I’ll put a caveat here that I’m Victorian, so take this response with a grain of salt.
However, I am going to be quite general in my response so it should also work for other subjects too, as I noticed you posted very similar questions for other QCE subjects.
I don't know if I should just drop down to general so I don't mess up my ATAR.
Check whether Methods is a prerequisite for engineering before you drop it. Yes, there are alternate routes to getting into courses like bridging courses but often they are costly, either by time or money. And plus, who knows? Maybe you’ll be able to find ways to improve soon or find the next topic easier.
I enjoy math, but clearly I'm not any good.
I want to be an engineer, but how am I supposed to do that if I'm getting C's in math?
Persevere and find out how to improve. (This is coming from someone who was crazy enough to continue their worst two scoring VCE subjects into uni and get minors in both, including chemistry where they got 30-50%s in assessments in high school, out of pure enjoyment.)
I know that might sound hard and it’s a lot easier said than done, but I know plenty of people who scraped passes at one level and proceeded to do really well in the next. Work on your weaknesses and continue to keep at it - it’s the only way you’ll get better at things you suck at.
I passed my methods Unit 2 exam (52.6%). I haven't improved at all compared to year 10 and Unit 1.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I don't know how to study. I don't know if I should just drop down to general so I don't mess up my ATAR.
-snip-
If anyone could give advice on study habits or how to improve my mark, it would be greatly appreciated.
First things first, have you talked with your teacher and identified what you’re doing wrong, or asked questions about concepts you don’t understand? You need to ask yourself:
- what kind of mistakes am I making?
- why am I making them? Do you not understand a concept or is that a silly mistake? Did you not read or understand the question properly?
For a maths subject like Methods, it’s often valuable to complete lots of practise questions from the textbook and then, more importantly, correct them. You’ll be able to identify patterns of mistakes you’re making along the way.
Once you know what you’re getting wrong and why, you can target these areas in your study, complete more questions in the area, and ask for more help in those areas, which will lead to improvement.
Some other tips include:
- recording your mistakes in a log and check to find patterns.
- review the most problematic formulas and working out to see whether you’ve deviated and what you may have missed e.g. you might’ve forgotten to use a minus at the start of the quadratic formula, so the formula has been incorrect.
- ask teachers where the marks come from and why you’ve been deducted.
- (this is more for other subjects but..) try a new study method, if possible. There’s a lot of resources on AN about different ways to study for different subjects. You might find one that just “clicks” with you more. We all learn differently so maybe a change in how you learn Methods best might differ to Physics. You can start by reading some of AN’s articles from the database
here.