Whether to do 4U or not... (1 Viewer)

[~ ReNcH ~]

I just did 2U Maths and Ext 1 this year. For 2U I got 98 and for Ext 1 I got 48. Next year I have the option of continuing on with 4U. According to SAM, I'd have to attain 86 in Ext 2 in order to get the same UAI as if I were to keep my current marks.

Is it easy to get 86 in Ext 2? Would I be better off keeping my 2U mark and having more time to concentrate on other subjects, or trying to get a 90+ in Ext 2?

 

[currysauce]

i too, am in ur situation

i'm only scraping in understanding 4u concepts, and prolly fail all my 4u exams...

my 2u is 97+
3u is around 80% (but can and will improve b4 half yearlies to about 87%)

plus it would be good to conc. on other subjects

so far i'm getting 97%+ in english
92% in chem
and 85% in physics (which shudda been higher!)

4 unit takes too much time... and i myself feel as i am going slower!

anyhow rench... high five

 

[Lazarus]

What are your other courses?

Don't forget that taking Extension 2 instantly doubles the value of your Extension 1 mark.

 

[smallcattle]

If you can get 92 in 2U and 48 in 3U, there is no reason why you shouldnt take 4U

 

[paper cup]

I;m in the same situ
I was so expecting a band 4 in ext 1 but now....

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

What are your other courses?

Don't forget that taking Extension 2 instantly doubles the value of your Extension 1 mark.

Yea, I put that into SAM - I made my Ext 1 mark 96 (although it could be 95 or 97) and I did a bit of trial and error until I got the same UAI as with a 98 in 2U - ended up being an 86 in Ext 2 that was required.

I've noticed that other people aren't much to go by either - some people who posted on here who got 95-96 in Ext 1 got marks in Ext 2 that ranged all the way from ~84-95. And that doesn't really help me to decide.

I guess my real question to anybody who has done Ext 2 - is 87+ attainable without it taking up too much time. Coz the time it takes to learn the content could be used to add 2 or 3 marks to my other subjects, which would ultimately be better I think.

 

[grimreaper]

Yea, I put that into SAM - I made my Ext 1 mark 96 (although it could be 95 or 97) and I did a bit of trial and error until I got the same UAI as with a 98 in 2U - ended up being an 86 in Ext 2 that was required.

I've noticed that other people aren't much to go by either - some people who posted on here who got 95-96 in Ext 1 got marks in Ext 2 that ranged all the way from ~84-95. And that doesn't really help me to decide.

I guess my real question to anybody who has done Ext 2 - is 87+ attainable without it taking up too much time. Coz the time it takes to learn the content could be used to add 2 or 3 marks to my other subjects, which would ultimately be better I think.

I dont think itd be too difficult to get 86 in 4u maths - though it did take me a lot of effort to get 94 in the hsc this year. I'd say if you have a natural talent for maths then go for it - if you find some of the harder ext 1 topics difficult to grasp then dont as 4u is twice as bad in that respect, a couple of the topics take a long while to understand and come to grips with (for me they did at least)

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

I dont think itd be too difficult to get 86 in 4u maths - though it did take me a lot of effort to get 94 in the hsc this year. I'd say if you have a natural talent for maths then go for it - if you find some of the harder ext 1 topics difficult to grasp then dont as 4u is twice as bad in that respect, a couple of the topics take a long while to understand and come to grips with (for me they did at least)

True - I didn't find the final 3U topics too bad. I don't have a really natural grasp of maths... maybe a little bit but a lot comes from practise for me.
Did you have to work a lot to get your 98 in Ext 1?? Coz I got 48 (96) which I was initially very happy with. But pondering over the fact that I lost 4 marks for things that I realised I knew how to do straight after the leaving the exam room made me think that I could've got 97 or 98

 

[hessie]

I'd do 4unit if i was you, its not that hard if you're pretty good at maths - which you obviously are seeing as you got good marks.

I did it this year and got 85, got 91 in ext 1 so you should be able to get 86+.

