Is Mathematics hard? (5 Viewers)

[Riproot]

how dumb are you, your fucking head of maths and your tutor said don't do it so you take advice from basement asians doing 4u.

I'm not Asian.
Do mathematics!!!

 

[AAEldar]

Seriously have a good look at them, it helps immensely.

I can't stress this point enough. So many people go through the course without looking at the proofs, and then struggle with questions that pop up.

 

[epicFAILx]

I'm in Year 10 this year, and I'm struggling to choose between General Maths and Mathematics. I'm in the intermediate class in my school and my head teacher of maths recommends General Maths, and so does my tutor; the reason I don't want to do General Maths it because you have to make sure you do really well; otherwise you will get really scaled down, but I have heard Mathematics is a very hard subject and will recquire a lot of effort. Btw, I'm an average student in Maths, if you teach me something and get me to do some examples I can do it, but when it comes to tests I just freak out and make a lot of mistakes.

your exactly like me. But other than you I need maths for what i want to do.
Um, do mathematics. It is tough. But hey, thats my opnion. And if you are 'not coping' you can drop. Or you can do pathways and extend yourself (if you really want to). There is always ways.

 

[The Derivative]

I can't stress this point enough. So many people go through the course without looking at the proofs, and then struggle with questions that pop up.

I have never had a question popping up that required me to know the proof.

I'm wondering this too! Apparently General will scale you down and 2 unit will get you a better ATAR however only if you can handle 2 unit, then go ahead and pick it.

Not true, buddy.

 

[Trebla]

I have never had a question popping up that required me to know the proof.

It's not a direct question of the proof that is the issue, it is the logic behind the proof. In the 2 unit and Extension 1 course, you're not expected to reproduce the derivations, but they exist on the syllabus because it assists in the understanding.

A good question I noticed in last year's 2 unit paper which I think really separated those who actually payed attention to the derivation and those who just memorised the formula is Q3b)iii). The question required a justification of whether a trapezoidal rule approximation was greater than or less than the exact area. Those who just memorised the formula would not know how to answer it properly whereas those who understood how the trapezoidal rule was derived (at least the logic behind it though not necessarily the equations) should know exactly how to answer it.

 

[kooliskool]

It's not a direct question of the proof that is the issue, it is the logic behind the proof.

I totally agree to what you said. That's why when I tutor my students (and lots of them agree with it, even though they don't memorise the proves), I always emphasis on to understand where the formulas and concepts derived from, not to exactly memorise them, but to use them to understand the background as to why to do them and memorise the formula easier (and also to make it more interesting to learn, just memorising the formula itself and applying it is boring, because you duno what you are doing).

 

[Existential]

Pick Mathematics. You will regret picking General Maths at first.

 

[Drongoski]

So basically 2U maths should just build on your knowledge from Year 10?

2U Maths is based on work in yr 10 and all prior years

Yr 10 maths is based on work in yr 9 and all prior years

Yr 9 maths is based on work in yr 8 and all prior years

.

.

.

Yr 2 maths is based on work in Yr 1 & Kindy


By the way I find it amazing people can contemplate doing Physics with just Gen Maths. Traditionally Physics has always been maths-heavy. Great physicists are often great mathematicians as well.

 

[funnytomato]

By the way I find it amazing people can contemplate doing Physics with just Gen Maths. Traditionally Physics has always been maths-heavy. Great physicists are often great mathematicians as well.

It's not contemplating,people can actually do quite well in HSC physics without much mathematics

In other words, some idiot screwed up the syllabus

 

[Drongoski]

In other words, some idiot screwed up the syllabus

Maybe you'd be set questions like: Discuss the impact of feminism on Quantum Mechanics.

or: Discuss: The discovery of the laser: blessing or a curse.

It's also like: you can have the HSC Maths syllabuses designed by maths academics or you can have them designed by maths educationists(e.g. for the proposed National Curriculum)

 

[AAEldar]

It's not contemplating,people can actually do quite well in HSC physics without much mathematics

In other words, some idiot screwed up the syllabus

Agreed. There are people in my Physics class who do General, and they do the calculations quite easily. The maths in HSC Physics is by no means difficult.

 

[Omnipotence]

The aforementioned are true. Some students lack the understanding of the theory and merely rote learn formulas. Especially in iterative methods of approximation, students are unable to distinguish why the root would lie further away if further approximations are taken and etc.

 

[kfnmpah]

Thanks for all your advice. My parents think I am capable of 2 Unit, but to be honest, I really don't know what to do. My tutor told me that I'd be better of doing General Maths because he feels that by Year 12 and the exam, I will be very confident towards my work and General Maths only covers a third of the concepts that Mathematics does. And he also feels if I do mathematics then all throughout Year 11 and 12 it will be a struggle to grasp all the concepts, but I don't know if doing General Maths is the right thing to do because I'm an average student in Maths, and I'm not confident that even in General Maths, I can get over 90%, but if I don't, it will be bad for my atar.

