Is it easy?

[soccerboi]

1 thing i've learnt from my experience that i don't want others to do: Dont underestimate the level of difficulty of further!
Despite it being pretty "easy" to many.

I was pretty cocky from the start of the yr, telling my sister that a i could get a "45+"  with my eyes closed lol (unfortunately not the case). And took a month off from practice exams about a month before the actual exams cause i got "bored", was getting close to and full marks on the trials. Then on the actual day, i panicked upon seeing a question i couldn't do on exam 1, and was in "panic mode" for the rest of that exam. Ended up getting an A.(pulled my score down ) Please don't panic! worse thing you could do in the exam room.

BUT another thing to keep in mind: Dont ever let a score put you down! Knowing that i screwed that 1st exam up, i was shattered and depressed but talked myself out of it over the weekend. Came back on monday to face exam 2 full of confidence again and i got A+ for it. So if you happen to screw up something throughout the yr such as a SACs or even, lik me, exam1, don't worry, cause there is always an opportunity to make up for it.

Keep trying to the very end! If you know you did your very best then you should feel very proud with what you achieved and have no regrets. Good Luck for the yr!

[nisha]

i think getting a 38 raw in spesh is easier than getting a 50 raw in further, any day

Thats quite unfair to say. I know you personally got an excellent score for Spesh, but in the end, you cannot distinguish which is easier or which is harder. Maybe you are just really smart, and by saying that its easy to get a 38 raw score for spesh, is slightly unfair to those of whom who find it difficult to get a score like that. Not everyone is as smart as you palusterio. I would encourage some diplomacy, as there are some people (me, namely) who are not gifted and find it extremely hard to do well in spesh.

All Paul said is that it would be easier to get a 38 in Spec then a 50 in further, not that Spec is easy. I don't think you should take it so personally, it's actually pretty easy to distinguish which is harder - getting a 50 in further = perfect exams + for most schools, rank 1 in SACs. A 38 in spec can be obtained by a combination of B+/A's. Now the type of person who would be getting a 50 in further should be pretty good at maths in the first place, so it's perfectly reasonable to assume they'd be able to comprehend Spec concepts to at least get a B+/A on an exam. I don't understand where you think he's saying that a 38 in spec is "easy", if anything he's proposing that a 50 in further is quite hard...

Hey, I understand Spesh is hard, man, I'm doing the subject right now and struggling. On another point though, it is quite unfair to say that getting a 38 in Spesh is EASIER than Further, as (may I remind you that Specialist Mathematics is the hardest subject undertaken by students at VCE level). I do realise that getting a 38 in Spesh requires only B+'s to low A's, while to dux Further, you need absolute perfect exam scores.  What I am trying to prove? Getting a 38 in Spesh is not easy, and cannot be compared to Further, as both are completely different maths, designed for different levels of ability. I did not appreciate Paulsterio saying that getting a 38 in Spesh is EASIER than Further, as some of us struggle to get those scores. You simply cannot compare apples and oranges. Full stop.

I am not getting personal. Just demonstrating my point

[max payne]

Statistically speaking, getting a 38 in spesh is much more probable than getting a 50 in further so it is fair to say that it is easier. Something like 10% get 38 or above while around .1% get a 50. You can say that it is 100 times more probable:P

[nisha]

Statistically speaking, getting a 38 in spesh is much more probable than getting a 50 in further so it is fair to say that it is easier. Something like 10% get 38 or above while around .1% get a 50. You can say that it is 100 times more probable:P

Statistically speaking that is.

I guess its different for different people.

Oh and I would get my facts straight. Its 10 times more probable

[max payne]

Statistically speaking, getting a 38 in spesh is much more probable than getting a 50 in further so it is fair to say that it is easier. Something like 10% get 38 or above while around .1% get a 50. You can say that it is 100 times more probable:P

Statistically speaking that is.

I guess its different for different people.

Oh and I would get my facts straight. Its 10 times more probable

10% = 100*.1%

[nisha]

Statistically speaking, getting a 38 in spesh is much more probable than getting a 50 in further so it is fair to say that it is easier. Something like 10% get 38 or above while around .1% get a 50. You can say that it is 100 times more probable:P

Statistically speaking that is.

I guess its different for different people.

Oh and I would get my facts straight. Its 10 times more probable

10% = 100*.1%

Another reminder on why the hell I do maths. Sorry, just didnt see the point there, thought it was 1%. My bad.

[jasoN-]

<- Living example of how spesh was a lot harder to achieve better in than further (for me personally!)
To put it into perspective:
Did a lot of exams for spesh - basically the only subject where I actually studied hard for; ended up with a 36.
Didn't even do all the VCAA exams for further - got a 50, probably a combination of luck, but I'd say more that the course is dead easy.
At the end of the day, it's up to your capabilities to achieve well.
Just some food for thought..

