Mathematical Methods - The dilemma of a year 11 student

[Christiano]

Hey peeps, I just started school yesterday, and today i had my first double period of math methods .. expectations of the difficulty and pace of the subject were high, like I knew I would get like 2-3 exercises per lesson ..

But I had a lot of difficulty understanding almost all the language used by the teacher, the tediousness of the math, the shyness of asking questions that comes down to the fact that I'm surrounded by geniuses and the knowledge that it would only get harder. I'm not too analytical, and I'm a bit slow when it comes to complex methods in math.

So I'm considering dropping methods for further.

Now I'm a sciencey kind of guy, having interests in biology, chemistry and the general knowledge part of physics (Not doing the math lol). I'm looking to go for a course in the science based department .. mainly medicine or biology type stuff. But most prerequisites require you to take part in math methods, and usually to get over 25 on the SS as well. If I drop methods, many of those options go down the drain.

I did hear something about university courses dropping methods as a prerequisite. Can anyone confirm this?

I would like to know what people think, regarding their own experiences, did you learn how to train your brain to think of the questions as 'puzzles', is there other pathways to the courses I want, and would it be easier to get a higher raw score in further than a low score, scaled up in methods?

[appianway]

I don't think medicine has methods as a prerequisite, but if you're considering going into post grad (which is wise, seeing as it's very difficult to obtain an undergraduate place), you'll need to do a science or biomedicine degree which needs methods (to my knowledge).

I think that if you work a bit harder with the definitions of mathematical notation, you'll probably find it a lot easier. Try to make the maths relevant as well - ask yourself how it relates to real life scenarios.

[jimmy999]

In terms of the Uni's dropping Methods as a prerequisite, believe absolutely no rumours about that until the Uni's actually decide to drop it. If you want to get into a science degree, then definitiely do methods. There are some unis that don't require methods as a prereq, however a lot of science subjects, particularly chem and physics can be rich in maths so methods will help you out there.

If you're having trouble getting started in Methods, you have many bright maths minds on this site who will be willing to help you with any problems you find challenging and will explain concepts as best as they can. Also hiring a tutor will be useful if you want to continue with Methods and find it hard.

When it comes to scaling, Methods goes up about 6 whilst Further usually goes down about 3. Therefore a score of 25 in Methods is about the same as a 34 in Further

[EvangelionZeta]

You have a few options for making life easier:

1. Invest in a tutor.  If terminology is a problem, having someone explain it all to you should sort your problems.
2. Read ahead/work yourself ahead of the class.  This way you can more familiarity with concepts/terms which might have confused you otherwise.
3. ASK PEOPLE.  Jimmy's advice for using VCENotes as a resource is perfectly sound - we're all willing to give you a hand if you have problems.  =)

[QuantumJG]

Hey peeps, I just started school yesterday, and today i had my first double period of math methods .. expectations of the difficulty and pace of the subject were high, like I knew I would get like 2-3 exercises per lesson ..

But I had a lot of difficulty understanding almost all the language used by the teacher, the tediousness of the math, the shyness of asking questions that comes down to the fact that I'm surrounded by geniuses and the knowledge that it would only get harder. I'm not too analytical, and I'm a bit slow when it comes to complex methods in math.

So I'm considering dropping methods for further.

Now I'm a sciencey kind of guy, having interests in biology, chemistry and the general knowledge part of physics (Not doing the math lol). I'm looking to go for a course in the science based department .. mainly medicine or biology type stuff. But most prerequisites require you to take part in math methods, and usually to get over 25 on the SS as well. If I drop methods, many of those options go down the drain.

I did hear something about university courses dropping methods as a prerequisite. Can anyone confirm this?

I would like to know what people think, regarding their own experiences, did you learn how to train your brain to think of the questions as 'puzzles', is there other pathways to the courses I want, and would it be easier to get a higher raw score in further than a low score, scaled up in methods?

Don't throw in the towel just yet.

Don't worry about the 'geniuses', if you need help don't hesitate and your methods teacher will probably be happy that you are willing to put in some work. Also there are heaps of maths people here to help answer any question you have.

At the end of the day if you want to do medicine, keep doing methods so that door is open and you should be fine.

Btw: What are you doing in methods atm?

[Christiano]

Btw: What are you doing in methods atm?

I just started it, Linear Relations, using the tangent to find distance and sections of a line. Should give an idea of how I'm already struggling.

[QuantumJG]

Btw: What are you doing in methods atm?

I just started it, Linear Relations, using the tangent to find distance and sections of a line. Should give an idea of how I'm already struggling.

What part of linear relations are you struggling with?

[kyzoo]

Don't give up based on the first two days, yesterday I had my first Chinese lesson and I thought I was going to be bored out of my mind for the whole year, but today's lesson wasn't bad.

From my experience, Methods is the hardest at the start, I had the most trouble with chapter 1, then it got easier and easier as the year went by. It does not get harder, it gets easier.

Listen to EZ's and jimmy's advice, ask question on VN and to the teacher, just be sure to make it specific (i.e. give a specific question, don't just say you're having trouble).

[olly_s15]

I agree with the above post. The transition from year 10 maths to year 11 methods seems hard. However if you put in some work, going into year 12 methods wont seem as difficult. You basically cover the same maths in year 12 as you do in year 11 methods (except for probability).

There are plenty of resources available to you such as teachers and VCE notes where you can seek help.

So in my opinion, you should continue methods and if you REALLY hate it by the end of the year then consider switching to further.

[jimmy999]

The start of year 11 methods was difficult for me, and after semester 1 it got easier. The very start of year 12 methods though was incredibly easy. It's not till about halfway through year 12 methods that you learn new stuff that you didn't cover in 1/2 methods

[kyzoo]

Lol I skipped straight from Y10 Maths to 3/4 Methods so my experience is different from the norm, I had to learn all about functions and quadrilaterals quadratics from scratch. It was all new stuff to me ^^ Functions and graphs was the hardest to learn, probability was the easiest.

[anti]

My methods teacher (who writes some of the Essential maths textbooks) always maintained that methods 1/2 is one of the hardest VCE subjects.  Not too much is really introduced in 3/4, so you'll have plenty of time to adjust to the terminology and grasp the concepts.

I would recommend a tutor or this site too, because if you are having difficulty grasping the concepts then you should try and go over that as soon as possible (:

[m@tty]

I had to learn all about functions and quadrilaterals from scratch.

What?? Quadratics? :2funny:

It was all new stuff to me ^^ Functions and graphs was the hardest to learn, probability was the easiest.

I agree, Methods probability is really quite simple/predictable, the hardest parts for me were initially understanding functions and calculus(no real reason, now I find calculus one of the easier parts of methods). Also at first I 'hated' probability, I think this was due to the 'general' attitude towards probability, though when I opened my mind, it was easy.

1+2 was much harder for me, admittedly it was in year 10, though as stated above there is so much new stuff. This is what makes it hard, 3+4 was easier because of lower number of new topics.

[ninwa]

Maybe you just had holiday brain and need a few more days to get back into the rhythm of school?

[Cthulhu]

Maybe you just had holiday brain and need a few more days to get back into the rhythm of school?

This.
Give methods a chance; say a few weeks and if you decide its too tough for you and it is not a prerequisite for Medicine if thats what you want to do swap it for methods. However methods is a prerequisite for science courses at universities although Monash have a maths unit if you don't do so well in methods (C/C+ average in exams) that is the equivalent to methods(just like they have one that is the equivalent of specialist). I'd recommend just sticking with methods though because I struggled at the start of the year but it got better the more classes I had and I actually ended up beating some of the 'geniuses' in my class.