ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE Mathematics/Science/Technology => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Mathematics => Topic started by: physion on June 12, 2020, 05:32:24 pm
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I've been thinking about my subject selection as teachers are just starting to introduce it to the class. I'm currently in Year 9 with an accelerated program and thus complete a 3/4 next year. So far, my maths teacher has suggested a plan along the lines of:
Year 10: Further 3/4 + Methods 1/2
Year 11: Methods 3/4 + Specialist 1/2
Year 12: Specialist 3/4
However, having covered in class some of the further mathematics work (e.g. linear programming) and briefly glanced at a past exam, I am not so keen. Would I be right in concluding it is more procedure-based rather than mathematical intuition? Similarly, I've covered matrices stuff from a more advanced linear algebra text yet how the information is presented in Further alienates my understanding :-\. I've really enjoyed learning trig/calculus/derivations because it 'makes sense' to me - I'm not sure how well these skills would translate.
Is doing Further really worth it, and otherwise, would it make sense to 'shift' specialist down to do it simultaneously with methods in Year 10/11?
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If Further doesn't resonate with you but Methods and Specialist does, you might be better off dropping Further. From my personal experience, if you're more interested in the intuition of mathematics rather than "applications", so to speak, it would be wise to take Methods and Specialist 1/2 in Year 11 and then that will carry on to Year 12.
Otherwise, you can take Methods 1/2 in Year 10 and Methods 3/4 and Specialist 1/2 in Year 11.
I was also in the same boat as you in regards to selecting my maths subjects and found Further to be redundant for me, since Methods and Specialist tie in well with each other based on their similarities with the content.
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I've been thinking about my subject selection as teachers are just starting to introduce it to the class. I'm currently in Year 9 with an accelerated program and thus complete a 3/4 next year. So far, my maths teacher has suggested a plan along the lines of:
Year 10: Further 3/4 + Methods 1/2
Year 11: Methods 3/4 + Specialist 1/2
Year 12: Specialist 3/4
However, having covered in class some of the further mathematics work (e.g. linear programming) and briefly glanced at a past exam, I am not so keen. Would I be right in concluding it is more procedure-based rather than mathematical intuition? Similarly, I've covered matrices stuff from a more advanced linear algebra text yet how the information is presented in Further alienates my understanding :-\. I've really enjoyed learning trig/calculus/derivations because it 'makes sense' to me - I'm not sure how well these skills would translate.
Is doing Further really worth it, and otherwise, would it make sense to 'shift' specialist down to do it simultaneously with methods in Year 10/11?
Sounds like your not keen on doing further, so don't do it.
Also if you do 3 math subjects one of them will only count 10% towards your ATAR. IMO it would be better to do methods + spec if you can handle it, and replace further with another subject you enjoy?