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March 30, 2024, 02:53:36 am

Poll

Which one? (Please read post first :) )

Psychology
4 (50%)
Chinese SLA
4 (50%)

Total Members Voted: 7

Voting closed: February 05, 2019, 06:22:22 pm

Author Topic: Psychology or Chinese SLA? Please help!  (Read 1831 times)  Share 

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prawnigiri

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Psychology or Chinese SLA? Please help!
« on: January 06, 2019, 05:42:50 pm »
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Hello! So here is my situation that is making me lose sleep over:

I'm going into year 11 this year with around 2 weeks of the Christmas break left. I have done unit 1/2 of both Psychology and Chinese SLA in year 10 and I've already submitted my forms into doing Chinese as well as taken the classes for year start.

However, I realised that it's going to be extremely difficult to receive a good mark in SLA (I'm aiming for a 35 raw :'0), as I came to Australia very young and my Chinese skill is very poor. My confidence level decreased significantly when all my older classmates and friends in did not receive above 40 in SLA when their Chinese is extremely good. My class is also TINY meaning we will have to get cross-marked on sacs and the situation for general conv and detailed study is not too pretty as well.

On the other hand I have done well in Psych all last year in 1/2, receiving all A+ in sacs, and I also love it and have the confidence to do well!

Honestly it's the knowledge of the scaling of the two subjects as well as the inconvenience (already missed year start and less time from holiday to make notes) and fear of disapproval I'm going to receive if I choose psych instead (because I'm chinese lol)

As the most indecisive being on this planet, I plead you to give me your view/experience with which one to choose. Psychology or Chinese SLA. Thank you!!! :')

Here's a table just for a better understanding C: 

PSYCHOLOGY

PROS
- I love it a lot
- I've done very well in unit 1/2
- I feel confident in doing well

CONS
- It scales down :'0
- I've already missed classes of year start and do not have textbook to get a early right now during the holidays
- The process to change subject is a lot of trouble
- Many people will give me hell for changing (bc I'm chinese and it's the norm for us to do chinese)

CHINESE SLA

PROS
- It scales up significantly (though not as much as SL >:'()
- People won't judge me lmao ;;

CONS
- It's going to make my year tough because I don't enjoy it thus no motivation
- Nor am I good at it, so it will be really difficult for me to get above 30 raw I believe

Please help me! I would really appreciate it ><

aspiringantelope

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Re: Psychology or Chinese SLA? Please help!
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2019, 05:44:57 pm »
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If you do Psychology in Year 11, are you going to be doing Chinese SLA in Year 12?

sweetiepi

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Re: Psychology or Chinese SLA? Please help!
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2019, 05:50:47 pm »
+4
Honestly you shouldn't let scaling be a deciding factor for subjects you take.
I also recommend taking the subject you enjoy more; chances are that you'll do better at it than a subject you truly hate/have no motivation for.

It's also your subject choice, not anyone else's, so being judged for not taking a subject is a pretty poor attitude to have by those people tbh. :)

Best of luck with the subject choice! ^-^
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prawnigiri

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Re: Psychology or Chinese SLA? Please help!
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2019, 05:54:31 pm »
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If you do Psychology in Year 11, are you going to be doing Chinese SLA in Year 12?

Definitely not, if that's the case! :o

Honestly you shouldn't let scaling be a deciding factor for subjects you take.
I also recommend taking the subject you enjoy more; chances are that you'll do better at it than a subject you truly hate/have no motivation for.

It's also your subject choice, not anyone else's, so being judged for not taking a subject is a pretty poor attitude to have by those people tbh. :)

Best of luck with the subject choice! ^-^

Thank you so much! :')

Mod edit: merged posts.You can add additional comments and quotes using the modify icon at the bottom of the post! :)
« Last Edit: January 06, 2019, 06:04:12 pm by insanipi »

aspiringantelope

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Re: Psychology or Chinese SLA? Please help!
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2019, 06:32:04 pm »
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Do you go to Chinese school, and in what terms are your chinese skills poor?

prawnigiri

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Re: Psychology or Chinese SLA? Please help!
« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2019, 07:11:12 pm »
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Do you go to Chinese school, and in what terms are your chinese skills poor?

