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How hard is higher maths?

I was just wondering coming from int 2 this year i choose higher maths and in our school more then half the people fail it. Despite getting a A in my prelim my teacher recommened me not to tke it as he said "its too big of a jump". My school has probably the WORST teachers ever, they are so negative and to be honest i dont relli care what he said as i have been put down quite a lot of times but always seem to pass even when not recommened like even higher english, i did it despite now being recommened anyways i am rambling on here lol. My point is how difficult is higher maths, what does it consist off? I have a tutor which i think will help me quite a bit.

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Reply 1
I did higher maths after int GCSE in yr 9 and 10. I thought I'd coast it but mate, it is hands down THE MOST DIFFICULT paper of every GCSE. I'm not trying to put you off but even being as good as I was, of our set being top set, only 8 people were selected of which the potential A* being 5 of us candidates had an extra class friday afternoons.

I hope that gives you an idea, I got a C in my GCSE exam in yr 9
I took higher maths at school and got a U. However, we had one hour after school on it a week for about 3 months before the exam and the majority of people got a U with me. If your gonna do it, most of the work to get a good grade will be done at home, and itll suck up a lot of time. You sound pretty determined though so why not? Even if you fail its no big deal, I did and still got into further maths at college and have got an A in all the exams so far so just go for it.
Reply 3
Scottish. :smile:

It depends, if you're logical then it's a breeze, if you're more englishy, it's like being **** in the face by a bird.
Reply 4
I just found int 2 so easy so thought i might aswell take it but now im not sure, no one finds it like ok everyone says its so hard.
Hi I got an A for my Intermediate 2 and sat my higher in 2008 - the year that multiple choice was introduced and got a B. It is a big jump but if you are willing to put in the work you should be fine.
AqsaJaved
I was just wondering coming from int 2 this year i choose higher maths and in our school more then half the people fail it. Despite getting a A in my prelim my teacher recommened me not to tke it as he said "its too big of a jump". My school has probably the WORST teachers ever, they are so negative and to be honest i dont relli care what he said as i have been put down quite a lot of times but always seem to pass even when not recommened like even higher english, i did it despite now being recommened anyways i am rambling on here lol. My point is how difficult is higher maths, what does it consist off? I have a tutor which i think will help me quite a bit.


It's not for the faint-hearted. :o:

More seriously... Teachers want to scare you at the start of the year to encourage you to study, however for Maths, it's probably wise to listen to them. A lot of people fail Higher because the SQA make Int 2 too easy, so be aware of that. There is a big jump from Int 2 to Higher in terms of difficulty, I felt I needed to study a lot more and work throughout the year to keep up. But remember, everyone finds different things difficult, you might find it a piece of cake or you might find it well... like all hell has broke loose...

A tutor will help for sure. If you struggled at Int 2, I wouldn't recommend Higher Maths though. I'd ignore #2 and #3 posts as they're talking about different exams. I did SQA Higher Maths, so if you have any questions I'll try and helps. :smile:
Reply 7
Heather with the Weather
It's not for the faint-hearted. :o:

More seriously... Teachers want to scare you at the start of the year to encourage you to study, however for Maths, it's probably wise to listen to them. A lot of people fail Higher because the SQA make Int 2 too easy, so be aware of that. There is a big jump from Int 2 to Higher in terms of difficulty, I felt I needed to study a lot more and work throughout the year to keep up. But remember, everyone finds different things difficult, you might find it a piece of cake or you might find it well... like all hell has broke loose...

A tutor will help for sure. If you struggled at Int 2, I wouldn't recommend Higher Maths though. I'd ignore #2 and #3 posts as they're talking about different exams. I did SQA Higher Maths, so if you have any questions I'll try and helps. :smile:

Thanks a lot, i will probably have questions when i start it so i shall keep tht in mind, thanks :smile:
Reply 8
I sat in the class doodling for a year and I managed to get a C in both my prelims. If you work hard it should be no bother. I don't think a tutor really makes that big a difference - the two girls in my standard grade class who had tutors failed. I suppose it depends on the tutor, though.
Reply 9
AqsaJaved
I was just wondering coming from int 2 this year i choose higher maths and in our school more then half the people fail it. Despite getting a A in my prelim my teacher recommened me not to tke it as he said "its too big of a jump". My school has probably the WORST teachers ever, they are so negative and to be honest i dont relli care what he said as i have been put down quite a lot of times but always seem to pass even when not recommened like even higher english, i did it despite now being recommened anyways i am rambling on here lol. My point is how difficult is higher maths, what does it consist off? I have a tutor which i think will help me quite a bit.


