1. I love it.
2. I get challenged with my thinking and I get to think about and consider so many different aspects about reality and the fundamental things that surround me. Overall I really love the thinking aspect.
3. Some of the texts/philosophers are a bit boring. I don't particularly enjoy the ethics unit (Unit 4) but it's not too bad.
4. N/A.
5. I have about 4 hours of Philosophy class per week, and I do about 5-6ish hours at home for homework and study (I used to do more at the start of the year, but I needed to balance it with my other subjects).
6. Exams are really hard for Philosophy. You basically need to learn arguments, examples and implications for 10-11 Philosophers, and you don't know what they are going to ask about in the exam. It's a lot to revise for. In terms of SACs, this will really depend on your school, but mostly they will just be comprehension short answer questions, extended response questions and essays. The first two types test your knowledge, evaluative and comparative skills, whereas the essays test your understanding of the implications of the arguments and your own reasoning abilities.
7. Definitely Minds & Bodies (metaphysics). I really loved all the class debates about consciousness and the mind and I think the texts we had were really great. Epistemology is also great in my opinion.
8. Ethics. Obviously the most practical topic in philosophy but the texts we have this year are pretty boring.
9. Just study a lot. Use the textbook, make sure that you actually understand the arguments you are reading. Some people will make summaries but I think it's actually better to take brief notes and answer some of the comprehension questions from the textbook. Also try and highlight key premises and conclusions in the texts.
10. My teacher is amazing! He is always engaging with everyone in the class and does everything he can to help people understand. He is great at initiating debates (which in my opinion is the most central and important thing for VCE Philosophy). This style helps me understand the content so well.
11. Our class is very focused around debates and discussions and it definitely helps. I just can't see how you could enjoy philosophy if you didn't discuss the topics with your classmates/teacher/family/friends! When you have to explain a philosopher's argument to someone else, you will really be able to tell whether or not you actually understand it because if you are explaining it and it doesn't seem quite right then you probably haven't understood it well enough. Discussing it can also really help in identifying the weaknesses of other's arguments and that definitely helps.
12. I only found out about it at the end of year 10, not knowing at all what philosophy even was, I just thought it sounded pretty cool. Now, in year 12, I absolutely love it and I am taking it to help my reasoning skills and critical thinking skills. It helps in pretty much all of my other subjects as it is so analytical and focused around thinking about a range of different ideas, concepts and questions (ie. what is our mind made of? is there any grounds to believe that we are one person over a period of time? what is right? can morals be objective?).
13. I am doing very well in Philosophy because I love it so much and I feel like I engage with it really well. I could be doing better but my SAC average is still high (95ish). A lot of my good grades have come from just putting in the work and reading the texts, as well as actively participating in class discussions. Without the class discussions, lots of things would still be unclear to me and I would not be doing as well as I am.
Hope this was helpful, if you have any other questions then just message me and I'd be happy to try and answer them!