How to get a 50 in specialist?

[PB]

Hey,
I know people who have done well in Spesh but have different advice. Some say I should really be doing every question in the textbook, whereas others say I should study efficiently use practice exam questions from study guides(not textbook questions) etc.
I am confused? I am really concerned that I am going about specialist with the right method because I know so many people who did so well in methods but bombed out of specialist. I am not sure why 8-S
Some help would be appreciated.

[Jayward]

Youre probably going to hate me for this, but it depends on the individual. You do what works for you. At the end of the day, if doing tonnes of textbook questions works, do that, or do study guides if that's youre thing. I did a unit 3 and 4 subject last year and got a mid 40, with having done only some chapter reviews (no actual chapter questions) and zero study guide questions. All i did where the worksheets my teacher gave (about 5 all up) and a couple practise exams (10ish?). It just depends on how good you are I suppose at your subject.

But for spech, cause its sooo crazy competitive, i would personally suggest doing questions from everywhere, and try building a really strong conceptual understanding of the content, cause its pretty abstract

[Drunk]

Getting a 50 in any subject isn't easy, and there's no real method to getting one. With spesh, you've really got to be perfect in everything you do since it's such a competitive subject. I've seen many people who deserved really high marks and even 50s, but they didn't get them because they weren't on point, even though their knowledge was great.

Methods and spesh are different - you'll need a very high theoretical understanding of the material in spesh if you wanna do well, not so much in methods where you can get away with memorising formulas and questions and plugging in numbers. Just keep constantly revising and tackling as many different questions as you can for each topic you do, which should get you thinking about how to apply the theory in different situations.

Extra reading would probably help if you're really keen, just to help you get a deeper understanding of the material. I've really gotta stress the theoretical understanding of the maths, because there are so many little things that they can trip you up on and some situations can be really foreign.

Once you've got the knowledge though, it's all a matter of perfection, like I said before - setting your working out correctly, making sure you're not leaving anything out, your writing is legible and logical to read.

Honestly, spesh is hard enough as it is, you've just gotta keep your fingers crossed that you're going to have a good day come exam time and don't screw anything up. I think it's probably safe to say that the people within the 45-50 SS range all have the same/similar level of knowledge, it would have just came down to whether they had a good day or not and managed to be perfect.

[Dedicated]

Understand the concepts well and do a lot of trials (personally I did 100ish). But the most important aspect is to be calm and confident on the exam days (don't get over excited and stuff up exam 1 like I did ). Also I recommend doing relevant chapters from Stewart's calculus (especially the problem-solving based questions) as once you can do those any vcaa question will be a piece of cake. As they say the harder you train the easier the actual event becomes. Learn theory from maths quest and do the essentials questions.

[abeybaby]

understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding

Edit: you need to focus on your understanding

[Nobby]

understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding understanding

Edit: you need to focus on your understanding

I don't understand

[abeybaby]

I don't understand

no 50 for you.

[b^3]

no 50 for you.

[PB]

*sniff*

[b^3]

To be serious though, as the others have said, it comes down to understanding. There is no point spamming exams and such if you don't understand the basics concepts, as you're not going to get much out of it. Sure you might pick up a method of how to do something, but if you don't understand what it implies then you won't be able to apply it in any other situation. With that being said, a lot of it goes on getting it right on the day, there are a lot of skilled students in spesh, but not all are at their best when it counts.

When you say 'bombed out at spesh'? How bombed out are we talking? You have to remember that there are less students in spesh, and most of them are the better maths students, to do well in spesh you have to be one of the better maths students, out of those who are already fairly good at maths.

[PB]

When you say 'bombed out at spesh'? How bombed out are we talking? You have to remember that there are less students in spesh, and most of them are the better maths students, to do well in spesh you have to be one of the better maths students, out of those who are already fairly good at maths.

I am talking about people who got 50 for methods and ended up getting 40-42 in Spesh (I actually know a few people like that). Or people who got high forties and ended up below forty for spesh.

[Hancock]

I am talking about people who got 50 for methods and ended up getting 40-42 in Spesh (I actually know a few people like that). Or people who got high forties and ended up below forty for spesh.

Bombed out in Spesh = Low 40s, which scale to low 50s anyway. Yeah sure....

[b^3]

I am talking about people who got 50 for methods and ended up getting 40-42 in Spesh (I actually know a few people like that). Or people who got high forties and ended up below forty for spesh.

Yeh I wouldn't call that bombed out.... 40+ is still great, srsly... its fairly hard to get above 40 in spesh. When you said bombed I thought you meant 20s or so..

[Dedicated]

Felt like i bombed out as fell till I realized that it scaled to 51.5- then was like I'll take that. Also the methods exam has been harder then spesh for the past couple of years. Also only around 200-300 get 40 and above for spesh that is.

[Jayward]

40 in spech = bombed? I would have thought it to be mindblowingly brilliant :S Welcome to AN i suppose keep up the high expectations hah