[Truck]

i think getting a 38 raw in spesh is easier than getting a 50 raw in further, any day

Thats quite unfair to say. I know you personally got an excellent score for Spesh, but in the end, you cannot distinguish which is easier or which is harder. Maybe you are just really smart, and by saying that its easy to get a 38 raw score for spesh, is slightly unfair to those of whom who find it difficult to get a score like that. Not everyone is as smart as you palusterio. I would encourage some diplomacy, as there are some people (me, namely) who are not gifted and find it extremely hard to do well in spesh.

All Paul said is that it would be easier to get a 38 in Spec then a 50 in further, not that Spec is easy. I don't think you should take it so personally, it's actually pretty easy to distinguish which is harder - getting a 50 in further = perfect exams + for most schools, rank 1 in SACs. A 38 in spec can be obtained by a combination of B+/A's. Now the type of person who would be getting a 50 in further should be pretty good at maths in the first place, so it's perfectly reasonable to assume they'd be able to comprehend Spec concepts to at least get a B+/A on an exam. I don't understand where you think he's saying that a 38 in spec is "easy", if anything he's proposing that a 50 in further is quite hard...

Hey, I understand Spesh is hard, man, I'm doing the subject right now and struggling. On another point though, it is quite unfair to say that getting a 38 in Spesh is EASIER than Further, as (may I remind you that Specialist Mathematics is the hardest subject undertaken by students at VCE level). I do realise that getting a 38 in Spesh requires only B+'s to low A's, while to dux Further, you need absolute perfect exam scores.  What I am trying to prove? Getting a 38 in Spesh is not easy, and cannot be compared to Further, as both are completely different maths, designed for different levels of ability. I did not appreciate Paulsterio saying that getting a 38 in Spesh is EASIER than Further, as some of us struggle to get those scores. You simply cannot compare apples and oranges. Full stop.

I am not getting personal. Just demonstrating my point

Well the VCE system is built on comparing scores between subjects, in fact that's what the purpose of scaling is - to make the comparison fair (how well it works is questionable ). Nobody is saying that getting a 38 in Spec is easy... what we're saying is when you compare the amount of people who get a 38 in Spec vs. the amount of people who get a raw 50, as max payne said, it's 100 times more probable... which makes it in a sense, easier to achieve. Anyways you kinda DO have to compare the difficulty of getting "x" study score in each subject, because that's the VCE system for you - and imo it can be directly compared, as far as I'm concerned, if you can understand the Spec. concepts MOST of the time you should do it.

Oh and jasoN-, a 36 today would be scaled up to a 48 (maybe 47/49 depending on 2012 scaling), so imo that's a pretty good reward for your effort.

[Black Cat.1]

i agree with nisha. u cannot compare apples and oranges. its like saying bio is easier than chem. most people i know scored 2 or 3 higher in chem. the point is, dont listen to what other people say. were all different, and find some things harder than others. My cousin found further harder than methods, and scored a raw 40 in methods (scaled 45 at the time) and got a 42 in further (40.4 at the time).... while another friend of mine got 30 in methods and 46 in further. Just believe in urself and try ur best. if u like the subject and u try hard, ull kill it. dont rely entirely on what other people say

[omgllama]

I did unit 1&2 methods last year (in year 11)after doing advanced math in year 10 and I hated every second of it..
 I didnt fail it but I couldnt stand another year of it so now in year 12 I am doing Further Math and loving every second of it
I cant speak for everyone but I find further math easy and ALOT easier than methods
however I have heard teachers say time and time again that a high score in further is difficult because of the number of good math students that find methods difficult
that jump into further and raise the bar. So it really depends if you need Methods, personally I'd stick with Further anyday!!!

[paulsterio]

I haven't posted on AN in a while, but a friend of mine alerted me to this, and I kinda feel the need to explain myself a little.

First of all, I never said that getting a 38 in Spesh would be easy, I made a direct comparison between the difficulty of getting a 50 in Further and a 38 in Spesh.

I also said that it was what I think, and sure, you can think differently, but I don't think that it's fair that you, Nisha, have a little swipe at me for expressing my opinion which is pretty reasonably backed up by statistical evidence.

Approximately around 18% of students get above 38 (I know that around 22% get above 35) so rough estimates, but you can use invNorm on your CAS if you want the accurate number. About 0.1% of students get a 50.

Firstly, just on the balance of those probabilities, it's more probable that you would get 38+ in Spesh as compared to further.

Secondly, look at it this way. Generally if you do a subject and you sort of get it and you do a good amount of preparation for it, you'll get 35+. So in essence, what I'm trying to get across is that I think it's much easier to be an "above average" Spesh student, rather than a perfect Further student.

In addition to this, I agree with what teewreck has said, if you're capable of getting a 50 in Further, you should also be capable of getting a reasonable mark in Spesh.

Lastly, getting a 38 in Spesh is much less "luck dependent" than getting a 50 in Further, because of how tightass Further exams are.