Scared about the Units of Study choice? (1 Viewer)

[sydneyphoenix]

Okay, the deal is that on enrolment day, I have decided to enrol for advanced subjects in Mathematics and Chemistry, but am not sure if I have made a right decision now.

For mathematics, I did do Extension 2, and chose Advanced subjects accordingly (MATH 1901-1903, 1905), but now I think about it, I might be behind most other people who would be doing the same courses. I've got around 80 for extension 2, and mid-90s for extension 1, but reckon most other people would've got Top bands for both subjects.;

For chemistry, I've got low 70s for HSC, and didn't intend to do advanced subjects for it, but the advisers persuaded me that for my chosen degree CHEM 1908/1909 (Life Science Advanced) are desirable, and they were happy to enrol me for that, so I did so. But the thought that I will mess up these units are still lingering.

In a nutshell, I believe it is better to get distinction/HD in a subject that you can take on quite easily, than to get a pass/credit in a subject that you can barely do. On the light of the situation, would it be wiser to keep the units as it is, or change them to less challenging and more manageable units come the time for adjustment of units in mid-February?

All advices will be appreciated.

 

[heart]

I'm sort of having the same problem. I got around mid-90s for 3U maths and 90 for 4U maths. I found the 4U maths course difficult and came like 3rd last in our first school assessment. =P So i think i was lucky to get 90.

The advisers said that if you had done 4U maths, you would find the normal subjects too easy. But i don't want to do a subject that is too hard. And the guy said they go through the 4U maths course in 2 weeks... that's a bit quick =P
So i don't know which one to do either

Oh and isn't chem in uni a lot different to high school chem? And though you got in the 70s for highschool chem (which is not bad), you can still do well at uni in the advanced thingo ;D

 

[sydneyphoenix]

Well, I bludged through year 11 Chemistry and somehow came second in the grade. But found first module of HSC Chemistry boring and weird, and after realising that I would need to get about 85 to have it included in my UAI calculation (assuming I don't screw more thatn two subjects), I virtually gave it up, not officially dropping it because it was pre-requisite for my course. Didn't study for HSC exam until the day befor the exam, and didn't care about the Chemistry results when it came out. It turned out that I would've needed around 84 in Chemistry to have it included for UAI.

Seeing this obscure chemistry background, I hope that explains why I am worried about doing Advanced Chemistry, especially when normal requisite is 80+ in HSC Chemistry.

 

[zeropoint]

Despite what some people will tell you, nothing at university is easy.

If you did 4U and got 90 or so, then I'd definitely recommend advanced subjects. Hell, I didn't even do 4U maths and managed to get HDs/Ds with a bit of hard work. And yes, you're right, they cover complex numbers in the first couple of weeks, then it's all pretty much new as far as I know.

In any case, if you figure out it's not your thing, then you are allowed to drop down to the normal level within the first couple of weeks, so you have nothing to lose.

Hope this helps.

James

 

[xiao1985]

hehehe zeropt returns...

agreed... uni maths relies ABIT on 4u only... but it all depends on ur effort put into the subject...

 

[tennille]

Okay, the deal is that on enrolment day, I have decided to enrol for advanced subjects in Mathematics and Chemistry, but am not sure if I have made a right decision now.

For mathematics, I did do Extension 2, and chose Advanced subjects accordingly (MATH 1901-1903, 1905), but now I think about it, I might be behind most other people who would be doing the same courses. I've got around 80 for extension 2, and mid-90s for extension 1, but reckon most other people would've got Top bands for both subjects.;

For chemistry, I've got low 70s for HSC, and didn't intend to do advanced subjects for it, but the advisers persuaded me that for my chosen degree CHEM 1908/1909 (Life Science Advanced) are desirable, and they were happy to enrol me for that, so I did so. But the thought that I will mess up these units are still lingering.

In a nutshell, I believe it is better to get distinction/HD in a subject that you can take on quite easily, than to get a pass/credit in a subject that you can barely do. On the light of the situation, would it be wiser to keep the units as it is, or change them to less challenging and more manageable units come the time for adjustment of units in mid-February?

All advices will be appreciated.

While you may think it is better to get Ds/HDs in an easier subject than getting a C in an advanced subject, you have to take into account the scaling of the courses. Advanced subjects tend to scale much higher, and most of the Ds/HDs are given to those students.

I agree with zeropoint. Keep your advanced subjects for the first two weeks. If you find them difficult, the change to the normal subjects.

