.

[boysenberry]

I'm going to do 2 hours starting in 5 minutes, and then 2 hours after a 10-30 min break!
I'll get alot done if I do this every day .

lol, sounds like a workout schedule. Good luck with that.

[kyzoo]

I eschew the notion of tutors; my parents really wanted me to go to Jack's so I went for maybe half the year. I didn't take any notes in class, and other than socializing I found it dull. Also, those 4 hours it takes to go to Jack's, take his lesson, and get back home...I can derive so much more benefit from those 4 hours on my own.

Essentially I gained very little from tuition, and 99% (there was this one trick to do with translations that I learned from Jack in the first lesson and proved to be useful throughout the entire year) of my understanding of Methods was developed by myself.

Also, I don't understand where this notion of "You need a tutor to achieve extremely well" comes from. IMO a tutor would hinder my ability to do well due to the time spent on tutoring that I could make better use of by doing my own work.

ilmm: 3-6 HOURS A NIGHT?? AND 8 HOURS ON WEEKENDS?? Wow I can get hardcore sometimes but there's no way I could study for that long and work at a productive rate for the entire time.

[*ryan777*]

I eschew the notion of tutors; my parents really wanted me to go to Jack's so I went for maybe half the year. I didn't take any notes in class, and other than socializing I found it dull. Also, those 4 hours it takes to go to Jack's, take his lesson, and get back home...I can derive so much more benefit from those 4 hours on my own.

Essentially I gained very little from tuition, and 99% (there was this one trick to do with translations that I learned from Jack in the first lesson and proved to be useful throughout the entire year) of my understanding of Methods was developed by myself.

Also, I don't understand where this notion of "You need a tutor to achieve extremely well" comes from. IMO a tutor would hinder my ability to do well due to the time spent on tutoring that I could make better use of by doing my own work.

ilmm: 3-6 HOURS A NIGHT?? AND 8 HOURS ON WEEKENDS?? Wow I can get hardcore sometimes but there's no way I could study for that long and work at a productive rate for the entire time.

i actually did better in the subjects which i didnt have a tutor for

tutoring can work tho, but its essential that you find the tutor that is right for you, otherwise you will waste valuable time and money learning in an ineffective way

[ninwa]

I don't think you need a tutor to do well either. I didn't get one because of financial issues but also because I have a really weird learning/memorising style and having a tutor would've just confused me more. I think you really need to consider your own learning preferences and whether a tutor would actually faciliate your understanding or would rather open so many different pathways of understanding that you get confused over which one to choose.

I really admire I<3MM's self-discipline but for those feeling overwhelmed, I don't it is necessary to get a high ENTER. You don't need to dedicate your entire night to VCE - it's good to have other activities too. I rarely spent more than 2 hours a night studying because I had to budget in time for music stuff and I did fine.

(disclaimer: she did get a higher ENTER than me, so please feel free to ignore me... )

[Ilovemathsmeth]

vexx - Chem I read the chapters more than twice, and did heaps of trial questions like Checkpoints, Neap, etc. My teacher was really disappointed with what I got (which annoyed me, aren't teachers supposed to be a bit subtle about these things?) as she said she was expecting me to get 46+.

Kyzoo - nah definitely not at a stretch. The intense hardcore stuff happened before SACs. I guess I was just pretty slow with my work too - read slowly to understand better etc etc. Plus I did take plenty of "breaks", often spent listening to ipod

ninwa - your methods of studying sound ideal. I'd have preferred to have done that each night instead of completely having no life and burning out like I did near the end of the year

[mickallotropy]

I've never had a tutor.

My summer holiday before Year 12 was actually a Winter continuation of school, as I spent it on exchange in Japan. One would think this would entail study, but I spent a large amount of that time sleeping in class trying to teach English. I finished some of my holiday homework in the three days between arriving home and going back to school. I read two of the four texts we were studying whilst over there, though had already read 1984, but that meant I didn't touch Secret River until we got to it in the year. I also did Physics questions in class, as well as attempting (laughably) their Maths homework.

In terms of finishing courses, that concept didn't really exist for me. In fact, that's not quite true, as my Methods class was our accelerated maths class since year 9, and it is tailored to effectively do 3/4 Methods in Year 11 (as 1/2), so had more or less finished that course save normal distributions.

In terms of weekly schedules, I had a decided lack of them, not necessarily intentionally. I would usually have sport after school on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Uni Maths Tuesdays, so already was getting home late which didn't put me in an excellent mood for study. Many nights I would bring no books home, and even if I did I mightn't touch them. Coming up to SACs I tended to get serious, from at least the weekend before doing as much revision material as possible.

After I'm not sure how long, I decided it was finally the year to do the exercises set in maths (well Spesh at least) and did every question in the book as we went through it, which wasted a satisfying amount of pages.

In the period leading up to exams, I arguably got serious, though not until after trial exams, but many other things were going on for me. I wrote probably 9 or so English essays in a couple of days about a week out, and did at least 15-20 trials for calc and non-calc Methods and Spesh. Physics was next which I did slightly less but still a few trials for, and then was almost burnt-out but not quite for Japanese. I then dusted off the Uni Maths books (quite literally as I hadn't touched them for a good two months) and went at that hard to round out the year).

Not at all sure what to draw from this, but just anything is possible with a bit of luck, and enjoy the year.
My best motivational tip is to get a whiteboard, and write things on it. Satisfying when they can be rubbed out.

[kyzoo]

^ How much time did you have to spend on Uni Maths?

[mickallotropy]

Over the year I spent almost no time on it, with the logic that it is at best a 5th subject. I did assignments the weekend before they were due and that was it.

For the exam(s), I has Jap on the Monday and the first exam on Friday, so I had three days to prepare, but in that time I also had to write my speech for our Valedictory dinner that Friday night. So I'd say two full days for that exam, and then another two for the second exam (ie the weekend).

[kyzoo]

But Uni Maths looks a lot harder than Spesh =/

[Ilovemathsmeth]

My school wouldn't let me do it, "you need to have done Spesh or be doing it in the year". Apparently all the calculus stuff is an extension of Specialist.

[brightsky]

Yeah, I think the prereq for Uni Maths is that you had to have done both Maths Methods and Speciaist Maths in the one year. There's something in the rule book for people who did Methods in Year 11, but I forgot...

[appianway]

Don't you just have to undertake both? I don't know many people who've completed Specialist and Methods by year 11 (I know a few, but most of them have been to IMO or are in schools with intensive gifted programs), so the majority of people would be in your situation.

[brightsky]

Nah, I meant like undertaking both Spesh and Methods in year 12. I read it somewhere, prob an unreliable source though. :p

[appianway]

I'm pretty sure you can do them one year apart. Most people who apply do!

[brightsky]

Proof for unreliability of my faltering memory...:p

Quote: http://www.futurestudents.unimelb.edu.au/school/aust/umep/subjects10

"Mathematics: Extension Program Mathematics for High Achieving Students
VCE requirements:
Completion of Mathematical Methods 3/4 in Year 11 and enrolment in Specialist Mathematics 3/4 in Year 12; or
concurrent enrolment in Mathematical Methods 3/4 and Specialist Mathematics 3/4 after completion of Mathematical Methods 1/2 and General Mathematics* (Specialist Mathematics orientation) 1/2.

* Applicants with a B+ average in General Mathematics will be considered. Other prerequisite subjects require A/A+ average."