Would it be insane to attempt Higher Maths 1A with a 2U background? (1 Viewer)

Chazure

Member
Joined
May 7, 2009
Messages
84
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Uni Grad
2018
Hey guys,

I'm thinking of tackling the advanced maths course in the upcoming semester with a 2U background during high school. I'm reading what l can on 3U/4U material during the summer break.

Some things to note

-not a fresh high school grad, just finished my 1st year in a humanities degree and transferring to a more technical one.
-know what university courses are like etc. did well in my past courses (tho not related to math) ~80 average.
-did find the 2U course easy when l was at high school. mostly didn't take 3U or higher due to having a higher interest in history and such at the time.
-extremely keen and fully expecting to be challenged

What do you think guys? And specifically what do you think would be the most "core" topics in 3U/4U math that help understanding the first semester (linear calc/algebra).

Thanks.
 

Shadowdude

Cult of Personality
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
12,146
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
Higher Maths 1A is very much grounded in 3u and 4u. I can't remember what exactly is in 1A and 1B, but the algebra portion is very new - you'll learn about matrices. Calculus is something you arguably can prepare for by doing the relevant stuff in 3u and 4u, so for 1A you should probably revise 3u inequalities, limits, differentiation, inverse functions, and 4u curve sketching, implicit differentiation, integration and... yeah.

Oh, and complex numbers for algebra.


Now because a good proportion of the material is high school stuff - even if you read it all now and forget about most of it (and let's face it, lots of people forgot how to do stuff during the HSC-uni crossover) - you'll still do well if you can vaguely remember it and of course, keep your focus.

Higher Maths 1A isn't an exceedingly difficult course - but I do know a few Adv. Maths kids who dropped out because they thought it was too difficult. To each, their own.
 

D94

New Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2011
Messages
4,426
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
It's definitely possible to do well in, but you have to remember that you'll be with students who have done 3U and 4U, and know most of the topics well. There are several new theorems you'll learn, but they assume 3U knowledge. This is mainly for Calculus. With Algebra, most students will be on an equal footing bar the Complex Numbers topic (as 4U students would have covered most of that already).

The topics can be found here: http://www.maths.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/math1131-41inf12_0.pdf

Just do the work/exercises, don't fall behind and participate in tutorials, especially since you don't have that assumed knowledge.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top