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Applied maths help please

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  • 04-02-2014 8:10pm
    #1
    peterh1888
    Registered Users Posts: 7 ✭


    I'm doing my leaving this year and I am terrible at English (might not pass honours) so I was thinking of taking up applied maths to get a D in! Is it to late for me to take it up? I am doing honours maths and physics


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    #2
    Mr Pseudonym
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,237 ✭✭✭Mr Pseudonym


    Here's a link to a previous thread on this. My post appears to have shut it down!

    First things first, Physics will be effectively no use to you! Secondly, I don't think that App Maths is as easy as some suggest. Yes, anyone who's decent at maths should be able to answer the majority of questions they'll encounter. The problem, though, is getting to a point where one is consistently achieving the desired grade - I'd go from getting out a question in ~10mins (you have 150 mins to answer six q's - so about twenty-five mins per question), to spending hours trying fruitlessly to get another.

    Having said that, it's quite easy to pick up early attempt marks. And, the learning of three simple proofs would guarantee you twenty marks in Q8 (i.e. 7% of total). I don't envy you, and I suggest you go somewhere like the Institute to get instruction and notes. As I said in the thread I linked above, I'm not sure there're any more appropriate subjects to take at this late stage.

    Best of luck, and if you want any basic advice on questions to take, or whatever, I'm happy to answer.


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    #3
    peterh1888
    Registered Users Posts: 7 ✭peterh1888


    Thanks a lot. Really helped :)


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    #4
    ProjectManager
    Registered Users Posts: 26 ✭ProjectManager


    When I did my LC, I took up applied maths in 6th year and got a B. In those days there was no pressure like there is now and we just really did our homework - not much extra study. It wasn't until i was in 3rd level that i realised I could have gotten an A had I practiced pst exam papers.

    So it is possible, but it really depends on how much work you are willing to put in. If you are good at maths you will find the concepts very easy to understand and then it is all about practising as much as possible.

    This year my son is in TY and I am giving himself and some friends one hour a week grind in the subject. The reason for this is that all their friends and some of the teachers are scaring them away from applied maths, so i wanted to show the that it is nothing to be scared of. THey are doing very little work outside of the one hour (it is TY after all) and by May we will have the whole course covered. THey would be able to sit the LC in June and pass HL exam.

    Basically if you have an affinity for maths, you will find applied maths to be quite easy. Concepts are straight forward and overlap. There is no learning of pages and pages of stuff, just understand, think logically and practice.

    As the previous poster said you have to answer 6 questions. They are from the same sections every year. So Q1 is ALWAYS Accelerated Linear Motion and so on. you will need one on one assistance and focus on exam questions.

    By the way i am planning to start a campaign to encourage more people to take up applied maths. THey say that they changed project maths to make it more applicable to every day life, whereas in fact the real practical subject is right under their nose.

    Good Luck.


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    #5
    Mr Pseudonym
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,237 ✭✭✭Mr Pseudonym


    Mr Pseudonym wrote: »
    ...anyone who's decent at maths should be able to answer the majority of questions they'll encounter.
    ProjectManager wrote: »
    Basically if you have an affinity for maths, you will find applied maths to be quite easy.

    I feel I ought to refine what I said in my first post, in light of ProjectManager's. It's probably not true that "anyone who's decent at maths" would be relatively successful at App Maths. Occasionally I get into triumphant moods and proclaim that App Maths is for the masses! I think the truth is, though, that it's probably not. Perhaps more than any subject, App Maths dichotomises students. To use a dodgy analogy: if you can follow the root, all branches lead from there; but, if you can't, the branches can diverge quite substantially! There are some who will greatly struggle, and see each solution as being distinct from another, without being able to appreciate the common elements.

    I think, unquestionably, if you had a teacher, who taught you in a cynical manner, you could pick up a C, regardless of your standard. But, learning on your own, in four months, whilst retaining other subject commitments, makes it challenging.


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