Is it true that MHS doesn't allow year 11s to do methods 3/4?

[Streaker]

Yep thats true, im in yr 12 there, the only 3/4's you can do are accounting, psych, biology, accounting, music performance (i think) and maybe one or two others.

The reason is that they think that for the harder subjects, like methods 3/4, unit 1+2 does help a lot. For instance calculus is introduced in 1+2, and without that introduction, 3/4 calculus can be difficult to grasp. Same with probability etc.

Don't immediately say 'thats bullshit', try looking at it logically, and the above makes it an understandable decision. And no there is no way they would let you, Although recently they have been taking feedback on general running of the school, and this topic they say came up a lot, and they are reviewing their policies.

morris mate, there's plenty more 3/4's that can be done in year 11 (you forgot BM, eco, health, PE and loads more)...the only ones you CAN'T do in year 11 are methods, spesh, english (normal + lit), further, physics and chemistry.

Can you do any humanities? Geography you can, what about politics, history etc.? What about others like media, viscomm...? I'm pretty sure there's loads more that you cant do than what you can do in year 11.

yeah i forgot about those. of course you can do humanities and arts in year 11. as i said, you can do anything except methods, spesh, english (normal + lit), further, physics and chemistry.

[taiga]

No matter how good you are, or think you are at mathematics there is no way that you will be able to do 3/4 Methods in year 11 at MHS.

There isn't sufficient capacity for MHS to have 1/2 Methods in year 10, hence 3/4 can't be done in year 11, as simple as that.

[azn_dj]

There are ways around it though...........

You can be an MHS student, and you can do unit 3+4 Methods in Year 11
However, you can't do it at MHS.
If you are *really* desperate, and I mean *really*.... try look at distance or TAFE and do it there, just to get it out of the way.
Your contact hours would be similar to a language, and yes, you probably will lose your Wednesday afternoons off. It depends how much more worth it you think it will be.
Technically, there is nothing in Melbourne High's power to stop you, because it is your own choice.

But really, what is your motives behind doing Methods a year earlier?
To not tie up spesh with methods? Yes, ok, I can give you that.
To spend more time so you can get 50? I disagree - you'll neglect your other subjects AND you'll be too inexperienced to get a 50.
To avoid the MHS style SACS? Yeah definitely go for it!
Balancing subjects - yeah I would agree with you for that.

But the issue is that MHS may force you to take up 7 subjects overall for VCE to compensate...

[Hutchoo]

I wish my school offered biology 1+2 instead of psych, it scales higher?

[ninwa]

If you are *really* desperate, and I mean *really*.... try look at distance or TAFE and do it there, just to get it out of the way.
Your contact hours would be similar to a language, and yes, you probably will lose your Wednesday afternoons off. It depends how much more worth it you think it will be.
Technically, there is nothing in Melbourne High's power to stop you, because it is your own choice.

Is that really possible? I thought distance education only offered the languages and the more obscure subjects that a lot of schools wouldn't offer.

But really, what is your motives behind doing Methods a year earlier?
To not tie up spesh with methods? Yes, ok, I can give you that.
To spend more time so you can get 50? I disagree - you'll neglect your other subjects AND you'll be too inexperienced to get a 50.
To avoid the MHS style SACS? Yeah definitely go for it!
Balancing subjects - yeah I would agree with you for that.

But the issue is that MHS may force you to take up 7 subjects overall for VCE to compensate...

Motives - I have asian parents and they would love to have a 99.90+ in my brother to brag about because my ENTER wasn't enough (I'm only joking... mmm maybe half joking... perhaps)

Also, he's brilliant at maths. Picks up new concepts in about 5 minutes. I (and enwiabe, who is his tutor) think he's perfectly capable of doing methods in year 11 - if I can do it he certainly could. I disagree that a year 11 cannot get a 50. I know year 10s who have gotten 45s for methods.

Lol @ MHS style SACs, I didn't even think of that

What do you mean taken up 7 subjects overall? As in another two 3/4s in yr 11 and 5 in year 12? So that he'd have to do three 3/4s in year 11? Would they really force him to do that o.O

[AzureBlue]

I wish my school offered biology 1+2 instead of psych, it scales higher?

Yes, but not by much: biology tends to be +1, psych tends to stay the same or -1.

[iNerd]

I wish my school offered biology 1+2 instead of psych, it scales higher?

Yes, but not by much: biology tends to be +1, psych tends to stay the same or -1.

pysch is -1 as soon as you get under 40

[Hutchoo]

I wish my school offered biology 1+2 instead of psych, it scales higher?

Yes, but not by much: biology tends to be +1, psych tends to stay the same or -1.

pysch is -1 as soon as you get under 40

Does that mean if you get 43 RAW you'll get it scaled to a 44? (Usually)

[AzureBlue]

I wish my school offered biology 1+2 instead of psych, it scales higher?

