Another one of those threads seeking for advice on subjects. (1 Viewer)

xdesires

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Okay, so I am currently doing 13 units. And I have been wanting to drop something for quite a while.

Here are the marks/ ranks from the first assessment tasks:
(mark - % - rank [if known])

Adv. English - 18/20 - 90% - 5-6th-ish?/88
Mathematics - 26/39 - 66.7% - 15th/56
Ancient Hist. - forgot - 100% - 1st/34
Legal - 22/25 - 88% - 2nd/37
Business - 17/20 - 85% - 4~5th-ish./26
Hist. Ext. - 10/10 - 100% - 1st/13 (Proposal only)
Eco - Haven't recieved it yet. But I'm guessing 80% +

Earlier on, I was contemplating on dropping either Legal or Bst but the deputy advised me to wait till after the first assessment tasks. And so I did. As you can see, the results are quite close. D: Originally, I did not even consider dropping maths, cause..it was maths. o-o But now that I look at the marks, I am wondering if I should just drop it?

But then I want to do a B.Commerce and Arts @USYD, hopefully. And Mathematics is 'Assumed Knowledge'. BUT then I can do a bridging course, right?

I told my maths teacher today and she basically said not to drop because:
  • Mathematics is 'Assumed Knowledge' for most science and bst degrees
  • Marks will be scaled - (but I am getting ~65-70% ==)
  • My rank is alright (NOT)
  • Bridging courses are very challenging and she said its quite impossible to fit in a whole Mathematics course into a week.
All her reasons seem quite reasonable and being the indecisive person I am, I am, once again, stressed out and reconsidering my decision. So I was thinking:
  • Should I hold on to Mathematics..just for the sake of...having it?
  • Should I drop Bst. (something that doesn't really scale as well) and try harder in Maths? (....)
  • Is the bridging course really that difficult? If I complete it, do I have the same accreditation as those who complete Mathematics for the HSC?
  • Isn't it more important for me to get the marks first to actually get into Uni?
I dunno. I don't know much about the whole scaliing thing @@; and I'm one of those paranoid type of people, as you can tell from the long post. = = Apologies. m(_ _)m

Please provide your opinion/ or suggestion. Thanks in advance!
 
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xdesires

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Chill...I try, honestly I do. Lol.

Although it's the 'beginning' of the year, its Term 2 already. Half-yearlies are coming up and I would rather spend my time on improving the 11 units.

:X If I got 80 in Maths, what would the scaled mark be? (approx. , according to last year's scaling)
 

martinc

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I highly suggest that you wait until half yearlies to drop a subject, if you wish to do so. After the half yearlies, you have a clear indication of your place in the "HSC course", and your tests may be harder, or less difficult than the HSC itself. Teachers have been tell us students not to drop subjects simply after the first assessment task, as flukes and such can occur in an assessment.

EDIT: Don't drop maths. You've spent 11 years on maths, and since you need it for your degree, you might as well try to get it up there:)
 

forward

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Well seeing as you said you never really considered dropping maths I'm assuming you don't hate it and are only considering dropping it now because you got a comparatively bad mark in it. So if you still 'like' maths and are only thinking about dropping it cause of the mark, I reckon just hold onto it until the half-yearlies and put in some extra study.. I think 2U Maths is pretty interesting and opens up a lot of doors in regards to uni courses.

But yeah I know what you mean regarding putting the effort into the 11 units instead.
 

xdesires

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Thanks for the input guys~ :)

Yeah, I don't hate it. I get the concepts but at the exam, I just ..don't know where to start. More practice needed, I guess? D: But I studied my ars...I mean, I studied quite hard for the last assessment. T___T
 
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kaz1

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You definetly need Maths for Commerce. If you don't want to cram the whole course in a few weeks and pay a few hundred dollars for a bridging course (it costs $400 at UNSW, don't know about USYD), I say you keep Maths. Your marks and rank seems alright for Maths.
 

forward

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If you kept Maths would you drop something or just do 13?
 

xdesires

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@kaz1: If dropping maths enables me to spend more time improving my 11 units and hence, make it into the course, I would not mind spending that money. That's if I make it. xD

But yes, I understand what you mean. As for my marks, what if I got that in the actual HSC? DD: Lol.

@forward: If I kept Maths, I will want to drop something and work hard to improve on my maths,...ALOT. xD But what would you recommend me to drop then?
 

forward

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If you're seriously worried about getting into your course then I guess just pick your best 10/11 units taking scaling and everything into account and worry about the rest later.

But you've got pretty good ranks/marks in all your subjects anyway so really it'd come down to whichever one you like least..
 

xdesires

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Yes, I am worried about getting in. T__T Lol~ But what to droppp?

