UMEP help

[Immune_Sushi]

Hello, I am currently a year 10 student doing early entry in Methods 1&2.

I am planning to do:
1&2 physics, chemistry, spesh, methods, chinese SLA and English + 3&4 Methods in Yr 11

This gives me a total of 6 VCE subjects by the end of Yr12, and I am wondering if I would be still be eligible for UMEP as it was meant to be counted as the fifth or sixth subject, but in my current situation, it would count as the 7th.

I'm interested in doing the UMEP for physics but it requires me to do physics 3&4 in year 11, which is impossible considering the fact that I am only allowed to do only one 1&2 subject in year 10  . What would be other "alternative paths"?

And for the former UMEP students in physics, how hard is it comparing to the Unit 1&2 and 3&4 phyiscs? Could you offer me some of your "wisdom" as well?

[cooldude123]

Hey there,

I was in a very similar situation- regarding eligibility for UMEP, yes you would still be able to have it count as a 5th/6th subject depending on how well you do on it and other subjects- but do note that one of your subjects will have to be discounted from the top 4 and bottom 2 calculations (be it UMEP or another subject).

In my year, you could still do UMEP Physics without having done 3/4 physics, but you had to either HD the NQE (Physics Olympiad) or do a placement test.

Difficulty wise, it does take some more thought than a VCE subject, and be prepared to put in work for some of the more difficult topics, but workload wise, you won't have to do things like prepare for SACs (since assessment is basically the mid and end of year exams) or churn out as many practice exams so it's very manageable (I did 5 VCE subjects in Year 12).

Overall, UMEP Physics was very fun for me, but do have a think about whether you personally believe it is worth the time and effort to do a 7th subject.

[Immune_Sushi]

Thanks that really cleared up my confusion

[zsteve]

I feel like I should caution, just in case you don't know:
UMEP Physics is a bit of a tricky case, in that you complete 2 units of uni level physics in year 12. However, due to maths prereqs (AM1, AM2 or Calc 2 and Linear Algebra), it's not possible to continue to 2nd year level physics in first year. So you (a) won't be able to do physics in first year, and jump into 2nd year physics in 2nd year or (b) will have to do first year physics anyway (refusing credit for UMEP).

UMEP Chem or UMEP Maths both allow progression to Level 2 subjects as there aren't maths prereqs.

[Immune_Sushi]

what do you mean by "not being possible to continue to 2nd year level physics in first year "

[antony01001000]

Not OP,  but what he means is usually UMEP subjects (such as chemistry and maths listed) get counted as their respective subjects at the University of Melbourne, so if you do first year chemistry or biology in vce you will be able to do second year chemistry or biology in first year uni. However, physics is more difficult.

If you choose to do UMEP physics, you will be unable to do second year physics in first year university unlike the subjects mentioned prior. This is due to second year physics requiring prerequisite math subjects such as calculus 2 and linear algebra.

[zsteve]

^ This is spot on. This does NOT mean you HAVE to redo first year physics though! Ideally students would be able to do other subjects for the first year (no level 1 physics, as they did that in UMEP), and jump straight into level 2 in 2nd year. However, a friend of mine wasn't happy with that so he refused credit for UMEP and is now doing the advanced stream for first year physics (he is breezing through it btw haha)