I need help gang.....

meathawk

Ok well my dilemma is this ........I am currently taking 7 subjects in 6th year
Irish O
English H
Maths H
Classics H
French H
Geography H
Physics H

and since this term started my maths results have been way down ( my average currently lies at 60 %).I began maths grinds several weeks ago but as the mocks draw closer I feel genuinely worried.In the actual leaving cert I need 505 points at least for Pyschology in UCD.If I part with honours maths the chances of me getting Pyschology are slim .I don't know what to do.Help!?!?

yeah-boy

Keep up with the grinds and you should be ok, and besides an average of 60% gives you 65 points where as an A1 in pass is 60 which i'm sure you already know. but you would need an 4 a2's and a B2 in your other subjects to make 505, i think

Honours maths, as you know, is the type of subject that, for most, requires a lot of work. Going to grinds is all well and good, but, if you don't do the work yourself at home it's just a waste of money. Take your book and exam papers out and just start doing questions. Don't give up on a question until you have the right answer; use Google or whatever to look up what you're doing, and it might help.

If you really think the chances of you getting into your course are non-existant without honours maths, then just don't drop it!

Try to do your best for the mocks, but, remember that you still have 4 months after your mocks to do more study. The mocks aren't the be all and end all.

And in the end, if it comes to it, you can always do pass and possibly achieve 50-60 points; that's far better than a fail at honours, obviously.

meathawk

Maths is quite possibly the main bulk of my studying,its hard when your older brothers are mathematical prodigies .I know I wont get an A1 like both of them but B2 would be lovely !

~nop~

Maths is all about practice practice practice. Keep at it and maybe get your brothers to help you out when you're stuck as well as the grinds. If you're doing honours physics aswell the two should help each other out.
However if you think you're really in trouble with the subject maybe look at taking up honours irish again?
Good luck though either way! and don't panic whatever you do!

meathawk

meathawk wrote: »

Maths is quite possibly the main bulk of my studying,its hard when your older brothers are mathematical prodigies .I know I wont get an A1 like both of them but B2 would be lovely !

If maths is taking up such a huge amount of your study, perhaps it'd be better to give that time to other subjects that you might achieve a higher grade in? You're doing 6 honours now, if you drop to 5 you can still achieve a maximum of 560; but it only leaves you 50 or so points to play around with if you need 505. You'd definitely need 2, if not 3, A1's. How are you in your other subjects?

Jack Sheehan

Coming from a guy who just got 23 per cent in his integration test this might not be that helpful but keep at it. HM is an unhill battle all year, and many people (if they have done the work) pull it together in time to acheive a fantastic result.

andyman

Have you considered taking up Applied Maths? Could be very useful and I understand that it isn't too bad if you do Maths and Physics at Higher Level.

meathawk

None of the other subjects pose any sort of threat to me ,and also I can't find any parrells to draw from maths and physics .The maths in Physics is basic simple problems just manipulating formulae but when it comes to something like sequences and series :S.I think HL maths is do-able thats why I dropped HL irish .I would always get a C in every irish test but with maths my results would be all over the place D's to A's .Ive never failed a maths test but ive come very close to failing an irish test or two.......also to get a c in irish for me it took a lot of work.

andyman

meathawk wrote: »

None of the other subjects pose any sort of threat to me ,and also I can't find any parrells to draw from maths and physics .The maths in Physics is basic simple problems just manipulating formulae but when it comes to something like sequences and series :S.I think HL maths is do-able thats why I dropped HL irish .I would always get a C in every irish test but with maths my results would be all over the place D's to A's .Ive never failed a maths test but ive come very close to failing an irish test or two.......also to get a c in irish for me it took a lot of work.

Yeah I'm the same in Maths to be perfectly honest. I got 54% in my reletively straight-forward Algebra test and 88% in my reletively complicated Integration test as well as 94% in Sequences and Series which was complicated enough as well. The difference between those tests is that I kept trying and trying and trying to do questions on Integration and Sequences and Series because I know that they're difficult enough topics.

I don't know if your teacher does this, but my teacher gives us a rake of homework and gives us 10 minutes at the end to start it or to ask him questions (one-on-one) about where I'm going wrong in a particular question. I do this quite a bit but it works to great effect. He shows me the route I should take and then using that you can do plenty of questions in the exam papers of a similar type.

I'm aware I'm waffling on a bit, but perhaps you could ask your teacher to go through a question at the end of class or something?

meathawk

My maths teacher is not a very approachable man,he is a good guy but he is old and i think if you show weakness he would think you are lacking.Atleast I have my maths grinds teacher ,he is a god send and very approachable.

Well I definitely wouldn't recommend taking up Applied Maths, that would only take more of your time, and it would require that you do Honours Maths too.

If I were you, I wouldn't make any decisions for months yet; you can always drop from honours to pass. Just keep up with it, do lots of questions, and, most importantly, make sure you understand everything that's going on: that's the most important part.

But, in doing that, make sure not to neglect your other subjects. If it turns into a situation of the law of diminishing returns, drop to pass.

andyman

meathawk wrote: »

My maths teacher is not a very approachable man,he is a good guy but he is old and i think if you show weakness he would think you are lacking.Atleast I have my maths grinds teacher ,he is a god send and very approachable.

Either or really. Both have the job of teaching you how to do Maths. If you're getting a grind one-to-one then no problems there. If it's a class grind then just ask him at the end of the grind and see if he's able to help you.

SarcasticFairy

Unless you are like a maths genious, I don't think there's anyone doing HL maths who doesn't say "I want to drop down, I can't do this" at least one a week. As someone else has said it is very much an uphill battle - one which I resisted the whole way through 5th year, practically failing all my exams. Stuck with it, realised this year that the teacher might hate me but I needed to do well to get points. I went over everything we did in 5th year (this took forever, and I probably did neglect some of my other subjects at the time) and now I just do exam questions over and over (You could prehaps try this over the Christmas when you won't be as stuck for time than when you're in school..?). It worked though, I'm heading for at least a high B in the Christmas exam, and now I feel like I can actually do well in the actual LC without having to drop HL maths!

That's the best advice I can give you, to just practice and practice, and ask questions when you don't understand. So what if your maths teacher would think you were weak if you said something to him, you're not going to know him this time next year! But whatever, if you find it easier to talk to your grinds teacher, do so! My teacher has said that if you know the exam question from the papers inside out, you've a good chance of doing well, as they just regurgitate the questions in different forms most years!

In the long run though, if you don't need HL maths particularly, and if an A1 in OL would do for points, don't let your other subjects totally suffer.

DmanDmythDledge

I wouldn't worry too much about your marks in Maths. 60% is pretty good for this part of the year. I failed my Christmas test last year, got D1 in mocks then C1 in LC. Keep up the work at it and you will get a very good B at least I'd say.