BSci question

[Stick]

Let's just say I chose a major that was Maths related (we'll say Mechanical Engineering, for example). I know Specialist Maths is not a course prerequisite but I am aware that students that did not do it will be required to take Calculus 1 before starting Calculus 2 and Linear Algebra (like the other students). Is this necessarily a bad thing? Would it be better if I took Specialist Maths in Year 12?

[max payne]

Yeah I think if you indend on doing something like Mech. Eng it would be better if you did spesh in year 12. If your decent in maths i cant see a reason why you shouldnt do it considering it's scaling.

[Stick]

I'm not keen on doing Specialist because it would mean removing a subject and I enjoy all of them. D: I just wanted to know from personal experience if people found having to do Calculus 1 a real inconvenience for them, because if not, this would be the path I'd prefer to take.

[mr.politiks]

My recommendation is to do calculus 1, it is far less of an inconvenience than spesh ( i would recommend you do spesh only if you are aiming 99.95 from your position), and especially because you enjoy the other subjects.
Calculus 1 could be considered more of an accelerated pathway as you only acquire basis for Calc 2 and linear alg. In spesh, you do stuff that is interesting but not all required for Calc 2 and linear alg (there is a lot of overlap between spesh and these two uni subjects). Mind you, i.m going on very little experience here. I've seen calculus 1 question book from UoM and its content is very skills based, very little application (don't kno if u do more than what i saw), and there's probably way less stuff to get through than spesh.
So, you have a good basis for maths from VCE (further and methods), and breadth with chem and phys, especially for science in uni is great, so i reccommend doing calc 1 and leaving out spesh atm.
Ultimately the decision is up to u, just keep in mind that 99.95 point, that's really up to you .
Good luck! 

[86]

breadth with chem and phys, especially for science in uni is great, so i reccommend doing calc 1 and leaving out spesh atm.

Wait, doesn't the Breadth state that you can only take breadth subjects from other courses? Like if you do BSci, you can't take subjects from Science as breadth as you'd be doing the same thing? I stand to be corrected but I did read about Breadth @ Melbourne very recently.

[Lasercookie]

breadth with chem and phys, especially for science in uni is great, so i reccommend doing calc 1 and leaving out spesh atm.

Wait, doesn't the Breadth state that you can only take breadth subjects from other courses? Like if you do BSci, you can't take subjects from Science as breadth as you'd be doing the same thing? I stand to be corrected but I did read about Breadth @ Melbourne very recently.

I don't think he's talking about breadth as in Uni Melb breadth, but rather talking about the range of content in the VCE subjects that Stick has currently selected.

[Russ]

Calculus 1 is really pretty easy if you're decent at maths (so is calculus 2 tbh), even coming out of year 12 with just Methods. Stick with the subjects you enjoy in year 12

[nubs]

I also think that if you don't do spec, you won't have to do calculus 1 if you pass some sort of test. So pretty much you'll have to learn the parts of the spec course in your own time in the 3 or however many months you have off after you graduate if you're keen on skipping calculus 1