Do mathematics. Don't listen to nay sayers who tell you you can't do something. You can do anything you set your mind to. Your parents thing you can do it, they know you better than your tutor. Sounds like your tutor is bringing you down.
Mathematics isn't hard. Trust me, I did it. I was an average(ish) maths student in a below top 200 school, and I got like 87 in maths without studying hours and hours a week. I did my homework and saw a tutor once a fortnight to help me with things I didn't get.
I have written out a list of formulae and examples for all year 12 maths topics, if you want me to email them to you, pm me your email. The hardest thing, I reckon, is consumer arithmetic when it comes to the longer questions about... I forget. Everything else is just basic arithmetic, basic calculus, basic differentiation and probability, pretty much.
YOU CAN DO IT!

 

[kfnmpah]

The aforementioned are true. Some students lack the understanding of the theory and merely rote learn formulas. Especially in iterative methods of approximation, students are unable to distinguish why the root would lie further away if further approximations are taken and etc.

word, and also just understand the concept, don't learn the formula. If you understand, you can picture stuff in your head or draw it and hence perform better.
Even though the HSC is more of a memory test than it is an actual assessment of one's skills in a certain topic area. Shh.

 

[kfnmpah]

Pick Mathematics. You will regret picking General Maths at first.

word. Also, 'sif you'd want to do a subject that lets you take a formula sheet and graphics calculator that can do all the work for you.
That's why the scaling is so terrible.
/opinionated comment.

 

[strawberries122]

Do mathematics. Don't listen to nay sayers who tell you you can't do something. You can do anything you set your mind to. Your parents thing you can do it, they know you better than your tutor. Sounds like your tutor is bringing you down.
Mathematics isn't hard. Trust me, I did it. I was an average(ish) maths student in a below top 200 school, and I got like 87 in maths without studying hours and hours a week. I did my homework and saw a tutor once a fortnight to help me with things I didn't get.
I have written out a list of formulae and examples for all year 12 maths topics, if you want me to email them to you, pm me your email. The hardest thing, I reckon, is consumer arithmetic when it comes to the longer questions about... I forget. Everything else is just basic arithmetic, basic calculus, basic differentiation and probability, pretty much.
YOU CAN DO IT!

I would really appreciate that, thanks. I'll PM you my email soon. The thing is I am in the intermediate class at my school, and basically everyone at school is talking about how hard Mathematics is, and that General is the appropriate course for us. I'm taking Mathematics anyway, because I frankly think of General as a waste of time. Around at least 75% of it is statistics which I really don't like, and it's such a loooong exam. If you're confident in getting at least 90 in it, then ok do it, but if you're not don't do it. I was always going to do 2 UNIT always, but then my head teacher and teachers are like "You can do 2 Unit, but you'll end up dropping out because it is very hard." That's why I'm asking, but I think I should be able to cope with it. Btw, is integral calculus basically like algebra?

 

[Shadowdude]

Integral calculus is not like algebra. It's calculus.

When you are at university - they'll split mathematics into two main streams, in first year: algebra and calculus.

 

[Riproot]

I would really appreciate that, thanks. I'll PM you my email soon. The thing is I am in the intermediate class at my school, and basically everyone at school is talking about how hard Mathematics is, and that General is the appropriate course for us. I'm taking Mathematics anyway, because I frankly think of General as a waste of time. Around at least 75% of it is statistics which I really don't like, and it's such a loooong exam. If you're confident in getting at least 90 in it, then ok do it, but if you're not don't do it. I was always going to do 2 UNIT always, but then my head teacher and teachers are like "You can do 2 Unit, but you'll end up dropping out because it is very hard." That's why I'm asking, but I think I should be able to cope with it. Btw, is integral calculus basically like algebra?

The HSC exams for Mathematics Extension Two, Mathematics, and General Mathematics all go for three hours and have an added five minutes reading time at the start.

 

[hscishard]

It's not a direct question of the proof that is the issue, it is the logic behind the proof. In the 2 unit and Extension 1 course, you're not expected to reproduce the derivations, but they exist on the syllabus because it assists in the understanding.

A good question I noticed in last year's 2 unit paper which I think really separated those who actually payed attention to the derivation and those who just memorised the formula is Q3b)iii). The question required a justification of whether a trapezoidal rule approximation was greater than or less than the exact area. Those who just memorised the formula would not know how to answer it properly whereas those who understood how the trapezoidal rule was derived (at least the logic behind it though not necessarily the equations) should know exactly how to answer it.

Prelim people should learn what the tutors have said in this thread. Like this guy^ and all the tutors that I couldn't multi quote

 

[HJKim]

Maths isn't hard if youre a logical person

if you're logical, you'll love maths. If you THINK you're logical and you're bad at maths, then you aren't logical. lool