Achieving High in Methods

[TrueTears]

Well if its not THAT much different from year 11, i know most of the fundamentals from year 11 methods. So i guess it shouldn't be to bad?

yeah i mean if your basic skills are great then go for it, however some things which you think are "fundamentals" are a cause of an incomplete high school education. An example, most of you probably have been taught 'when you have a definite integral, integrate it, sub in the the respective terminals, then subtract from each other'. Things like that could hinder the self learning of advanced concepts, because what you have been taught is not a fundamental idea, it is a consequence of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, understanding that is truly understanding the fundamentals. However, for methods (not for spesh), you should be okay knowing the 'fake' basic skills you've been taught in methods 1/2 (unless you have a gun methods teacher who's so passionate that he/she teaches you other stuff haha).

[Andiio]

Well if its not THAT much different from year 11, i know most of the fundamentals from year 11 methods. So i guess it shouldn't be to bad?

yeah i mean if your basic skills are great then go for it, however some things which you think are "fundamentals" are a cause of an incomplete high school education. An example, most of you probably have been taught 'when you have a definite integral, integrate it, sub in the the respective terminals, then subtract from each other'. Things like that could hinder the self learning of advanced concepts, because what you have been taught is not a fundamental idea, it is a consequence of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, understanding that is truly understanding the fundamentals. However, for methods (not for spesh), you should be okay knowing the 'fake' basic skills you've been taught in methods 1/2 (unless you have a gun methods teacher who's so passionate that he/she teaches you other stuff haha).

Or unless you have received TT's wonderful influence

[TrueTears]

What book would you reccomend i get then?
I can source these from elsewhere.

What materials do you reccomend i get in general? For e.g is there like a methods dictionary that has a summary and examples of everything i need to know?

Well firstly, I hope you are a passionate maths student because reading external material will take up alot of time than reading a VCE textbook, but the good thing is that you will understand so much more than if you just read a VCE textbook, most of the things probably won't be tested on the final VCE exam, but it furthers your knowledge which will make it easier to self learn.

For calculus/algebra, I suggest Stewart Calculus, read that, then the majority of methods will seem like a breeze.

For probability I don't know the name of the book, but it's a great book of elementary probability to some advanced stuff.

[Bozo]

Yeah i guess i could apply this more advanced knowledge towards more of the application questions aswell.

May i also ask, did you have a tutor TT?

[TrueTears]

Nah, no tutor, the passionate mathematicians of VN were my tutor.

[kyzoo]

it is DEFINITELY worth it if you complete the course properly, or else just do what kyzoo said; self learning is often built upon trial and errors of mistakes (what method suits you as a mathematician?), which is something you don't want to play upon in VCE, do it once you're in uni or pre-VCE. Most of you want to maximise marks in VCE not become an academic.

But like, a lot of the finer details aren't really apparent from reading the textbook. And the textbook has a lot of unneccesary stuff that you never use. For Methods, I would never have learned transformations, reciprocal functions, addition functions, etc properly from self-study. Same for Spesh: Inflow/outflow tank problems, inclined rubber conveyor belt problems, solids of revolution, etc.

Like TrueTears I did the course during the Summer hols. It's quite achievable. Took me 6 weeks but I did around 4-5 hours a day. I think it's really helpful to do this because you can consolidate your understanding throughout the year. I was able to begin practice exams from around mid July. If there was stuff I didn't understand, I'd ask my dad or I'd try and work it out myself. Usually that'd help, but when it didn't, I would make a note to ask a teacher once school started for the year. It helps you manage time effectively especially if you're doing more than one 3/4.

>.< You don't actually need to start doing practice exams 4 months before the actual thing, 1 month is already way more than enough

[Martoman]

For anything mathy related, I find using my hands to conceptualise and visualise what is going on helps. However be warned, the examiners last year thought I was communicating with others using sign language so be dicreet about it

[8039]

Just do as many exam questions as you can. This is what I did to become 20x better in just a few months.

[TrueTears]

it is DEFINITELY worth it if you complete the course properly, or else just do what kyzoo said; self learning is often built upon trial and errors of mistakes (what method suits you as a mathematician?), which is something you don't want to play upon in VCE, do it once you're in uni or pre-VCE. Most of you want to maximise marks in VCE not become an academic.

But like, a lot of the finer details aren't really apparent from reading the textbook. And the textbook has a lot of unneccesary stuff that you never use. For Methods, I would never have learned transformations, reciprocal functions, addition functions, etc properly from self-study. Same for Spesh: Inflow/outflow tank problems, inclined rubber conveyor belt problems, solids of revolution, etc.

http://vcenotes.com/forum/index.php/topic,31270.msg320643.html#msg320643


I would change your quote to:

a lot of the finer details aren't really apparent from reading VCE textbook

you will see that using proper textbooks, they would have so much fine detail that you think they have TOO much detail!

[Bozo]

So the Cambridge ESSENTIAL Mathematical Methods CAS,

good or bad textbook?

[luken93]

So the Cambridge ESSENTIAL Mathematical Methods CAS,

good or bad textbook?

I'd say the best questions, but not very good explanations

[TrueTears]

So the Cambridge ESSENTIAL Mathematical Methods CAS,

good or bad textbook?

agreed with luken93, really good questions, but sometimes horrible @ explanations, other VCE books too, also pretty bad at explanations

[luken93]

So the Cambridge ESSENTIAL Mathematical Methods CAS,

good or bad textbook?

agreed with luken93, really good questions, but sometimes horrible @ explanations, other VCE books too, also pretty bad at explanations

if any, what's the best for explanations?
Maths World doesn't seem too bad, just doesnt have much of a quantity of q's..

[TrueTears]

yeah i dono, VCE textbooks ain't that formal, doesn't really teach from a mathematician point of view. I suggest reading stewarts calculus for all the algebra/functions/calculus part for VCE maths. It's more than enough

[luken93]

yeah i dono, VCE textbooks ain't that formal, doesn't really teach from a mathematician point of view. I suggest reading stewarts calculus for all the algebra/functions/calculus part for VCE maths. It's more than enough

hahaha this book continues to come up, I think I'll have to invest in it
There isn't an ebook is there?