19 replies to this topic

[Hev]

i'm finding it hell on earth, i just really like the class.

i've been given 5 unconditional offers so this year was just kinda to mess about with.

[ad absurdum]

That's good to hear that you are doing really well now spoon2001, I'm sure you'll meet your Oxford offer no bother . Hev, at least you don't need the grades from this so you can try and enjoy the course without too much pressure.

Pesronally, I think it's not as fun as I thought it would be

[Hev]

yeah it makes this year a hell of a lot easier i must say.

i don't find the course perticularily spectacular. i do just have a good class for banter.

except i'm the only girl and when they start talking about golf... goodness me *rolls eyes*

[Steve]

Pesronally, I think it's not as fun as I thought it would be

That's a shame. I think it has a lot to do with your teacher. I don't know about yours, but some aren't comfortable teaching AH.

What's different from what you expected?

[ad absurdum]

Pesronally, I think it's not as fun as I thought it would be

That's a shame. I think it has a lot to do with your teacher. I don't know about yours, but some aren't comfortable teaching AH.

What's different from what you expected?

That could be it. Our teacher is very good, but this is the first time she's taught advanced higher, so I think it's a case of she just wants to make sure we know the course and pass the exam. I think it also doesn't help that no one in the class apart from me needs to pass or is doing maths at uni, so maybe it seems strange because I'm the only one who is really wanting do to work.

But yeah, it is a little different from what I was expecting. It's not so much the content (which of course I like ), but the types of questions we get in exams/textbooks. I just can't find repeating what is essentially the same question enjoyable

[ice_illusion]

yeah it makes this year a hell of a lot easier i must say.

i don't find the course perticularily spectacular. i do just have a good class for banter.

except i'm the only girl and when they start talking about golf... goodness me *rolls eyes*

I'd be glad if they stuck to golf. The boys in my class ended up with their legs in the air farting last lesson.


To be fair half the males were slightly disgusted too.

[st-and Paul]

Pesronally, I think it's not as fun as I thought it would be

That's a shame. I think it has a lot to do with your teacher. I don't know about yours, but some aren't comfortable teaching AH.

What's different from what you expected?

That could be it. Our teacher is very good, but this is the first time she's taught advanced higher, so I think it's a case of she just wants to make sure we know the course and pass the exam. I think it also doesn't help that no one in the class apart from me needs to pass or is doing maths at uni, so maybe it seems strange because I'm the only one who is really wanting do to work.

But yeah, it is a little different from what I was expecting. It's not so much the content (which of course I like ), but the types of questions we get in exams/textbooks. I just can't find repeating what is essentially the same question enjoyable

Advanced Higher is one of these basic skills courses which teaches the mathematical skills you need before you get to do some of the more exciting stuff later on. For example I ve had to do 1 and a half years of these kinds of courses at university before i ve got to applying the skills i learned in theses courses to problems in Applied Mathematics. The content of these courses are quite boring, and sometimes even soul destroying, but when you get to say 2nd year uni mathematics, thats when they start to introduce you to interesting stuff which you cant do without this prior knowledge.

Also for teaching a lot of them arent comfortable teaching Advanced Higher because its pitched at 1st year uni level work, which for some teachers is quite a while since they studied it themselves .

[Steve]

A bit off topic, but I just noticed you're from Edinburgh, ad absurdum. Did you/will you be going to the Edinburgh AH maths revision day at St. Thomas of Aquin's? I took/will be taking (hopefully) a class at it.

[ad absurdum]

Advanced Higher is one of these basic skills courses which teaches the mathematical skills you need before you get to do some of the more exciting stuff later on. For example I ve had to do 1 and a half years of these kinds of courses at university before i ve got to applying the skills i learned in theses courses to problems in Applied Mathematics. The content of these courses are quite boring, and sometimes even soul destroying, but when you get to say 2nd year uni mathematics, thats when they start to introduce you to interesting stuff which you cant do without this prior knowledge.