I dislike English (lol), then Maths (-basically because it lowers my self-esteem) Man, I started with Extension Maths and now, I'm considering no maths at all. xDD
 

Schoey93

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Okay, so I am currently doing 13 units. And I have been wanting to drop something for quite a while.

Here are the marks/ ranks from the first assessment tasks:
(mark - % - rank [if known])

Adv. English - 18/20 - 90% - 5-6th-ish?/88
Mathematics - 26/39 - 66.7% - 15th/56
Ancient Hist. - forgot - 100% - 1st/34
Legal - 22/25 - 88% - 2nd/37
Business - 17/20 - 85% - 4~5th-ish./26
Hist. Ext. - 10/10 - 100% - 1st/13 (Proposal only)
Eco - Haven't recieved it yet. But I'm guessing 80% +

Earlier on, I was contemplating on dropping either Legal or Bst but the deputy advised me to wait till after the first assessment tasks. And so I did. As you can see, the results are quite close. D: Originally, I did not even consider dropping maths, cause..it was maths. o-o But now that I look at the marks, I am wondering if I should just drop it?

But then I want to do a B.Commerce and Arts @USYD, hopefully. And Mathematics is 'Assumed Knowledge'. BUT then I can do a bridging course, right?

I told my maths teacher today and she basically said not to drop because:
  • Mathematics is 'Assumed Knowledge' for most science and bst degrees
  • Marks will be scaled - (but I am getting ~65-70% ==)
  • My rank is alright (NOT)
  • Bridging courses are very challenging and she said its quite impossible to fit in a whole Mathematics course into a week.
All her reasons seem quite reasonable and being the indecisive person I am, I am, once again, stressed out and reconsidering my decision. So I was thinking:
  • Should I hold on to Mathematics..just for the sake of...having it?
  • Should I drop Bst. (something that doesn't really scale as well) and try harder in Maths? (....)
  • Is the bridging course really that difficult? If I complete it, do I have the same accreditation as those who complete Mathematics for the HSC?
  • Isn't it more important for me to get the marks first to actually get into Uni?
I dunno. I don't know much about the whole scaliing thing @@; and I'm one of those paranoid type of people, as you can tell from the long post. = = Apologies. m(_ _)m

Please provide your opinion/ or suggestion. Thanks in advance!
No, you should not drop Business Studies ("something that doesn't really scale as well"). This is hardly fair to teachers and serious students of business and/or commerce. Business Studies generally scales similarly to PDHPE at most levels. However, a band 6 (90 or better) in Bus gives a hefty amount of points to your aggregate and ultimately the ATAR. I would use the A3 table here if I were not already tired of its wonders. Say you get 95 in Business Studies but 70 in Maths. Which looks better? Bus. Which is better? Bus.

Drop Mathematics. Doing poorly will adversely impact at least one of your classmates, unless you are the only student at your school doing Maths. I would feel guilty about this, which is one of the reasons for my commitment to every subject, esp. Studies of Religion I, as 90-95 people do it, while the rest do Catholic Studies or Studies of Religion II (approx. = 25) in Year 11. IF I stuff up, and my best friend gets 60% as her Internal (Moderated) Assessment Mark on her Record of Achievement because of my poor exam result, I have done them a disservice.

Either take General Mathematics at this relatively late stage, or drop Maths entirely. You will not regret it. Most people I know are glad to say goodbye to maths when it brings them unsatisfactory results. You have to ask yourself: Am I one of those people?
 
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forward

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Getting a 95 in Business and 70 in Maths isn't really appropriate for this case lol as she's ranked around the same for both.

Yeah your marks in BS are higher but seeing as you were considering dropping it I dunno how much you like it.
 

xdesires

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Thanks Schoey~ Sorry, but what's the A3 Table? Sorry if it's a stupid question..

Leaning towards dropping now...

@forward:
I considered dropping Bst. because the thought of dropping maths didn't even cross my mind. ^^" As for Business, I don't hate it nor do I love it. Actually, that applies to all my subjects. But I find that I'm pretty good at it~
 

Makdadddy

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Hey champ,

I had both business and maths in prelim, I dropped down to general in the end. The reason for this is, I didn't want to spend so much time on mathematics so my other subjects could suffer. Also, when I went to those Uni days I asked the ex-students there and some of them said I didn't even need mathematics, and that they didn't even do it in the HSC. (This is for IT)

However, that's just my personal experience. The one bad thing is about doing general is that it is considered a 'two year course', but it's not really that hard to catch up. Anyway, everyone is different and only you can decide what you want to do, so make sure that you think about it and I would probably recommend waiting until after the half yearlies.

Good luck! :)
 

xdesires

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@Mak:

Thanks! ~ How is General coming along?

I did my second maths assessment last week..but I missed out on a whole section.... D: time management = non-existant. So thats 2 assessments failed.

@twistedrebel: Thanks.

D: *sigh. I dislike decision-making.
 

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