Extension 1 Guidance (1 Viewer)

[kurt.physics]

Hello,
I only have a few questions relating to premininary Extension 1 mathematics, if any one can help me that would be great!

1) How good at mathematics do you have to be to do extension 1 mathematics (i.e. Top of the year, A class, B class, 70% + in all tests)?

2) Is it hard to understand and get 90% + in Extension 1 tests (whats the highest score in your schools premin Ext 1 maths)?

3) In year 11, do you take both 2U mathematics and 3U (extension 1) mathematics in the same year, or do you just do one or the other, because I looked at the Maths in Focus Preliminary extension 1 and also Cambridge 3U mathematics Yr 11; and all the stuff from 2U was in the extension 1 course?

4) How hard is extension 1 (3 unit) Preliminary compared to the 2U Preliminary Mathematics (just to give you's an idea, I find 2U preliminary a piece of cake)

*do note i'm not in year 11 and haven't chosen my subjects but I am considering, but I can do 2U Prelim and 2U HSC mathematics (mostly easy)[just to give you a rough idea of what you might think work].

Thanks alot everyone for your comments + opinions

 

[S1M0]

1. You don't have to be top, but you have to love maths and have to be good at it (that is, you like a challenge and you're not afraid to rack your brains a bit)

2. It is, but it depends. Apply yourself and see how you'll go.

3. In normal circumstances, you take 3-unit and 2-unit courses spanning a peroid of 2 years. That varies according to school, so check with some of the seniors as to how they do it.

4. 2-unit is a joke to 3-unit, especially in the early stages. Once you do calculus you might think differently though. Its all good.

So you like maths and physics ay? Then give it a go, you have nothing to lose and if you don't like it you could always drop it.

 

[kurt.physics]

Once you do calculus you might think differently though

I actually have done all the yr 11 calculus and yr 12 calculus (2 unit only) and, at first i would agree with you - all the dy/dx 's, ∫'s , f'(x)'s , d/dx(dy/dx)'s, simpson's rules, it just looked like someone spewed up numbers and writed letters like ƒ(x +∆x) and
∫ƒ(x)dx = F(b) - F(a).

But then i got this fantastic book
"Calculus made easy" by Silvanus P. Thompson and Martin Gardner

This book doesn't lack the mathematics it just explains it 100 X better that your teacher. For example "what does dx" mean?

the teacher would say "dx is a tiny incrediment of unimaginable size of x" she would also add "dy/dx is the ratio of the comparison of a tiny incrediment of y with respect to x."

The books says "d simply means a bit of, so dx means a little bit of x. dy/dx is just comparing a bit of y with a bit of x"

It also contains some "easy" university calculus. for example

say we have a function which depends on 2 variables say x and y, we would write this as f(x,y) to find the derivative of one of the variables be need to make the other as if it were a number or constant

eg1

if f(x,y) = 2x + 3y

what would
a) the derivative of x be if we made y constant
b) the derivative of y be if we made x constant

* to indicate that there is a partial derivative taking place we use a backward 6 or ∂

a) ∂f/∂x = 2

we get this from

∂f/∂x = (f([x+∆x],y) - f(x,y)) / ∆x (if i can remember correctly)

b) ∂f/∂y = 3

we get this from

∂f/∂y = (x, f([y+∆y]) - f(x,y)) / ∆y

Thats bassically it!



How did you understand preliminary Calculus (differentiation) S1M0? What way did your teacher teach you S1M0?

Thanks for your help S1M0

 

[watatank]

Hello,
I only have a few questions relating to premininary Extension 1 mathematics, if any one can help me that would be great!

1) How good at mathematics do you have to be to do extension 1 mathematics (i.e. Top of the year, A class, B class, 70% + in all tests)?

2) Is it hard to understand and get 90% + in Extension 1 tests (whats the highest score in your schools premin Ext 1 maths)?

3) In year 11, do you take both 2U mathematics and 3U (extension 1) mathematics in the same year, or do you just do one or the other, because I looked at the Maths in Focus Preliminary extension 1 and also Cambridge 3U mathematics Yr 11; and all the stuff from 2U was in the extension 1 course?

4) How hard is extension 1 (3 unit) Preliminary compared to the 2U Preliminary Mathematics (just to give you's an idea, I find 2U preliminary a piece of cake)

*do note i'm not in year 11 and haven't chosen my subjects but I am considering, but I can do 2U Prelim and 2U HSC mathematics (mostly easy)[just to give you a rough idea of what you might think work].

