Tempestuously cruising through the HSC

[katie,rinos]

Hey,
So, I dropped down from 2 unit to general at the beginning of this year. It had been something I had been putting off for a while because 1. My marks weren't terrible and 2. If I had wanted to I could have done extension Maths at the beginning of year 11 (my yr 10 marks/rank was pretty good). I ended up dropping because I got a really terrible mark for my first yr 12 assessment task that really shocked me (39%) and was something that I didn't want going into the HSC. Realistically it was only worth 15% of my internal mark but I felt terrible. There was a lot of stuff I did't know or just could not get. I had actually studied for that test and it hadn't shown at all. Now, my marks in general are so much better. I've gone from a 39% in 2unit to 92% in General and internally ranked 2nd-so it is quite a huge jump.

General maths isn't really ridiculously easy though. Although the content, most of the time is a lot easier then the 2 unit work, it is a very different style of course. General maths problems are also a lot wordier and you have focus studies on cars, health, data,etc. which you don't have in 2 unit. Something you'd probably have to do as well is learn the majority of the year 11 content as around 20% is examinable in the HSC. So, for me theres stuff on data conversion and car insurance that I didn't learn in class and had to mainly teach myself. I mostly did chapter reviews from the year 11 work to find out if there was any areas I needed to focus on.

Definitely try to drop soon though, I dropped first week of this year and it was a pain to teach myself year 11 content and two year 12 chapters in the Christmas holidays. I don't regret dropping to general at all because I think it it a better course for me (it's also a slightly smaller workload with my 13 units as well).

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask questions!

[Lumenoria]

Hey,
So, I dropped down from 2 unit to general at the beginning of this year. It had been something I had been putting off for a while because 1. My marks weren't terrible and 2. If I had wanted to I could have done extension Maths at the beginning of year 11 (my yr 10 marks/rank was pretty good). I ended up dropping because I got a really terrible mark for my first yr 12 assessment task that really shocked me (39%) and was something that I didn't want going into the HSC. Realistically it was only worth 15% of my internal mark but I felt terrible. There was a lot of stuff I did't know or just could not get. I had actually studied for that test and it hadn't shown at all. Now, my marks in general are so much better. I've gone from a 39% in 2unit to 92% in General and internally ranked 2nd-so it is quite a huge jump.

General maths isn't really ridiculously easy though. Although the content, most of the time is a lot easier then the 2 unit work, it is a very different style of course. General maths problems are also a lot wordier and you have focus studies on cars, health, data,etc. which you don't have in 2 unit. Something you'd probably have to do as well is learn the majority of the year 11 content as around 20% is examinable in the HSC. So, for me theres stuff on data conversion and car insurance that I didn't learn in class and had to mainly teach myself. I mostly did chapter reviews from the year 11 work to find out if there was any areas I needed to focus on.

Definitely try to drop soon though, I dropped first week of this year and it was a pain to teach myself year 11 content and two year 12 chapters in the Christmas holidays. I don't regret dropping to general at all because I think it it a better course for me (it's also a slightly smaller workload with my 13 units as well).

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask questions!

Yeah, it does help, thanks heaps! I was actually invited to Extension Maths at the end of year 10 too, which I undertook but I got an appalling mark (like you, it wasnt worth a lot but still upsetting to have experienced nonetheless) and dropped it instantly after that. That's the thing though, I've always been pretty good at word problems—they are so so much more enjoyable than calculus and all that shit. I'll get a form to drop tomorrow, thankyou so much for offering your ever so helpful insight and input. It means a lot, good luck in maths tomorrow

Hopefully my story will help you In Year 10 my teacher advised me that I should do 3 unit maths. I did General - because I really didn't like maths and I was already doing 3 units of english and so I wanted to focus on that. end of year 11 i was ranked 1st in general by 8 or so marks against everyone else but hated it because it was so boring. At that point I was ranked 1st in all of my other subjects barring French where I was second. I had a mark of around 80 in french (even though i studied way more for it than math) and low 90s for gennie maths. I went to my studies coordinator guy he chucked the numbers into the atar calculator and it made little if not no difference at all what i did. i could have dropped french seeing i was doing worse at it but it was my favourite subject by far and so i dropped maths and honestly i can't recommend it enough because i couldn't imagine life without french in year 12. now obviously my advice may not be 100% helpful as i was definitely not doing anything math related after school or anything that needed any understanding of math but if you hate it then definitely try out general maths! in the end continuing french will possibly open pathways for my future career in communications while math was boring and useless for me in my later life. hope that helps!

