ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE Mathematics/Science/Technology => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Mathematics => Topic started by: Icerock3D on May 21, 2012, 12:18:39 pm
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Hello, I'm aiming for 47 in further maths, 43 in methods, 42 in english, 40 in spesh, 47 in physics and 45 in chemistry.
I was wondering how many hours a night i would have to study for to achieve my goal?
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Is it hard to get 40+ in spesh? :-\
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Measuring study by the time you spend isn't sensible. What is important is understanding the material and being able to apply your knowledge effectively.
For whether 40+ is hard, it depends on the individual's abilities.
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3+ as that covers all the other options :) It depends on how much workload you have on the day. Sometimes 1hr, sometimes 4.
If your are consistently studying 5+ a day, you are studying wrong (or you are seriously aiming for 99.95).
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thnx but I was just wondering how many hours...
And when i mean't 40+in spesh i meant raw not after scaling!!
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And when i mean't 40+in spesh i meant raw not after scaling!!
40+ isn't easy, you've got to put in the hard work (and that DOES NOT equal to hours lol). The question is hard to answer because everyone has their own level of maths and hence, without knowing your level of maths one cannot answer this question. And just because you have very high aims, this doesn't necessarily mean that you have high skill (sorry to sound harsh, but this is just being realistic from someone who is part of a community that knows nothing about you).
A question to you, how many "hours" do you do atm and what are your Further 1/2 marks like because of it?
(note that spesh takes a massive leap from further 3/4 in terms of work and content)
thnx but I was just wondering how many hours...
Why?
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I'm aiming for spesh year 12!! thats 2 years away. my current scores are around 97% each sac. I haven't fully decided weather i'm doing spesh yet, but i would like to. Maths is my favourite subject at the moment. i'm definitley doing methods next year and about mid year depending on my marks i will decide.
with the hours thing. i've come to a conclusion with something you said on another thread Study smart, don't study long.
thnx VegemitePi
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I'm aiming for spesh year 12!! thats 2 years away. my current scores are around 97% each sac. I haven't fully decided weather i'm doing spesh yet, but i would like to. Maths is my favourite subject at the moment. i'm definitley doing methods next year and about mid year depending on my marks i will decide.
Yr 10 Maths is so much easier than yr 11 and 12. My teacher said if you got above B+ in Methods or Advanced Maths in yr 11, you could choose Spesh.
@ Icerock3D: Its quite hard to get 40+ in Spesh, we have to work very very hard. In Methods, we just learn the formula and do questions straight away but in Spesh, you need to apply your knowledge actively, not just remember formula.
To achieve your goal, I think hard-working isnt enough and the number of hours you spend each night to study isnt synonymous the scores you get. It depends on your ability and your passion to the subjects. For me, Maths I can finish quickly so I usually finish Methods in class and Spesh takes me 1-2hrs per exercise but Bio and Eng take me more time to absorb terminology, definition and write essays though. Sometimes I spend like 3hrs/night to write an Eng essay (actually I dont use time efficiently, I write the intro then go to fb, listen to music, come back to write body paragraph then chat with friends, come back again to finish off the conclusion. I cant stand writing essays for a long time without being distracted lol). You are the only one who know most about your studying ability so just try your best, dont look at the clock and count how many hours you study. I believe in the end, we will be paid back for what we sacrificed.
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You are still in yr 10, so I would say 3 hrs would be fine at this stage. When you are in year 11, hrs of studies would be more.
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honestly, 3 hours is plenty...if you study effectively
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You need to find other things to worry about if you're thinking about the amount of time you spend studying.
Do as little as you need, spending more time than you require is wasting time, time which is better spent sleeping, eating, relaxing or doing practice exams if you are keen.
Anyways, you're in Year 10 and you seem to have very specific aims, remember that you wouldn't have had any experience with the competition level in VCE before.
40+ in spesh? Well, it comes down to this really, it's only as hard as you make it out to be.
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I can honestly say that I do very little studying and still manage to get good marks simply because the time I spend studying is effective highly focused studying with no distractions. I don't base my studying on hours but on learning the concepts.
