Year 9 'getting an early start' on Methods

[mystic_dragon123]

Hi all,

As you can tell from the title, I'm currently a year 9 looking to get a head-start on Methods, however, I'm a bit lost at how to start and what to learn etc.. I must also mention that yes, I've got my year 9 and 10 maths down pat, and I understand/know the general gist of what Methods is, and what it contains.

However, the main thing is, I don't really know what particular topics to learn, I've got the Cambridge 1/2 and 3/4 Methods textbooks, but can anyone suggest to me what good and useful topics I should be studying in it (or in general), as I don't want to be learning the whole book, only to find out that half of the things in it are irrelevant.

Finally, I wanted to ask whether the "study design" taking place in 2022 will be much different to the current study design?

Thanks.

[Sine]

Maths textbooks tend to be quite good (compared to other subjects) in that they generally contain the basics of all the content without too much irrelevant content so I think it may be useful to just complete all the exercises. There may be a few here and there that arent that helpful but for the most part all the chapters are relevant.

Obviously you dont need to complete all the questions but it is probably useful to make sure you understand each exercise.

Edit: if you really want to skip stuff you can probably get away with doing less of the 1/2 textbook but there really isnt much irrelevant content in the 3/4 textbook

[SnekiSnek]

Really important is to make sure that you've got your basic skills and rules down pat, especially your algebra skills. The first few chapters of the Cambridge textbook should have exercises that you can double check and make sure these skills are down pat. Things like graph types, functions and quadratics are basic skills that, once you reach later parts of methods, even the start of 3/4, they will assume that you know how to solve and how to use these skills.

For the SACs in both 1/2 and 3/4, worded questions are the ones where most of the marks are placed and the examples of these are generally in the last exercise of each chapter. Make sure you learn how to interpret the information and be able to form equations from the information given.

[mystic_dragon123]

Maths textbooks tend to be quite good (compared to other subjects) in that they generally contain the basics of all the content without too much irrelevant content so I think it may be useful to just complete all the exercises. There may be a few here and there that arent that helpful but for the most part all the chapters are relevant.

Obviously you dont need to complete all the questions but it is probably useful to make sure you understand each exercise.

Edit: if you really want to skip stuff you can probably get away with doing less of the 1/2 textbook but there really isnt much irrelevant content in the 3/4 textbook

Thank you so much for the reply, I know methods covers mainly functions, calculus and Probability. How deep do you think I should dig into these topics? For example, for calculus do I just need to learn limits, differentiation, derivates etc...?  And finally, I would like to ask if their is a website/guide that outlines everything one learns in methods, as in the topics/questions. Thanks.

[mystic_dragon123]

Really important is to make sure that you've got your basic skills and rules down pat, especially your algebra skills. The first few chapters of the Cambridge textbook should have exercises that you can double check and make sure these skills are down pat. Things like graph types, functions and quadratics are basic skills that, once you reach later parts of methods, even the start of 3/4, they will assume that you know how to solve and how to use these skills.

For the SACs in both 1/2 and 3/4, worded questions are the ones where most of the marks are placed and the examples of these are generally in the last exercise of each chapter. Make sure you learn how to interpret the information and be able to form equations from the information given.

Ah, that clears a lot up. Thank you so much.

[vehura]

I would like to ask if their is a website/guide that outlines everything one learns in methods, as in the topics/questions. Thanks.

How deep you decide to invest your attention into each topic is definitely your personal choice. But for everything you are expected to know and will be examined on, for example within calculus or functions topics, you can find succinctly detailed in the VCAA study design! It will be very familiar to you by year 12 for all of your subjects.

https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/mathematics/2016MathematicsSD.pdf

If you scroll down to where it says Methods 3&4, you will be given all of the topics through each area of study you should learn.

[mystic_dragon123]

How deep you decide to invest your attention into each topic is definitely your personal choice. But for everything you are expected to know and will be examined on, for example within calculus or functions topics, you can find succinctly detailed in the VCAA study design! It will be very familiar to you by year 12 for all of your subjects.

https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/mathematics/2016MathematicsSD.pdf

If you scroll down to where it says Methods 3&4, you will be given all of the topics through each area of study you should learn.

Exactly what I was looking for, thanks heaps!