Specialist for Engineering

[Evolyn]

Hi all,

I am a year 10 student who is completing 1/2 General Mathematics and 1/2 Business Management as advanced placement subjects.

I plan to study automotive engineering after school which requires at least a 20 study score in either Specialist OR Methods and an estimated ATAR of about 75-83 to get into my ideal course.

I am getting 90-100% on my General SACs consistently but I hear that what you learn in methods and specialist don't intercept much with what I am currently doing.

I will be studying physics, chemistry, English, business management and methods next year, and either specialist or further.

I have reached a dilemma where I need to choose my subjects in the next few days/weeks and I am lost in whether I should finish 3/4 Further in year 11 and start 1/2 of methods and then only have 4 subjects in year 12 OR start Specialist and Methods 1/2 in year 11 and complete 5 subjects in year 12, which leads to my questions:

Will learning specialist maths at school benefit me in the long run when I start doing university mathematics?

Is learning specialist maths through Distance going to put me at a significant disadvantage?

Is the subject really as scary as lots of people talk about it as being?

Will getting an average score at specialist benefit my ATAR more than a good score in further?

I understand that the answers to these questions may vary.


Thank you

[The Cat In The Hat]

Will learning specialist maths at school benefit me in the long run when I start doing university mathematics?

My brother started Engineering last year, having done Specialist, and it sounded like some of it was the same, so I think so.

Is learning specialist maths through Distance going to put me at a significant disadvantage?

My brother did Specialist by Distance, and that did not go well for him; I think there was connectivity issues and stuff that did not help in the slightest. He was not a fan. However, I think it partially is affected by how self-directed your learning is - if you can do it without a teacher that's going to be not too bad, but if not, then there's probably an issue.
Again, this information is only kinda secondhand.

[Evolyn]

My brother started Engineering last year, having done Specialist, and it sounded like some of it was the same, so I think so.My brother did Specialist by Distance, and that did not go well for him; I think there was connectivity issues and stuff that did not help in the slightest. He was not a fan. However, I think it partially is affected by how self-directed your learning is - if you can do it without a teacher that's going to be not too bad, but if not, then there's probably an issue.
Again, this information is only kinda secondhand.

Thanks for the response. My year level has about 70 people in it and I only know 2 or 3 people thinking about Specialist so it looks like it will only be offered online.

[mathsTeacher82]

Specialist Maths would definitely help you a lot more for uni Engineering course than Further Maths would. It would also help you more with your Methods, as there is a large overlap in content between Spec and Methods.

As far as which would help your ATAR, a raw study score of 30 in Spec would be equivalent to roughly 43-44 in Further. Neither of these is easy to achieve!

If you are talking about doing Spec by Distance Ed, of course you have to also consider the pros and cons of  remote learning vs being in a physical classroom.
 

[schoolstudent115]

I can tell you now that specialist maths is extremely helpful for engineering. I'd assume that the first year mathematics for automotive engineering is similar if not the same as mechanical engineering. My cousin is doing mechanical engineering at university and he gave me the book for first year maths required for engineering.

A LOT of the content is covered (at least to a moderate extent) in specialists. E.g. Vectors (lots of it), complex numbers, more advanced calculus techniques, differential equations (first order in spec), kinematics, matrices (this is mostly in methods).

Here is a general outline for first year engineering maths:

• Functions and Limits (Methods would suffice for this)
  Differentiation (mostly in both Methods and Spec)
  Integration (more complex methods only covered in Spec)
  Vectors (only in Spec)
  Matrices (More in methods than spec imo)
  Complex Numbers (only in Spec)
  Differential Equations (only in Spec)
  Surfaces and Partial Differentiation
  Curves (polar curves, parametric, etc.)

You will find that at the very least the basics of these are covered well in specialists maths (except for the last 2 on the list).

[Evolyn]

Specialist Maths would definitely help you a lot more for uni Engineering course than Further Maths would. It would also help you more with your Methods, as there is a large overlap in content between Spec and Methods.

As far as which would help your ATAR, a raw study score of 30 in Spec would be equivalent to roughly 43-44 in Further. Neither of these is easy to achieve!

If you are talking about doing Spec by Distance Ed, of course you have to also consider the pros and cons of  remote learning vs being in a physical classroom.
 

I can tell you now that specialist maths is extremely helpful for engineering. I'd assume that the first year mathematics for automotive engineering is similar if not the same as mechanical engineering. My cousin is doing mechanical engineering at university and he gave me the book for first year maths required for engineering.

A LOT of the content is covered (at least to a moderate extent) in specialists. E.g. Vectors (lots of it), complex numbers, more advanced calculus techniques, differential equations (first order in spec), kinematics, matrices (this is mostly in methods).

Here is a general outline for first year engineering maths:

• Functions and Limits (Methods would suffice for this)
  Differentiation (mostly in both Methods and Spec)
  Integration (more complex methods only covered in Spec)
  Vectors (only in Spec)
  Matrices (More in methods than spec imo)
  Complex Numbers (only in Spec)
  Differential Equations (only in Spec)
  Surfaces and Partial Differentiation
  Curves (polar curves, parametric, etc.)

You will find that at the very least the basics of these are covered well in specialists maths (except for the last 2 on the list).

Thank you both, those responses have seriously helped me out. I have decided not to continue with Further, but to begin Specialist next year at another school which offers it in a classroom.