OL -> Higher Maths in Repeat year

Areq

In the repeat year which is 2011 , how many hours of maths should i be doing per day/week if i haven't ever done Higher math and aiming for an A ? im an A student in ordinary (without doin much,..honestly almost nothing) .

also heard about the maths project , is it worth doing ? or should i focus on the usual math exam .



Thanks a millionae !


also another question .
Honours math or biology? i haven't eva done any biology xd which would be easier you think ?

Professional Griefer

It depends. I was doing honours all year until about February, and the difference between honours and pass is ridiculous in my opinion. Myself and my friend dropped down at the same time, the 2 of us failed all our tests throughout 6th year, and then got A's in all the pass tests we got. But I guess that might just be my opinion on the difficulty, but there is a massive difference, new topics as well.

I'd nearly say Biology, its not hard as such, just a fair bit to learn, but it depends on which you prefer. For me, Biology is way easier than Maths at higher level.


I think project maths is gonna be in every school next year, or is it just one paper? Someone can correct me here as I'm not sure.

FordieMUFC

Well, if you have a whole year to study then you could possibly, but it'd be some ask. There are many different topics and the difficulty level is completely different. Part A and B(i) can be longer in some higher questions than a whole ordinary level question. That's the difference.
But where theres a will, theres a way.

sheep-go-baa

Project maths won't be in by next year, we were asking our maths teacher would we be screwed repeating if the new maths course is coming in but she said not by next year.
I'd still say to do biology though. Maths is much more subjective, the paper that comes up and all that. For bio if you know your stuff you'll get the grade, nice and simple.

Ruski

Honours maths is not as difficult as you'd think it is. If you can understand algebra and trigonometry, you can definitely do it but there are plenty of new topics in it such as Integration, Vectors, Matrices and Further Calculus. I'm sure you could do it.

I did no work in fifth year for any subject, in the space of just sixth year, I went up from about 6% in my maths summer exams, to a C grade in my last maths exam (before the leaving cert). For maths I did about an hour or an hour and a half a day, then it all went to me just doing maths past papers all day and not palying attention to other subjects. At the end of the year, I realised that I was completely unprepared for English, German, Geography and Irish. Luckily I had good teachers for English and Irish, could waffle along in German and worked out a method of getting easy marks with no actual work in Geography.

dee o gee

It depends really what your good at. Biology is just all learning really, you could get through most of the course just learning it all off by heart without actually understanding it, for things like genetics, photosynthesis and respiration you would need to have a certain level of understanding. The course is very long however. Maths is different in that you HAVE TO understand what and why your doing something, otherwise it would be very difficult. Some people just have a head for facts and don't mind sitting down just learning things off, others hate learning things and would prefer working things out, so which are you.
I do honours both but in my opinion biology is easier as im more the learning things off kind of person.

The project maths thing won't effect this years repeats, but will effect next years repeats. It was tested in some schools this year, but it is only being rolled out nationally for next years 4th years (so those doing the LC in 2012). All it is is just a different paper 2, some things have been taken off and theres no longer any choice, there isin't actually a project involved as the name might suggest.

All I can reccommend is borrow someone's biology book and have a look through, if you've done JC science it will stand to you. Have a look through honours maths papers on examinations.ie or borrow some. I do honours maths and I took a look at somebodies pass papers recently and there is a HUGE difference, likewise someone who would be an A pass student looked at my papers and didn't have the slightest clue. If your looking for an A in honours, unless your willing to put A LOT of work in and have an aptitude for maths, it will be next to impossible, however a C might be possible but will still require work.

chaoticmess

I moved up to HL maths at Christmas and am hoping for a C3 for my course. I probably put in about 2/3 hours per day during the week and 4-6 hours per day at a weekend. But I also had quite a few days off haha!

I managed to get the course covered, but didn't have a lot of revision time. I'd say if you're aiming for an A, spend the summer doing some chapters - maybe differentiation and integration or something, and then aim to have the whole course done by the mocks next year.

By doing that, you'll have plenty of time to go back over everything and practice loads of papers.

It's definitely possible though.
The trick is not to question everything too much. If you just really don't understand something, leave it, move on to something else and come back a few weeks later. Sometimes its easier to grasp the second or even third time you try something after having a break from it.

As for Biology, if you're interested in it, Biology can be really good and easy to learn. But there is a LOT in it, so you have to have a strong interest for it to be easy!

Of course it depends how many other subjects you're doing. As a repeat, depending on your other subjects you may have a lot of spare time, and it may be possible to do both the maths and Biology!

stainluss

Biology, you would fly it in one year with the effort.

HL Maths you would need a grind teacher, not for Bio, its just learning:)