to drop or not to drop?

[carolinewang206]

soo, I'm looking at dropping french, was by far my worst subject after half yearly reports,

my other subjects are 3 unit english, 3 unit maths, economics and ancient history accelerated (I got 89 in this)

thoughts on the reasons below to keep/drop?

I'm aiming for a 97-99 for my ATAR

To Keep
- I enjoy learning the grammar
- most of the content is already finished so not much new stuff to learn before HSC
- very strong class
- teacher gets excellent external results
- I love my teacher
- it is good for if i apply to american unis (but they won't even see my yearly report so it doesnt really make a difference)
- would have backup units

Reasons to Drop
- I've been wanting to drop for a while but my teacher said to just keep it and not do any work apart from in class but doesnt that totally defeat the purpose of doing the class?!
- I am not motivated at all to do work for it
- I dont feel like i'm improving my french anymore, just my exam technique which I do not enjoy
- I am quite far at a disadvantage in my class as I am the only one that hasn't lived in France
- I am quite confident with all of my other subjects (first in everything but maths)
- I'm still recovering from glandular fever/anaemia so am very tired and french runs mainly in earlies or is my last period of the day so I get quite tired
- I've been wanting to drop for a while, probably about a month or two

Any advice would be appreciated, cheers guys

[chloeannbarwick]

I think that it would be a smart idea to drop the subject. It will give you more time to dedicate to your other studies. I only have 10 unites and it's working out really well. I have more study periods and free time to dedicate to my other classes! I hope this helps you a bit! 

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey Caroline! I agree with Chloe, to me it sounds like dropping French would be a good move for you. It sounds like you aren't enjoying it as much as you should be, your reasons for dropping are far more developed and greater in number than your reasons to keep. And I agree with you! Why would you keep a subjects classes but never intend to otherwise work hard to succeed? In that circumstance, absolutely better to drop!

I normally suggest against dropping units in Year 12, but it sounds like the class is proving really stressful and perhaps impacting on your recovery too (I've heard glandular fever is brutal! Are you doing okay?)

So I would say to go with your gut - You've wanted to drop for months, so I reckon you should go ahead and drop it and use the extra time to your advantage

[chelseam]

Hey! I think it's a good idea to drop it, especially if you're not motivated to do any work for it! I was in a (sorta) similar position to you a while back. I wanted to drop one of my units, and I was sooo unmotivated to do any work for it, but my teachers kept insisting that it would be beneficial. I'd end up feeling guilty whenever I did other work because I knew I was neglecting it and I was getting pretty close to the end of the course (it was an accelerated subject). I did end up dropping it in the end, though, and I felt so much better because it was impacting the way I felt about my other subjects as well! It honestly felt like a huge burden was gone after I dropped

[carolinewang206]

Thanks guys!! Appreciate the advice, I will be officially dropping today

[brenden]

Thanks guys!! Appreciate the advice, I will be officially dropping today

Congratulations!! Turn the relief you're about to feel into something productive, that's my advice

[carolinewang206]

Congratulations!! Turn the relief you're about to feel into something productive, that's my advice

Hey! Yes I feel so much more motivated now, this afternoon I've done a maths paper, updated my mod b quote table and made some detailed mind map notes for economics! Yay thank you