Time, Effort, Difficulty

[cobby]

Hey all,
Im a yr 11 student, and am considering picking up spesh next year.
Are there any people that have been in this situation that can shed some light on how much study you put into the subject per night in comparison to other subjects, and the difficulty of the subject.


Thanks

[danieltennis]

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I may be generalising: a lot of people do this subject for the mark-up, without the ability to cope with the harder maths concepts. (The fact that Specialist is the only non-LOTE subject that can be scaled to over 50 is tempting in itself.) It is possible that the students you asked about the difficulty of Specialist fall into this category.

The key thing with this subject is that most of the topics are new to the students, or alternately new techniques under old topics are introduced (an example is linear approximation under integration).

Therefore in my opinion, it is essential to do as much practice as possible through exercises and worksheets, in order to understand and master these concepts. If you are a reasonably high achieving maths student or is a a person who is prepared to work hard, you may want to consider doing Specialist.

But since I am in year 11, I can not shed some light on the recommended hours spent on Specialist per night. It also depends on the individual. Some will find Specialist a challenge, some will ease through it. But its not what's underneath you, but what you do that defines you.

Hope that helps, Trent.

[xox.happy1.xox]

I done it specifically for the reason mentioned by danieltennis... The scaling. Gosh do I regret this decision! But don't let this add to resentment for spesh... If you are good at maths, go for it!

[fredrick]

Compared to the other subjects my time was mostly spent on spesh. I found methods to be quite easy as most of the concept covered in methods was also covered in spesh but in greater detail (differentiation, integration, circular function) except for the most hated probability. When it came time for the methods sacs i didnt have to study as much as i have learnt the material from spesh. I did spesh as i enjoyed math in yr 11 and ofcourse the scaling makes it rewarding, if you are willing to put in some effort and enjoy math i'd recomened doing it.

[shinny]

Yeh I pretty much didn't have to study for my methods SACs all year due to spesh, so it's not as bad as it sounds time-wise. Only things I really had to learn separately were linear approximation, approximation techniques, composite functions, modulus techniques and of course - probability.

[polky]

It is a very challenging subject, but if you put in enough hard work and keep up to date with whatever's happening in class, it can be a tremendously rewarding (and not just in terms of scaling!) experience.

I would recommend it if you like math.  Don't do it because of the scaling but only if you enjoy maths - you might have to put in the hard yards for this subject to make it work for you

[shadezofemerald]

i did it this year, spent lotsa time on it compared to my other subjects, was found it so impossible about 2 mths ago so was gonna give up but i kept working on it and i find the comcepts actually do sink in in the end, i think one of the best things about doing specialist is that it pushes your prob solving skills to the fullest.  My advice is keep up with the work, be prepared to seeks help from teacher and don't give up when it gets tough coz in the end it will pay off. Good Luck!