Doing Extension 2 Math Year 12 (2 Viewers)

[Jojofelyx]

Hey everyone, I was thinking of doing extension 2 and was reading up on it. Many people say that it's difficult to finish the exam, so I wondered, for those who get like a 94, how many questions they'd "leave". (obviously, they wouldn't leave anything per se, but by that, I mean attempt with confidence). Hope this made sense though. Thanksssss

 

[tickboom]

Funnily enough I got exactly 94 for my extension 2 HSC mark. From memory I had a crack at everything, but there was one question where I was just stabbing in the dark. This was back when Extension 2 HSC exams only had 8 questions, so I’d say I felt good about 7/8 of the questions to end up with 94 …

 

[Drdusk]

Hey everyone, I was thinking of doing extension 2 and was reading up on it. Many people say that it's difficult to finish the exam, so I wondered, for those who get like a 94, how many questions they'd "leave". (obviously, they wouldn't leave anything per se, but by that, I mean attempt with confidence). Hope this made sense though. Thanksssss

With that mark you probably didn't get most of question 16 but did quite well in the rest of the paper. In the syllabus before this current one the average for question 16 was usually 1 or 2 out of 15 iirc, so with a mark of 94 you probably got a few more marks than that.

 

[pikachu975]

Hey everyone, I was thinking of doing extension 2 and was reading up on it. Many people say that it's difficult to finish the exam, so I wondered, for those who get like a 94, how many questions they'd "leave". (obviously, they wouldn't leave anything per se, but by that, I mean attempt with confidence). Hope this made sense though. Thanksssss

Skipped a few parts, I think I remember skipping 5-10 marks because I had no time (took too long thinking about stuff)

 

[idkkdi]

Hey everyone, I was thinking of doing extension 2 and was reading up on it. Many people say that it's difficult to finish the exam, so I wondered, for those who get like a 94, how many questions they'd "leave". (obviously, they wouldn't leave anything per se, but by that, I mean attempt with confidence). Hope this made sense though. Thanksssss

difficult to finish imo is mostly due to the time limit and amount of algebra.
but that shouldn't be much of a problem anymore with the dumbing down of 4u exams.

 

[Jojofelyx]

difficult to finish imo is mostly due to the time limit and amount of algebra.
but that shouldn't be much of a problem anymore with the dumbing down of 4u exams.

I thought so too, apparently it is as you say, easier, so would most people be finishing the paper now? Kinda like extension 1?

 

[tito981]

I thought so too, apparently it is as you say, easier, so would most people be finishing the paper now? Kinda like extension 1?

its actually too easy now, the only questions I get wrong now are the ones that require an abstract way of thinking these are like 3 markers between q 14-15. q16's are a breeze aswell.

 

[Jojofelyx]

its actually too easy now, the only questions I get wrong now are the ones that require an abstract way of thinking these are like 3 markers between q 14-15. q16's are a breeze aswell.

Maybe you're just very good haha

 

[CM_Tutor]

Funnily enough I got exactly 94 for my extension 2 HSC mark. From memory I had a crack at everything, but there was one question where I was just stabbing in the dark. This was back when Extension 2 HSC exams only had 8 questions, so I’d say I felt good about 7/8 of the questions to end up with 94 …

Back when it was 4u Maths and the exam was in that form, it was 8 questions each worth 15 marks for a total of 120 marks. The MX2 exam is only 100 marks so the amount that was incomplete was greater then. I did 4u in the same form as tickboom did and I got 99 and I didn't finish the paper.

 

[CM_Tutor]

MX2 in its current form is definitely easier than 4u was, and the papers are shorter. Actually, finishing MX1 used to be quite a challenge. In the old days, there was real time pressure to finish 3u (84 marks in 120 min) whereas 4u (120 marks in 180 minutes) had many students running out of questions that they could answer before they ran out of time to answer them.

Having said that, MX2 is still a difficult subject and poses problems that take insight as well as practice to handle. The boundaries of what can be tested under the proof topic are still to be explored - I think it offers scope for the types of questions that were in the older harder 3u topic - and there are plenty of ways to make projectiles and SHM and other parts of motion both conceptually challenging and algebraically difficult. There is a lot that can be done with integration too.

 

[quickoats]

Strangely enough, I'm more scared of the 3u exam than 4u simply cuz it's more of a rush. Also, the penalty for losing one mark in 3u is more significant than one mark in 4u.

Yep you’re exactly right.

 

[idkkdi]

Maybe you're just very good haha

nah.

if we take the good people from back in the day like @CM_Tutor , they could probably do the 2020 paper in a ~one and a half hours if they sweated lol.