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Specialist maths is one of the most competitive subjects in VCE.
To put it into perspective, here are a few rough figures: there are 40,000 people in the state doing maths in VCE. Out of them, only 4500 are good enough to do specialist maths, and out of them, only 400 score a 40+ raw score. So you would have to be in the top 1% of VCE maths students to score a 40.
Having said that, it is definitely achievable if you are a strong maths student. I don't want you to feel discouraged, but at the same time, I want you to be aware of what you're up against.
For me, I have done roughly 120 hours of specialist maths studying this year (which equates to about 45 minutes per day) and I have scored 100% on every SAC so far.
If you're already doing 3+ hours of studying each day by year 10 level, then you should do very well in VCE. Just remember to study the correct things. For example, if you are going through your textbook in chronological order and you come across a topic that you know really well, then skip it. There's no point wasting your time repeating something basic which you already know (eg. basic algebra). Study effectively and you'll be set for VCE.
Good luck :)
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Specialist maths is one of the most competitive subjects in VCE.
To put it into perspective, here are a few rough figures: there are 40,000 people in the state doing maths in VCE. Out of them, only 4500 are good enough to do specialist maths, and out of them, only 400 score a 40+ raw score. So you would have to be in the top 1% of VCE maths students to score a 40.
Having said that, it is definitely achievable if you are a strong maths student. I don't want you to feel discouraged, but at the same time, I want you to be aware of what you're up against.
For me, I have done roughly 120 hours of specialist maths studying this year (which equates to about 45 minutes per day) and I have scored 100% on every SAC so far.
If you're already doing 3+ hours of studying each day by year 10 level, then you should do very well in VCE. Just remember to study the correct things. For example, if you are going through your textbook in chronological order and you come across a topic that you know really well, then skip it. There's no point wasting your time repeating something basic which you already know (eg. basic algebra). Study effectively and you'll be set for VCE.
Good luck :)
Are you sure about those statistics? I'm fairly sure that for most subjects with substantial cohorts (Spec. being one of them), 40 raw = top 8-9% of the cohort.
EDIT: @Op, to answer your question, I'm a firm believer in the saying that if you have to ask "how much studying" you should be doing, your already doing it wrong. You should be doing exactly as much studying as it takes to you be comfortable with the content.
I agree with Paul in that you should be doing the most possible revision in the least amount of time, now for me personally, during exam preparation time or the time where every SAC seems to occur at once that can amount to 3-5 hours a night either doing revision or practice exams - during the term where I only have the occasional SAC and exams are still a while away, I do just enough to stay 1-2 weeks ahead of the class (or in the case of Biology last year where we fell pretty far behind, to stay far enough in front of the course that I'd have ample time to prepare for the exam).
How long that takes me depends on the difficulty of the content we're covering, although I have to say that whenever I feel like I haven't done enough/can't be bothered studying my "hard" subjects I just do accounting lol, it's good to have one of those subjects you can do work in when you're feeling guilty about not doing enough.
Ultimately, your in year 10 - it's good that your worried about this now because many people either go into Spesh or drop it for incredibly stupid reasons, but with the maths knowledge you know how and the relatively huge period of time between Year 10 Maths and Year 12 Spesh you're not really in a position to make any decisions on how much you should be working. Take GMA next year, see how you go in all your 1/2 subjects, and you'll know yourself how much you need to work to achieve your aims.
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Specialist maths is one of the most competitive subjects in VCE.
To put it into perspective, here are a few rough figures: there are 40,000 people in the state doing maths in VCE. Out of them, only 4500 are good enough to do specialist maths, and out of them, only 400 score a 40+ raw score. So you would have to be in the top 1% of VCE maths students to score a 40.
Having said that, it is definitely achievable if you are a strong maths student. I don't want you to feel discouraged, but at the same time, I want you to be aware of what you're up against.
For me, I have done roughly 120 hours of specialist maths studying this year (which equates to about 45 minutes per day) and I have scored 100% on every SAC so far.
