The research published in theAustralian Journal of Education showed that on average general maths students were almost twice as likely to improve their results based on their corresponding year 10 school certificate data. Those that studied advanced mathematics were three times more likely to see a reduction in their results with a nine mark advantage between the two courses.
"There is a clear and strong message from students that higher level mathematics is not the preferred option for the HSC,"wrote the reports author David Pitt."The current scaling mechanism provides a strong incentive to take general mathematics for a very large group of students."
The NSW Mathematics Teachers Association has called for a complete overhaul of the ATAR system since it does not properly differentiate students,unlike its Victorian counterpart,which scales the maths courses against each other.
The former chief examiner of HSC mathematics,Brad Elliott,said he complained to the University Admissions Centre (UAC) in 2013 after he saw his students being ripped off by taking on the more challenging course.
In a response to Mr Elliot,the chair of the technical committee on scaling,acknowledged that the current HSC structure does not provide any common ground on which to link performance on general mathematics and advanced mathematics but that universities were more likely to adopt reward systems for those who took on the more difficult course.
Research by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute in 2014 found the trend was moving in the opposite direction with NSW universities increasingly listing assumed knowledge in degrees rather than pre-requisites. The shift has meant that students do not necessarily have to complete advanced maths in order to undertake university courses with maths components resulting in higher drop out rates.