The difficult HSC subject boys are rushing to enrol in

The number of students taking the hardest Higher School Certificate mathematics course remains near record levels as boys rush to enrol in the subject.

A snapshot of HSC data this year shows there are 3769 enrolments in the toughest course, mathematics extension 2, with boys making up 90 per cent of the extra 500 students taking the subject compared to a decade ago.

Mathematics teacher Eddie Woo said the increase in students choosing the extension course reflected students’ growing awareness of where maths could take them in their careers, as well as the early grades of high school where teachers built up students’ capability.

“It’s a slow boil kind of thing,” he said.

Woo said a focus in early years of high school on the importance of being able to perform mathematical procedures well (procedural fluency), in tandem with ensuring students had a deep understanding of the underlying concept (conceptual understanding) had bolstered students’ ability when they got to the senior years.

“So those two are kind of two wings of a plane,” he said. “If you have only one, you are in trouble. You’re only going to get so far.”

Those twin capabilities were particularly important when it came to HSC extension mathematics subjects because they asked non-routine questions and students needed a strong conceptual grasp of the maths to work out how to solve them.

“If you don’t understand what the concepts are about and how to apply them in novel ways, you’re like, ‘I don’t know how to start this question’.”

The gender enrolment imbalance could also be traced back to girls’ prior experience of mathematics lessons in earlier years of school.

“So many times over the years I have taught a class and the girls are great at maths, but they don’t feel as confident,” Woo said.

“Boys make mistakes. Girls make them. But the girls tend to take it harder. Boys kind of just shrug it off.”

As a result, girls were more likely to internalise a false narrative that they are not naturally good at mathematics.

“I think it has an outsized influence on girls,” he said.

“I’ve had to convince some of the best mathematicians in my classes who were girls because they’d say: ’This, this is really hard for me. I feel like it’s not coming naturally.”

Enrolment data also shows the number of students across NSW choosing mathematics standard 1, which has an optional exam for students who wish to get an ATAR, has increased by more than 60 per cent since 2019 when it was first introduced, to 8389 students this year.

Enrolments in the most popular course, mathematics standard 2 have remained stable at 31,698 enrolments while those taking advanced mathematics dipped by over 1000 students to 16,151.

At Quakers Hill High School, more students are enrolling in advanced mathematics subjects including year 12 student Aarchi Dhobi, who will sit the advanced and extension 1 exam this year.

She chose the difficult maths course because her teachers gave her confidence and a strong understanding of mathematical concepts throughout the high school years.

“I think the support from the teachers in just pushing us and explaining everything properly just led me to choosing extension maths,” she said.

Ahead of HSC exams, which start on October 13, she’s been practising past papers which are both a challenge and “really fun”.

“I feel like they’re a good way to challenge your brain, and it’s like you get to think outside the box.”

The school’s head of maths Melhem Daghel said the teachers had traced back the key concepts they needed to succeed in the senior years and mapped to how they taught year 7.

“So when we’re teaching our junior kids we say, this is what you need to know for the HSC … so by the end of Year 10 they already have an idea because it’s been reinforced from the younger year groups.”

“Because we’ve seen success year after year – more kids choosing advanced maths, more kids succeeding in advanced maths – the younger year groups are seeing that, and their confidence within our school has grown.”

It is the first year at the school that a cohort of year 11 students have enrolled in extension 2, which will be taught via distance learning.

“This is the first time we’ve had that happen,” he said.

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