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HSC: The hardest question on this year’s math test has to be one of the hardest yet…so do you know the answer?
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More than 75,000 students are currently sitting their NSW HSC exams, but only 3,300 of them have sat the three-hour maths Extension 2 paper.
And looking at this year’s famous back page question, with its complex numbers – combining real and imaginary numbers – it’s hard to blame those who chose an easier option.
Complex numbers are used in physics, pure mathematics, aeronautics, and electrical engineering, so bright young students who take Extension 2 mathematics are likely headed for demanding college courses.
But even some of them found this year’s back page question more difficult than they expected.
“Questions 14 to 16 (the questions on the last page) were more difficult than usual,” said Vivian Xu, 17, of James Ruse Agricultural High School. Sydney Morning Herald.
More than 75,000 students are currently sitting their NSW HSC exams, but only 3,300 of them have sat the three-hour maths Extension 2 paper. A girl is shown working on a math question on a board.
Looking at this year’s famous back page question (pictured), with its complex numbers – combining real and imaginary numbers – it’s hard to blame those who chose an easier option.
Vivian said time was tight, but she still managed to answer all the questions two minutes early.
One of her classmates, Sizhe Pan, said: “Overall, it was quite difficult, and (there was) a greater concentration of medium to difficult questions, but I finished on time .
If questions involving complex numbers and using words like modulus seem difficult, it’s because they are designed that way.
Miriam Lees, consultant for the Mathematical Association of NSW, said questions 15 and 16 of the Extension 2 paper are specifically aimed at challenging top students.
Complex numbers “form the basis of much of our modern life,” she said, including calculating currents and voltages.
“To be able to turn on a fluorescent light, we need complex numbers.”
But Ms Lees admitted this year’s complex numbers questions were more difficult than she had ever seen before.
“Twenty years ago…students could use their algebraic brains to get the answer, this year you had to use geometry, advanced trigonometry and visual representations to solve it,” she said.
The advanced maths paper faced criticism online, with one TikTok user saying it was “ridiculously difficult”.
“NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority), what were you thinking about when you wrote that? » said the student.
The advanced maths paper faced criticism online, with one TikTok user saying it was “ridiculously difficult”. Students are pictured taking an exam
People who took the senior mathematics exam decades ago also said this year’s test seemed extraordinarily difficult.
“Seriously… 51 years ago I was in the top decile for Maths Extension 2… but I assure you the questions were nowhere near that level,” one man wrote on Twitter.
Although only 4.4 per cent of HSC pupils took the highest level of mathematics, there was a further gap within this figure, with twice as many boys taking the subject this year as girls.
A new maths curriculum will be introduced in NSW next year, designed to attract more people to study the subject for their HSC.