I'm not doing so well in math Ext 1 at the moment, with a 56% in the first assessment and 48% in the second. In comparison to my cohort, it seems that I am well below the average. I wish to do an engineering course in uni (don't know which one), but I heard that the majority of its content is heavily math orientated, with 3u and even some 4u maths added into the mix. Due to this, my parents disagree with me dropping, as they believe I will find a harder time to grasp the content, even if I take a bridging course. I am doing relatively well in all my other subjects, with all of them above 85%. So my question is whether I should drop math ext 1 so I have more free time to perfect my other subjects, or keep on soldiering through and see how it goes. And if I do drop it, will I be able to survive an engineering course? Any feedback is appreciated
Hey, Wavern285!
Welcome to the forums
This is one of those dilemmas that really come down to what you think would work best for you and your future. I don't do an engineering course but I have lots of friends who are in engineering so based on a purely third person perspective, I could offer my thoughts. That being said, do take everything I say with a grain of salt and hopefully someone on the forums who does engineering can provide a more accurate answer to your question!
My first question though is how many units you are on. If you're on say 11+, there's a chance your Maths Ext 1 mark won't count towards your ATAR if everything else is above 85%. This was why I kept Music 2 even though it was my worst performing subject in the HSC; I needed it for my course and knew that my other units would be what got me the ATAR to get into it. My decision to keep it despite knowing I wasn't going to get stellar marks was to make university life easier (and now, I've found that I'm performing way better in music at uni than I did in high school so that might be the case for you too). If you're confident in ten units-worth of subjects, you can afford to keep 3u and have it there more for long term educational benefits.
From what a lot of my engineering friends have told me, there is indeed a lot of maths involved in the courses they do. This is a given for any engineering degree. However, it's dependent on the university what level of maths they expect you to have done. You would need to check if the degrees you're aiming for have put maths as a prerequisite OR as assumed knowledge. If it's the former and they need you to have done 3u, you'd need to keep it to be eligible for it. There are always exceptions and ways of getting around it but from my understanding, that's how prerequisites work. If it's the latter though, you technically don't need to have done it to go to university. It'll mean that bridging courses and extra work will be things you'll have to consider instead to make sure you can handle any difficult content. I have two friends who both do software engineering at UNSW; one did 4u maths and the other did 2u. They're both performing equally well in uni despite my other friend having to do a bit more work to compensate for what he didn't learn in high school. Hopefully that is a reassuring example if you're worried about not being able to ever keep up with others.
The final thing to keep in mind is whether you think you'll be able to soldier through with it. I dropped maths completely because not to perfect and invest more in my other subjects, but simply because I knew I wasn't going to enjoy going to class knowing it wasn't something I loved and was good at. The person who helped me realise this and almost gave me the green light to go ahead with my decision was my maths teacher himself. If you're finding it demotivating, ask your teacher for options and see what they've got to say about your situation. They might be able to give you further guidance and suggest the next steps to take, whether that be study advice for Ext 1 or to consider dropping before you get stuck into the new term.
There are many factors to weigh up but if you draw out a table and have pros and cons on either side, you'll arrive at a better conclusion of what the best choice to make is
Hope all of this helps and that others can provide some more credible advice!
Angelina