Thankyou so much, this is so insightful to read. I would've dropped mathematics in its entirety, had the school offered English Ext 2 but unfortunately that wasn't the case. I was invited to 3u maths at the end of Year 10 too, and I took it but dropped it after garnering some atrocious marks. I feel like I'm stooping so low by going from ext maths to general but it's whatever, you gotta do what you gotta do! Haha I'll get the form to drop tomorrow, thanks heaps!

Mod edit: Merged posts

[Lumenoria]

My friend is getting 58% in mathematics and wanted me to ask if she should stay in it? Her attitude is completely different to mine though, she enjoys maths and devotes a lot of time to refine her skills. I think she absolutely should, but she is requesting a second opinion. Thoughts?

[paigek3]

Hey!! I did 5.3 maths all of year 9&10 and was reccomended to do 2 unit but I chose general as I really didnt enjoy maths (mainly bc my teacher lolol). General was ridiculously easy to me, because as I mentioned before it was my teacher not the content that made me dislike maths. However, this wasn’t always good. I hardly studied for general all year (i sat the exam last year btw), especially if anything else was due or was taking place around the time of any general exams. Therefore, I only ended up with an 81 because of silly errors I made that could’ve been cancelled out even with a little bit of study. Though, I am lucky that as I am doing 12 units I Doubt my general Mark will count. SO, if you do drop, ensure you do stay motivated and don’t take it for granted too much as I did

My friend is getting 58% in mathematics and wanted me to ask if she should stay in it? Her attitude is completely different to mine though, she enjoys maths and devotes a lot of time to refine her skills. I think she absolutely should, but she is requesting a second opinion. Thoughts?

As for your friend, I 100% think she should stay! As long as her commitment continues and she does see improvements then for sure. Maybe look into a mathematics tutor or get her teacher to assist her when she gets confused!

[Lumenoria]

Hey!! I did 5.3 maths all of year 9&10 and was reccomended to do 2 unit but I chose general as I really didnt enjoy maths (mainly bc my teacher lolol). General was ridiculously easy to me, because as I mentioned before it was my teacher not the content that made me dislike maths. However, this wasn’t always good. I hardly studied for general all year (i sat the exam last year btw), especially if anything else was due or was taking place around the time of any general exams. Therefore, I only ended up with an 81 because of silly errors I made that could’ve been cancelled out even with a little bit of study. Though, I am lucky that as I am doing 12 units I Doubt my general Mark will count. SO, if you do drop, ensure you do stay motivated and don’t take it for granted too much as I did

As for your friend, I 100% think she should stay! As long as her commitment continues and she does see improvements then for sure. Maybe look into a mathematics tutor or get her teacher to assist her when she gets confused!

Yeah that's what I thought, thanks for the input, she appreciates it

[Lumenoria]

OMG GUYS I DROPPED TO GENERAL TODAY AND I STARTED CATCHING UP ON PRELIM CONTENT AND OMFGGG FINALLY THERE IS NOTHING STOPPING ME FROM GETTING A 90+ ATAR (mathematics would've probs guaranteed me a 40 atar tbh lol).. but omg this is definitely the right choice. I was contributing heaps in my last ever mathematics lesson today, which made me second guess my desire to drop but I went through it anyway and thankgod I did! Words cannot describe the relief I have atm. I'm sad that I'm leaving the class because the people and especially my teacher were incredible, but it is what it is.

[Lumenoria]

Holy fuck, I just finished English Extension for the day and omg that was the most boring lesson I've ever experienced in my entire life. I feel bad for saying this because my teacher's genuinely so nice, but she is horrendous at teaching—I kid you not. We're currently doing context research for ATB and I've kinda gone ahead on this in my own time so I know it's really interesting, but her teaching approach makes it SO tedious to listen to and contribute. I love English Ext per se, but having her as a teacher makes me want to drop the unit so hard. I know I won't, but I seriously don't know how I'm going to survive this for another year. She literally goes over the most basic shit a million times over without delving into the depths of anything at ALL. I could've sworn to god I heard her say "age of anxiety" probably two dozen times in those 2 hours. I swear it was so bad that it caused me to feel physically nauseous from drifting in and out of the depths of the unconscious lol. I actually used to love English Ext and look forward to it because I had an incredibly passionate and altruistic teacher, who was exceptional at engaging us with the content—when we did Romanticism in prelim, which I initially found so mediocre, she taught it in a way that really intrigued me and made me want to learn MORE. I honestly loved her so much. However, she went on maternity leave 2/3 of the way through Year 11, and we got the bad teacher as a replacement. It actually sucks so much now. We used to have 10 in the class, now the numbers have depleted to a mere 4—and I'm 99% sure it's due to the transition in teachers. And she's been teaching English at the school for years, so the least she could do is act interested idk.