Yes I do. I am very bad in writing, in terms of characters. When writing an essay I have to look up every third work or so, my vocabulary also isn't great. This has really taken a toll on tests >:'(

aspiringantelope

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Re: Psychology or Chinese SLA? Please help!
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2019, 09:34:12 pm »
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Yes I do. I am very bad in writing, in terms of characters. When writing an essay I have to look up every third work or so, my vocabulary also isn't great. This has really taken a toll on tests >:'(
I see. My only advice is to not choose a subject because of its scaling, but instead, with your attitude towards it. If you are struggling with Chinese, seeing that you are looking up every third word and that your vocabulary isn't great, I would advise you to choose Psychology. (because you said "[You] love it", which is the type of view you would want to have for a subject to do well in. If you actually want to do Chinese, there is a Chinese Conversation thread in the Chinese SL/SLA and maybe we could speak everyday there using some more complex words to develop your vocabulary? (If you are planning to continue with Chinese). However, keep this in mind, you are having to look up every third word (sounds a little bit exaggerated (hope this isn't the real case), doing the Oral (Detailed Study and General Conversation) would take an insane amount of time, and lots of clarification from teachers.
Ultimately, it is your decision, so I wouldn't rely on polls from a website.

AngelWings

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Re: Psychology or Chinese SLA? Please help!
« Reply #7 on: January 06, 2019, 11:09:29 pm »
+5
Piping in with my two cents here.

I personally was in a similar situation. In Year 10 (waaaay back in 2012), I actually studied 3 U1/2s: I did General Maths, Psych and, outside of school, I did Chinese SL (Okay, okay, it's not SLA, but it's close). You sound like me back then: Psych was great, but Chinese could've been better. I'll end my story there, since I don't want it to influence your decision too much (or talk too much about myself), because I do believe in this:     
Ultimately, it is your decision, so I wouldn't rely on polls from a website.
... and I think you already know what your decision will be.

I also will add that I support this perspective:
Honestly you shouldn't let scaling be a deciding factor for subjects you take.
I also recommend taking the subject you enjoy more; chances are that you'll do better at it than a subject you truly hate/have no motivation for.
Enjoyment and necessity from prerequisite subjects (i.e. if the subject is a prerequisite for your intended course post-VCE*) should be the main priorities, with "subjects you're good at" as a last-resort tiebreaker.

* If you don't know this already, you should use VTAC Course Search to check out what the pre-reqs are. Alternatively, VTAC Prereq and Course Planner may help.
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Quinapalus

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Re: Psychology or Chinese SLA? Please help!
« Reply #8 on: January 07, 2019, 01:26:11 pm »
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Honestly you shouldn't let scaling be a deciding factor for subjects you take.
I also recommend taking the subject you enjoy more; chances are that you'll do better at it than a subject you truly hate/have no motivation for.

It's also your subject choice, not anyone else's, so being judged for not taking a subject is a pretty poor attitude to have by those people tbh. :)

Best of luck with the subject choice! ^-^

Completely agree! Many people in school did Latin because of scaling, for those who enjoyed it, it paid off, for others, they would have been better off doing a non-scaled subject they enjoyed!
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Julian27

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Re: Psychology or Chinese SLA? Please help!
« Reply #9 on: January 18, 2019, 09:43:21 pm »
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Hi,

I'm doing Chinese SLA as well, and I came to Australia when I was 3 and a half (so just at the cut off date) and it is the same with my other friends. For Chinese VCE, people who have lived in China for 6/7/8 years not necessarily get the highest marks as the exam (and SACs) are more dependent on test taking skills. For example, if you look at the practice exams, the vocab used is not very difficult, it is only the essay which can be a bit challenging but still manageable if you pay attention in class. I personally like doing subjects based on how useful they are for me in the future, rather than simply looking at the VCE (even if Chinese is in your bottom 2, it does not impact your ATAR much).

Hope this helped