ATAR Notes: Forum
HSC Stuff => HSC Subjects + Help => Topic started by: Abbeegale on February 06, 2017, 06:02:41 pm
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I'm thinking of dropping a subject, which would leave me to 10 units. What's it like? Is it good? I need advice from those who did 10 units in year 12, or any advise from others! Thanks!
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I'm not a lecturer or moderator or anything, but as a fellow student, the pros and cons of doing 10 units (as compared to 11+ units) are as follows (imo):
Pros:
Doing 10 units means you have more free/study periods at school, which you can utilise to concentrate and study for all your subjects, however, some students end up bludging or wasting these periods, so it's a matter of self control. You're also able to put in all your efforts into 10 units, rather than putting energy and hard work into more than 10 units, some of which wont even end up counting for your final atar
Cons:
You have no back up plan, so if one of your subjects goes "wrong", e.g you stuff up an asssessment, or something happens that causes you to not perform as well as you had planned, you can always rely on your other units instead, which is why doing 10 units is considered risky
Personally I do 10 units because I'm very invested and fairly confident in the subjects I have, and I enjoy them a lot. I also use my frees to my advantage to revise or do homework as much as possible, so that's helpful because I have more free time to revise at home!
But yeah, that's my 2 cents :D
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Thanks diesxel for such an awesome response ;D
Pretty much everything I would say has been said above - Extra units is a nice fall back but dropping to 10 units is a good idea if you are struggling with the workload. I'd personally say that if you are managing decently with 12 units, keep them, because that extra time might not be as useful as you think. A lot of people who drop the units don't end up investing that time sensibly in their other subjects. So I suppose my advice would be, if you've ever thought, "Gosh I wish I had time to do _________ for this other subject, but I don't possibly have time," then maybe consider dropping! If not then maybe try and stick it out ;D
The amount of units you do is no indicator of success either. I did 12 units and got 99.80, our English lecturer (same school, similar subjects) did 10 units and got 99.85; hard work will carry you through either way ;D
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I'm thinking of dropping a subject, which would leave me to 10 units. What's it like? Is it good? I need advice from those who did 10 units in year 12, or any advise from others! Thanks!
If the subject that you are considering dropping is a subject that you don't like then I think you are definitely best getting rid of the dead weight. If you're considering dropping purely for the potential benefits of 10 units and free time, then the above comments will help as guidance. But if the subject you are considering dropping is something that demotivates you, you spend more time on then probably is due, and you don't look forward to it at all, then it's best you remove it from your study load simply for the purpose of leaving yourself with enjoyable things to study! It's a deadweight if you don't like it.
If you do like it, and you're just trying to be strategic...refer to the above ;)
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I'm thinking of dropping a subject, which would leave me to 10 units. What's it like? Is it good? I need advice from those who did 10 units in year 12, or any advise from others! Thanks!
Hey Abbeegale,
As Jamon said before, I did do 10 units and I still did well in my HSC. The reason that I dropped down to ten was that the Extension subjects at my school were largely self driven, and I didn't feel as if I would be capable of doing this on top of my current workload. I also dropped a two unit subject at the end of year eleven because I found myself incredibly bored in the classes, and that translated to how much work I did at home for the subject (little to none). So, considering it had a major work, it was best to drop it for me. So these are some things that may relate to your own decision.
You may think about scaling when deciding to drop to ten units, I know it was on my mind. In the end though, with ten units I was able to try my absolute hardest in the subjects I did have. I don't regret doing ten units at all.
Hope this helps!
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Thank you guys so much! Really helped a lot with your advice!
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Hey,
These posts were really helpful!! I also had the same dilemma about dropping to 10 units.
In Prelim I studied:
Economics
Ad. English
Ext.1 English
Mathematics
Ext.1 Maths
Legal Studies
Towards the end of year 11 my anxiety became really severe and it was recommended I drop a course so I dropped extension maths and picked up Extension 2 English. I honestly really hated economics (my teacher was terrible) but I stuck with it for an entire term because I was worried about not having a back up subject. I found that I had so much work and study that my economics class was a complete waste of time so I dropped it and am now on 10 units. I'm doing really well in all my units, so I guess if you decide on ten units and are really invested in them, then it can really help with extra study time to focus on your carefully selected subjects.
Mary x
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Hey,
These posts were really helpful!! I also had the same dilemma about dropping to 10 units.
