I think it's easy to say that you would have liked to complete VCE subjects earlier when in later years. However, I think you may have overestimated your capabilities of your younger self. While you may have done very well in Year 9; Year 12 level biology is a whole other ball game. I personally, although a strong student, don't think I could have completed either Biology or Maths Methods (which I am completing currently in Year 11) in Year 9.
I think it really depends on the person. I personally excelled in science at an early age and it was my passion. I often found myself getting board of what I was learning in my year 8 and 9 science classes and wished I could have gone ahead as I found it more interesting. I know some people from a few high schools do offer bio in year 9, and they found it ok, so I really do think it depends on the person.
My high school does allow this. I did a 3/4 in year 10, another in year 11, and then four in year 12, which I definitely thought (and do still think) was a good thing.
My brother is only doing five years of high school (so essentially skipping a year, but I couldn't tell you which year it is haha). He is doing two 3/4s in year 11 and will be doing four in year 12.
Doing 3/4s in year 9 is a bit much imo. I don't really see any point to it anyway - only six subjects can contribute to your atar so spreading them out over 4 years just seems unnecessary. I wish more schools allowed students to do 3/4s in year 10 though (but also I wish classes were more streamlined by current knowledge rather than age, a lot of schools spend year 7 and 8 playing catch up in english and math because people come out of primary school with a wide range of knowledge/skills). With the way the schooling system works at the moment it would be a bit difficult to let students do 3/4s early. e.g. if you teach all year 7s and then year 8s the same content, you can't then expect some of those students to be able to jump into a year 11 math class (unless they're learning outside of class). However, if you tested students/used primary school records and put them into an appropriate class based on that, you potentially would have some students who could go straight into a year 9 level math class, because they already know everything that gets taught in the year 7 and yea 8 classes, and then it would be far easier for them to move through into year 11/12 classes in year 9/10 and not waste years relearning stuff they already know.
I definitely think how our school system is with age is flawed and year 7 and 8 is as you said, a catch up. For me personally, I found the jump of year 10 maths to maths methods huge, and I don't think the current system prepares for this as they spend so much time doing catch up. And as I said before, I believe it really depends on the student.
I have quite a lot of thoughts on this topic as I have personal experience with the matter, albeit on the VERY extreme end.
Being a serious high achiever since primary school I saw it as my main goal to graduate as early as possible, so in primary school I skipped 2 grades. Then I did my very first 3/4 subject in year 8 when I was 11yr-old, followed by a second 3/4 in year 9 when I was 12.
I found the whole process of trying to "race against the clock" to graduate quicker very counter productive and I really wish I had used year 8 and 9 to explore all my options instead of blindly doing VCE subjects for the sake of graduating earlier. Hence I tried to "undo" my mistake of skipping two years by repeating another two years in year 10 so I am now the same age as my peers again. And I am also starting from square 1 with my VCE subjects.
So here's my thoughts on this subject: doing 3/4s early for the sake of graduating early is quite harmful and I would really advice against doing that if you can. Maybe if you really are mature enough to take on a VCE subject before you're 16, sure. But for the rest of us, just stick with convention.
Yeah i didn't see it as a race, I think that is a terrible way to go about it. I was more so coming from the perspective of people with physical or mental health issues or even people who found the school environment hard, as a way to get their education and move on with their life. I can't believe that you did it that early, that is amazing and way too early! But I do think is in nice to feel on par time wise with your age group.
I think my main point was that I wished it was spread out more so year 12 wasn't as stress full, aka only doing 3 (3/4) subjects a year, so you have more time to enjoy life, peruse hobbies, take a job, socialise etc.
I do agree with you on graduating to early can be harmful, but at the same time, there are some really special cases that can just graduate early, wait a few years then go onto uni if that's what they want to do.
Nice to hear it from your perspective though!