Intermediate level maths anyone?

jaydigity

Why is there such a gap between ordinary and honours maths? I was doing well enough in honours maths (and putting in a really big effort) and I just had to drop to ordinary because I knew that otherwise I'd never get the required points for veterinary (because all my other subjects would go downhill:o )
The difference between the two is INCREDIBLE, ordinary level maths is just plain boring. Anyone else agree?

Naikon

I do Ordinary maths and i find it fairly handy in terms of the work.
I wouldent bother doing HL unless you need it for your course.
Maybe you find it boring because the courses are quite different in many areas.
The syllabus defines ordinary level maths as a "service tool", for people who wish to use it in in business,IT,Computing,whatever:)
This in in contrast with the higher level syllabus which is generally required for people who want to study Engineering,mathematical Science, where maths is the keystone of the professions which requires more abstract "understanding" than OL.
I believe that in OL the aim is to teach "how does this work/how to solve" where the HL student would ask "why does it work"/theory behind the problem.
Its a bit obvious that you would find OL boring because you wouldent be as challenging as much as the HL course. However the OL course is deemed by many people as too high a standard for everyday use, for example what use is calculus to a shopkeeper? However it still provides a decent competency for people who "might" use it even if it is easier than the Hl course.
I dont find maths OL "boring" par se, but i can see its usefullness in comparison with subjects like "Classics" for example in terms of usefullness. Infact most people probably hate maths considering 1 in 8 candidates failed OL level last year which is shocking to say the least.

Rozabeez

I can say the same for French, I dropped for the same reasons (other subjects going downhill due to time and effort) and it feels like I'm doing the JC all over again.

Nehpets

Naikon wrote:

I believe that in OL the aim is to teach "how does this work/how to solve" where the HL student would ask "why does it work"/theory behind the problem.

I don't really think that's true. I do HL, and you can pretty much learn WHAT to do and not why and do pretty well in the test. It's just remembering what goes where..

Naikon

I accept your what you are saying, as for Leaving cert level, i doubt people actually understand whats going on "under the hood".
The syllabus organisers think different however.