 

[townie]

i got 83 in 4U...which was way beyond my expectations, considering my raw mark was only 66% (for asssessments)...wat i'm getting at is that 86 in 4U isnt as high as it sounds because it's not an 86 raw mark.

however, to get my 83 i hard to work my butt off, we're talking at LEAST 20 past papers, about 3 hours a nite. plus i found 4U increased my 3U mark (slightly). and yes, it takes a lot of time, i basically had to give up on one of my other subjects (modern history), however, i only "gave-up" on it during the last term and a half. if ur not prepared to put in the hours, dont bother with 4U

 

[grimreaper]

True - I didn't find the final 3U topics too bad. I don't have a really natural grasp of maths... maybe a little bit but a lot comes from practise for me.
Did you have to work a lot to get your 98 in Ext 1?? Coz I got 48 (96) which I was initially very happy with. But pondering over the fact that I lost 4 marks for things that I realised I knew how to do straight after the leaving the exam room made me think that I could've got 97 or 98

Surprisingly, I didnt feel like I worked hard in 3u to get 98 - I guess that in comparison to 4u, 3u is just so easy. So if you can learn and understand the concepts in 4u then 3u becomes a lot easier. I also felt bad after coming out of 3u - I think there were 2 or 3 easy marks I missed out on, the highest mark I could have got was 79/84 raw. Unless youre a freak, youll always end up feeling that way about a maths exam anyway. Oh and by the way, if you got 48 in 3u you should be doing 4u this year, you should be able to acheive 90+ in 4u with a 3u mark like that

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

Surprisingly, I didnt feel like I worked hard in 3u to get 98 - I guess that in comparison to 4u, 3u is just so easy. So if you can learn and understand the concepts in 4u then 3u becomes a lot easier. I also felt bad after coming out of 3u - I think there were 2 or 3 easy marks I missed out on, the highest mark I could have got was 79/84 raw. Unless youre a freak, youll always end up feeling that way about a maths exam anyway. Oh and by the way, if you got 48 in 3u you should be doing 4u this year, you should be able to acheive 90+ in 4u with a 3u mark like that

Hehe.
I wonder if it was better to get 48/50 first time round (and not repeat), or to have just screwed it this time and got 98-99 next year - since 4U does make 3U seem trivial.
Do you reckon I could make up those extra 2-3 marks by having more time to study for other subjects??
If I was aiming for 94 for Ext 2, that'd be around 98-100/120 raw?? - looking through the 2004 paper, it seems pretty tough to get a perfect score for Q1-6 (hopefully that will change).

Btw. the only thing concerning me is about employers in the future. It's getting much more competitive, so the difference between 96 and 98 is actually quite "large" in that respect. Do you reckon employers would discriminate between job candidates for things like that? 96 and 98 doesn't seem like much difference, but in the eyes of an employer it might

 

[grimreaper]

Hehe.
I wonder if it was better to get 48/50 first time round (and not repeat), or to have just screwed it this time and got 98-99 next year - since 4U does make 3U seem trivial.
Do you reckon I could make up those extra 2-3 marks by having more time to study for other subjects??
If I was aiming for 94 for Ext 2, that'd be around 98-100/120 raw?? - looking through the 2004 paper, it seems pretty tough to get a perfect score for Q1-6 (hopefully that will change).

Btw. the only thing concerning me is about employers in the future. It's getting much more competitive, so the difference between 96 and 98 is actually quite "large" in that respect. Do you reckon employers would discriminate between job candidates for things like that? 96 and 98 doesn't seem like much difference, but in the eyes of an employer it might

Well Im only estimating that I got 95-100/120 for my 94 for that exam - but remember it changes every year and I think that this year it was a fairly easy test. One thing about it is that they even'd out the difficulty of the paper - as you mentioned it would be difficult to get 90/90 for the first 6 questions, however there were easy marks to be had later on whereas normally the last 2 questions are a lot more difficult while the earlier stuff is easier. Thered be no point in repeating 3u for you, 48/50 is an excellent mark and even if you do improve it could only be by a little

 

[Bob.J]

I just did 2U Maths and Ext 1 this year. For 2U I got 98 and for Ext 1 I got 48. Next year I have the option of continuing on with 4U. According to SAM, I'd have to attain 86 in Ext 2 in order to get the same UAI as if I were to keep my current marks.

