Should I do further?

[lorennnz]

Hello! I am in year 10 right now, and am completing units 1/2 of general.

First, for anyone doing an engineering degree, has further helped you at all?
Second, has further been useful for anything (in uni, real life, other degrees etc.)?
Third, is it a waste of time, basically?
Fourth, is Edrolo good?
Fifth, is it worth spending the holidays learning further when I could use it to prepare for other subjects?

These are the subjects I will definitely do:
-lit (1,2,3,4)
-meth (1,2,3,4)
-spesh (3,4)[1,2 if available]
-physics (3,4 only)
-chem (1,2,3,4)
-bio (1,2,3,4)

I also want to do enviro if they run a class (subject to numbers) and am thinking about psychology. I am not doing these subjects for 'scaling' or my atar, I am doing them because I am genuinely interested in them. I want to become a sustainable energy engineer and develop new technologies for renewable energy.

My teacher has tried to convince me to stay with it because it will help me with my ATAR (which is not a huge contributing factor to my decision) but she said I could do the coursework over the christmas holidays through Edrolo and just do the exams at the end of next year.

That is something I am considering because I'm pretty sure I'll get a 50 in further, without taking up periods at school.

Tell me it's no use in uni, for my degree and real life and I probably won't do it.

[EEEEEEP]

1. For an engineering degree, maths definitely helps a lot. They go really fast in uni and sometimes assume that you have that knowledge.

2. Yes science degrees, math degrees and actuarial (Which do involve a fair amount of maths)...

3. No, it's not a waste at all to have a better education.

4. I personally haven't used it, but I'd say that it depends on what type of learner you are and how you learn. Online learning never helped me much but it may help you??

5. Prepare for other subjects too, do not neglect other subjects just for maths (they all count)

(P.S. That's a pretty big claim there that you are making and it sounds a little over confident..... That's gonna bite you in the ass sometime down the track... )

[Aaron]

If you're considering Engineering as a course, Methods/Specialist will be more beneficial than Further.

In terms of real life application of Further, the finance and recursion section of Further (part of core) is useful for interest and depreciation calculations (although nowadays there's apps for anything..). I've had to call on the networks module of Further for discrete maths in uni (but this was probably the only one, lol).

It's great that you're choosing subjects not for scaling purposes - this is common among students, and can pay off (but in a lot of cases, it doesn't). The subjects that scale up do so for a reason (difficulty is higher than other subjects).

The problem with Further is the competition across the state. It is extremely difficult to achieve a 50 in Further - as a few mistakes in the exam can be the difference between a 45 and 50.

The main thing I would like you to understand is this - target pre-requisites for potential university courses. In the case of engineering, i'd assume that most (if not all) engineering courses would require maths methods 3/4 (so you've got that, nice). Specific unis may require additional subjects. In the end, it doesn't matter what ATAR you get - if you don't have the subject prerequisites, you won't get an offer (regardless of how high it is).

I'll let others add on/share different thoughts as well. Hope I helped a bit.

[lorennnz]

Thank you to both of you!

First of all, I think it is very important to set yourself a standard not just of what you ARE achieving now, but what you CAN achieve through a whole lot of effort and dedication.

Ultimately, my goal is not to get a 50, but to do as best I can in studying for and completing the exams. And I believe that my study score will be representative of whatever effort and time I put in, so if it happens to be 45 or 50, then I'll know exactly why.

Thank you for letting me know about the competitiveness of Further, if I do end up doing it then I'll be sure to give proper attention to the little things.

Now I know that there is definitely SOME use for it.

But then the one thing I'm worried about: do I have a genuine interest in further, like my other subjects, or would I be doing this subject simply as a back up if I don't do well (which is exactly what I said I am not doing my other subjects for)?

I want to do an engineering degree. It uses higher level maths (higher than further). If I can't do well in methods and spesh and need to do further to boost my atar, how do I expect to do well in engineering, in uni and anything else I do? I need to have confidence in myself that whatever study score, atar or exam mark I get will be indicative of my dedication.

Maybe it's worth noting that I did the semester 1 coursework for year 10 chemistry in just over a week these holidays?

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I just answered my own question, but I dont wanna delete cause ive typed too much already

Feel free to keep commenting (if people are willing to and anything will help me heaps!

Thanks to both of you!

[lorennnz]

prerequisites -
- methods
-(one of) physics, chem, biology, spesh

I am doing all of those (5 3/4s) + literature.

This is at Adelaide uni (I'm from victoria) and they don't have an English prerequisite but I'm still doing an english in case I don't end up at Adelaide.

That's 6 subjects. I am keen on environmental science (they probably won't run it) so that could be 7. Further would be 7th or 8th.

Maybe I'll just have to see if I like Further by the end of this year. The best parts about further for me is when I use algebra to find values in recurrence rules (sound like meth and spesh?).

Thank you so so much!