VCE Year 12 Class of 2015

[dankfrank420]

Don't mean to sound like a condescending prick here, but why did you opt to do methods if you don't think yourself that strong a math student? Why not further?

Regardless, there is still loads of time. Certainly, there are some challenging topics, but there are enough gimme marks on methods exams to get atleast a 30 (especially exam 1, where you know question 1 is dif, question 2 is anti-dif etc). As Alter said, the SS is weighted far more towards the exam, so don't give up hope.

[tashhhaaa]

Your position is definitely a difficult one (especially have missed a unit of the subject), but if you've already exhausted all your normal avenues (seeing you teacher for extra help, questions thread on atarnotes, online tutorials, etc.) it's a matter of not giving up hope in the subject. Certainly, methods can be a very difficult subject. I personally struggle a lot with many worded questions, and there are so many people that just seem to get it instantly. That being said, I wouldn't adopt the attitude that because you know it'll be a bottom 2 subject that you stop trying. If you do all your set homework and work on the areas you know your struggle with, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to achieve your 20. Remember that the bell curve works both ways, too. Best wishes!

edit: You posted midway through, but I wouldn't worry too much about your unit 3 grade. methods is a subject more reliant on your exam performance anyway! The crux of what I'm trying to say above essentially boiled down to not adopting a negative attitude, which I'm sure you're capable of overcoming if you are doing well in your other subjects like you said! Find your motivation and don't expect to be able to get every question right. From now until the exam, it doesn't matter at all how many mistakes you make and for every one that you do, it is simply a learning experience of one less you'll make at a later point.

thank you for all your advice, I feel like I'm not very self-motivated in this subject so that helped a lot

& according to the ATAR Calc I can pull off a 83+ ATAR with a 10 in methods (sounds horrible that I even considered it I know)

[tashhhaaa]

Don't mean to sound like a condescending prick here, but why did you opt to do methods if you don't think yourself that strong a math student? Why not further?

Regardless, there is still loads of time. Certainly, there are some challenging topics, but there are enough gimme marks on methods exams to get atleast a 30 (especially exam 1, where you know question 1 is dif, question 2 is anti-dif etc). As Alter said, the SS is weighted far more towards the exam, so don't give up hope.

I knew someone would ask that... Probably because of a) listening to the opinions of others more than my own intuition and b) overestimating my ability to deal with challenges :s

A 30 SS would be a dream tbh, I'm hoping there's enough "easy" questions on the exam for me to get by this year :/

I did Unit 1 Further/General Maths A and I found it easy? I'm sure you know there's a MASSIVE difference in difficulty between Methods & Further

[dankfrank420]

I knew someone would ask that... Probably because of a) listening to the opinions of others more than my own intuition and b) overestimating my ability to deal with challenges :s

A 30 SS would be a dream tbh, I'm hoping there's enough "easy" questions on the exam for me to get by this year :/

If you look through the past few year, there's a clear pattern on exam 1. The first question is always on differentiation, the second is always on integration/anti-differentiation. There is always solve question involving circular functions, there is always a solve question involving exponents or logs.

Although this is probably unorthodox advice, you could probably cram these areas and get those few gimme marks on exam 1.

Likewise, exam 2 has a few easy marks, lots of the time it's just letting x = 0 or letting f(x) = 0 or subbing a simple number into the CAS.

All is not lost, there's still a term and a bit to revise.

[sjayne]

off topic but what SAC and exam scores do you need for a raw 20 in methods?

I feel for you. I'm not bad at maths (I was even enrolled in specialist at one point) but I missed bits here and there in 3/4 methods and really suffered because of it. My sac marks started off as B+'s and A's in 1/2 then dropped to C's and D's (with a couple of B's in there) in 3/4. Coupled with one bad exam... and I got a 26. Most people would have been devastated but it was enough to reach the prerequisite I needed. My problem was that although I could learn how to use different techniques I never knew when to apply them.

If you have bad sac scores you can certainly redeem yourself in the exams, but if someone has good sac scores and messes up the exams well that's a lot worse(as then they mess everyone else up too). You should be able to manage a 20 and possibly exceed your expectations, just don't give up hope!!

