Need over 500 points! tips? and should I keep up HL maths

Paddyg96

I do 7 honors including maths which I narrowly failed in the mocks (with literally no study or homework done all year).

I know if I put a good bit of work in I can pass in the real thing but as I already have 6 other subjects that I'm aiming for high b's and a's in, should I drop?

Is it risky to do only 6 honors subjects?

12 weeks to the real thing and I haven't really started studying yet!

Only got around 430 in the mocks and I want to bring that up to 500+ for BESS, any tips are also appreciated:)

_becca_

I was in the same situation - took OL maths in 6th year and managed to get 540 with 6 HL subjects. Unless it's going to be an advantage to or required for your course I'd advise dropping maths if you think it will take a lot of work, especially if you could spend that time on your other subjects and get the As/Bs rather than just passing (which is still a pretty good achievement with HL maths).

Don't worry too much about the 430 in the mocks, it's a very good result and remember they're in January/February and the LC is in June - you're not supposed to know everything for them. Look at your papers to see exactly where you lost marks and how you can improve. Good luck!

d1234

On the note of maths - very interesting article in today's Independent... http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/education/maths-bonus-the-key-to-winning-cao-race-31048176.html

quadrifoglio verde

I went from 425 in the mocks to 545 in the real thing so it's definitely doable and that was without cutting myself off from society either.
Just put the head down and study its only a few weeks and the work you've done between now and then will stand to you.

With regards to honours maths I don't know. I didn't count honours maths, but under the new system I would have bringing me up to 565. However looking back the work that went into honours maths was twice what went into every other subject. So chances are I'd have picked up another 20 points elsewhere (I was 1% off a higher grade in two of my subjects).

bpb101

I dont know what you can need 500 points for if you aint got no hl maths??

edit: sorry missed that BESS - Yeah still do maths easier to get a c in hl maths than an A in OL

Leaving2015

Stick with Higher level maths . For the mocks you didnt have near then all the course covered so you will only improve in dramatically . I would also advise that you start studying now . I am also aiming for BESS( number 1 on CAO )

AtomicKoala

d1234 wrote: »

On the note of maths - very interesting article in today's Independent... http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/education/maths-bonus-the-key-to-winning-cao-race-31048176.html

http://cdn3.independent.ie/incoming/article31048087.ece/7a7aa/BINARY/maths.png

Just looking at these figures - they seem way off. No way only 32% of those offered medicine, and only 41% of those offered Dentistry did HL Maths. Even 65% for Pharmacy strikes me as low. At least 90% of the Irish people in UCC medicine would have done HL Maths.

spurious

AtomicKoala wrote: »

http://cdn3.independent.ie/incoming/article31048087.ece/7a7aa/BINARY/maths.png

Just looking at these figures - they seem way off. No way only 32% of those offered medicine, and only 41% of those offered Dentistry did HL Maths. Even 65% for Pharmacy strikes me as low. At least 90% of the Irish people in UCC medicine would have done HL Maths.

They seem a bit odd to me too.

randylonghorn

AtomicKoala wrote: »

http://cdn3.independent.ie/incoming/article31048087.ece/7a7aa/BINARY/maths.png

Just looking at these figures - they seem way off. No way only 32% of those offered medicine, and only 41% of those offered Dentistry did HL Maths. Even 65% for Pharmacy strikes me as low. At least 90% of the Irish people in UCC medicine would have done HL Maths.

I wonder would it be 32% who counted HL Maths as one of their six though?

Just because they took HL wouldn't always mean that even with the bonus they would end up counting it ... especially with people who might not have chosen to take it were it not for the bonus.

AtomicKoala

randylonghorn wrote: »

I wonder would it be 32% who counted HL Maths as one of their six though?

Just because they took HL wouldn't always mean that even with the bonus they would end up counting it ... especially with people who might not have chosen to take it were it not for the bonus.

I was considering that but that's still and impossibility. While one wouldn't discuss it ad nauseum, it's pretty obvious that the vast majority would have counted it. Not a hope only 64% counted HL maths, nevermind 32%. The HPAT and bonus points seem to have very much killed once successful tactic of getting medicine by dropping maths.

I can't find any source bar "The new figures have been supplied exclusively to the Irish Independent by the CAO."

Now, if it was the Irish Times I'd say one thing, but the Indo is the Indo. Wouldn't be shocked if some person made this up on the back of a napkin then gave it to the Indo tbh.

randylonghorn

AtomicKoala wrote: »

I was considering that but that's still and impossibility. While one wouldn't discuss it ad nauseum, it's pretty obvious that the vast majority would have counted it.

Dunno tbh, I know a fair few who would have done HL maths with the bonus in mind and got a D-grade and didn't end up counting it, more especially for the higher end courses as they were probably doing all honours subjects anyway, or all-honours-except-pass-Irish, or something like that.

AtomicKoala wrote: »

Now, if it was the Irish Times I'd say one thing, but the Indo is the Indo. Wouldn't be shocked if some person made this up on the back of a napkin then gave it to the Indo tbh.

Probably not, but very few journalists understand enough to interpret these kind of education stats well when confronted with a raft of them. The annual "the increases on appeal of English marks was the highest, reflecting the subjectivity of English marking" bs is the obvious example ... the rate of upgrades in English is actually around the middle compared to other HL subjects, but because pretty much everyone does English the number of upgrades in English is often the highest or thereabouts, and they latch on to that without looking more deeply.

whoopsadaisy

Hey

Exact same situation as you this time last year. Just failed maths by a few percent in the mocks, got 410 overall. I failed French as well so I decided to drop that and stick with the HL Maths and I was so so happy I did. I got 520 in the real thing and I'm doing BESS now. But let's say I stuck with HL French and dropped maths instead, and got the same grade (B3), I would have came away with 495 which would have put me at a really risky position for the course.

I'm not saying you'll be exactly the same but the 25 points really, really helps if you're not 100% confident in your grades and I was genuinely shocked with how generously they must have marked it. The majority of our class failed or barely passed at Christmas and in the Mocks and came out with B's and C's in the real thing (keeping in mind you only need a D3 for BESS).

One OL subject does alleviate a lot of pressure but unless you're really not coping I think you should stick with it! It will benefit you in first year BESS as well!!