Login

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

March 28, 2024, 08:37:42 pm

Poll

which subject?

French
3 (33.3%)
Health
6 (66.7%)

Total Members Voted: 9

Author Topic: Help me decide pls... French or health?  (Read 1255 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

jammol7

  • Trailblazer
  • *
  • Posts: 45
  • Respect: +18
Help me decide pls... French or health?
« on: May 16, 2019, 07:10:58 pm »
0
Yo! Would like some advice please:

With subject selections coming up I really need to finalise what VCE subjects I’ll be doing in yr11 and 12. I’m hoping to do two 3&4s next year: chem and something else. I’m 100% certain on chem, but as for the ”something else”, I’m caught between LOTE (French) and HHD.

Pros of French:
• I did 1&2 last year, while I’d be diving straight into 3&4 HHD without any foundation knowledge
• The content seems more interesting
• Scaling — need I say more?

Pros of HHD:
• Content seems easier and more applicable
• I’m aiming for medicine so HHD seems more relevant

I know you shouldn’t focus on scaling but after hours of research on the highly reliable ATAR calculator I found that if I did HHD I would actually need a raw 44 or above across ALL my subjects for a 99, while if I did French there’d be a lot more wriggle room.

All sorts of advice appreciated. Thanks!
VCE 2019-21
Lit 38 | Methods 47 | Bio 49 | Chem 50 |  PE 43 | Drama 38 | Sport & Rec 36

brynstar

  • Trailblazer
  • *
  • Posts: 38
  • Respect: +17
Re: Help me decide pls... French or health?
« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2019, 09:36:35 pm »
+1
Look, I'm a bit biased here because I did French, loved it and now it's my major at uni.

However, I think there are lots of good reasons to do French over HHD. Firstly, it may not directly help you with med, but I think a second language at VCE level looks good to future employers in any field. Secondly, while it's challenging, I think challenging subjects are good for developing effective study habits and persistence. Obviously if you hated French I wouldn't recommend doing it just for the challenge, but you seem to like the content.

Thirdly, on scaling. I have kind of an unpopular opinion on scaling compared to most people but I actually think it is a factor people should consider in subject selection. For example, I chose to do Latin partially because of the INSANE scaling. Now, if I'd hated Latin or not been very good at languages, this would have been a bad choice but given languages are one of my strengths anyway, it made sense to do Latin over another humanities subject I might also have enjoyed, e.g. history. I got a raw 35, which scaled to 49.63, meaning I'd have needed 50 in most other subjects to do better. This scaled score was worth a lot in terms of my ATAR, even compared to my 47 in Psych.

However, that's just my personal experience and I can understand why you'd opt for something easier as a year 11 student.
2016 - Indonesian SL (43)
2017 - Psychology ( 47)
2018 - Literature (50 + Premier's Award), French (45), Latin (35), Deakin Accelerate Psychological Science (5.0) ATAR - 99.85

2019 - Bachelor of Laws (Honours)/Bachelor of Arts @ Monash University

Now selling essays on Twelfth Night, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Ariel and General Conversation Notes for French! PM for details!

Joseph41

  • Administrator
  • Great Wonder of ATAR Notes
  • *****
  • Posts: 10823
  • Respect: +7477
Re: Help me decide pls... French or health?
« Reply #2 on: May 17, 2019, 04:57:33 pm »
0
Yo! Would like some advice please:

With subject selections coming up I really need to finalise what VCE subjects I’ll be doing in yr11 and 12. I’m hoping to do two 3&4s next year: chem and something else. I’m 100% certain on chem, but as for the ”something else”, I’m caught between LOTE (French) and HHD.

Pros of French:
• I did 1&2 last year, while I’d be diving straight into 3&4 HHD without any foundation knowledge
• The content seems more interesting
• Scaling — need I say more?

Pros of HHD:
• Content seems easier and more applicable
• I’m aiming for medicine so HHD seems more relevant

I know you shouldn’t focus on scaling but after hours of research on the highly reliable ATAR calculator I found that if I did HHD I would actually need a raw 44 or above across ALL my subjects for a 99, while if I did French there’d be a lot more wriggle room.

All sorts of advice appreciated. Thanks!

Howdy! Just a few notes as I read through your post (haven't yet read the replies above, so may be some overlap):

* Have you done Chem 1&2? I didn't do Chem at all but would imagine 1&2 would help for 3&4.
* If you don't do French/HHD in Year 11, do you still plan to do it in Year 12? Or is it a "next year or never" sort of scenario?

Quote
Pros of French:
• I did 1&2 last year, while I’d be diving straight into 3&4 HHD without any foundation knowledge
• The content seems more interesting
• Scaling — need I say more?

* I jumped into HHD 3&4 without 1&2 and was fine - don't think 1&2 is particularly necessary.
* Scaling - you probably do need to say more, haha. I know it's super appealing, but it scales well for a reason. I don't think you can really say like, "what if I get a 30 in each - how will they scale?" Because getting a 30 in each isn't even - one is a lot more competitive.

Quote
I know you shouldn’t focus on scaling but after hours of research on the highly reliable ATAR calculator I found that if I did HHD I would actually need a raw 44 or above across ALL my subjects for a 99, while if I did French there’d be a lot more wriggle room.

Tough, but doable. And also wouldn't be the case IMO, but that's kinda beside the point. What are your other subjects? :)

Oxford comma, Garamond, Avett Brothers, Orla Gartland enthusiast.