Spesh or Further?

[darkphoenix]

Im in year 11 now, and deciding whether to do spesh or futher.

Im doing GMA this year which leads onto spesh, im doing ok i guess, but im not so sure that i should continue with it, because it will require a lot of work and commitment, plus the other subjects im doing also require alot of work (english, methods, chem, chinese). So i may not be able to cope with all that. I might have to work extremely hard to get mid 30 study score.

Then theres further, which will require alot less work, and so if i do it, i can concentrate more on other subjects, and for further, i could probably get in the 40s no problem, although sometimes i tend to make stupid mistakes. Thats why im really unsure.

So yeah anyone who is doing or has done these subjects, can you guys offer me any advice? I really dont know what to do

[methodsboy]

go further fo sho! i know so many ppl who regret choosing spesh.

[zzdfa]

in the 40s no problem, although sometimes i tend to make stupid mistakes.

thats what everyone thinks
then they end up with 33 raw in further
when you could get 30 in spesh  -> 42

[NE2000]

Im in year 11 now, and deciding whether to do spesh or futher.

Im doing GMA this year which leads onto spesh, im doing ok i guess, but im not so sure that i should continue with it, because it will require a lot of work and commitment, plus the other subjects im doing also require alot of work (english, methods, chem, chinese). So i may not be able to cope with all that. I might have to work extremely hard to get mid 30 study score.

Then theres further, which will require alot less work, and so if i do it, i can concentrate more on other subjects, and for further, i could probably get in the 40s no problem, although sometimes i tend to make stupid mistakes. Thats why im really unsure.

So yeah anyone who is doing or has done these subjects, can you guys offer me any advice? I really dont know what to do

Depends how good you are at maths. How do you predict you will do at Methods? Spesh is a bit overhyped I feel in that it isn't that difficult if you understand the concepts, but you also need a solid mathematical foundation set, so it depends a lot on how good you are at maths and importantly how much you enjoy maths. Methodsboy is correct in that some people regret doing spesh, but others don't and it depends on the person.

[d0minicz]

how much does spesh scale? eg: 33,35,37 etc ?

[polky]

If you do spesh, it will help alot with Methods because you cover some of the same stuff (eg. differentiation), and in spesh you do differentiation in more depth than methods, so obviously you will do better at methods!  So the knowledge that you gain from spesh can help you in both spesh and methods!

Spesh is also a great challenge, I reckon.  Gives you a great sense of satisfaction!

how much does spesh scale? eg: 33,35,37 etc ?

Spesh scales by heaps, >5.  Look at previous year's scaling reports for how much it scales.

[m@tty]

2008 scaling from scaling report www.vtac.edu.au/pdf/scaling_report.pdf

raw    20 25 30 35 40 45 50
scaled 26 33 39 44 48 51 53

[NE2000]

2008 scaling from scaling report www.vtac.edu.au/pdf/scaling_report.pdf

raw    20 25 30 35 40 45 50
scaled 26 33 39 44 48 51 53

And that's the lowest in years as far as scaling is concerned. 2006 it went 50 --> 55, 40 --> 50+ I think.

[hyperblade01]

Both subjects have their ups and downs...

I remember people at the start of the year saying how further is 'soooo easy' because they were working on linear graphs. Right now though, those same people are on facebook and msn bitching in their status about having to study for 'this harddd' further sac.

I don't do further, so I don't know anything exact, but just like any other subject there's gonna be easy parts and hard parts. Also you mentioned things like silly mistakes - in methods they can cost you dearly when aiming high so imagine further where little mistakes are even more significant. Spesh allows more room for error?

Some people in my school that did GMA last year and dropped spesh regret it, some don't.

If you can sit in methods and go through the work without much effort, then you could probably do spesh without dedicating TOO much time to it. If your school's good, then parts of trig, complex numbers, vectors and dynamics will be revision for you anyways (My school covered this stuff in year 11).



I'm probably a bit bias here

[darkphoenix]

Yeah, i think i am alright, im finding methods 1/2 pretty straight forward. Yeah im doing gma this year and this semester they are doing all the topics that are gonna be in spesh next year.

Also do you think next year's scaling for spesh will be lower?

Yeah i also heard that spesh will help in methods cause some topics are similar so methods will seem easy once you've done it already in spesh.

Another issue is that i can probably handle spesh if i work hard on it, but then it may effect my other subjects, so it may be wiser to do further and concentrate more on my other subjects that will most likely be in my top 4 (english, methods, chem, chinese)?

[Flaming_Arrow]

Yeah, i think i am alright, im finding methods 1/2 pretty straight forward. Yeah im doing gma this year and this semester they are doing all the topics that are gonna be in spesh next year.

Also do you think next year's scaling for spesh will be lower?

Yeah i also heard that spesh will help in methods cause some topics are similar so methods will seem easy once you've done it already in spesh.

Another issue is that i can probably handle spesh if i work hard on it, but then it may effect my other subjects, so it may be wiser to do further and concentrate more on my other subjects that will most likely be in my top 4 (english, methods, chem, chinese)?

basiclly the whole methods course is covered in spesh apart from probability

[hyperblade01]

Also do you think next year's scaling for spesh will be lower?
Don't think there's any way on predicting that :S



Yeah i also heard that spesh will help in methods cause some topics are similar so methods will seem easy once you've done it already in spesh.
First part of the year, the topics were already covered in year 11 methods i think. When it came to trig and calculus, I reckon if my methods teacher had of left leaving our class uncovered I would have been able to cover the topics by myself without any trouble. There are some things that methods does that spesh doesn't do though, but they aren't hard concepts to pick up.



Another issue is that i can probably handle spesh if i work hard on it, but then it may effect my other subjects, so it may be wiser to do further and concentrate more on my other subjects that will most likely be in my top 4 (english, methods, chem, chinese)?
If you know any year 12s doing spesh+methods and further+methods go talk to them about it. Right now it's course selection time in my school and all these year 11 GMA people are asking us year 12s on what they should do

[jimmy999]

Another thing you should really consider is the Uni courses you may want to do.

If you are considering any science/engineering courses, then do Specialist Maths because that is covered in First year Uni. Therefore if you do spesh, you'll get ahead of everyone else. Plus it will help a lot

[Over9000]

Everyone at my skool that does spesh loves it, even the underachievers seem to love it which is quite surprising, I think if you feel quite confident about your maths skills then definitely, even if you dont you could still give it a go and improve. I got told many stories when I was in year 11 about spesh, stuff like its so hard and you cant do it unless your really good at maths and that it takes up so much time of your home study, I almost considered not doing it. But to be honest, I didnt find it extremely hard and no where near as hard as it was made out to be (and dont get me wrong, its not like im a freak at maths, I just think spesh is straight forward as long as you do questions set for it and have fun doing it, it should come natural).

[TrueTears]

If you don't enjoy maths, then don't pick it. If you enjoy maths then pick it, simple as that.