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March 28, 2024, 10:47:35 pm

Author Topic: maths 3ab in year 12 in WA for WACE  (Read 8787 times)  Share 

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corry1960

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maths 3ab in year 12 in WA for WACE
« on: December 22, 2014, 07:24:07 pm »
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I don't know if this is the right place to ask this, but my daughter has decided to repeat 3ab maths for year 12. She also does physics and chemistry. My question is :
Will this make it really hard for her to get ann ATAR in the 90s , because of the higher scaling for maths 3cd, and will it be harder for her to manage physics. Is it unusual to do this combination?
Would appreciate any help/opinions.....

keltingmeith

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Re: maths 3ab in year 12 in WA for WACE
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2014, 07:49:17 pm »
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Not many people on here have any idea of WACE, so for everyone else who wants to weigh in despite not understanding:

Maths 3AB in WACE is very similar to methods 1/2 in VCE. However, add in some statistics, networks and business maths from further, and some 3/4 probability material (namely normal distributions). Also, no trig function or logs, exponential functions are fair game though. Physics and chemistry are very similar to their VCE counterparts. Anybody who wants to know more can read about the WACE courses here.

Now, my own opinion:

If your daughter has made the decision to repeat 3AB maths, it's probably because she feels she isn't capable to continue onto 3CD. No matter how much better the scaling, she will most likely score higher in 3AB than she would in 3CD if she's not ready for the latter. I feel you should probably trust her judgement there, as she's going to get the higher ATAR with the subject she's more prepared for. She can easily get a 90+ ATAR with 3AB, too - I have a friend (who admittedly, did do 3CD) who did music for WACE, and despite its incredibly dismal scaling, still managed a 95. I have another friend who did 3AB and managed to get into Monash's prestigious Science Advanced (Global Challenges) degree, which requires a minimum ATAR of 90.

As for physics, high school physics in general doesn't require much more than year 10 algebra to complete - 3AB easily has that taught, and will keep her mathematics skills up to date to continue. In fact, the amount of maths required in year 12 for physics is the same as needed for chemistry. To use actual calculus would be counter-productive, simply because even those doing specialist will be learning how to differentiate/integrate as they're also doing year 12 physics.

In summary, your daughter should be fine to continue with physics and chemistry AND get a higher ATAR if she does 3AB maths.

corry1960

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Re: maths 3ab in year 12 in WA for WACE
« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2014, 08:05:27 pm »
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Wow, that was quick! Thanks so much, it has put my mind at rest. The school didn't want to make a recommendation, so I didn't know who to ask, and its been many years since I was at school!!.