Thanks alot everyone for your comments + opinions

1. if you're not getting 80+ in year 10 maths you shouldn't be doing 3U.
2. depends on you i guess.
3. most schools usually take 2/3u at the same time, but apparently at some schools (top ranked schools in the state) they do year 11/12 in two unit and then tackle three unit the next year.
4. you probably find it a tad challenging at best but you would probably be able to handle it, if you find 2u simple.

 

[SoulSearcher]

3. most schools usually take 2/3u at the same time, but apparently at some schools (top ranked schools in the state) they do year 11/12 in two unit and then tackle three unit the next year.

That system is done with the top extension 1 class at my school, accelerating 2 unit maths in Year 11 and then doing extension 1 maths in Year 12.

 

[kurt.physics]

Have you learnt quadratics yet? Pay attention to them because if you do mathematics/ext 1 you'll be doing plenty of them

I have not learnt quadratics yet because i'm only in yr 8. Long story short, started learning preliminary (yr 11) mathematics after the third month this year finished most of the important stuff, calculus, basically first 8-9 chapters out of 9-10. Then did some HSC 2U calculus (all three), few other chapters (2 to 3 others). For the last 2 months i have been almost literally doing either year 9 and/or 10 maths everyday! So i thought i might do some preliminary extension 1 and HSC 2 work. In extension 2 i have only done a little work on Volumes (i found that the most interesting and easiest as it was basically the volume integration in the HSC syllabus with a bit of algebra and more calculus and logical thinking) . I found Series very interesting (how ever weired that may seam).
*at home

So basically i asked those questions just see about extension 1 work and hardness and marks. I have noticed that there isnt much preliminary extension 1 work in the syllabus. Any way hope to get advanced (as ive previously mentioned on one post). And thats why i wanted to know those questions.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't extension 1 basically more advanced areas of the lobes you had in year 10. And arn't you supose to only do 1 lobe. But isn't there Geometry of a circle and Logs (both lobes) in extension 1, how does that work?

 

[watatank]

wtf are lobes?

 

[kurt.physics]

well, lobes, according to a yr 9 and 10 maths textbook are Extra topics which the students study in depth. they are (according to the textbook)

Circle Geometry
Theory of Logarithms
Polynomials

I would infer that this book is perhaps, ah yes, just looked when it was made, 2000, so the syllabus must of changed to include these topics as "core" syllabus topics for year 10 by now.
Am i right?

 

[undalay]

Preliminary 3u is similar in difficulty to 2u imo. Just more content? (in my eyes anyway). If you can do year 11 and year 12 2unit stuff already i don't see why you even need to consider if you should do 3u or not.

 

[watatank]

2u there's just a shitload of things to remember, its not that hard. 3u is a lil more indepth and more challenging

well, lobes, according to a yr 9 and 10 maths textbook are Extra topics which the students study in depth. they are (according to the textbook)

Circle Geometry
Theory of Logarithms
Polynomials

I would infer that this book is perhaps, ah yes, just looked when it was made, 2000, so the syllabus must of changed to include these topics as "core" syllabus topics for year 10 by now.
Am i right?

i didn't see circle geo and polynomials till year 11 and theory of logarithms til year 12 so maybe they changed the year 10 syllabus. year 11/12 hasn't changed for about 20 years though although the format/difficulty of the exams set have changed over the years

 

[S1M0]

I actually have done all the yr 11 calculus and yr 12 calculus (2 unit only) and, at first i would agree with you - all the dy/dx 's, ∫'s , f'(x)'s , d/dx(dy/dx)'s, simpson's rules, it just looked like someone spewed up numbers and writed letters like ƒ(x +∆x) and
∫ƒ(x)dx = F(b) - F(a).

But then i got this fantastic book
"Calculus made easy" by Silvanus P. Thompson and Martin Gardner

This book doesn't lack the mathematics it just explains it 100 X better that your teacher. For example "what does dx" mean?

the teacher would say "dx is a tiny incrediment of unimaginable size of x" she would also add "dy/dx is the ratio of the comparison of a tiny incrediment of y with respect to x."

