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Author Topic: Keep or Drop Ext 2.  (Read 5197 times)  Share 

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Paul.I

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Keep or Drop Ext 2.
« on: April 26, 2017, 07:51:40 pm »
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Hi all,

I am in an interesting predicament and l am not sure what to do.

I currently do Standard English (94), Biology (96), Chemistry (88), Physics (89), Mathematics (96), Maths Ext 1 (77) and Maths Ext 2 (67).

It's now after half yearlies and l am unsure whether to drop or keep Ext 2. I am more leaning towards dropping as my plan is to go on to do medicine and Ext 2 topics don't play a major part of my learning for medicine. Furthermore, my mark in mathematics is at the point where even with Ext 2 scaling, Ext 2 is not counted on my ATAR and when l use Ext 2 instead of Mathematics my ATAR goes down.

My teacher says it is up to me whether l should drop it or not but he believes l should stay for a little while longer as l could benefit from the topics learnt in order to benefit Ext 1, whereas I'd prefer to use that time to boost my chemistry and physics marks into the 90's.

I would like to know your opinions are, or if there is anyone else that has or is in a similar situation and what you have decided to do.

Any form of advice, information or help is much appreciated.

Wales

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Re: Keep or Drop Ext 2.
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2017, 08:05:02 pm »
+3
Hi all,

I am in an interesting predicament and l am not sure what to do.

I currently do Standard English (94), Biology (96), Chemistry (88), Physics (89), Mathematics (96), Maths Ext 1 (77) and Maths Ext 2 (67).

It's now after half yearlies and l am unsure whether to drop or keep Ext 2. I am more leaning towards dropping as my plan is to go on to do medicine and Ext 2 topics don't play a major part of my learning for medicine. Furthermore, my mark in mathematics is at the point where even with Ext 2 scaling, Ext 2 is not counted on my ATAR and when l use Ext 2 instead of Mathematics my ATAR goes down.

My teacher says it is up to me whether l should drop it or not but he believes l should stay for a little while longer as l could benefit from the topics learnt in order to benefit Ext 1, whereas I'd prefer to use that time to boost my chemistry and physics marks into the 90's.

I would like to know your opinions are, or if there is anyone else that has or is in a similar situation and what you have decided to do.

Any form of advice, information or help is much appreciated.


First of all, props to you for doing Chem, Phys and Bio AND 4u and getting solid marks in most of them. I did Prelim Physics and dropped to focus on 4u.

I'm probably not the most credible person to answer this, I'll let Rui do most of the talking but here's my opinion. 4U maths is no doubt challenging, interesting and fascinating. I personally love it. If you do then keep it for sure.

If you're concerned about ATAR, I think if you put the effort into 4U it's very rewarding. It doubles your 3U mark and also scales immensely well if you do well which you seem to have the ability to do. It doesn't seem to me that you're struggling too hard in 4U as almost you can almost definitely improve and bump that into the 80 or even 90's by trials. Do you feel that the workload is genuinely overloading? If you drop 4U will you spend that time efficiently studying for the other subjects? Do you enjoy doing 4U? 

If I was in your situation ( Similar, considered dropping 4U and using my accelerated 2U mark) I would keep 4U. You've already come to half yearlies and shown you're competent to keep up with your other subjects whilst doing 4u. Ext 2 may also give you more opportunities if you decide to change fields, especially any Maths centric course. It will help immensely from what I've read.

See what the others think, don't take my opinion too seriously as I'm just a student with little experience :)

Heavy Things :(

Paul.I

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Re: Keep or Drop Ext 2.
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2017, 08:16:13 pm »
+1
First of all, props to you for doing Chem, Phys and Bio AND 4u and getting solid marks in most of them. I did Prelim Physics and dropped to focus on 4u.

I'm probably not the most credible person to answer this, I'll let Rui do most of the talking but here's my opinion. 4U maths is no doubt challenging, interesting and fascinating. I personally love it. If you do then keep it for sure.

If you're concerned about ATAR, I think if you put the effort into 4U it's very rewarding. It doubles your 3U mark and also scales immensely well if you do well which you seem to have the ability to do. It doesn't seem to me that you're struggling too hard in 4U as almost you can almost definitely improve and bump that into the 80 or even 90's by trials. Do you feel that the workload is genuinely overloading? If you drop 4U will you spend that time efficiently studying for the other subjects? Do you enjoy doing 4U?

