2U or Standard Maths

[raghav_singh]

Hi, so I am confused about my options. Currently I am doing 2U Maths, although after first HSC assessment, I did awfully, and am ranked in my cohort for 2U, 93/100. So I am wondering is it best to do standard, work hard at that and get a better ATAR. Or, should I just stick with 2U.

The benefits of doing 2U are that it will be better scaling and it is the assumed knowledge for Commerce degree at UNSW. Although if I do stick with 2U and spend heaps of time with it, and still do not get good marks, my ATAR will drop, so this can be a riskier option.

What does everyone think? For commerce degrees, is maths really that important. I can also do a bridging course in the Summer holidays before university starts

[jamonwindeyer]

Hello! The decision as to whether to drop to Standard or keep 2U is very much different for every person, so I'll just offer a few things you might want to consider:

- Dropping to Standard means you need to relearn all of the Prelim content from this year, because it is all assessable! If you drop, understand that there will be that extra workload attached.
- Standard isn't that much easier than 2U, if at all - It's just very different mathematics. I know 2U students who have sat General exams and done pretty badly - The way of thinking is different, and they throw more tricks in I guess? Just don't think of taking Standard as the 'easy' road, there is work in either
- You can definitely do a bridging course to catch up, or even just teach yourself!

I'd put it down to enjoyment - If you enjoy 2u, keep it! If you don't, ditch it - And potentially just drop Maths altogether! Like, if you dislike maths and you have spare units, why keep it at all? do keep in mind though that you will need to hit this level of Maths eventually if you study Commerce, so sticking with it now might be to your benefit

[raghav_singh]

Ok sure, but how much harder is it to do the bridging course, is it very similar to 2U in the HSC but it is jsut condensed.

[jamonwindeyer]

Ok sure, but how much harder is it to do the bridging course, is it very similar to 2U in the HSC but it is jsut condensed.

I mean, you are doing 'two years' of content over, say, two weeks. It's tough! But it is also less pressure because you are there purely to learn the content, there is no assessment at all ultimately, learning 2U-level maths isn't something you can glide through at any time - So if you know you'll need it, it's just whether you've got the capacity to handle it now, or whether it is better to do it outside of the HSC pressure cooker

[david.wang28]

Best to keep 2u maths if you ask me. Although 2u maths is a tedious subject, it isn't that hard if you think about it, though I have seen a lot of people struggle with the 2u course because they cannot keep up with the difficulty of the course due to lack of foundation (even I still struggle with some 2u concepts). You just need to shift more time towards that single subject but keep a balance between the subjects you study.