The books says "d simply means a bit of, so dx means a little bit of x. dy/dx is just comparing a bit of y with a bit of x"

It also contains some "easy" university calculus. for example

say we have a function which depends on 2 variables say x and y, we would write this as f(x,y) to find the derivative of one of the variables be need to make the other as if it were a number or constant

eg1

if f(x,y) = 2x + 3y

what would
a) the derivative of x be if we made y constant
b) the derivative of y be if we made x constant

* to indicate that there is a partial derivative taking place we use a backward 6 or ∂

a) ∂f/∂x = 2

we get this from

∂f/∂x = (f([x+∆x],y) - f(x,y)) / ∆x (if i can remember correctly)

b) ∂f/∂y = 3

we get this from

∂f/∂y = (x, f([y+∆y]) - f(x,y)) / ∆y

Thats bassically it!



How did you understand preliminary Calculus (differentiation) S1M0? What way did your teacher teach you S1M0?

Thanks for your help S1M0

Well i got a teacher.....and he taught it to me.

And you're a god-damn freak, i think you're 4-unit material in fact.

 

[Kujah]

^ I agree.

Try it. You will never know if you don't. There's always the option of dropping it in Term 1 or if you're accelerating.

 

[kurt.physics]

Do you think that they would let me advance in extension 1 mathematics (for my year 9 (next year))? Do you reacon that i would be able to do extension 2 mathematics if i advance (by that i mean that if i advance to yr 11 maths preliminary 2U and 3U, and do well, that they (teachers) would permit me to do 4U mathematics, or would, do you reacon, they would be biased towards me not doing it because of my age).

What do you think is the hardest preliminary extension 1 topic and why?

Whats your most faveroute and interesting prelim extension 1 topic/why?

Whats the hardest extension 2 topics and why?

Thanks, and for you people who do 4U, i have a .pdf version of "Thomas Calculus 11th Edition" which is a university textbook which is real expensive ($200) and i have used it for some 4U work and its pritty good! the quality (of the images on the computer) is good and it has colour. If someone can tell me how to upload it onto this forum or someother way then i would be happy for anyone to download the .pdf files to work from, some good examples
(if worst comes to worst i will email it to ya)

Just need to be told how to upload .pdf files, please


Thanks

 

[undalay]

I'm sure they'll let you. At my school, theres a yr 7 kid doing the prelim ext 1 math course.

 

[*slurtznow&4eva]

Simple harmonic motion is a killer if you haven't done physics (which i don't) but u should be fine even doing 4 unit just give it a try

 

[watatank]

Do you think that they would let me advance in extension 1 mathematics (for my year 9 (next year))?

you've got a head start from people in year 10 atm who will be doing three unit at your school as you've learned the calculus. you're more than capable enough to do it, and then do four unit the year after. ask your head maths teacher, show them all the work you've done, offer to take the year 9 and 10 textbooks to learn yourself and maybe even offer to sit the SC this year if possible.

 

[Evergreen]

Just do ext1 maths. Most of the stuff you do in year 11 is basic. Just study a lot for the half yearlies and preliminary yearlies because these are the tests that are usually tough and measures your understanding of all the topics not just 1 or 2 which many students find easy to cram for.

 

[kurt.physics]

offer to take the year 9 and 10 textbooks to learn yourself

That is a great idea, and thankfully I have done so, I have a great maths teacher and she helps me do all the work. I got the year 9 and 10 maths textbooks a while ago and have been working out of them with the aid of my maths teacher.

maybe even offer to sit the SC this year if possible

Do you really think I should do that? I probably could, but i don't know if i really want to do the test.

Is it necessary to do the SC to get into year 11? Do you reckon i could get away with it?

I reckon i could do all the Mechanics in 4U because i also do yr 11/12 physics, but I seam to find trigonometry a bit crasy. How do you fell about the trig in all yr 11/12?

Thanks,

 

[kurt.physics]

In class (geography) our teacher was talking about something and he said that you (not me, the class in general) cant do the HSC with out doing the SC.

Is this true for accelerating students?

 

[S1M0]

In class (geography) our teacher was talking about something and he said that you (not me, the class in general) cant do the HSC with out doing the SC.

Is this true for accelerating students?

Yes. And the SC's a joke, so just get it over and done with as soon as possible. Don't even take it seriously, but make sure you know the year 10 stuff before heading to yr 11 and onwards.