Is it worth doing specialist maths?

[Cate McCashin]

Hi, we're in the middle of selecting our unit 1/2 subjects for next year and I'm tossing up whether or not to do specialist maths. I'm pretty good at maths and my math teacher recommended that I do spec and methods next year but I'm far from a math genius. I'm planning to do methods, bio 3/4, chemistry, literature + another 2 subjects and I'm not sure if doing spec as well will make the workload unmanageable. I've also heard that the subject is extremely difficult and I don't want to stuff up my VCE, so maybe I'll be better off choosing an easier subject. However I would quite like to try spec but I'm worried that I'll struggle with the content. Do you guys think it's worth doing or will I be better off playing it safe and doing something easier?
Thanks!

[jborn007]

as long as you REALLY manage ur time well, then i don't see why not. u can always drop it during the school year if you ending up disliking it.

[mathsTeacher82]

Specialist maths is a challenging subject and will take a lot of your study time.

But it will also help you a LOT in Methods, as topics like Calculus and Trigonometry have a large overlap between Methods and Spec. And if you like maths, you will probably enjoy Spec.

Also just in case you are considering doing Engineering in uni, you would have to learn the Spec content in first year eng maths anyway. Spec is not a pre-requisite for engineering but definitely super helpful.