[Lumenoria]

Man, I really need to start reading potential related texts for English Extension but I'm so bad at reading! Like I'll start a book and be really into it, but I'll forgot about it a few days later so much to the point where it loses its appeal. Ugh

[dancing phalanges]

Man, I really need to start reading potential related texts for English Extension but I'm so bad at reading! Like I'll start a book and be really into it, but I'll forgot about it a few days later so much to the point where it loses its appeal. Ugh

Don't worry! My related texts for this year were Blake's 'Chimney Sweeper' and Bronte's Wuthering Heights. I easily read Chimney Sweeper because it's a poem but I didn't bother reading Wuthering Heights haha! If it is too long don't worry too much about reading it unless you enjoy it because there's plenty of great websites out there with analysis If you need help with any analysis just PM me (after my HSC if you can haha I finish on Friday) and I'll help you find stuff!

This is a list of some options for ATB i found online just then (i do romanticism though so i dont know about them ahah)
*'The Plague', by Albert Kamus, 1948
*Japanese 'Godzilla' film
*'On the Beach' - both book and film.
*'Grave of the Fireflies' - a Japanese anime film, 1988
*'Atomic Cocktail' - if you wanted to do songs..
*'Look back in Anger' - a play
*'When the Wind Blows' - book
*'North by Northwest' - Alfred Hitchcock
*'On the waterfront' - something about the McCarthy era as well
*'The Quiet American' - book.
*'Rebel without a cause', James Dean
*'White Noise', Don Danillo, 1984.
*'The Third Man' - Reed.

[paigek3]

Man, I really need to start reading potential related texts for English Extension but I'm so bad at reading! Like I'll start a book and be really into it, but I'll forgot about it a few days later so much to the point where it loses its appeal. Ugh

EDIT: fml you’re doing romanticism aren’t you hahahaha whoops I’m so off it today omg. I’ll still leave this up just incase any ATB students view this and I can help them hahahahaha ignore this and carry on reading my advice hahahahahaha

Which are your prescribed ones?

I did Good Night & Good Luck, Waiting for Godot and Sylvia Plath. My related texts are When the Wind Blows which is a graphic novel aka picture book with comic strips, and JFK’s Berlin Speech because I just found I didn’t have time to read another entire book. Berlin Speech works really well when talking about form with Waiting For Godot as both are meant to be heard rather than visual texts, and also works well with Good Night and Good Luck when talking about the power of the individual. Similarly, WTWB works well with form with Good Night and Good Luck as both have visual elements, and is good to pair with Godot because both show aspects of the weakness of humanity

The Red Shoe is another related text I was planning on using which is a nice book set in Palm Beach during the Red Scare, so I thought that was pretty cool being so close to home

Duck and Cover is an informative short ad which a girl in my class is using and is very effective on expressing ways of thinking

Good luck with everything, and don’t be afraid to look outside of the standard novel for your related text because there are so many influential speeches and other pieces that require less reading time and more time to pick out links between that text and your prescribed. But, it is totally fine also if you wanna use a book because of course they are always constructed so full of techniques

[dancing phalanges]

EDIT: fml you’re doing romanticism aren’t you hahahaha whoops I’m so off it today omg. I’ll still leave this up just incase any ATB students view this and I can help them hahahahaha

Which are your prescribed ones?

