Why do I find further math so hard?

[Stormbreaker-X]

Hey guys so after dropping down from methods, I still find further math hard. A lot of people are saying it is easy to get a 50 and so on, but I don't find it that easy. Please know that I did not do unit 1/2 general math. Is it just because I am bad at math or it is because I have not done this subject before?

[Calebark]

Hey there,

I think it's fair to say that anyone who says 'a 50 is easy to get' is, majority of the time, just blowing smoke. Only the top 0.2%* of a subject can get a 50. That's a small number. Sure, Further Maths might be conceptually simpler than Specialist Mathematics, but that doesn't mean you're suddenly able to beat the remaining 99.7% of the cohort.

You can still do Further 3/4 without having done the 1/2 equivalent. It might be more of a struggle, but I think it's doable, both in general and hopefully for yourself. All you can do is keep trying the exercises and most importantly ask your teacher for advice, who can direct your learning better than anyone else — they're with you almost daily and can see all your work.

Talk to your teacher, try to destress (easier said than done), and disregard what anyone says about how easy it is to get grades — if getting 50s was as easy as every student in my school said it was, we would've topped the state.

[Sine]

Hey guys so after dropping down from methods, I still find further math hard. A lot of people are saying it is easy to get a 50 and so on, but I don't find it that easy. Please know that I did not do unit 1/2 general math. Is it just because I am bad at math or it is because I have not done this subject before?

I didn't do FM but it is not an "easy 50" - the content can sometimes be thought of as on the easier side compared to some subjects but you still need to do really well on the exam to get a high score.

I can't really specifically say why you find it hard but you going into FM without 1/2 could be a factor. The maths in FM is a lot different to methods so you might take some time to adjust to that style. Was there any specific topic of FM you were having trouble with?

Also 50 is top 0.2%, 49+ is top 0.3% 

[Orb]

Hey there,

I think it's fair to say that anyone who says 'a 50 is easy to get' is, majority of the time, just blowing smoke. Only the top 0.2%* of a subject can get a 50. That's a small number. Sure, Further Maths might be conceptually simpler than Specialist Mathematics, but that doesn't mean you're suddenly able to beat the remaining 99.7% of the cohort.

Yeah that's 100% it. There is literally no subject where it's 'easy' to get a 50. All 50s are subject to super high variance and I firmly believe that if you got every student who 50'ed a subject to sit the same subject exam just in a different year and a different exam, chances are they're more likely than not to not get 50 the second time around.

There's a reason why no 50s are ever scaled down and that's because, at that point it requires a significant amount of dedication, commitment and a healthy dose of talent and luck to get there.

Most subjects you need a perfect run or close to a perfect run to get a 50. The smallest of screw-ups is enough to take you away from there.

[waterangel82]

I 100% agree with Orb, Sine and Calebark. I did Further Maths but did not get a 50 - to get a 50 in Further Maths you will need to full mark both exams, which is very difficult to achieve. So Further Maths is not an 'easy 50' at all, and in fact there have been cases where students achieve a lower ss in Further compared to Methods simply because each mistake in the Further Maths exam costs a study score. 

Another important thing to note is that Further Maths focuses on very different areas of maths compared to Methods. In Methods, you don't cover statistics in a lot of depth, but stats is a core module in Further. Financial maths is also another core module in Further, and many students find financial challenging because there's so much terminology and you have to apply the correct formulae to problems. Even as a person who is strong at maths, I found the financial maths section of Further took me a while to wrap my head around, because it was conceptually challenging. Other modules such as linear, geometry, matrices and networks are also not covered at all or in depth in Methods, and sometimes the questions you do in these topics can also be relatively difficult too (especially for geometry).

Personally I wouldn't believe it when people say 'Further is an easy 50'. Yes, Further is overall 'easier' than Methods because the questions you are tested on are relatively clear and easier to understand. But no subject is easy, and to do well, you have to put in a decent amount of effort.

[bubbleBoy]

It depends on your standing in Maths. General Maths is a continuation of what you have learnt in year 10. Unless you are able to put in a little bit more work than normal skipping General to do Further is risky, so I would suggest that you are struggling because you may not understand some of the concepts needed or do not have enough practice under your belt . I would recommend spending more time on Further to improve your score

Hope this helps

Good Luck !!!