If you're already doing 3+ hours of studying each day by year 10 level, then you should do very well in VCE. Just remember to study the correct things. For example, if you are going through your textbook in chronological order and you come across a topic that you know really well, then skip it. There's no point wasting your time repeating something basic which you already know (eg. basic algebra). Study effectively and you'll be set for VCE.
Good luck :)
Are you sure about those statistics? I'm fairly sure that for most subjects with substantial cohorts (Spec. being one of them), 40 raw = top 8-9% of the cohort.
Well 400 out of 4500 is roughly the top 8-9% of the cohort.
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study not by hours, but by goals
eg:
This week, finish off half of are of study 1
- do every second revision question
- do every second exercise
...
..
start practice exams by 7 weeks before exam
then take the appropriate time you need to study to fulfill your study goals.
works better when you have direction or something you need to accomplish
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Specialist maths is one of the most competitive subjects in VCE.
To put it into perspective, here are a few rough figures: there are 40,000 people in the state doing maths in VCE. Out of them, only 4500 are good enough to do specialist maths, and out of them, only 400 score a 40+ raw score. So you would have to be in the top 1% of VCE maths students to score a 40.
Having said that, it is definitely achievable if you are a strong maths student. I don't want you to feel discouraged, but at the same time, I want you to be aware of what you're up against.
For me, I have done roughly 120 hours of specialist maths studying this year (which equates to about 45 minutes per day) and I have scored 100% on every SAC so far.
If you're already doing 3+ hours of studying each day by year 10 level, then you should do very well in VCE. Just remember to study the correct things. For example, if you are going through your textbook in chronological order and you come across a topic that you know really well, then skip it. There's no point wasting your time repeating something basic which you already know (eg. basic algebra). Study effectively and you'll be set for VCE.
Good luck :)
Are you sure about those statistics? I'm fairly sure that for most subjects with substantial cohorts (Spec. being one of them), 40 raw = top 8-9% of the cohort.
Well 400 out of 4500 is roughly the top 8-9% of the cohort.
Oh yeah sorry, I thought you meant top 1% of Specialist maths students, not top 1% of Maths students.
I think that's slightly erroneous though, a lot of people who do Specialist aren't the "cream of the crop" of maths students, i.e. students doing Spesh. at some lower-ranked schools might only be as good as Methods students at top schools... in the end, I think you're essentially right though in that being in the top 400/4500 students in the Specialist cohort is relatively hard, BUT the good news is that even if you get a 33 raw you'll get a 45 scaled, which most people would be very happy with - so an incredibly difficult score in a different subject = relatively easy to get in Spesh.
Also, just pointing out, 38 in Spesh scaled up to a 50 - that means like the top ~600 Spesh students are getting scaled 50's which imo is incredible, your odds of getting a 45+ score in Spesh are substantially greater than in any other subject.
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For me, I have done roughly 120 hours of specialist maths studying this year (which equates to about 45 minutes per day) and I have scored 100% on every SAC so far.
Omg, 100% on every SAC. You smash Spesh!
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For me, I have done roughly 120 hours of specialist maths studying this year (which equates to about 45 minutes per day) and I have scored 100% on every SAC so far.
Omg, 100% on every SAC. You smash Spesh!
A bit awkward if he didn't given his username :P
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LOL possibly he's truly"special at specialist".
I wonder how you could not lose any marks in Spesh SACs?
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@OP
study not by hours, but by goals
eg:
This week, finish off half of are of study 1
- do every second revision question
- do every second exercise
...
..
start practice exams by 7 weeks before exam
then take the appropriate time you need to study to fulfill your study goals.
works better when you have direction or something you need to accomplish
THIS!
LOL possibly he's truly"special at specialist".
I wonder how you could not lose any marks in Spesh SACs?
I guess he gets everything right ;D
Nah, s@s (EVEN THOUGH HE ANNOYS ME SOMETIMES) is still a very dedicated student :D Started smashing spesh very early and for that, I respect him :D
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LOL possibly he's truly"special at specialist".
I wonder how you could not lose any marks in Spesh SACs?
You go to a crappy school with very easy SACs :P.
But in all seriousness, S@S works hard and he deserves those scores!
