How to get into Year 10 Mathematics 5.3 from Year 9 Mathematics 5.2

Your child has just completed Year 9 Mathematics 5.2 and wants to get into Year 10 Mathematics 5.3 because they have goals for tertiary study.
A tough one but definitely possible.

TRANSCRIPT

Good morning! This is Jason Ursino from Learning Space, and I'm driving to school.

Today I’m going to be talking about something quite specific and that is for Stage 5 Mathematics.

This is where your son or daughter has just finished Year 9 Maths and is about to start Year 10 Maths or just started Year 10 Maths. And they've just completed 5.2 Maths in Year 9 and they did very well in it. And they would like to do 5.3 Year 10. Now, I've seen this quite a bit, because what happens is, in Year 9 to Year 10, the student develops a little bit of maturity, starts to think about what they want to do, starts to think about what they want to do in Year 11 and 12 and realise that for them to do a higher level maths in Year 11 and 12, they need to do some sort of 5.3 in Year 9 and 10.

And if they just completed Year 9 5.2, that's a problem, they hit a brick wall and think now I'm stuck because I did 5.2 Year 9, which means I'm going to do 5.2 Year 10. Which basically means I can only do Mathematics Standard in Year 11 and 12. It's disheartening for some students when they realise that they can't do what they want to do and they can't get into the dream vocation that they want to get into in tertiary study. So this is a big one and it's very specific, it's a specific situation.

What I suggest the student does, or you, supporting the student, is to first of all, they need to make sure they did well in 5.2 Year 9. So they need to do exceptionally well and when I say, did well, I mean really, really well. If they did really well in 5.2 Year 9, that's the first point of call, they need to make sure they do well in that.

The second point of call is then to prove to the teachers and to the head of mathematics, that they are capable of doing 5.3 Year 10. A lot of schools will not just allow the student to move from 5.2 to 5.3. Simply because they have not learned the content. They haven't learned the content of the 5.3 course in Year 9. So it's important to show to the teachers that you know the content. And I think the best way to do this is to approach the teacher or the head of maths and simply say, give me a couple of weeks, and I will sit the 5.3 exam, the yearly exam of 5.3 in Year 9. So you say okay, I want to sit the 5.3 tests, I want to sit the 5.3 test in Year 9, that was done at the end of Year 9 and the idea is to try and perform well in it to prove to the teachers that you know the 5.3 content from Year 9 that you missed. Once you have shown the teachers that you know the 5.3 content, then there is a good chance that the teachers would be like, "Oh, this kid has shown some initiative and also looks like they know their 5.3 content in Year 9, let's give him a shot in the 5.3 Year 10".

So what you will need to do is you'll need to in those couple of weeks study pretty hard, you will need to learn all the content on your own. Perhaps with some sort of support maybe a tutor or a friend in the same grade that did the 5.3, you might need to get some of the materials, maybe borrow a 5.3 textbook, go through the content make sure you understand the extra content they did in Year 9 and make sure you're able to do perhaps some past papers or the 5.3 Year 9. Once you sit that exam and you show that you can do it, you then have a strong case to say to the teachers, “you know what, I am capable of doing 5.3 Year 10 because I just showed you that I can do the 5.3 content of Year 9”.

Hopefully that helps. If you ever want to reach out, please get in touch with us through learningspace.net.au.

And if you like my videos, there are more of them at learningspace.net.au/drivingtoschool and have a good day.