 

[tito981]

Strangely enough, I'm more scared of the 3u exam than 4u simply cuz it's more of a rush. Also, the penalty for losing one mark in 3u is more significant than one mark in 4u.

ye 3u is stress cause you can rank can get wrecked by 1 mark lost

nah.

if we take the good people from back in the day like @CM_Tutor , they could probably do the 2020 paper in a ~one and a half hours if they sweated lol.

ye im not too good can finish papers in like 2 hrs., i remember ppl from last yrs cohort on bos who could finish in 1.5 hrs.

 

[Life'sHard]

If anything scaling is real nice for 4u

 

[pikachu975]

Strangely enough, I'm more scared of the 3u exam than 4u simply cuz it's more of a rush. Also, the penalty for losing one mark in 3u is more significant than one mark in 4u.

For some reason 3u exams felt even easier than 2u HSC and felt really short (cos 4u made the 3u questions feel pretty easy) but I agree that it was more harsh to make silly mistakes

 

[CM_Tutor]

I got 99 in 3u and know for certain of a stupid mistake that I made, one I still remember from *mumble* years ago... it didn't do me that much damage and I am still alive, have multiple degrees, and don't even feel the need to punish myself on a daily basis for making the mistake anymore.

Yes, the HSC is important, but it will truly become less important as soon as it is over and certainly as time passes. If you don't get your first choice for Uni entry, or for other goals, there are other paths available.

 

[pikachu975]

I got 99 in 3u and know for certain of a stupid mistake that I made, one I still remember from *mumble* years ago... it didn't do me that much damage and I am still alive, have multiple degrees, and don't even feel the need to punish myself on a daily basis for making the mistake anymore.

Yes, the HSC is important, but it will truly become less important as soon as it is over and certainly as time passes. If you don't get your first choice for Uni entry, or for other goals, there are other paths available.

Yeah legit everyone hypes up the HSC as the most important time of your life but if I could go back I would've 100% gave up study time to go earn money instead or do more extracurriculars rather than gain a couple extra atar points

 

[Jojofelyx]

I got 99 in 3u and know for certain of a stupid mistake that I made, one I still remember from *mumble* years ago... it didn't do me that much damage and I am still alive, have multiple degrees, and don't even feel the need to punish myself on a daily basis for making the mistake anymore.

Yes, the HSC is important, but it will truly become less important as soon as it is over and certainly as time passes. If you don't get your first choice for Uni entry, or for other goals, there are other paths available.

I'm quite certain you're etched into the BOS HOF. The amount of students you've helped, including myself, is fkn insane, always good to have such an amazing person like you around who volunteers to help others, and often with solutions that are wacky and wonderful (be it seemingly insanely tedious to type lol). Thank you

 

[CM_Tutor]

I'm quite certain you're etched into the BOS HOF. The amount of students you've helped, including myself, is fkn insane, always good to have such an amazing person like you around who volunteers to help others, and often with solutions that are wacky and wonderful (be it seemingly insanely tedious to type lol). Thank you

I do enjoy helping others and am glad to make a contribution here at BoS. I have a smile on my face as I type this as it feels good to receive compliments / acknowledgement / appreciation. As a general rule, people take the time to express feelings of disappointment or to make a complaint more readily than they do to express appreciation or to offer thanks. I take the likes on my posts as a form of thanks but especially appreciate when someone takes the time to post something nice. So, thank you, Jojofelyx. As it happens, I've been having some COVID-related and BoS-unrelated stresses lately, so seeing this morning has really brightened my day.

I'm also glad that, when my solutions are "wacky", they are also wonderful. In my own teaching, I try to cover not only the standard solutions but also the alternatives that may be helpful in other cases. Being able to see different approaches is helpful in developing thinking skills that are so valuable in life (not to mention at the end of an MX2 paper!) and yet they are not well captured in crude assessment measures like the ATAR - there was an interesting article published in the Guardian today about alternatives to the ATAR that touches on this point as well. So, I am quite deliberately using my BoS posts to help readers to think and reflect in ways that are underdeveloped by schooling. I have taught and researched at tertiary level and can state without hesitation that some very high achieving students come in with quite a narrow set of skills, albeit with highly developed skills for handling HSC assessments. Anyway, that is somewhat off-topic so I'll leave that line of thought here. (EDIT: I have started a thread with a link to the Guardian article. END EDIT)

I truly hope that my contributions are helping not only those whose questions are getting a direct response, but also others who are reading. And, I encourage everyone to contribute support and help to each other. Everyone will make mistakes at times and this isn't a cause for embarrassment. In the areas that I post, if something needs correction or there are alternatives, please trust that someone will add to a thread so you can learn by helping others without worrying that contributions may be problematic in some way. As Jojofelyx notes, some of my posts take a while to type and a brief note in correction or posting an alternative saves me time while also developing your skills through scaffolding for each other.

 

[CM_Tutor]

MX1 exam is 2 h, MX2 is 3 h, so you only need to get done in those times, though some time for checking is nice. If you can really complete an MX2 paper in around 2 h, that's impressive.