VCE Stuff > VIC Year 9 Discussion

Unit 1 and 2 Chemistry or Methods in year 10?

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TylerD9:
Hello guys,

So following on from my last post regarding whether I should accelerate biology or legal in year 10, we had our subject information session last night for subject selection. Out of all the subjects I want to complete in VCE (literature, methods, specialists, biology (decided over legal as it opens more doors), chemistry and physics), none of them will be offered to complete as unit 1 and 2 for year 10 next year.

However, I was given two options:

The first was that, even though it isn't publicly offered, unit 1/2 chem is running at the same time as the subjects which we are allowed to accelerate, so the head of senior school said, given my circumstance with what I want to complete, he will allow me to complete year 11 chem next year.

The second was that the school has decided to combine science and maths from years 7-10 into a single STEM subject, which I will have to complete next year. The head of senior school told me that majority of the classes in the subject will be maths orientated. So, instead of completing year 10 maths, he will allow me to be enrolled into unit 1/2 methods and complete it during year 10 maths with the year 10 teacher teaching it to me (but I figured he would be more of a guidance rather than an actual teacher because he will be preoccupied with year 10 maths). My fear with this is how much year 10 maths that I will miss which is needed for methods, but I still have the rest of the year for extension work and over the holidays. 

The head of senior school said he will allow me to do one or the other, not both. I am unsure which one to complete. I feel as though I will perform better in chemistry, as I will be in an actual year 11 chem class, but I feel methods will provide me more with the foundations for subjects like specialist in the future. Overall I think that I should do methods (I am a pretty self-motivated learner anyway).

So please let me know what you think.

Thank you for your responses.

keltingmeith:
My first question is why do you believe biology will open more doors? Not to say it's a bad subject to pick, but just on the off chance you'd enjoy legal more, biology itself isn't a pre-registration of any course that I know of that won't also accept chemistry, methods or specialist in its place.


As for which subject to accelerate, I reckon chemistry would be your best bet. If you're motivated enough, it is definitely possible to accelerate both, and year 10 doesn't really teach you much of anything that's really relevant for VCE that isn't taught in year 9. In fact, for both, the only advantage you might have is you might get to see some concepts a second time as they're re-taught in VCE.

However, your specific difference is that in one of them you'll be all by yourself, but in the other you'll have a support network. Don't undermine the advantage of having friends you can talk to, work with, and be motivated by - you'll have this in a 1/2 class, but you'll struggle in maths because you'll be the only one in the class working on it.

Shadowxo:
I agree with meltingkeith. This is a decision you should decide on, and we don't know all the information, but it seems to me like there'd be a lot more support if you were to do 1/2 chemistry, which wouldn't exist if you were to do 1/2 methods by yourself. It sounds like you would do well in either class, but you may struggle more with methods due to the lack of the proper teaching time, lack of classmates, and lack of resources. Also, doing 3/4 methods without a solid foundation of either year 10 or 1/2  methods would likely be difficult. My recommendation would be to do 1/2 chemistry, and if you're finding the maths too easy then ask for extension work to get ahead :)
I did spesh and methods at the same time (year 12) and I didn't have any issues. There was some overlap with probability towards the end of the year, and if anything it was an advantage doing both as they built on each other, and the people who had done methods 3/4 in year 11 struggled to remember things that we had just been taught. I don't recall ever needing to know something from methods in spesh, anything we needed to know was taught anyway. They were seperate subjects and while you did need to have strong maths skills, you didn't have to have done 3/4 methods before 3/4 spesh.

Also: as Keith said, biology doesn't necessarily open more doors. If you intend on doing something biology related (eg medicine) then it would likely be the better choice, but if you're not then choose whichever subject you like more. I'm not aware of any course that requires biology really (most require English and Methods, some require spesh and some require a science: chem/ physics/ biology).

Good luck in your choice and choose whichever you believe will be the best option for you :)

Sine:

--- Quote from: TylerD9 on July 21, 2017, 07:51:32 am ---Hello guys,

So following on from my last post regarding whether I should accelerate biology or legal in year 10, we had our subject information session last night for subject selection. Out of all the subjects I want to complete in VCE (literature, methods, specialists, biology (decided over legal as it opens more doors), chemistry and physics), none of them will be offered to complete as unit 1 and 2 for year 10 next year.

However, I was given two options:

The first was that, even though it isn't publicly offered, unit 1/2 chem is running at the same time as the subjects which we are allowed to accelerate, so the head of senior school said, given my circumstance with what I want to complete, he will allow me to complete year 11 chem next year.

The second was that the school has decided to combine science and maths from years 7-10 into a single STEM subject, which I will have to complete next year. The head of senior school told me that majority of the classes in the subject will be maths orientated. So, instead of completing year 10 maths, he will allow me to be enrolled into unit 1/2 methods and complete it during year 10 maths with the year 10 teacher teaching it to me (but I figured he would be more of a guidance rather than an actual teacher because he will be preoccupied with year 10 maths). My fear with this is how much year 10 maths that I will miss which is needed for methods, but I still have the rest of the year for extension work and over the holidays. 

The head of senior school said he will allow me to do one or the other, not both. I am unsure which one to complete. I feel as though I will perform better in chemistry, as I will be in an actual year 11 chem class, but I feel methods will provide me more with the foundations for subjects like specialist in the future. Overall I think that I should do methods (I am a pretty self-motivated learner anyway).

So please let me know what you think.

Thank you for your responses.

--- End quote ---
If you think you should do methods that is the right choice no matter the outcome :)

but imo your reason for doing methods isn't too true because many people have done both methods and spec in the same year and done very well so the "foundations" isn't 100% necessary. Sure there might be somethings you learn in spec at a higher level before you learn it in methods but none of this is not possible to learn well.

GalacticProcess:
Just going to add my 2 cents.
I don't really think a lot year 10 maths is necessary to do well in methods. I did accelerated maths and completed the year 10 curriculum in year 9 and because of that, the whole thing was jumbled up and it gets confusing when I try to recall the topics we learned lol. I'm pretty sure most of year 10 maths is just year 9 maths,
just more advanced and expanded on. However, I would recommend learning the major year 10 topics maybe over the holidays or something just be sure. If you want to familiarise yourself with some early methods topics, just to get a feel for the subject, I can send you notes by email or PM.

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