If I was in your situation ( Similar, considered dropping 4U and using my accelerated 2U mark) I would keep 4U. You've already come to half yearlies and shown you're competent to keep up with your other subjects whilst doing 4u. Ext 2 may also give you more opportunities if you decide to change fields, especially any Maths centric course. It will help immensely from what I've read.

See what the others think, don't take my opinion too seriously as I'm just a student with little experience :)



That is great advice. I appreciate every little piece of advice l can get so thanks for that.

My main concern with Ext 2 is that it's the only subject that doesn't stay in my mind. For example, l might finish a two-hour lesson and go home and have to teach myself 4 times in that afternoon just to understand it.

It was the only subject that l felt awful of coming out of my half yearlies as well. I personally l don't enjoy as much as l enjoy chem, bio or 2U. And l honestly believe that gaining those extra few hours and putting them towards physics would be extremely beneficial causing physics is easily my least favourite subject but l am good at it, so l won't be dropping it anytime soon.

But l love all the pro points you gave and l didn't even consider that fact that it doubles my 3U so that is definitely something l have to think about and look more into

But thank you very much l appreciate it a lot

Wales

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Re: Keep or Drop Ext 2.
« Reply #3 on: April 27, 2017, 01:25:39 pm »
+1
That is great advice. I appreciate every little piece of advice l can get so thanks for that.

My main concern with Ext 2 is that it's the only subject that doesn't stay in my mind. For example, l might finish a two-hour lesson and go home and have to teach myself 4 times in that afternoon just to understand it.

It was the only subject that l felt awful of coming out of my half yearlies as well. I personally l don't enjoy as much as l enjoy chem, bio or 2U. And l honestly believe that gaining those extra few hours and putting them towards physics would be extremely beneficial causing physics is easily my least favourite subject but l am good at it, so l won't be dropping it anytime soon.

But l love all the pro points you gave and l didn't even consider that fact that it doubles my 3U so that is definitely something l have to think about and look more into

But thank you very much l appreciate it a lot


You're a very capable person. If you're even doing 4U and not failing I believe it's worth keeping. You definitely have the potential to score E4 in it by the end of the year. No doubt. I think if you develop more passion for 4u it will be very beneficial for you. I understand the frustration of not understanding it but.. It's Extension 2. If you just understood it like nothing then you may as well be a genius :) While yes the time you take out and put into Physics, Chem or Bio can help but I feel if you utilise your time efficiently you'll get those results regardless. I dropped Physics in favour of 4U because I was getting in the 40%'s for Physics and struggling very hard. You're not in the same position for 4u, you're struggling but not to a huge amount and don't hate the subject.  It's the highest level of HS Maths and differentiates you from the crowd. Doubling the 3U mark is a very big consideration as well. It turns a already very well scaling subject into a insanely good scaling subject and will get you that high atar. See what Rui and other members have to say as well as your teachers, tutor and parents.

Regards, Wales
« Last Edit: April 27, 2017, 01:28:02 pm by Wales »
Heavy Things :(

RuiAce

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Re: Keep or Drop Ext 2.
« Reply #4 on: April 27, 2017, 01:43:16 pm »
+4
We'll start with an example.

One of my friends had trouble doing MX2, and they got a mark of 41/100 in the trials. What happened? Did their best, and they actually managed to scrape an E3 despite this.

This really shows only two things. Firstly, hard work pays off; even if it wasn't the best possible mark it was quite a jump from being in the fail range. Secondly, 4U is one of the only courses where scaling can save you (although any sane person would not rely on scaling to deal with this.)
________________

Now, let's look at your scenario.

Clearly you've kept up really high marks, most noticeably in English and 2U mathematics. If you feel as though dropping MX2 is a good choice, I definitely do not blame you.

Unlike Wales, I won't give you incentive to keep it because the decision is going to be your's at the end of the day. I want you to consider all of the following.

1. Seriously contemplate just how much you enjoy it. This is probably the most important question and I want you to FULLY consider how much you enjoy it.
2. Why did you choose to pick up Extension 2 anyway? Was it because you killed both Extension 1 and 2U in prelim? Was it because you wanted to challenge yourself? Or just a random choice?
3. What methods do you use to study for the course?
4. Information doesn't get retained that easily. I had that happen to me all the time in English and also quite often in physics. But forget about why that happens, more importantly how do you deal with it?
5. How beneficial is it? You are aiming for medicine, but as an example, what would be your backup?

There's no real need for me to push for reasons to keep, but there's no point in me giving you reasons to drop either. You should also consider compiling a full list of pro's and con's to dropping.