Also, when you get to second year chemistry, the only difference between the advanced and normal courses is the labs. The lecture series are the same for SSP, advanced and normal in second year.

 

[SeDaTeD]

It is MUCH harder to get D's or HD's in normal level than it is in Advanced. Do the highest level that you can handle.

 

[sydneyphoenix]

Thanks guys. I think I will look through textbooks and stuff like that for maths and chemistry in Ferbruary and prepare a bit beforehand.
Does anyone know about how many percentage of students are given Distinction or above in advanced mathematics subjects and its normal counterpart? Is the gap wide like half the people getting distinction in advanced and only 10% in normal course or just depends really on candidature?

 

[Tabanacle]

my personal experience;

For maths

did only 2unit maths at school (although i did really well in it). i enrolled for normal maths in all 4 subjects. I didn't go to lectures outside first 3 weeks in semester one and i didn't go to any in semester 2, because i felt i could understand the book(s) and was lucky to have great tutors in all but one of the four subjects.

anyway what i did do was (apart from reading the book) listen to the tutors and do the tutorial question. in the end i got 3 distinctions, and one credit (but it was a 74, so yeah).

in conclusion: doing relatively little work and having done only 2 unit, i still managed do well, so i'm sure someone who did well in 4u may find normal too easy. although that being said i know some ppl who did well in 4u and school but only got credits in uni maths so i really don't know?!?!

as for chem; i too did hsc chem and only got 77 or something like that, in uni chem i got two distinction. uni chem is A LOT different from hsc chem, u learn WHY things happen and things are explained much better. i found hsc chem boring and hard (b/c things weren't explained that well and some explanation were outside the course, e.g oxidation of ethanol from memory), but uni chem is a lot of reading but is very interesting (to me anyway)

in conclusion: uni chem is very different from hsc chem. DO NOT let your hsc chem results affect your decision on what chem to take.

hope that helps

oh and SeDaTeD are you sure about that?

 

[adamsaclown]

Thanks guys. I think I will look through textbooks and stuff like that for maths and chemistry in Ferbruary and prepare a bit beforehand.
Does anyone know about how many percentage of students are given Distinction or above in advanced mathematics subjects and its normal counterpart? Is the gap wide like half the people getting distinction in advanced and only 10% in normal course or just depends really on candidature?

Well they pool all the maths levels together before they do the scaling, and they also have limits on the number of HD's, D's and Credits they give out. What I mean is, 3% of all people doing a certain maths unit will get HD's. The 3% includes the normal and advanced course together, so obviously most of that 3% will be from the advanced group. Hope that makes sense (sorry I couldn't be clearer). They do this so that the marks are comparable between adv and normal units, i.e. a D in normal = a D in advanced. Having said that, its not too hard to get a D in the normal units if you're good at maths, but it is very difficult to get a HD.

 

[SeDaTeD]

Hmm, maybe it'd be more accurate if I said to get really high marks. It's damn hard to get really high marks in normal (some seem to be capped) unless you get close to a full raw mark.

 

[adamsaclown]

yeah in math1004 im pretty sure i got near full marks, exam and quizzes, and i ended up getting 85 (my highest maths mark). But the exams/quizzes were very easy and I don't know how much harder the advanced units were.

 

[xiao1985]

trust me guys, 2nd year gets ALOT harder...

 

[Tabanacle]

trust me guys, 2nd year gets ALOT harder...

damn...does that mean we're all screwed?

 

[xiao1985]

no... but just study ALOT harder =)

 

[munchymoocow]

trust me guys, 2nd year gets ALOT harder...

Needless scaremongering, eh Xiao?

YES SECOND YEAR IS VERY HARD. Ahem.

(Not really. Turn up, do readings, and you'll be fine.)

 

[minushuman]

...IS VERY HARD

That;s what she said!
*rolls on floor laughing ass off, helicopter*

 

[SeDaTeD]

Is it hard if I just do all maths and stats and ditch the experimental sciences (phys and chem)?

 

[munchymoocow]

Is it hard if I just do all maths and stats and ditch the experimental sciences (phys and chem)?

It's not hard, it's just boring.

 

[nemuca]

I did extension 2 last year, and got band 6 for both ext 1 and ext 2.

I wanted to enrol in the advanced maths units, but the data entry guy at the arts fac (coz I'm doing liberal studies) said he couldn't do that for me coz they don't have any records of me having done high school maths. So he enrolled me in the normal maths units.

So should I change back to the adv units, and how can this be done?