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Yep, I agree. He works so hard. I wish I could be hard-working as a part of him :(
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LOL possibly he's truly"special at specialist".
I wonder how you could not lose any marks in Spesh SACs?
Well last year I lost 4 marks in total for the whole year in Spesh, and I go to one of the strongest maths cohorts in the state. In reality though, if you go to a mid-tier school their SACs would be substantially easier, purely because they don't want everyone failing.
The thing with Spesh is you have to look at it in terms of the scaling. Getting 38 will give you 50 scaled, whilst getting 50 raw will only give you 55 scaled, this means that essentially for a gain of 12 study scores, your net aggregate gain is only 5 marks or so. This shows that as long as you get 40+ in spesh, you won't be really losing anything against those who get 50. It is much better to be worrying about English than spesh.
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Is the Spesh scaling different every year?
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Is the Spesh scaling different every year?
Yes, but it should be around the same as last year (probably a little lower if anything).
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Is the Spesh scaling different every year?
They recently did some stuff and made it scale substantially more (ughwhy) but in future the scaling should remain relatively constant. The big jump was last year iirc
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Did last year scale a lot compared other years?I think it depends on how hard the exams are as well
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Did last year scale a lot compared other years?I think it depends on how hard the exams are as well
It nearly doubled last year, VCAA changed it on purpose though.
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Did last year scale a lot compared other years?I think it depends on how hard the exams are as well
does not have anything to do with how hard the exams are.
You still get X in the exam, if it's a tough exam, and tons of people are below X, then you've done really well (hence no need for scaling dependent on exam)
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as many others have said its more about knowing the content well (better than the rest of the state) and how many hours this translate into really depends on the individual...
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No, it does not depend on how hard the exams were.
I guess I can explain it statistically, but using an anecdote is easier here purely because last year's spesh exams were probably the easiest of the last ten years.
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They recently did some stuff and made it scale substantially more (ughwhy) but in future the scaling should remain relatively constant. The big jump was last year iirc
Not necessarily a bad thing, I thought it was quite welcome, especially in the face of substantial scaling on languages - students who do languages get a massive advantage. I know someone who got below 40 in two languages and ended up getting (pretty much) 50 scaled.
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Wait so is the 2012 spesh scaling more likely to be like it was in 2011?
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Wait so is the 2012 spesh scaling more likely to be like it was in 2011?
Could be the same, a bit lower or even a bit higher. Virtually impossible to tell and anyone who gives a definitive answer on this one is just guessing.
I wouldn't worry about scaling, I'd worry about getting a sold raw score first. You can't help the scaling, but you can help your raw score :)
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The huge jump last year was not due to a supremely better cohort, but a more complete way that VCAA looked at scaling (taking year 11 subs into account)
Lies. Clearly we were awesome... Clearly. We had Thushan and M-Li, QED.
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6EtMXB7mh5Q/T_FAUUvrbHI/AAAAAAAAAEw/cri-0Xv1nO8/s1600/you-jelly.jpg)
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lol. MHS this year is going to absolutely smash your year level out of the ball park :P
Maybe not at the very very top end (maybe around 3 good chances for 99.95 (>50%)) but i reckon the upper quartile will be way better than last year's and the median as well.
So many kids that are probably around the middle of the cohort have good as scores from 1/2 3/4's last year (ton's of 48+ after scaling)
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lol. MHS this year is going to absolutely smash your year level out of the ball park :P
Maybe not at the very very top end (maybe around 3 good chances for 99.95 (>50%)) but i reckon the upper quartile will be way better than last year's and the median as well.
So many kids that are probably around the middle of the cohort have good as scores from 1/2 3/4's last year (ton's of 48+ after scaling)
k.
I don't remember referring to MHS in my post, but ok.
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Hello, I'm aiming for 47 in further maths, 43 in methods, 42 in english, 40 in spesh, 47 in physics and 45 in chemistry.
I was wondering how many hours a night i would have to study for to achieve my goal?
And
Is it hard to get 40+ in spesh? :-\
hey can we get an update watchu get for those subjects? close to your aim?