Ok, thanks for your advice guys . What factors should I take into account when deciding whether or not to drop a subject?
Hey!
Do you enjoy economics? That is the biggest factor here. If you do
not enjoy economics then
get the hell out! I wish I did
However! If you do enjoy economics then it is a different story
Economics is a hard course, and I really believe that it requires a level of passion to do well (for most people at least). Though like any subject, there are those lucky few that can do well in any subject with little study, for the majority I'd say economics would be a pretty hefty workload, and not something you can really cram (you can cram theory but eco isn't just theory). Last year my class was constantly badgered about getting relevant stats (i.e. not the stats from your probably 3 year old textbook!) and being on top of the current trends - this requires consistently looking up and reading newspaper articles, reports and financial reviews - something that I personally was just not interested in at all, which is why in comparison to my other subjects my mark for eco was significantly lower (and probably would have been even lower if I hadn't managed to grab a pretty good rank through the assessment tasks).
However, if this is something that you genuinely find interesting, and are willing to put in the necessary effort, then I'd definitely keep eco! As much as scaling isn't really an important factor in comparison to enjoyment (eco was arguably my highest scaling subject but wasn't even counted in my ATAR!), it can't really be denied that doing well in economics can really bump up your final result. Even getting a band 5 in economics can do wonders! For example, last year the girl who got the highest ATAR in my cohort only studied 10 units, so her band 5 in economics counted. Even so, she still pulled a higher ATAR than the 5 students that received an All-Rounders Award. Again, if you absolutely hate economics, then this is irrelevant, but if you do find the subject interesting it is something to keep in mind
Judging by your current marks in eco and your other subjects, aptitude wise you are more than capable to do well in the subject - in my opinion its really just gonna come down to how passionate you are
Hope this helps!
Susie