Methods or gma/spesh tutoring help

[Nato]

Hello everyone,

next year I will be in year 11 studying methods 1/2, and since GMA is not offered at my school i will be picking up spesh 3/4 in year 12

i have two questions:

will i be disadvantaged in year 12 since i have not taken GMA?
I will only be able to afford either a methods or a spesh/gma tutor in years 11 and 12, so would it be worth it to get a methods tutor next or a gma tutor(to cover the concepts needed for spesh)?


thank you for your time

[Kanon]

Hello everyone,

next year I will be in year 11 studying methods 1/2, and since GMA is not offered at my school i will be picking up spesh 3/4 in year 12

i have two questions:

will i be disadvantaged in year 12 since i have not taken GMA?
I will only be able to afford either a methods or a spesh/gma tutor in years 11 and 12, so would it be worth it to get a methods tutor next or a gma tutor(to cover the concepts needed for spesh)?


thank you for your time

Don't worry too much about it, it is very possible to do Spesh without having done GMA, I think a few schools (inclu. mine) neglect GMA from their subjects.  Methods unit 3/4 is pretty much a small extension on Methods 1/2, with that being said, I think it'd probably be wise to get a Methods tutor during year 11 to really solidify the concepts of Methods and then in year 12 jump over to a Spesh tutor.

[Quantum.Mechanic]

Most of the stuff in GMA 3/4 is irrelevant. When going through GMA, the things you go over are golden ratio's and very little actually relate to specialist 3/4.
If you are completing methods in 2013, You should be fine in completing Specialist in 2014. The only thing that I remember that actually came up from GMA was Vectors of which there is quite a lot of. (2 Chapters)
Also, best to complete the relevant chapters in the GMA book for Specialist if you think it will help, otherwise, you should be fine overall

[pi]

Most of the stuff in GMA 3/4 is irrelevant.

Here:

Topics in GMA Relevant for Specialist Maths
• Vectors
• Algebra (also draw from Methods knowledge)
• Quadratics and rates (also in Methods 1+2 textbooks)
• Partial Fractions
• Complex Numbers (i, cis, z=x+yi, de Moivre's, etc.)
• Dynamics (forces, equilibrium, coefficient of friction, etc.)
• Kinematics (displacement, velocity, acceleration, etc.)
• Loci (and associated graphs)
• Trig (rules, identities and graphs)
• Angles (all those rules and circle geometry -none of the 'bisecting a line with a protractor' rubbish though)
• Shapes (volumes, surface areas, ratios, 3D vs 2D, etc.)

[b^3]

Our school ran GMA to set us up for Methods and Further maths, instead of spesh, so when we started spesh we hadn't come across complex numbers or vectors before, while other schools had. We had to start completely fresh on it, and we still did alright (40+).

There are a few things here and that that can be useful that we learnt in GMA (e.g. partial fractions), but you should be able to still do methods fairly well without them.

In other words, just work hard and you should be able to do well still.

EDIT: To give you an idea of how we were set up for further more than spesh, out of that list above, in GMA we covered algebra (also in methods), quadratics and rates (again also in methods), partial fractions, trig and angles, and everything else set us up for further. It just means that when you do start vectors and such in spesh, you're brand new to them, but as long as the effort is there you can still do well.

[Quantum.Mechanic]

Topics in GMA Relevant for Specialist Maths
• Vectors
• Algebra (also draw from Methods knowledge)
• Quadratics and rates (also in Methods 1+2 textbooks)
• Partial Fractions
• Complex Numbers (i, cis, z=x+yi, de Moivre's, etc.)
• Dynamics (forces, equilibrium, coefficient of friction, etc.)
• Kinematics (displacement, velocity, acceleration, etc.)
• Loci (and associated graphs)
• Trig (rules, identities and graphs)
• Angles (all those rules and circle geometry -none of the 'bisecting a line with a protractor' rubbish though)
• Shapes (volumes, surface areas, ratios, 3D vs 2D, etc.)

Hmm. I don't remember doing Dynamics and Kinematics in GMA. o.0, nor partial fractions. Perhaps that is why it seems new to me this year. In our GMA it was box plots ch21-22 I think it was, the golden ratio's, partial fractions, number patterns and whole bunch of useless stuff that was only beneficial to me since I did further.
All the rest, rarely come up though.
In Vectors you learn the proofs to the trigonometric identities. So the trigonometric identities
I seem to have forgotten Complex Numbers in the midst of that as well, since we did complete that.
Apologies.

[Hancock]

I didn't even know what GMA was until I came onto ATARnotes. Honestly, if your decent at maths (which you should be if you are taking Spesh), you can learn everything you need to know in 3/4.

[pi]

Hmm. I don't remember doing Dynamics and Kinematics in GMA. o.0, nor partial fractions. Perhaps that is why it seems new to me this year. In our GMA it was box plots ch21-22 I think it was, the golden ratio's, partial fractions, number patterns and whole bunch of useless stuff that was only beneficial to me since I did further.
All the rest, rarely come up though.
In Vectors you learn the proofs to the trigonometric identities. So the trigonometric identities
I seem to have forgotten Complex Numbers in the midst of that as well, since we did complete that.
Apologies.

Haha, all that stuff is in a GMA textbook We used Essentials if it helps

[Quantum.Mechanic]

I learnt it from Math Quest, and we skipped some of the book, since the teacher rather gave out worksheets on misc topic.
Golden ratio was the weirdest thing I ever did, I never quite understood why the number was the perfect number in architecture, and design. Its just a number I though
But in Year 12, its not that difficult to understand for specialist, if you put in the hard effort, which is hundreds of hours, LOL, then it should pay off. But then again, I did the course twice, did it once over the holidays, and then during the year to recap. Its pretty much understanding the concepts, which about some is from Methods, so completing 3/4 should help.