In Prelim I studied:
Economics
Ad. English
Ext.1 English
Mathematics
Ext.1 Maths
Legal Studies
Towards the end of year 11 my anxiety became really severe and it was recommended I drop a course so I dropped extension maths and picked up Extension 2 English. I honestly really hated economics (my teacher was terrible) but I stuck with it for an entire term because I was worried about not having a back up subject. I found that I had so much work and study that my economics class was a complete waste of time so I dropped it and am now on 10 units. I'm doing really well in all my units, so I guess if you decide on ten units and are really invested in them, then it can really help with extra study time to focus on your carefully selected subjects.
Mary x
Thanks so much for sharing that Mary! I think you've made some really good choices there and I am sure they will be beneficial for you throughout the year! ;D
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Thanks so much for sharing that Mary! I think you've made some really good choices there and I am sure they will be beneficial for you throughout the year! ;D
Thanks Jamon! I really appreciate it
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May be risky however if you are strong in the 10 units and enjoy them, do 10!
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I am also facing a similar problem. Currently, I am doing 13 Units, but I want to drop 3 units, of which I am considering Business Studies and Extension 1 Maths. Right now, in Preliminary, I am doing:
Extension 1 Maths
Advanced English
Physics
Chemistry
Business Studies
Economics
I am already a major procrastinator, but I find myself being unable to cope with the workload expected of us. I was hoping to break it to my dad and my teacher, but I am unsure on how to approach them. Could anyone please give any tips?
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I am also facing a similar problem. Currently, I am doing 13 Units, but I want to drop 3 units, of which I am considering Business Studies and Extension 1 Maths. Right now, in Preliminary, I am doing:
Extension 1 Maths
Advanced English
Physics
Chemistry
Business Studies
Economics
I am already a major procrastinator, but I find myself being unable to cope with the workload expected of us. I was hoping to break it to my dad and my teacher, but I am unsure on how to approach them. Could anyone please give any tips?
your dad and your teacher will be a lot more chill than you expect when you approach them about dropping subjects, i promise. they'll totally understand why you're dropping it. when approaching them, tell them upfront that you're considering dropping, and give them your reasons.
i found that dropping 3u maths was the best decision for me as it took up so much of my time and i was so unmotivated to actually study for exams. also, if you already know the subjects you want to drop, drop them. they'll probably get worse if you continue. 10 units can be risky, but if you know you will do well in those units, you should be good :)
hope this helps!
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I am also facing a similar problem. Currently, I am doing 13 Units, but I want to drop 3 units, of which I am considering Business Studies and Extension 1 Maths. Right now, in Preliminary, I am doing:
Extension 1 Maths
Advanced English
Physics
Chemistry
Business Studies
Economics
I am already a major procrastinator, but I find myself being unable to cope with the workload expected of us. I was hoping to break it to my dad and my teacher, but I am unsure on how to approach them. Could anyone please give any tips?
Hey,
I think that you should probably just go up to them and tell them why you want to drop those subjects. Your dad and your teacher should be fine with you wanting to drop these subjects-they want you to go well and not be really stressed out. I do 13 units (Year 12) and it is a huge amount of work (and some of my subjects aren't too content heavy). I dropped down from 2 unit to general maths at the start of this year and my parent's and teachers were ok with it-they understood why I had wanted to drop down, and I started to get a lot better marks. Dropping these 3 units would give you heaps more time to work on your other subjects and you will probably have study periods.
I would say to work on the procrastination-but i'm a huge procrastinator myself, so that would be pretty hypocritical.
Hope this helps :)
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I am also facing a similar problem. Currently, I am doing 13 Units, but I want to drop 3 units, of which I am considering Business Studies and Extension 1 Maths. Right now, in Preliminary, I am doing:
Extension 1 Maths
Advanced English
Physics
Chemistry
Business Studies
Economics
I am already a major procrastinator, but I find myself being unable to cope with the workload expected of us. I was hoping to break it to my dad and my teacher, but I am unsure on how to approach them. Could anyone please give any tips?
There is no shame in dropping a subject! I did prelim Physics and dropped it after. You just need to tell him your genuine reasons and say how it'll give you more time to focus. Push that you'll get a higher atar as you'll get more study time if you need to but hopefully he'll understand :)
Both your teacher and dad will definitely understand. As long as you are genuine about it.
