Should you try to organise your VCE "top 4" subjects?

[ATAR Notes Official]

Hi everybody! Hope you're having a great day. We've just published a brand new article that might be of interest to you. You can find the article below!

Should you try to organise your VCE "top 4" subjects?

The concept of the “top 4” VCE subjects has long been discussed. In this article, we’ll look briefly at why that’s the case, what the “top 4” refers to, and how you should approach those VCE subjects through your own VCE experience.

So - what do you think? Use this discussion thread to let us know your thoughts, what your approach is or was through VCE, and anything else that comes to mind!

[Joseph41]

My thoughts are pretty well documented in the article, but I'll start us off!

I see the argument both for and against trying to organise your top four throughout the year, but overall I think it's sort of more hassle than it's worth, if that makes sense. As mentioned, what I thought was going to be my best subject throughout the year ended up being my worst (in terms of study score - both raw and scaled), so it's hard to tell sometimes!

Has anybody had experience trying to organise their top four, and it paying off? Or backfiring? Is anybody doing it now?

[The Cat In The Hat]

My thoughts are pretty well documented in the article, but I'll start us off!

I see the argument both for and against trying to organise your top four throughout the year, but overall I think it's sort of more hassle than it's worth, if that makes sense. As mentioned, what I thought was going to be my best subject throughout the year ended up being my worst (in terms of study score - both raw and scaled), so it's hard to tell sometimes!

Has anybody had experience trying to organise their top four, and it paying off? Or backfiring? Is anybody doing it now?

I did five total subjects. HHD I did in year 11. Since my *raw* study score was 31 (which I knew would scale to somewhere between 26 and 27) I kind of had to have year 12 subjects being all my top four. This was both good and bad - I couldn't slack off on any of them ever because I didn't have backups.

[hairs9]

I guess I tried to organise my VCE subjects and did so somewhat successfully. In year 11 I did both 3/4 methods and psychology. I knew my written work wasn't perfect and it would be a lot more work to achieve well in psychology, especially with no scaling attached, so I figured it would be in my bottom 2. And so when it came to the final exam, I focused more on methods revision and ended up with a 4 point raw SS difference, which was roughly 8 points different when scaled. Methods ended up being my top subject raw and psych was my bottom subject(ignoring english).
And then in year 12, my uni extension subject had to be in my bottom 2, so it was technically already organised. But I still enjoyed the subject and tried my best but didn't put as much effort into the final exam.
I think the key is to prioritise, but not ignore. The bottom 2 is a great safety net to take a subject that you enjoy, regardless of your skills in that area. It's also important to remember that scaling is a big factor in bringing your marks up or down. I know quite a few people who never expected methods to be in their top 4 but scaling really helped.
Ultimately, as much as you can try to "game" the vce system, the best advice is just to try to pick subjects you enjoy and try to get as much out of them as possible, without slacking off on pre-requisites.

[ConFinCMC]

Personally, I think one should organise their Top 4 IF they feel that they need to.
I knew a few people in Year 12 who felt that they needed to allocate a subject for their 10% increment, while others put hard work into all five (or even six or seven) of their VCE Subjects.
For me personally, I reviewed myself halfway through the year, and thought that I needed to allocate one of my subjects to be "The 10% Subject"
This didn't necessarily mean "give up" in this subject, but rather allocate less study time towards it. I felt that by doing this, I had stronger Unit 4 SAC and exam marks, across all four of my subjects, and even in the subject I allocated to 10%.
I personally believe that all Year 12s, at some point during the year, whether it's the first day of classes, or even leading up to the exams, should review and ask themselves "Should I organise my Top 4, or try my absolute hardest in all five subjects, knowing that any of them could fall into the 10% increment category.

[Sine]

It really depends on the person. I think on AN most people will probably put as much effort as they can into all their subjects. However, in reality, for the average student, VCE really isn't the most important thing in their lives so it might be more beneficial to focus on some more than others to make sure their study is efficient.

Saying everyone should put max effort into everything doesn't really take into account everyone's different circumstances. E.g. Having to work a lot during year 12, caring for others etc

[pans]

wait im confused...

So we PICK our top 4 subjects for final atar!?!??! I THOUGHT WHICH IS HIGHEST WHICH BECOMES TOP 4!??!?!??!

[blueycan]

wait im confused...

So we PICK our top 4 subjects for final atar!?!??! I THOUGHT WHICH IS HIGHEST WHICH BECOMES TOP 4!??!?!??!

No you don't actually CHOOSE your top 4– some people prioritise subjects, so they can work towards the ones which they want to be their highest scoring, hence "organising" their top 4 and kind of having an idea which ones will contribute the 10% increments

[pans]

No you don't actually CHOOSE your top 4– some people prioritise subjects, so they can work towards the ones which they want to be their highest scoring, hence "organising" their top 4 and kind of having an idea which ones will contribute the 10% increments

Ohhhh thank you!