[AISL][AASL] AISL to AASL: da transition

Tell me if this sounds familiar.

Summer before IB, submitting your subject choice: aIsL iS sO eASy iMmA gEt a 45

Summer before DP2, looking at uni requirements: oh FUCK me no uni accepts this bird course!

 

Panik panik panik.

Proceed to ask (read: beg) the coordinator to move you to AASL to get into the major you want to pursue.

They raise their eyebrows, looking a little suspicious, really doubt if you could make it.

But most likely they’re gonna say yes.

You’ve got their green light, jumping in joy. September comes by, you see “the chain rule” on the board and proceed to read it as hieroglyphs.

 

Welcome to AASL.

 

Getting their permission is the first step. Now the hard part arrives: how to catch up with your classmates and how to come across as not totally out of your depth.

 

Today’s post focuses on the transition from AISL to AASL.

The key things you should know to make the transition a little less bumpy.

 

(1) difference in content

This one is pretty obvious – just look at the titles!

 

There’s a LOT of quality resources for AASL, more than anyone could realistically get their hands on. But you don’t have to use mine; I know that my content caters students who are targeting 6s and 7s apart from the Survival Papers.

 

Algebra

AISL doesn’t require decent algebra skills, but AASL can easily become a disaster if you cannot factorise quadratic expressions. Simply put, most questions in AISL require a GDC and most questions in AASL require algebra.

 

Ask your school for the list of topics the class covers in DP1. You probably have to make up for a handful of topics before school starts, but that’s alright, because you’ll be constantly playing catchup in uni! Just sayin’.

 

If you’re not sure where to start, check out the Foundations of Algebra booklet (F0) where I selected a handful of topics that a student at the start of DP1 should know to have a good shot at getting a 7.

 

Trigonometry

AASL covers a lot more trigonometry than AISL, as students taking AASL are usually required to take calculus courses in uni. Trigonometry is, by far, my favourite topic, and thus I wrote three (yes, you read it right) booklets on trigonometry on the website, all free to download. I’m sure if you actually follow my notes and pay close attention to the worked examples you’re gonna love trigonometry. C:

 

(2) difference in assessments

The internal assessment is going to be pretty similar.

However, the stark difference is in the non-calculator paper, also known as Paper 1.

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to notice that you’re NOT allowed to use your GDC on this paper. And this comes with a few problems.

- you can’t brute force your way through the problem – slow down and think of a smarter way to solve it

- you can’t pull the good ol’ trick “I’m gonna graph this guy and read off the roots” – nope that’s not an option.

- you need to be comfortable with exact values for some trig ratios and surds manipulation; both are covered in the Foundations of Algebra unit test.

 

You’ll still have a chance to show off your fancy GDC skills on Paper 2, and trust me, that’s when the pure mathematicians struggle (or cringe) a bit.

 

(3) Gameplan

The summer before DP2, if you don’t know where to start, you can use my AASL study plan as a starting point. At the bare minimum, you should be comfortable with quadratic equations. A lot of things are going to look very similar to what you did in AISL, just at more depth.

 

The transition is gonna be rough, but it opens up so many doors. That’s why you considered it in the first place right? Now work your ass off and get that sweet 7!

 

As usual, may the odds be ever in your favour. C:

 

Andrew