Specialist Or Further??

[madoscar65]

Hello people, I am new to this website
Just wondering whether I should do specialist or further. I am currently in year 11 doing methods 1/2 with an average of 96%. Lots of people are saying that specialist is a very hard subject that could possibly kill you and some people are saying that the others are over hyped about specialist. There's disadvantage for both further and specialist. Further has lots of competitives and making one mistake could scale down my score.. Specialist is a very hard subject and I'm not sure if I will be able to cope with the level of difficulty. Also, since there wasn't enough students to do Advanced General Maths.. it didn't run.. so therefore I did not do Advanced General Maths. However I am willing to study the things that are in the Advance General Maths book that would lead onto specialist. Could anyone give me some advice? It would be nice

Thanks

[Hutchoo]

Welcome

Although I do not do specialist, the whole 'SPEC IS MEGA HARD MANG D0NT DO ITZ' is sorta BS. As TrueTear's said, "Spec maths isn't harder than methods, its just a different type of math".
You have a very good average, maybe have a go at specialist work by yourself and see how you find it.

[vexx]

Specialist.
I would prefer now to be doing specialist than further.... Maybe not but i would if i was going to put in work for an extra subject. Further is so effing boring!! And your average is very high for methods which will help you with spesh definitely!
Unlike further, where even if you are brilliant at maths you cannot just expect to do well as its stupid non-maths type maths that is about minimising small errors of overly simple non-math type things! Go SPESH, and do amazing as it marks up really well too.

[brightsky]

Have a scan through past Spesh exams to get a better idea. http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/mathematics/specialist/exams.html

It's really all depending on your interests. If you genuinely like Spesh, it can be a very advantageous subject to take up because of its scaling. But if you don't find it all that appealing, chances are you will lose motivation during the year. But seeing as you have such a high average for Methods, I'm sure you'll like Spesh.


I don't think the stuff in Further would be of much interest to a "mathsy" type person.

[Hutchoo]

^ +1  Further is .. pretty easy if I do say so myself (not being cocky or anything, its truly a sludge)  I'm very bias when I say that Spec maths = Best

[madoscar65]

I wanted to do specialist since year 9 and I know it sounds weird.. I've got alot of interest in specialist because I get to learn things that can be applied to our world and a whole lot of new things that are not covered in methods. Another reason why I want to do specialist is because it's challenging but the only thing I am really scared of is "will I be able to do it" because I do not want to ruin my ENTER score with my bad decision.

[vexx]

^ +1  Further is .. pretty easy if I do say so myself (not being cocky or anything, its truly a sludge)  I'm very bias when I say that Spec maths = Best

Haha not cocky it's fine, in grade 10-11 i was all i would NEVER do further it's the biggest embarrassment since it's retard maths. And now i'm doing it because of that... But it's not even maths&so easy, someone in grade 9 could potentially get 50 and it wouldn't be that surprising, i wish i had done it as a 3/4 in grade 10.

[m@tty]

Spesh is good. I wouldn't say it's very hard. Certainly I wouldn't classify it as such.

You're methods average is quite good, so you are obviously a capable math student.

I would suggest you take specialist. If only for the interest level of the course(unless you really enjoy endless waves of statistics and data..)...

About score;

           raw -> scaled | raw -> scaled
Spesh   35  ->   43     | 40  ->   47
Further  45  ->   44    | 48   -> 47.6

(2009 scaling)

Clearly from this it is much safer in terms of score to choose spesh. Mid-high 40s are very hard to get, even if you know all of the material. Little mistakes count for a LOT in VCE maths, especially Further. While mid-high 30s are much more safely counted on.

[Hutchoo]

Yeah, Don't do specialist because it gets scaled or something.. Do subjects that you're actually good at.. loads of people fail bad like that..
When I was in year 9 all I thought about was DotA and boobs man >.> Screw maths xD. Anyone can do anything, they just have to be committed.

P.S Not everything is about ATAR.

Spesh is good. I wouldn't say it's very hard. Certainly I wouldn't classify it as such.

You're methods average is quite good, so you are obviously a capable math student.

I would suggest you take specialist. If only for the interest level of the course(unless you really enjoy endless waves of statistics and data..)...

About score;

           raw -> scaled | raw -> scaled
Spesh   35  ->   43     | 40  ->   47
Further  45  ->   44    | 48   -> 47.6

(2009 scaling)

Clearly from this it is much safer in terms of score to choose spesh. Mid-high 40s are very hard to get, even if you know all of the material. Little mistakes count for a LOT in VCE maths, especially Further. While mid-high 30s are much more safely counted on.

Hit the nail on the head there, M@tty.

^ +1  Further is .. pretty easy if I do say so myself (not being cocky or anything, its truly a sludge)  I'm very bias when I say that Spec maths = Best

Haha not cocky it's fine, in grade 10-11 i was all i would NEVER do further it's the biggest embarrassment since it's retard maths. And now i'm doing it because of that... But it's not even maths&so easy, someone in grade 9 could potentially get 50 and it wouldn't be that surprising, i wish i had done it as a 3/4 in grade 10.

ROFL RETARD MATHS.

[madoscar65]

I don't do specialist because of scaling, I just want to do it because it's challenging and its one of my interest

[m@tty]

If you actually enjoy challenging maths, then there is no question: you would have to be crazy to choose Further over Specialist.

Spesh FTW.

[wildareal]

If you like Maths do Specialist. If you enjoy doing repetitive, tedious and mind-numbing drawings and stuff that is not really related to Pure Maths, do Further.

[madoscar65]

Also one more thing, I will be doing English, Chemistry, Physics, Methods and Specialist/Further. If i do specialist, will i be able to have time to study my other subjects, considering they are also hard subjects (not really hard)

[Hutchoo]

Recently at my school, we had a thing called 'course selection/information night' which I'm 99% sure all schools have... Anyway, there was a VTAC book  that showed what to do and what not to do.

For example, there was a girl named Jade or something, she did the 'Asian 5' and got something horrible like a 2 in specialist..
Be realistic with what you choose for VCE/anything in life.

As we can all see, the OP has the skills to develop into a 'higher' leveled mathematics.. Go for it, you have the skills pal!~

Chemistry has a big work load, methods not so much, remember English is worth like 1231381238% of your ATAR.

[98.40_for_sure]

SPESH = FUN
if you're gifted in maths, you don't need to study a day the whole year... nice synergy between spesh and methods too
further is too risky, one mark lost = bye bye 50