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March 29, 2024, 06:06:34 am

Author Topic: Which subject should I drop?  (Read 1785 times)  Share 

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shinyi

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Which subject should I drop?
« on: October 15, 2020, 10:15:29 pm »
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I have started year 12 and I have 14 units, and many of my friends, teachers and family advised me strongly to drop at least one subject.  I came to the decision to drop either Maths Ext 2, Biology or Physics (even two subjects if possible).

I heard that Maths Ext2 and physics scale significantly better than biology, however, I do much better in biology than physics, my marks for biology have always been close to full marks and for physics, I always get a B or 70-80%. I have just started Maths Ext2 and already find it a lot of work, but I find that I understand the content. Please aid me in the process of deciding which subject I should drop.

Thanks :)

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Re: Which subject should I drop?
« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2020, 09:51:04 am »
+4
I have started year 12 and I have 14 units, and many of my friends, teachers and family advised me strongly to drop at least one subject.  I came to the decision to drop either Maths Ext 2, Biology or Physics (even two subjects if possible).

I heard that Maths Ext2 and physics scale significantly better than biology, however, I do much better in biology than physics, my marks for biology have always been close to full marks and for physics, I always get a B or 70-80%. I have just started Maths Ext2 and already find it a lot of work, but I find that I understand the content. Please aid me in the process of deciding which subject I should drop.

Thanks :)
Note I'm a VCE student. My advice from reading this and having little idea of your system would lead me to suggest you should drop physics. If you do well in biology, and not so well in physics, ignore the stuff about scaling and do what is easiest/most enjoyable for you. If you don't enjoy/do so well, all the scaling in the world won't be as good.
I assume you've already assessed whether you should be doing any in particular to get into any course you want.
If you understand the content of the maths one, I would advise keeping it if you can handle the workload.

All the best with what you decide to do! :)
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Sarah20’s

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Re: Which subject should I drop?
« Reply #2 on: October 26, 2020, 06:17:09 pm »
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Hey, I'm having a similar problem in that I seriously can't decide what subjects to drop/pick up for year 12 this year.
My current subjects (for year 11 and the start of term 4 [term 1 year 12]) are Advanced English, Extension 1 English, Advanced Maths, Chemistry, Biology, PDHPE and Modern History.
I'm currently performing in the A/B range for all my subjects (except maths which I need to work on - and I need to keep because it is a prerequisite for my course; Medicine).

I was thinking of picking up Ext 2 English and Science Extension just to prevent regrets of not choosing them + they sound pretty cool.

Some recommendations have been to stay as I am with my 13 units, others have said to drop Modern because apparently, it doesn't scale well (also, is it true that PDHPE and Modern are 'low-scaling' subjects - I don't want them to drag down my ATAR since I've heard that people with total marks of 96 have had their scaled mark be 90 or lower in these subjects), and I think that maybe I should pick up Science Extension as - according to my Careers Adviser, 'Medical Schools'/Universities that offer Medicine look for those with the highest ATARs and the 'most' science subjects since it's such a competitive course.
But Ext. 2 English also sounds really fun.

Would you recommend starting with 15 units (which is quite a lot) and dropping subjects as I go?
Or will that just be too stressful + take time away from my other subjects?

Any advice?

Thanks! :)

fantasticbeasts3

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Re: Which subject should I drop?
« Reply #3 on: October 27, 2020, 03:34:43 pm »
+5
Hey, I'm having a similar problem in that I seriously can't decide what subjects to drop/pick up for year 12 this year.
My current subjects (for year 11 and the start of term 4 [term 1 year 12]) are Advanced English, Extension 1 English, Advanced Maths, Chemistry, Biology, PDHPE and Modern History.
I'm currently performing in the A/B range for all my subjects (except maths which I need to work on - and I need to keep because it is a prerequisite for my course; Medicine).

I was thinking of picking up Ext 2 English and Science Extension just to prevent regrets of not choosing them + they sound pretty cool.

Some recommendations have been to stay as I am with my 13 units, others have said to drop Modern because apparently, it doesn't scale well (also, is it true that PDHPE and Modern are 'low-scaling' subjects - I don't want them to drag down my ATAR since I've heard that people with total marks of 96 have had their scaled mark be 90 or lower in these subjects), and I think that maybe I should pick up Science Extension as - according to my Careers Adviser, 'Medical Schools'/Universities that offer Medicine look for those with the highest ATARs and the 'most' science subjects since it's such a competitive course.
But Ext. 2 English also sounds really fun.

Would you recommend starting with 15 units (which is quite a lot) and dropping subjects as I go?
Or will that just be too stressful + take time away from my other subjects?

Any advice?

Thanks! :)

Hey there!

Just addressing things in order of what you've mentioned:
- You can always try out subjects and then drop them later so if you are interested in Ext 2 English and Science Extension, by all means do them. In saying that, doing 15 units at once sounds stressful so maybe if you want to pick up one of those subjects, drop something else to make room for it.
- Also just going to try and debunk the whole "drop this because it scales badly" thing because if you do well in anything, it will more likely than not improve your ATAR (among a multitude of other factors which I can't comprehend). There are heaps of people around here who did subjects that, according to common opinion, didn't scale particularly well and absolutely smashed their HSC, and got amazing ATARs! As long as you're interested in subject content, which is already half the work, and are doing well, I don't see any reason to drop because of scaling.

Hope this helps!
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Sarah20’s

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Re: Which subject should I drop?
« Reply #4 on: October 27, 2020, 04:41:04 pm »
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Thanks for your help,

Do you think I'm better off choosing Ext Science rather than Ext 2 English though - only because I'd like to get into Medicine?
Also, would I be better off keeping Ext subjects like Ext 1 English and dropping something like Modern? Would this help my ATAR at all if I perform well?

Thanks again!