What you can do is start getting extra help from your teacher. My teacher's help was invaluable especially because he'd organise holiday sessions and everything. Otherwise, you could see if you could get a past methods student to help you, or even organise study groups with your classmates. You might need more help than some people but teaching is the best way to learn- so really you'd be helping them 

[ActiveSideofInfinity]

I knew someone would ask that... Probably because of a) listening to the opinions of others more than my own intuition and b) overestimating my ability to deal with challenges :s

A 30 SS would be a dream tbh, I'm hoping there's enough "easy" questions on the exam for me to get by this year :/

I did Unit 1 Further/General Maths A and I found it easy? I'm sure you know there's a MASSIVE difference in difficulty between Methods & Further

93% get study scores over 20.

If you could get 35% in both exams, I believe you would be guaranteed a 20 even with statistical moderation of SACs. For that you'd have to do a lot of practice exams, like a lot, especially if you don't want to "understand" the content, but rote learn. Having a good organised summary book will be a good idea as you're going to have a lot more time than people actually trying to get >70% doing all questions. Fill it with loads of practice exam questions that you have found difficult with worked solutions. Take your time with some questions, with an almost perfect and comprehensive summary book, whats the rush? You can probably take a 45 minute nap in the second exam and still get a 35%. Since your goal is so low, I don't see a reason why you should try to "understand" Calculus and probability theory indepth as you probably don't want to study maths at university. This may be bad advice but rote learning and a good summary book could get you that 20 with not much effort so you can study harder for your other subjects.

Everyone has that subject(s) they're expecting a low mark for; for me its literature and my strategy is to try my hardest on the next two sacs and do minimal study for the exam. I should probably apolgise beforehand to my small cohort so they know what to expect.

[tashhhaaa]

If you look through the past few year, there's a clear pattern on exam 1. The first question is always on differentiation, the second is always on integration/anti-differentiation. There is always solve question involving circular functions, there is always a solve question involving exponents or logs.

Although this is probably unorthodox advice, you could probably cram these areas and get those few gimme marks on exam 1.

Likewise, exam 2 has a few easy marks, lots of the time it's just letting x = 0 or letting f(x) = 0 or subbing a simple number into the CAS.

All is not lost, there's still a term and a bit to revise.

A question with that -- if I somehow manage to stuff up those simple questions, can I get consequential marks or are they not given on the exams?

I feel for you. I'm not bad at maths (I was even enrolled in specialist at one point) but I missed bits here and there in 3/4 methods and really suffered because of it. My sac marks started off as B+'s and A's in 1/2 then dropped to C's and D's (with a couple of B's in there) in 3/4. Coupled with one bad exam... and I got a 26. Most people would have been devastated but it was enough to reach the prerequisite I needed. My problem was that although I could learn how to use different techniques I never knew when to apply them.

If you have bad sac scores you can certainly redeem yourself in the exams, but if someone has good sac scores and messes up the exams well that's a lot worse(as then they mess everyone else up too). You should be able to manage a 20 and possibly exceed your expectations, just don't give up hope!!

What you can do is start getting extra help from your teacher. My teacher's help was invaluable especially because he'd organise holiday sessions and everything. Otherwise, you could see if you could get a past methods student to help you, or even organise study groups with your classmates. You might need more help than some people but teaching is the best way to learn- so really you'd be helping them 

I hope you don't mind me asking, but what were your total marks for GA1 and GA2 if you remember? If I get 25-26 I can obviously apply for anything I want (provided I get that ATAR of course) so that would be nice

The thing is my teacher isn't the best -- she literally writes examples on the board the whole lesson without a word and we all just go on with our own work/teach ourselves the course. She's also one of those teachers that sort of pities me rather than help me when I seek her out, so for the most part I don't really use her as a resource

93% get study scores over 20.

If you could get 35% in both exams, I believe you would be guaranteed a 20 even with statistical moderation of SACs. For that you'd have to do a lot of practice exams, like a lot, especially if you don't want to "understand" the content, but rote learn. Having a good organised summary book will be a good idea as you're going to have a lot more time than people actually trying to get >70% doing all questions. Fill it with loads of practice exam questions that you have found difficult with worked solutions. Take your time with some questions, with an almost perfect and comprehensive summary book, whats the rush? You can probably take a 45 minute nap in the second exam and still get a 35%. Since your goal is so low, I don't see a reason why you should try to "understand" Calculus and probability theory indepth as you probably don't want to study maths at university. This may be bad advice but rote learning and a good summary book could get you that 20 with not much effort so you can study harder for your other subjects.