And, on a brief note regarding your teacher's suggestion. The teacher isn't wrong; staying in MX2 will help MX1. But you have to weigh the costs v.s. benefits. If it were me, I find that I study better when I am full aware that the exam block is starting within 4 weeks. So for the most part, I wouldn't have cared about the time lost if I were to drop, because I'll just drop 4 weeks before the exam block. Again, consider the costs v.s. benefits. (Timing may be useful.)
« Last Edit: April 27, 2017, 01:45:19 pm by RuiAce »

Paul.I

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Re: Keep or Drop Ext 2.
« Reply #5 on: April 27, 2017, 05:57:49 pm »
+1
We'll start with an example.

One of my friends had trouble doing MX2, and they got a mark of 41/100 in the trials. What happened? Did their best, and they actually managed to scrape an E3 despite this.

This really shows only two things. Firstly, hard work pays off; even if it wasn't the best possible mark it was quite a jump from being in the fail range. Secondly, 4U is one of the only courses where scaling can save you (although any sane person would not rely on scaling to deal with this.)
________________

Now, let's look at your scenario.

Clearly you've kept up really high marks, most noticeably in English and 2U mathematics. If you feel as though dropping MX2 is a good choice, I definitely do not blame you.

Unlike Wales, I won't give you incentive to keep it because the decision is going to be your's at the end of the day. I want you to consider all of the following.

1. Seriously contemplate just how much you enjoy it. This is probably the most important question and I want you to FULLY consider how much you enjoy it.
2. Why did you choose to pick up Extension 2 anyway? Was it because you killed both Extension 1 and 2U in prelim? Was it because you wanted to challenge yourself? Or just a random choice?
3. What methods do you use to study for the course?
4. Information doesn't get retained that easily. I had that happen to me all the time in English and also quite often in physics. But forget about why that happens, more importantly how do you deal with it?
5. How beneficial is it? You are aiming for medicine, but as an example, what would be your backup?

There's no real need for me to push for reasons to keep, but there's no point in me giving you reasons to drop either. You should also consider compiling a full list of pro's and con's to dropping.

And, on a brief note regarding your teacher's suggestion. The teacher isn't wrong; staying in MX2 will help MX1. But you have to weigh the costs v.s. benefits. If it were me, I find that I study better when I am full aware that the exam block is starting within 4 weeks. So for the most part, I wouldn't have cared about the time lost if I were to drop, because I'll just drop 4 weeks before the exam block. Again, consider the costs v.s. benefits. (Timing may be useful.)

Thanks, Rui and Wales, l really appreciate everything you guys have said.

I have considered everything that has been suggested and l will be holding onto the course until l have a proper talk with my Principal later on next week. As l am school captain my principal takes a special interest in his senior leadership team and won't let us drop a subject without checking it with him first.

In regards to my backup options, my ATAR for my preferences range from 99.95 to 90.00 and they are all medical science in some capacity so none of them recommends doing MX2. And outside of uni l may end up going into the army which also doesn't require MX2.

But because l don't detest the subject in its entirety l will most likely keep it until the workload gets too heavy or until the next exam block comes up because at my school MX2 students are required to do 2U exams until we are absolutely definite we want to continue with MX2 for the single purpose that we may decide to drop down.

Thanks for the advice as l really appreciate it, you guys have been so much help

Wales

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Re: Keep or Drop Ext 2.
« Reply #6 on: April 28, 2017, 03:42:32 pm »
+2
Thanks, Rui and Wales, l really appreciate everything you guys have said.

I have considered everything that has been suggested and l will be holding onto the course until l have a proper talk with my Principal later on next week. As l am school captain my principal takes a special interest in his senior leadership team and won't let us drop a subject without checking it with him first.

In regards to my backup options, my ATAR for my preferences range from 99.95 to 90.00 and they are all medical science in some capacity so none of them recommends doing MX2. And outside of uni l may end up going into the army which also doesn't require MX2.

But because l don't detest the subject in its entirety l will most likely keep it until the workload gets too heavy or until the next exam block comes up because at my school MX2 students are required to do 2U exams until we are absolutely definite we want to continue with MX2 for the single purpose that we may decide to drop down.

Thanks for the advice as l really appreciate it, you guys have been so much help


Glad we were able to provide some advice. I wish you all the best in your HSC. Post back if you need any advice. Funny how I'm responding in this thread but if you scroll down a bit I have a identical post after I got my Term 1 exam results back ahah. Solider on man.

Cheers, Wales
Heavy Things :(