Specialist or Further?

[Greatness]

B-B+ will get you a 32, but you'd still want to perform decently well in your sacs regardless of what school you go to.
You get a bound book for exam 2 and a CAS so it's not too bad, but you've only got your brain in exam 1.

[paulsterio]

One more question ... How hard is it to get around a 32 in spesh? Like what percentages would I be needing to get ideally in SACs/practise exams/etc. and what exam score would I need for both exams? Also, are you allowed a bound book of notes as with methods? Any other pros/cons?

Not hard if you actually pay attention in class, you should have no problem getting 32 in spesh if you're decent at maths and actually try to learn it. All B's for the GA's should get you a 32, even maybe two B's and a C+, but it's not hard, much easier than getting a 45 in Further I'll tell you that ;P

[mon94]

SIMPLE: DO SPESH

I fully regret choosing to do further over spesh (I do methods as well). Today I finished the course work for Further (my class isn't yet halfway through our second module). I have found further very boring, and honestly some of the people are so stupid. I also think my ability in Methods has suffered due to my reliance to my CAS formed in further.
 

[Jenny_2108]

SIMPLE: DO SPESH

I fully regret choosing to do further over spesh (I do methods as well). Today I finished the course work for Further (my class isn't yet halfway through our second module). I have found further very boring, and honestly some of the people are so stupid. I also think my ability in Methods has suffered due to my reliance to my CAS formed in further.

The lessons are boring but getting 100% in both exams isnt as easy as you believe.
"Some of the people are so stupid"? I disagree! Dont think that Maths is the measurement of intelligence. Your classmates may be not good at Maths but they are talented at other areas such as humanity subjects, sports, musics,... They are not stupid, just because you cant see their hidden talents!

[Yendall]

Pretty much reiterating what everyone is saying.
Study Further if you like application based mathematics, a lot of it is based around decisions and interpreting situations. Even though I don't study Spec, I can tell you it's very formulaic, as is Methods. I regret not studying Methods this year because I love formulaic mathematics, however I had doubts about how I would perform in Methods. If you are strong with all maths (formulaic or decision-making) then I would choose Spec.
However it's solely up to you, remember that it is hard to obtain a 45+ in Further, because it requires you to not make any errors.

[vashappenin]

Despite majority of people telling me to do spesh, (and even me admitting that I may consider it), I actually think I'm going to choose further.
The only motive for me to do spesh is for the scaling, and frankly if it takes up a lot of time, and it is more advanced than methods, I'll be the biggest stresshead come next year, trying to balance it with methods, eng, HHD and chem.
Knowing me it'll also be hard for me to grasp concepts, as I struggle to do so with methods sometimes, and then I just feel like giving up. If it happens with methods, It is bound to happen even more with spesh, so next year will be hell for me.

With further though, I think (NOT SAYING IT'S GOING TO BE EASY OR ANYTHING) i'll feel less stressed. I asked a friend doing further and methods and she said the workload's much less in further, and there isn't much work set out of class,  which is better than methods where there is always homework (atleast in our school, that is). Also, if I'm only fullon stressing with methods rather than both methods and spesh I can focus on it better and hence (hopefully) do a better job in it than doing equally bad in methods and spesh. And I'd love a 40+ for further, but I'd love better to get a 40+ (or thereabouts ) in methods by working as hard as I can on it, if you get me.

[Yendall]

Knowing me it'll also be hard for me to grasp concepts, as I struggle to do so with methods sometimes, and then I just feel like giving up. If it happens with methods, It is bound to happen even more with spesh, so next year will be hell for me.

Just from overhearing and conversation, some of my friends this year actually cope with Specialist better than they do with Methods. I guess it's a different approach to mathematics. The workload is more, but the content is easier to grasp. Well, for them anyway.

With further though, I think (NOT SAYING IT'S GOING TO BE EASY OR ANYTHING) i'll feel less stressed.

You will definitely be less stressed. Further requires you think, but once you nail a formula or concept, you will remember it. Still give it 100%, because in the end a 45+ is achievable, but does require focused effort.

[Biceps]

not much about stress as it is about the ability to grasp concepts in maths quickly.

[keyan]

I studied Further 3/4 in year 11 and am doing Methods 3/4 and specialist via distance ed this year. I would recommend doing Specialist over further because specialist improves your understanding of methods a million fold in many areas and hones a lot of your maths skills. Specialist compliments methods and makes it seem very easy and it also means you could potentially spend less time on methods out of school and primarily study specialist, for example i am about 80% specialist 20% methods in terms of homework.
Further is simplistic and not demanding you just have to put in the hours and the key is to not make ANY little mistakes.
Choose specialist, challenge yourself, broaden your understanding and compliment methods.

[e03]

I know it's a bit of a late reply but anyway, something that most people don't even consider when making this choice is that when you go to university you could end up taking calculus 1 or A whatever the specific university calls it (even as a breadth like a lot of my friends) which is pretty much specialist in one semester. So you might as well do it now and benefit from it with a scaled score. If your teacher says your good enough you should definitely do it. If you put in the effort then you'll get a good scaled result at the very least, and you'll do better in methods.

[12of2012]

i know its a late rep buhh I am doing Methods this year ... however with furthur mathematics... i was sooo keeen on doing the subject and i was sure to get high marks but  THE subject was sooo boring  (no offence) that i felt the need to drop it and in fact i did ,at the start of the second term that how annoying that subject was for me...i like challenging stuff/subjects even if i am a failure at it... and furthur was like a dull plain black and white a simple boring shifty subject... if i were to repeat year 12 i would have picked spesh math