Learning Specialist Early

[johnsmith12456]

Hello, I'm currently in year 10 and i'm looking to learn some specialist content this year on my own. I worked through the 1/2 methods textbook last year at home. Now this year, I am looking for what to do next. I was thinking about doing methods 3/4 but I have lost a bit of my interest in maths through methods, so I thought that if I did specialist maths, the types of questions and content will interest me more. Do you think I should do specialist 1/2, do 3/4 and plug holes as I go, or just stick to 3/4 methods?

Many thanks

[Rose34]

You mentioned that you 'lost interest' in math methods. Is that because the content is too easy for you? if yes (that you find methods work too easy) then I would suggest that you look at a topic in specialist which is called "Number and proofing"

[johnsmith12456]

Hi, thanks for your response.
I think that it is less the difficulty but more that I’m finding the actual content to be a bit boring. Stuff that I’m really interested in is calculus, graphing and that sort of mathematics. Is this more prevalent or goes into more detail in spesh 1/2 or 3/4?

[mabajas76]

Hey hope u r well! Read down at the bottom for summary.
 Good on you for taking some initiative, I did this in year 7 and 8 and was pretty much bored senseless for the next two years lol. Specialist math is an interesting topic, it is technically a uni math course which has been adapted for vce. It was built for students to take with/after methods. As a result it is most certainly harder than methods and introduces ALOT of new concepts such as vectors, mechanics, some of the algebra like partial fractions, some of the geometry, further trig, proofing and
 sequences and series stuff as well is fun and new. Complex numbers are a huge part and very interesting. For the 1/2 they cover some thrilling and new graphing techniques involves matrices, complex number, locus, polar forms and more. However sorry to say that calculous does not really come up in the 1/2 :/ lucky for you the 3/4 is calculous galore. If you found the methods 1/2 and maybe 3/4 calculous easy maybe take a peak at the spec 3/4 text book if you are determined to only do calc.
The 1/2 and 3/4 text books are VERY different for spec, you could honestly do maybe 6 chapters worth of exercises from the 1/2 to go into the 3/4 prepared (assuming u done methods 1/2 or 3/4). However a big question is how sure are you about the methods? Many intelligent and sometimes arrogant people will skip through the easy skill building questions and end up missing methods and skills that show up on tests and throw them. Remember that no matter how intelligent you are, if you were smart enough to be proficient at all this stuff without having to do any practice you would prob be in uni at this point or something. It sucks and can be boring but sometimes just buckling down and doing the hard stuff is the only way to learn. But ur in year 10 so will cover all those exercises in more detail next year, as a result if you are already confident with the concepts then I would recommend doing the methods 3/4 exercises and doing some of the 1/2 homework as revision if you are SUPER confident.
TLDR: Spec 1/2 is fun, but the 3/4 has more calculous if u r committed. Methods 3/4 is a big extension of 1/2 and is important to know. Remember that passion and motivation is more important than trying to get a high score in subjects ya hate.

[Rose34]

You sound like you are both talented in math and have the passion for learning new concepts thus I would recommend that you do specialist math simply because most of the content in spech does not appear in methods (they do have some similar concepts though) but of course the choice is yours Also, if you want you can take methods as well spech because if you are confident that you will get high marks in methods then you might want to consider doing it for fun.

[johnsmith12456]

Hi guys,
Thanks for your responses. I probably should have cleared up that I am doing methods 1/2 this year in year 10, but then will have two goes of 3/4 methods in year 11 and 12. But ye really good suggestions. I think that doing 3/4 methods will prepare me for spesh 1/2 next year as well. Even though then I will be doing 3/4 methods three times which is horribly overkill.

[a weaponized ikea chair]

I was in your position last year. I did methods 1 and 2 in year 10. I'm doing methods 3/4 and spesh 1/2 this year.

I found doing some spesh early helped. In methods a lot of the content is just repeating from year 11, so doing units 3/4 there will be a lot of overlap, so doing some spesh will expose you to the new concepts which can be quite difficult (looking at you, proofs).

Hope this helps.