Realistic to finish the Specialist 3/4 course over the holidays?

[TiffanyF01]

Hi Guys

I was just wondering if it would be realistic to aim to finish the entire specialist 3/4 course over the holidays? I finished methods 3/4 and Allied health 3/4 this year in year 11, and only have 4 subjects next year. I feel like maths is the only thing I'm pretty good at so I'd hopefully like to do well in spesh next year. I was planning on finishing the essentials textbook this holidays, is that possible? Also have any of you guys done that when you were in year 12 as well? Was it effective?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated

[lArcdeTriomphe]

hey there,

the actual course for specialist mathematics is not that long and there is quite a bit of overlap in some areas (e.g., vector functions is essentially just vectors and calculus) (and if you do physics, you've essentially done the area of study of kinematics)

i didn't do the entire spesh 3/4 course over the holidays, and i wouldn't necessarily recommend it - you'll probably end up forgetting the content that you've covered, particularly unit 4 stuff, because (obviously) you cover it a lot later in the year. to use your time more effectively, probably focus on unit 3 content, and review (from gma), in particular, graphs of hyperbolas, ellipses,etc.; vectors; complex numbers; differentiation (these will probably be the first few topics you'll cover in the year)

[keltingmeith]

This is definitely possible to do - some users on here (I believe lzxnl was one?) have done it and said that having finished the course early was helpful and effective due to being able to begin seeing some exam style questions earlier.

The specialist curriculum is a lot smaller than the methods curriculum, so no need to worry about learning too much at once - in fact, in comparison to methods, you can take spec a bit slower, to ensure you really understand things. The difference with methods and spec is in methods you can get away with just smashing out practice exams - in spec, you need to have a bit more understanding, particularly for vectors and complex numbers. So, don't be in a rush to complete the theory just to do exam questions, make sure you really understand what you're going through.

[Brunette15]

I personally would recommend really trying to understand and grasp the first few topics in specialist rather than completing the whole course. This is good because at the end of the year when it's been a while since you've covered complex numbers and stuff you will probably find it easier to revise the topics and therefore do well on the exam.

Also overall try to just enjoy your break now while you can, specialist is a fun and challenging course but it will require lots of work throughout the year 

Good luck!

[brightsky]

It is definitely possible to finish the Spesh course over the summer holidays, although I don't think it is necessary for you to complete every question in the Essential textbook in order to achieve that. Maths is all about conceptual understanding. Hence, my recommendation would be to read every chapter in the textbook thoroughly and think about the concepts until you 'get' them. If you are having difficulties getting your head around a particular concept, ask someone or search online. Of course, you may find it useful to attempt a question here and there to consolidate your understanding, but I don't think it is necessary at this stage to go through every exercise, and here's why:

1. It takes way too much time. The summer break only lasts for 2 months. The time that you spend painstakingly going through every question in the textbook can be better spent studying for your other subjects.
2. Your teacher will set homework from the textbook during the year anyway. You don't want to proceed through the year thinking that you've already done the work, only to find at the end of the year that you've forgotten how to do most of the questions.
3. The questions in the textbook do not necessarily reflect the kinds of questions you will get at the end of the year. The Essential textbook does have some pretty good questions, but they are often not the same in nature and style to those which VCAA sets.

If you are looking to do well in Spesh next year, I think that your aim should be to, as quickly as possible, get to a stage where you can answer every single question on an actual VCAA paper without trouble. As I said, it is definitely not necessary to attempt every question in the textbook in order to get to that stage. Once you get that stage, my recommendation would be to start spamming practice exams immediately, as I feel that, especially for a subject like maths, more often than not, the study score that you get is proportional to the number of practice exams you complete, rather than the number of questions in the textbook you attempt.

[Special At Specialist]

I finished the Specialist Maths 3/4 course over the Summer holidays, so it's definitely possible. The important thing is that you continue to revise the things you have learnt before every SAC, and that you still do plenty of practice exams before your real exam. It's so easy to think that you know it all because you're so far ahead of the rest of the class... don't fall for that trap or it will really hurt your scores.

[DanielJ]

Every question is excessive, seeing as you'll do all/most during the year. I'd work on getting a moderate understanding on all topics so they're not entirely new to you when you learn them in class.

[nerdmmb]

How many chapters should be completed per week in order to finish unit 3?

It's just that I feel that finishing the whole course will get you ahead but speaking from personal experience, using all your energy over the holidays can lead to a burnout.

[cosine]

How many chapters should be completed per week in order to finish unit 3?

It's just that I feel that finishing the whole course will get you ahead but speaking from personal experience, using all your energy over the holidays can lead to a burnout.

Unit 3 has 6 chapters, so for a 2 month break (60 days) and roughly 10 exercises per chapter, 1 exercise a day would be enough to just complete unit 3. Thats what I am doing, maybe even 2 a day so I can finish early and work on other subjects, but my main focus right now is specialist.

[TiffanyF01]

Hey guys
Thank you so much for all the help and advice, I wasn't really expecting so many replies (bit new to atar notes) but its been so so helpful and motivating, thank you
But yep I'll try to keep in mind as much of that as possible and try to go through the curriculum by the time school starts (but at a sustainable pace so I don't burn out), so I can start papers early and also get a better understanding on all the topics. I don't do physics either so I think I'll probably have to spend a bit longer on the kinematics area of study to make sure I really understand but that's okay haha   

[alchemy]

Yes.