Everyone has that subject(s) they're expecting a low mark for; for me its literature and my strategy is to try my hardest on the next two sacs and do minimal study for the exam. I should probably apolgise beforehand to my small cohort so they know what to expect.

My SAC scores are likely to scale down -- would this mean I need a higher mark on the exams? :s

Also what do you mean by having to apologise to your cohort? I don't really understand how our cohort's scores affect us

Oh and everyone:
Thank you all for your advice and encouragement 

[odeaa]

Just thought I would put this here for some shameless self promotion  https://youtu.be/a_cOY_Y-EMA

[ActiveSideofInfinity]

My SAC scores are likely to scale down -- would this mean I need a higher mark on the exams? :s

Also what do you mean by having to apologise to your cohort? I don't really understand how our cohort's scores affect us

Oh and everyone:
Thank you all for your advice and encouragement 

A 35% on both exams would account for that; unless your sacs scale to like 2%, then maybe you'd need a bit higher on both exams. The methods exams are hard btw. To get an A+ in Exam 2, 2013, you needed 78%, I think 2014 exam 2 Cut-off was 82%. These were people who actually studied. I have friends who have given up on methods aswell and hope for a ~20 study score.

For sacs I assume you need like a D-D+ with >E grade on both exams. If you do better on your next methods sacs, it would work to your advantage if you manage to beat people who do better than you on the exams- making it much easier to achieve the 20.

Also what do you mean by having to apologise to your cohort? I don't really understand how our cohort's scores affect us

I meant that I will most likely do worse on the lit exam than on the next two sacs, scaling my cohorts average down

[cameotodd]

How much studying per day are you guys doing in the holidays? I'm doing about 3 hours a day, but I feel like that's a bit low haha...

[Cosec]

How much studying per day are you guys doing in the holidays? I'm doing about 3 hours a day, but I feel like that's a bit low haha...

None at the moment. Entire first week i havent done any. Even if i force myself, i cannot sustain it. Not sure why. Just cant. And im not in the position i feel to be forcing my self through the feeling of not wanting to because its just going to burn me out more. So i guess im burnt out. Were on holidays right?! And we've got the worst to come. So i feel everyone should take a break of some sort.

[cameotodd]

None at the moment. Entire first week i havent done any. Even if i force myself, i cannot sustain it. Not sure why. Just cant. And im not in the position i feel to be forcing my self through the feeling of not wanting to because its just going to burn me out more. So i guess im burnt out. Were on holidays right?! And we've got the worst to come. So i feel everyone should take a break of some sort.

Yeah I get what you're saying, but I dunno, I just feel like shit and that I'm slacking off if I don't do anything for a whole day... boy I can't wait for this year to end.

[tashhhaaa]

A 35% on both exams would account for that; unless your sacs scale to like 2%, then maybe you'd need a bit higher on both exams. The methods exams are hard btw. To get an A+ in Exam 2, 2013, you needed 78%, I think 2014 exam 2 Cut-off was 82%. These were people who actually studied. I have friends who have given up on methods aswell and hope for a ~20 study score.

For sacs I assume you need like a D-D+ with >E grade on both exams. If you do better on your next methods sacs, it would work to your advantage if you manage to beat people who do better than you on the exams- making it much easier to achieve the 20.


I meant that I will most likely do worse on the lit exam than on the next two sacs, scaling my cohorts average down

Thank you so much for your insight and expert knowledge haha 

[sjayne]

I hope you don't mind me asking, but what were your total marks for GA1 and GA2 if you remember? If I get 25-26 I can obviously apply for anything I want (provided I get that ATAR of course) so that would be nice

The thing is my teacher isn't the best -- she literally writes examples on the board the whole lesson without a word and we all just go on with our own work/teach ourselves the course. She's also one of those teachers that sort of pities me rather than help me when I seek her out, so for the most part I don't really use her as a resource

My SAC scores are likely to scale down -- would this mean I need a higher mark on the exams? :s

GA1: D+, GA2:C, GA3:C+    (I think ga1 is unit 3 and 4 sacs together)
My sac scores were actually scaled down(either that or they marked us too harshly) despite me doing worse in the end of year exams, which I think had a lot to do with my cohort.

If your teacher isn't good... does your school offer something like a homework club where teachers stay back in the library once a week? Because at my school that meant if there was a different maths teacher they would help us anyway

[dan97]

If u have forced yourself to study how did u do it? I uninstalled LoL and dota