Ah okay, well at least I've got some fun stuff too look forward to in the future. There's still plenty of challenging stuff outside school maths that doesn't need as much specialist knowledge which I can do for the meantime

A bit off topic, but I just noticed you're from Edinburgh, ad absurdum. Did you/will you be going to the Edinburgh AH maths revision day at St. Thomas of Aquin's? I took/will be taking (hopefully) a class at it.

I hadn't heard of it before, and nothing's been mentioned at school about it. It does look good though (especially this part about free lunch ), can we just turn up or do you need to be booked in?

[John]

Bit useless info for you, but the head teacher of my school was the former head of the school you mentioned.

[maximus]

ha call me a sad git, but i'm really looking forward 2 doing adv maths next year it looks really interesting

[maximus]

ha call me a sad git, but i'm really looking forward 2 doing adv maths next year it looks really interesting

it isnt EXTREMELY hard is it?

[ad absurdum]

ha call me a sad git, but i'm really looking forward 2 doing adv maths next year it looks really interesting

it isnt EXTREMELY hard is it?

You should be able to repeat your higher grade at advanced higher if you work hard enough. It's a big step up in terms of workload but not so much in terms of difficulty I would say. But although there's alot more to it, it's definately more enjoyable than higher.

[ad absurdum]

Steve, I am going to the revision day at St. Thomas of Aquin's, I'll be going to the workshops on differential equations, sequence series and MacLaurin, and vectors.

[Steve]

Steve, I am going to the revision day at St. Thomas of Aquin's, I'll be going to the workshops on differential equations, sequence series and MacLaurin, and vectors.

I would probably have taken the sequences and series one, but unfortunately (in many ways) I have an exam that day so I had to pull out. I enjoyed it last time as well .

[maximus]

how are the people who are doing AH this year finding it? personally I find it pretty hard, but you do get alot of satisfaction after trawling through pages of algebra and get a right answer although I HATE number theory and proof in unit 2 and im dreading the further proofs in unit 3 Don't mind the rest of it too much, the calculus is hard but i still think its pretty good =p The only other thing I hate about it are these godforsaken text books xD They have too many mistakes and they make everything harder than it has to be. And some of the questions are ridiculously hard, I mean every period my teachers are saying "o you wont need to know this until uni" or "this was taken out of the course years ago" or the answers in the back of the book are oversimplified. Owell it's still pretty good though. Who else has applied to do it at uni? =]

[Wildespleen]

I'm loving it so far! Yes, it is challenging, but I'd have taken Art if I wanted an easy AH grade
I've found that by putting down one of the learning points, or formulae, or bits-to-remember or whatever you want to call them, on a bit of paper with a worked example underneath to demonstrate it's use works wonders come revision time! Only downside is, you need a fair bit of A4- my revision notes have almost become a textbook in it's own right
Taking it further into Mech Engineering at Uni, anybody else?

[Elizabeth Turner]

[b]I just began the Adv Higher course in June and I am finding the Product Rule, Quotient Rule etc. very challenging... I don't want to give up as i plan to do a maths degree at uni. Any tips would be very much appreciated as i need all the help i can get at the moment :S.

Lizzie xx[/b]

[Amanda H]

[b]I just began the Adv Higher course in June and I am finding the Product Rule, Quotient Rule etc. very challenging... I don't want to give up as i plan to do a maths degree at uni. Any tips would be very much appreciated as i need all the help i can get at the moment :S.

Lizzie xx[/b]

What is it specifically about the product and quotient rules that you are struggling with? Without knowing that the best advice I can give you is to do as many questions on both of these rules as you can until you feel you are confident using them. You do need to be comfortable using these rules as they form an important part of the course. With a bit of practice and making sure you get help when you need it you'll be differentiating in your sleep!

I sat the advanced higher exam just over a year ago and I'm now doing maths at uni so if you've got any other questions I can answer them for you.