Yes, but not by much: biology tends to be +1, psych tends to stay the same or -1.

pysch is -1 as soon as you get under 40

Does that mean if you get 43 RAW you'll get it scaled to a 44? (Usually)

According to the 2008 Scaling Report (http://www.girton.vic.edu.au/userdocs/documents/handbook2010/Scaling%20of%20Subjects%202008.pdf) Biology 43 = about 44.
For psych I think it'd stay 43 or be around 42.6... not sure how this scaling thing works... is it a bell curve as people commonly say?

[iffets12345]

Also, he's brilliant at maths. Picks up new concepts in about 5 minutes. I (and enwiabe, who is his tutor) think he's perfectly capable of doing methods in year 11 - if I can do it he certainly could. I disagree that a year 11 cannot get a 50. I know year 10s who have gotten 45s for methods.

I know a year 11 who got a 50 for methods. It is definately possible. In fact, most of the 50s I have heard of come from year 11s.

However: As told by my tutor and other teachers, there is actually an insidious risk in doing methods in year 11 that I didn't realise. Although a good maths student may ace it, it is better to "save" it for year 12, where you are more experienced and can actually do well at. Although I said there was one person who got 50, the rest of the methods year 11s that I know got scores that I know are below their true potential. So, my tutor said it was better to do things like bio or psych for experience and then really ace methods alongside specailist (which makes methods look easy in perspective) as many students who did this got 45-48.

I did methods in year 11 and I am content with what I have, but, my Specialist teacher said if I redid it I could have gotten 3 marks more in my SS. I don't believe it, but that's probably why MHS doesn't let you, tactical stroke for VCE.

[EvangelionZeta]

As a "tactical" decision I guess it makes sense for the reasons iffets said.  Methods is almost a joke when you do it alongside Spesh, since everything other than probability in Methods is covered in Spesh to a greater depth.  As an anecdote, a friend of mine did Methods in year 11, screwed up (in his opinion, anyway), re-did it in year 12 alongside Spesh and actually commented that Spesh made it a LOT easier, and ended up with a study score 5 points higher.

Results-wise, MHS is also far and away the best at Methods in the state, if that gives any weight to their rationale.

[shinny]

Yeh, I think Methods isn't worth accelerating. Sure, you might be able to do well in year 11, but I'm fairly sure you can only do better in year 12 alongside Spesh without taking too much extra time. If you're going for the whole time-saving argument, methods doesn't take much time in year 12 at all as it complements spesh. If your brother is as good as you say he is, he probably won't need to study for the methods SACs or do much of the homework because as others have said, it will all be covered in spesh minus probability and a couple of other things that can very quickly be covered in revision. I personally didn't do many methods exercises at all and didn't really need to spend time revising for SACs because yeh, spesh covers all of it really. I didn't even do any Methods practise exams (keep in mind though that I did a hell of a lot of spesh ones so it's not like I walked into the exam without preparation). As for the 'MHS style SACs', there's nothing wrong with them. Particularly not in Methods at least (the spesh ones can be a bit bitchy at times, but they're always fair). Also, being weighted against the MHS methods cohort rather than a distance ed one for SACs is a nice backup.

But as for the being forced to do an extra subject thing, I don't think you are. Those who did external Chinese at MHS were allowed to only do 4 subjects in year 12 and got a crap load of free periods. It's really up to him whether he'll use them productively, and it's quite hard given that peer pressure often means you can't just go sit at the individual study desks, and end up at a table with all your friends and inevitably get nothing done.

[iffets12345]

Yes, I only have four subjects and it's actually detrimental to my work ethic.

[Ilovemathsmeth]

I've always wondered about this too. Mac.Rob accelerates Maths Methods, why not MHS? :S

I think it would be a significant advantage to finish Methods in year 11. I'm not sure how everyone else feels but I did think Methods was a lot of work. That much work in year 12 is probably not achievable alongside 4 or 5 other subjects. It would probably be a good subject to get out of the way in year 11 when you can concentrate on it a bit more I guess.

I've done Calculus 1 (the Uni version of Specialist Maths) and it seems that if anything, Methods helps with Specialist Maths. That's how I felt...

[EvangelionZeta]

I've always wondered about this too. Mac.Rob accelerates Maths Methods, why not MHS? :S

I think it would be a significant advantage to finish Methods in year 11. I'm not sure how everyone else feels but I did think Methods was a lot of work. That much work in year 12 is probably not achievable alongside 4 or 5 other subjects. It would probably be a good subject to get out of the way in year 11 when you can concentrate on it a bit more I guess.

I've done Calculus 1 (the Uni version of Specialist Maths) and it seems that if anything, Methods helps with Specialist Maths. That's how I felt...

Again, the reverse works as well.  Doing Specialist and Methods at the same time means you have to do virtually no Methods work, and Methods becomes more like doing year 10 maths whilst you're doing Methods in year 11 or something.