The shaded area indicates a University (ATAR) Pathway.

Mathematics Specialist and Methods TEA Bonus

What is the bonus?
10% of the final scaled score/s in Mathematics Methods and Mathematics Specialist will be added to the Tertiary Entrance Aggregate, from which the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) is derived. If you take Mathematics Methods and Mathematics Specialist, you will get the bonus from each of them. Even if one or both of the mathematics courses isn’t one of your best four scaled scores, the bonus will still be added to the aggregate. The bonus does not apply to Mathematics Applications.

Mathematics Course Combinations

For university admission, unacceptable combination rules will apply to Mathematics ATAR courses:

• Mathematics Applications ATAR and Mathematics Specialist ATAR are an unacceptable combination.
• Only one scaled score from the unacceptable combination can be used in the calculation of the ATAR.
• Scores from Mathematics Methods ATAR and Mathematics Specialist ATAR still benefit from the TEA 10% bonus point.

Mathematics Specialist
The Mathematics Specialist ATAR course has been designed to be taken in conjunction with the Mathematics Methods ATAR course. Mathematics Specialist is an ATAR course which provides opportunities, beyond those presented in the Mathematics Methods ATAR course, to develop rigorous mathematical arguments and proofs, and to use mathematical models more extensively. The Mathematics Specialist ATAR course contains topics in functions and calculus that build on and deepen the ideas presented in the Mathematics Methods ATAR course, as well as demonstrate their application in many areas. This course also extends understanding and knowledge of statistics and introduces the topics of vectors, complex numbers and matrices. The Mathematics Specialist ATAR course is designed for students with a strong interest in mathematics, including those intending to study mathematics, statistics, all sciences and associated fields, economics or engineering at university. Students of the Mathematics Specialist ATAR course will be able to appreciate the true nature of mathematics, its beauty and its functionality.

• TEA Bonus Points apply: 10% of the final scaled score/s in Mathematics Mathematics Specialist ATAR will be added to the TEA, from which the ATAR is derived.
• The Mathematics Specialist ATAR course is the only ATAR mathematics course that should not be taken as a stand-alone course. It must be taken with the Methods course.

Year 12 Mathematics Specialist ATAR

Course Description

The Year 12 syllabus is divided into two units, which are delivered as a pair.  In this course there is a progression of content, applications, level of sophistication and abstraction. For example, vectors in the plane are introduced in Year 11 Unit 1 and then in Year 12 Unit 3, they are studied for three-dimensional space. In Unit 3, the topic ‘Vectors in three dimensions’ leads to the establishment of the equations of lines and planes, and this in turn, prepares students for solving simultaneous equations in three variables.

Organisation of content

Unit 3 - topics

This unit contains the three topics:

3.1   Complex numbers

3.2   Functions and sketching graphs

3.3   Vectors in three dimensions

Unit 4 - topics

This unit contains the three topics:

4.1   Integration and applications of integration

4.2   Rates of change and differential equations

4.3   Statistical inference