I really struggled with higher maths up until around Christmas, but once my parents got me a tutor I started doing really well, went from 58% in the first prelim to 86% in the second one.

If you've got a decent tutor then you should definitely take Higher maths. What are you looking to do after school? Higher maths is a fairly valuable qualification.
Reply 10
I got an A in my Int 2 and thought I would do higher in 6th year. For me that was a bad idea, I was never the best at maths and found it really difficult, plus I had the worst teacher ever! In the end I didn't do the exam because I new I would fail (got like 30% in the prelim), but I passed my unit tests. Depends if you really enjoy the subject and are good at it.
Reply 11
if you are prepared to put in the effort at home then you will do fine. the first unit is the hardest to be honest. If you start revising say october doing 3-4 hours a week you will do fine. i couldnt do it at start of year and got an A1 in the second prelim.
Reply 12
I decided to do Higher after getting a 1 in standard grade, it was a massive kick in the teeth lol, i didnt work as hard as i should of, got 40% in the prelim, 14 marks in the unit 3 AB test, and i think i have failed the exam, so i am doing it again now im in 6th year, i really am going to work extremely hard this time. So if you are willing to really do lots of work (dont pretend to yourself that you will try like i did) then you could do very well :smile:
Reply 13
I'm just savouring all these medians, centroids and straight line formulae while I wait for the hard stuff to kick in :frown:
I know I'll look back on these days with fondness a couple of months into the course.
Reply 14
If you're gifted at maths or willing to work hard it's do-able. Just make sure you do the assigned homework and check you can do the most difficult questions in the exercise. That way you know you understand what you're doing.

Oh and not trying to scare you but don't base anything on the NABs. You're basically meant to pass them and everyone in my class passed them all first time bar one or two people.

But don't let people put you off. All the people who were exceptional at SG are still good at Higher. You're not magically going to go from wonderful to awful. Yes, you may find it harder but not so much so you wont be able to do it, especially if you have a tutor.

And if thousands of people can pass it every year, why not you? :smile:
Reply 15
Honestly, logical brain = great success for higher maths! I'm doing AH maths this year so...
Reply 16
Lulope
especially if you have a tutor.

:smile:


This bull crap about a tutor annoys the **** out of me! Tutors are for lazy people who think that they need more help when, in fact, it is themselves not trying hard enough! Tutors are a complete joke!:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
Reply 17
akimbo
This bull crap about a tutor annoys the **** out of me! Tutors are for lazy people who think that they need more help when, in fact, it is themselves not trying hard enough! Tutors are a complete joke!:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:


or for people that have a teacher that cannot teach to save their live. this happened to me for higher chemistry after getting the best teacher in the school for standard grade.
Reply 18
akimbo
This bull crap about a tutor annoys the **** out of me! Tutors are for lazy people who think that they need more help when, in fact, it is themselves not trying hard enough! Tutors are a complete joke!:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:


Says who? What if you cannot cope with the pace in your higher class but some individual tuition would be the little bit extra needed to allow you to pass. How on earth can you judge how hard people are trying? Not everyone find maths easy, despite some giving it all they have. Just because you find something easy doesn't mean it's easy.
Reply 19
Higher Maths is a challenging subject to take and if you want to take it you need a lot of dedication and commitment. A lot of people in my year dropped out after their prelims because they thought that they couldn't handle it but if you stick with the subject until the end, you'll see your grade improve vastly. I struggled with maths for the first half of the school year but afterwards everything seemed to click and I was actually enjoying it because I understood it really well. Trust me, it's a challenging subject but with some extra work at home and a sound understanding of the topics you can see yourself getting at least a B in the finals.

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