I did Good Night & Good Luck, Waiting for Godot and Sylvia Plath. My related texts are When the Wind Blows which is a graphic novel aka picture book with comic strips, and JFK’s Berlin Speech because I just found I didn’t have time to read another entire book. Berlin Speech works really well when talking about form with Waiting For Godot as both are meant to be heard rather than visual texts, and also works well with Good Night and Good Luck when talking about the power of the individual. Similarly, WTWB works well with form with Good Night and Good Luck as both have visual elements, and is good to pair with Godot because both show aspects of the weakness of humanity

The Red Shoe is another related text I was planning on using which is a nice book set in Palm Beach during the Red Scare, so I thought that was pretty cool being so close to home

Duck and Cover is an informative short ad which a girl in my class is using and is very effective on expressing ways of thinking

Good luck with everything, and don’t be afraid to look outside of the standard novel for your related text because there are so many influential speeches and other pieces that require less reading time and more time to pick out links between that text and your prescribed. But, it is totally fine also if you wanna use a book because of course they are always constructed so full of techniques

HAHAH no it was my mistake i just assumed she was doing romanticism

[paigek3]

HAHAH no it was my mistake i just assumed she was doing romanticism

Oops yep, I just read up too HHAHAAH. Shall edit my other thing again

[Lumenoria]

Don't worry! My related texts for this year were Blake's 'Chimney Sweeper' and Bronte's Wuthering Heights. I easily read Chimney Sweeper because it's a poem but I didn't bother reading Wuthering Heights haha! If it is too long don't worry too much about reading it unless you enjoy it because there's plenty of great websites out there with analysis If you need help with any analysis just PM me (after my HSC if you can haha I finish on Friday) and I'll help you find stuff!

This is a list of some options for ATB i found online just then (i do romanticism though so i dont know about them ahah)
*'The Plague', by Albert Kamus, 1948
*Japanese 'Godzilla' film
*'On the Beach' - both book and film.
*'Grave of the Fireflies' - a Japanese anime film, 1988
*'Atomic Cocktail' - if you wanted to do songs..
*'Look back in Anger' - a play
*'When the Wind Blows' - book
*'North by Northwest' - Alfred Hitchcock
*'On the waterfront' - something about the McCarthy era as well
*'The Quiet American' - book.
*'Rebel without a cause', James Dean
*'White Noise', Don Danillo, 1984.
*'The Third Man' - Reed.

Aw thankyou so much! I've gotten my hands on Don Danillo's "White Noise" and I'm pretty keen to start reading it but I keep delaying actually doing it hahahaha. I'll thoroughly peruse through this after class, really appreciate your comprehensive response! Oh, and good luck with English Ext today and your other exams, hope all goes to plan

[Lumenoria]

EDIT: fml you’re doing romanticism aren’t you hahahaha whoops I’m so off it today omg. I’ll still leave this up just incase any ATB students view this and I can help them hahahahaha ignore this and carry on reading my advice hahahahahaha

Which are your prescribed ones?

I did Good Night & Good Luck, Waiting for Godot and Sylvia Plath. My related texts are When the Wind Blows which is a graphic novel aka picture book with comic strips, and JFK’s Berlin Speech because I just found I didn’t have time to read another entire book. Berlin Speech works really well when talking about form with Waiting For Godot as both are meant to be heard rather than visual texts, and also works well with Good Night and Good Luck when talking about the power of the individual. Similarly, WTWB works well with form with Good Night and Good Luck as both have visual elements, and is good to pair with Godot because both show aspects of the weakness of humanity

The Red Shoe is another related text I was planning on using which is a nice book set in Palm Beach during the Red Scare, so I thought that was pretty cool being so close to home

Duck and Cover is an informative short ad which a girl in my class is using and is very effective on expressing ways of thinking

Good luck with everything, and don’t be afraid to look outside of the standard novel for your related text because there are so many influential speeches and other pieces that require less reading time and more time to pick out links between that text and your prescribed. But, it is totally fine also if you wanna use a book because of course they are always constructed so full of techniques

This initially confused me so much, but yeah, I'm doing the After the Bomb module hahaha! I'm pretty sure my teacher briefly mentioned that we're going to be doing Goodnight & Good Luck & Sylvia Plath, but we haven't delved into any of them yet so I'm not 100% sure. I'm considering doing the novel "White Noise", but I'll look into your suggestions, thanks heaps! It means a lot really, good luck with English Ext today and the remainder of your exams girl!!

[paigek3]

This initially confused me so much, but yeah, I'm doing the After the Bomb module hahaha! I'm pretty sure my teacher briefly mentioned that we're going to be doing Goodnight & Good Luck & Sylvia Plath, but we haven't delved into any of them yet so I'm not 100% sure. I'm considering doing the novel "White Noise", but I'll look into your suggestions, thanks heaps! It means a lot really, good luck with English Ext today and the remainder of your exams girl!!

Thank you <3