Is it easy to get 86 in Ext 2? Would I be better off keeping my 2U mark and having more time to concentrate on other subjects, or trying to get a 90+ in Ext 2?

just do it. WIth the work you'll pull off 95ish or more in 4u
It's not much harder, just more concepts and stuff. Also in 4u you actually start thinking, to some extent, rather than just plug in numbers and formulas

besides, it'll give your uai a nice boost if you do well (ie 90+)

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

just do it. WIth the work you'll pull off 95ish or more in 4u
It's not much harder, just more concepts and stuff. Also in 4u you actually start thinking, to some extent, rather than just plug in numbers and formulas

besides, it'll give your uai a nice boost if you do well (ie 90+)

That's what I'm aiming for - a nice boost in my UAI

Although, like I said in my other post - if 4U makes you think then it will obviously make 3U easier. If my 48/50 becomes 95 (which it could, not necessarily 96) then I potentially have 5 marks to gain - then again, I could lose ground. But an extra 3 marks (to 99) would give a nice boost to my UAI - maybe 0.15 or 0.2. I'll have to consult with my maths teacher/co-ordinator etc. though. People in my class would think I was idiotic to repeat with 48/50

 

[jessum]

oi u should definately do 4u i reckon... its more fun than 2u, and even though i sucked, it was still good for the first half of the year at least.. and if ur getting those marks in 2 and 3u, then in 4u or ext 2 whatever it is, then ull get over 90 easy im sure.......
bleh
i bet heaps of other people have said exactly the same thing. oh well

 

[tensai]

That's what I'm aiming for - a nice boost in my UAI

Although, like I said in my other post - if 4U makes you think then it will obviously make 3U easier. If my 48/50 becomes 95 (which it could, not necessarily 96) then I potentially have 5 marks to gain - then again, I could lose ground. But an extra 3 marks (to 99) would give a nice boost to my UAI - maybe 0.15 or 0.2. I'll have to consult with my maths teacher/co-ordinator etc. though. People in my class would think I was idiotic to repeat with 48/50

i think u should definitely do 4 unit. But dun fink about wot u could've got cuz everyone makes silly mistakes under exam pressure. I rkn 3 unit is actually harder than 4 unit because u only have 2hrs, if u get stuck u r gone. While in 4unit, Q1-4 is relatively easy for competent 3u students, so u can spend more time on Q5 and 6, well 7 and 8 are for geniuses (well usually it is but not for 2004)

 

[big penguin]

this may or may not be relevant to the first post, but here goes

i think doing 3 u is the silliest thing ever

you spend all that effort and time struggling over the 3 u work for what - an extra ONE unit for your UAI

if you're capable of getting a decent mark in 3 u, then you're prolly better off doing 4 u, so as lazarus said, your mark is doubled and 4 u has good scaling

if you're struggling with 3 u, and just scrape in with an average mark in tests, its more than likely you spend a huge amount of time studying for another ONE unit - which is pointless, so you should just drop down to 2 unit, and make life easier for yourself

 

[acmilan]

this may or may not be relevant to the first post, but here goes

i think doing 3 u is the silliest thing ever

you spend all that effort and time struggling over the 3 u work for what - an extra ONE unit for your UAI

if you're capable of getting a decent mark in 3 u, then you're prolly better off doing 4 u, so as lazarus said, your mark is doubled and 4 u has good scaling

if you're struggling with 3 u, and just scrape in with an average mark in tests, its more than likely you spend a huge amount of time studying for another ONE unit - which is pointless, so you should just drop down to 2 unit, and make life easier for yourself

One unit makes a huge difference. If it was not for my ext 1 mark im sure i would not have pushed into the 99s for my UAI. The few extra UAI points was definitely worth the extra work that I could have avoided by not doing the extra one unit of maths.

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

One unit makes a huge difference. If it was not for my ext 1 mark im sure i would not have pushed into the 99s for my UAI. The few extra UAI points was definitely worth the extra work that I could have avoided by not doing the extra one unit of maths.

So does that mean I should try to get 98-99 in Ext 1 next year? I got 96 this time round, but I'm not sure whether that extra 2-3 marks is worth the time and effort of doing it again.
As for Ext 2, I'll give it a go. Out of curiosity ac, how come you didn't do Ext 2? (since you got 99 in 2U and 48 in Ext 1)