Remain in or drop accelerated maths course

[Terrifiedpotato]

I am facing a big problem.At my school they have a course known as accelerated maths in which I am a member. In Year 10 we do the year 11 maths advanced course and aim to do some of year 12 advanced maths course. We do the yr12 hsc course in year 11 along with ext1 y11 math. I am in year 10 and wish to do upto ext2 maths but will most probably stop at maths ext1. I really messed up maths in yr 10 getting around 70% in my first test with a weighting of 35% and ranking 36/182 in the yr11 maths and I didn't do too much better in the second assessment with a weighting of 25% expecting about 75%. The third and final maths assessment is in term 3 and I hope to do better in that, the weighting for that is 40%. My question is should I drop the course in yr11 and redo the yr11 math advanced course?. I know the content fairly well, I just messed up in the tests. My subjects for y11 are chemistry, physics, economics, English advanced, software design and development along with maths. My subjects in yr12 will be chemistry, physics, economics and English advanced and of course maths. Any advice?

[fun_jirachi]

There's no reason to drop yet especially when year 11 subjects do not count towards your HSC. It sounds like you are doing well enough, for you to be performing in roughly the top sixth of students (including those in the cohort above you) suggests two things to me: a) that the actual mark you are getting is not indicative of you being bad at maths, rather the exam being difficult and b) that is may be typical of your school, just by virtue of having a large cohort doing mathematics. It may be important to consult the teacher in charge of this program on where and how to proceed from here. It's also important to note you have not taken the Preliminary exam for mathematics yet; I'd still say it's far too early to be so set in dropping. If you are definitely set on dropping, by all means go ahead, but keep your mind open to the fact that good marks are still very much possible (improvement into next year, etc.) and that you are already doing quite well.

[Terrifiedpotato]

I greatly appreciate your support but I messed my second exam too. With a rank of 41 I have dropped down 5 ranks already. I'm really disappointed and seriously considering dropping out of the program. It's because I didn't work hard enough and practice enough.

[rickykinoki]

I was basically in your position too. I was even asked if I wanted to continue the accelerated course at my school in Year 9 because my marks were that low. It didn't improve either in year 10. Some preliminary exams I scored around 60-70% (like you). However, I went through the whole way, and now I am studying only 8 units for my HSC in 2022. I think you should embrace the opportunity of accelerating, as it will allocate precious time for your other subjects.

I didn't truly begin performing till Year 11 term 1, where I ranked 8th (first time in top 10), but thats because I worked a ton during the holidays, and since I had no HSC pressures aside from maths, thats pretty much all I did. Look, I initially came from receiving 60-70% in exams pretty frequently, to receiving a 48/50 for E1. Everyone is different, so if everything is going over your head and you think it is impossible, then you consider your options, but you said that your issue for low marks was because of a lack of practice and study. In that case, you definitely can improve as it doesn't seem to be a conceptual issue.

Worst case scenario, you mess up in the HSC. In that case, you have the privilege of redoing maths with 2x the experience of the non-accelerated cohort.  In retrospect, I still have regrets about some results and study habits, but I am way, way, way better off now that 1/3 of my week is a study and I can focus on my other subjects.

[Terrifiedpotato]

Thanks dude. That really did cheer me up.