Higher Maths and course troubles. (1 Viewer)

[and1nerd]

Hey all, i have just been accepted into unsw's mechanical engineering and i'm having some troubles with selecting courses. I'm pretty much following the Mechanical Engineering - MECHA13710 plan structure ( http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/plans/2011/MECHA13710.html ) and i'm unsure if i should choose the higher maths subjects e.g. Higher mathematics 1A over mathematics 1A or higher mathematics 1B over mathematics 1B. My hsc math results were mx1 - 95, mx2 93. Can someone plz explain what the point is of doing higher maths subjects when they have the same indicative contact hours per week and also the same amount of credits. Also, i'm not so sure on how i should be timetabling the courses, from what i have gathered i need to do 48 units over 2 semesters (8 courses) so is there a logical way of splitting the courses over 2 semesters? e.g not sure if it is wrong to do 2 maths subjects in 1 semester or should i split them? ty.

 

[Bored Of Fail 2]

I did higher 1a and b but I think I kind of regretted doing that, I feel that you can probably get a better mark in just the normal maths.

I got 83% for Higher Math 1A and 89% for Higher Math 1B , and after seeing the exam questions that they gave the regular math 1A and B I was rather disappointed, there are pretty much no tricks in the standard math1A/1B papers , ALL the questions are straight forward and you could get 100% raw on the exam provided you showed up to lecturers and did the tutorial problems, whereas in Higher Math you get some screwed up question that you have idea about.

If I was to do first year again I would have picked both standard math and standard physics.

You could definately do the higher ones, but the question is whether or not it will result in a higher mark. They put all the stuff about "you will not be disadvantaged doing higher" but I dont believe that at all, unless they cap the maxium possible mark you can get in standard math subjects, but I didnt hear of that.

 

[kaz1]

imo no point in doing higher, I got similar marks to you in mx1 and mx2 and I pretty much did the least work in math1131 (lower) and that was my highest mark for that sem. For higher maths you just get some harder proof questions for homework and a harder exam.

Use http://mahler.cse.unsw.edu.au/rectangles/ for your timetable.

Since your doing mech, I suggest you do Math1131/1141, Phys1121/1131, Comp1911 and ENGG1000 for this sem.

 

[deterministic]

You could definately do the higher ones, but the question is whether or not it will result in a higher mark. They put all the stuff about "you will not be disadvantaged doing higher" but I dont believe that at all, unless they cap the maxium possible mark you can get in standard math subjects, but I didnt hear of that.

In some math subjects (not MATH1131/1141), they do cap the maximum mark of lower subjects. But for maths subjects with lower and higher versions, most of the high distinctions they allocate are for higher version students (due to the quality of these students). So if you are good at maths, definitely do higher as it is easier to do very well.

 

[Bored Of Fail 2]

In some math subjects (not MATH1131/1141), they do cap the maximum mark of lower subjects. But for maths subjects with lower and higher versions, most of the high distinctions they allocate are for higher version students (due to the quality of these students). So if you are good at maths, definitely do higher as it is easier to do very well.

yeh but if I did the MATH1131 I could have got like 95% raw I reckon atleast, whereas for the higher math1A I literally left out 1/4 of the paper

 

[deterministic]

yeh but if I did the MATH1131 I could have got like 95% raw I reckon atleast, whereas for the higher math1A I literally left out 1/4 of the paper

I suppose that is true for most MATH1141 students. But small mistakes can cost you a HD in MATH1131, while small mistakes wont cost you too much in MATH1141.

Anyway, do MATH1141 if you enjoy maths.

 

[Bored Of Fail 2]

Anyway, do MATH1141 if you enjoy maths.

but do MATH1131 if you care more bout your final mark

 

[and1nerd]

thanks for the advice guys, i've decided to go for Math1131, Phys1121, Comp1911 and ENGG1000 for semester 1.

 

[Timothy.Siu]

If you don't want to put in extra effort for maths probably do normal, but i think higher will pay off in terms of marks if you try. the scaling seems kinda ridiculous (comparable to mx1 & 2 in hsc) compared to normal maths ( 2 unit maths). I got 197 total for higher 1a and 1b, so what was said above shudn't be taken to heart.

 

[Bored Of Fail 2]

^ nah dont listen to him.

in standard math 1A you have alot more opportunities to show you knowledge, most of the questions are relatively easy with no tricks, they are pretty much just testing whether you showed up to the lectures and did the tutorial questions through the semester.

Whereas in higher math, you get screwed up questions which are worth 1/8 of the final exam , and if you cant do part a of the question, then you are stopped completely from getting any marks on any of the the other parts, you may know complex numbers inside out, but they will throw a hard question at you worth 1/8 of the exam, and if you cannot do anything from those hard questions they automatically assume you dont know shit about complex numbers.

Also, I dont like the fact that they change the length of the final exam from 3hrs to 2hrs in 2008, once again this shows laziness by the school of maths because they cant be bothered to mark more questions, and it restricts the students ability to show what they have learnt over the semester

 

[Timothy.Siu]

its not the school of maths who changed it. pretty sure its unsw management, changed almost all the final exams (not including in school/lab exams) to 2 hours.

But what some of said is true. In the exam there was pretty much only ONE (crazy) question from the last calculus topic (arc length stuff), so basically didn't need to know that topic because the question was ridiculous.

 

[davidbarnes]

You can't do Math1B without doing math1A first. I agree, stick to Math1A. Then again, with your HSC math marks you would probably be capable for Higher Maths easily.

 

[unsw-maths-guru]

You could definately do the higher ones, but the question is whether or not it will result in a higher mark. They put all the stuff about "you will not be disadvantaged doing higher" but I dont believe that at all, unless they cap the maxium possible mark you can get in standard math subjects, but I didnt hear of that.

Actually, the top marks in 1131 and 1231 are capped because the non-common questions for the Higher version are scaled up. Although both exams are marked out of 80, after scaling it is possible to score 85 or more on the Higher paper. It varies from year to year, but the top final mark for Higher is typically around 99, while the top for Ordinary is typically 94.

 

[unsw-maths-guru]

its not the school of maths who changed it. pretty sure its unsw management, changed almost all the final exams (not including in school/lab exams) to 2 hours.

'tis true....maths was actually rather unhappy with this being forced on them.

 

[tommykins]

3 hr math papers are fun ;D