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To be honest, I preferred 10 units over 12 because of the amount of time it frees up. Like someone said earlier though, if know your prone to procrastinate then maybe 10 units isn't the best idea. At the end of the day it's up to you
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I personally did 11 units then dropped ext maths and have been enjoying it alot more. Been able to work on my other subjects and improve my marks. That being said i've also seen people drop to 10 units and waste their time. So depends on what kind of person you are.
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Hiii! I'm still in prelim but I'm dropping down to 11 units... I feel like it's better to allocate more time to more favourable subjects than having a 'backup' subject. I just found that students in the past who had a backup subject generally didn't have much interest in it, so it really didn't do anything for them in terms of lifting their ATAR.
The subjects I'm strongly considering next year are:
English advanced
English Extension 1
English Extension 2
Modern History
History Extension
Legal
Economics
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I personally did 11 units then dropped ext maths and have been enjoying it alot more. Been able to work on my other subjects and improve my marks. That being said i've also seen people drop to 10 units and waste their time. So depends on what kind of person you are.
dropping ext? best decision ever. i could focus on other subjects, rather than spending so much time on maths, and now enjoy my other subjects a whole lot more because i'm able to put time into them! i'm glad you feel the same :-)
Hiii! I'm still in prelim but I'm dropping down to 11 units... I feel like it's better to allocate more time to more favourable subjects than having a 'backup' subject. I just found that students in the past who had a backup subject generally didn't have much interest in it, so it really didn't do anything for them in terms of lifting their ATAR.
The subjects I'm strongly considering next year are:
English advanced, English Extension 1, English Extension 2, Modern History, History Extension, Legal, Economics
100%. allocating time for better, more enjoyable subjects is so much better (i really don't like a lot of my subjects), and you definitely have more time to focus on them.
i see you're choosing two major work subjects here; a word of advice on them, please please please please start both of them as early as possible!!!!!! i can't stress this enough, especially with history extension because there is an awful lot of stuff covered in class, and pretty much everything is examinable (even the tiniest dot point (i'm looking at you too, legal)) and get an idea for your history project down by the end of this year. my biggest regret was not starting earlier, and that led to me dropping the subject because it was too overwhelming. there is so much research involved and you don't realise until you start it. this isn't to turn you off choosing it, just a bit of a heads up :-)
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100%. allocating time for better, more enjoyable subjects is so much better (i really don't like a lot of my subjects), and you definitely have more time to focus on them.
i see you're choosing two major work subjects here; a word of advice on them, please please please please start both of them as early as possible!!!!!! i can't stress this enough, especially with history extension because there is an awful lot of stuff covered in class, and pretty much everything is examinable (even the tiniest dot point (i'm looking at you too, legal)) and get an idea for your history project down by the end of this year. my biggest regret was not starting earlier, and that led to me dropping the subject because it was too overwhelming. there is so much research involved and you don't realise until you start it. this isn't to turn you off choosing it, just a bit of a heads up :-)
haha thank you for the wise advice! as for my historical investigation, my teacher and I have worked really closely this year and have started planning my major work... she's the best history teacher ever aha! as for ee2, I'm still unsure of what medium I want to do. I was highly interested in doing a critical thesis sorta thing... but I feel as if a lot of marks could be lost in that field. I've also been interested in film but I'm a little torn at the moment :/ Irrespective, they're both subjects I have a high interest for, and I've always wanted to do English in university since the beginning of high school, so I can see them not acting so much as a 'burden.'
Also, legal. I really dislike legal... Can't get rid of it, however :(
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It didn't even quote properly lol... don't know the ins and outs yet !!!!!
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It didn't even quote properly lol... don't know the ins and outs yet !!!!!
Fixed it for you - No stress! ;D
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I'm thinking of dropping a subject, which would leave me to 10 units. What's it like? Is it good? I need advice from those who did 10 units in year 12, or any advise from others! Thanks!
Hey! So I was in a similar situation. I started prelim with 14 units, and dropped business studies quite early on. I then did 12 units (including ancient history accelerated) and after I had finished that, was left with 10 units. Just after half yearlies I was getting upset at how much effort I was putting into french (probably 40% of my total study time) and it was my worst result by 10%. In the end I dropped to 8 units, 3 english, 3 maths and 2 economics. The amount of time I gained and stress I lost was incredible. Coming to the end of the year, I can definitely say it was better to drop it and I'd advise doing a smaller number of units as you have more time, and also wont procrastinate study for a subject because you know it will count!!
hope this helps! x