS of the proof but not the RHS?? i was so confused). I went through the fitzpatrick textbook and did the chapter review questions and also did cambridge review questions and did a bunch of past papers, tbh i could have done more and definitely started studying earlier and worked harder but it just feels like even tho im trying to grind it out, it feels like my results won't be a reflection of my efforts which is just frustrating

I know i haven't gotten my paper back but knowing that my ext 2 class is small like 22 people i can't help but feel anxious and worried and angry at myself and my ranks. Btw the avg rank for a E4 for my school is top 4 ranks so it kinda just feels like ive shot myself in the foot. Im not sure what else i should do, everyone keeps saying oh if u grind it out and really lock in u will do well and i want to believe in that but i can't help but doubt myself. I know that compared to my peers maths is definitely a little less natural to me so i am aware that i need to work harder, like when i go through textbooks eg: cambridge, terry lee i do find the exercises hard and ik i shouldn't be so fixated on the textbook problems but ive committed to ext 2 already so im not sure how i should push forward. Like im very much willing to go all in for ext2 and hopefully get the scaling benefit cause maths is my best performing subject after all. I know i have potential and im trying to believe in myself and be patient with myself cause lets be honest maths ext2 is tough.

And for year 11 for ext 1 my rankings for the first 2 tasks were always stable near 20ish and for prelims ive managed to break into the lower end of to top 20, but it kinda feels like breaking into top 10 is near impossible bc everyone is just so smart. Like im just scraping the band 6 range for ext1 tbh.

Im not really sure if this is just a mindset/mentality issue but i know that i need to push forward regardless and keep grinding and try to not give up cause if i give up it really is over...

If anyone can i guess offer their experience or their perspective on this or just any takeaways they had or any effective methods to prepare for the next exam or just anything useful 🫂

theres not enough content in ext2 to come up with original-original questions for the most part (frankly teachers/mostext2examwriters dont really have the ability to either). you can effectively exhaust the set of tricks/qs. even grinding to a high e4 is fairly possible

in hindsight, i do feel like tutoring helps insofar as giving you a system to grind through which has worked for others. those in my grade that went high e4 without tutoring usually had some talent in maths (ie did decent in olympiads). without tutoring u do have a greater risk of not covering some sort of trick that u should be aware of

fwiw i thought doing every question in Cambridge was good (and get a hold of the worked solutions somewhere). terry lee was also good (full solutions). and then papers of course

 

[coolcat6778]

u should aim for a 50 raw mark

this 50 becomes a mid 70, which scales better (95 atar) than any garbage subject such as history or english common band 6

 

[yonezwxu]

Hi, I also am doing Extension 2 maths this year as well. Keep in mind that I'm from a top selective school and so, my experience of math is a lot different from yours. I also regard math as a fun subject to do.

Regarding my perspective of math, I started to see math as more of a test of applying methods and to me, determining the method to get there is really important and is probably an innate thing (although I do believe it comes from practice), actually practicing the method is really easy. Take for example, this question (BH 2023 HY Q13d)
View attachment 51461
For the first question, I instantly know that this relates to z + 1/z and that this question just requires a lot of algebra. For the second question, I see it as a polynomial question that requires a quadratic to solve and equating the angle with the solution to that polynomial. I feel that around 70%-80% of the questions (in top selective schools at least) can be seen pretty easily once trained. These kinds of questions should also be quick and easy which can help you for the more challenging questions. For the rest of questions (especially proofs) that are not so obvious (the non obvious questions), the best thing to do (imo) is to consider all of the methods that you know and see if the method will bring yourself closer to the answer. For example, (BH 2024 HY Q14c):
View attachment 51462
For the second part, I literally just tried to consider any method (since) that brings me towards the proof and eventually (I went through a couple of ways), I got to the answer. Although you may look at the answers and think that is obvious, in exam conditions, it does weird things to you and so, I usually do past papers as a means to retain the things I do know but also, see challenging questions that I aim to remember the method for such that I can use if the question calls for that method. Keep in mind, these kinds of questions will separate yourself from the good to the great.

In terms of mentality, I usually don't really focus on the cohort and usually focus on myself and improving on myself (growth mentality ahh) and so (this is a hot take), I usually see my percentages instead of cohort ranking as more important to me and I usually don't think of my past task results too much and just aim to do good next task. For me, an indicator that you are doing well is that most of the questions (70-80%) are easy in the sense that you know exactly what to do and how you're going to the answer and that for the challenging questions, you don't require too much time (time that you can just use on that question) in order for you to get to the right answer. Like I said, this comes from a guy who has always has just been good at maths and idk if its really gonna help you oh god its 11:38pm and I've been typing this for like 30 minutes.

It's cool to see how different people approach ext2 and yeah i don't go to a selective school like my school isn't too bad but its not good either. Maybe i will try out what you said out and try to remember the method and types of questions instead of just doing past papers without much thought. Do u just have to do a lot of past papers to train yourself? Im kinda curious on how you prepare for exams if u don't mind sharing but i do really appreciate this reply.

 

[Burnt_Out]

It's cool to see how different people approach ext2 and yeah i don't go to a selective school like my school isn't too bad but its not good either. Maybe i will try out what you said out and try to remember the method and types of questions instead of just doing past papers without much thought. Do u just have to do a lot of past papers to train yourself? Im kinda curious on how you prepare for exams if u don't mind sharing but i do really appreciate this reply.

Honestly, I just do past papers on THSC and thats really about it (although i do it like once a day). Keep in mind theres a couple hundred past papers (even papers that aren't in syllabus are still helpful) so, running out of papers shouldn't be a problem.

 

[yonezwxu]

Honestly, I just do past papers on THSC and thats really about it (although i do it like once a day). Keep in mind theres a couple hundred past papers (even papers that aren't in syllabus are still helpful) so, running out of papers shouldn't be a problem.

Ah icic anyways best of luck with the rest of ext2 and year 12!