Everyone's VCE Subjects

[homeworkisapotato]

Hey AN I was wondering does having really heavy subjects like bio, Latin, and Lit in Year 12 can bring down your ATAR as you would be dedicating a lot of time just to remember the sheer amount of content and practice? I know some of you guys have your subjects in your signatures, but I would love it if you guys could list what subjects you guys are completing/completed.

Thanks guys!

[Duelmaster22]

Hey AN I was wondering does having really heavy subjects like bio, Latin, and Lit in Year 12 can bring down your ATAR as you would be dedicating a lot of time just to remember the sheer amount of content and practice? I know some of you guys have your subjects in your signatures, but I would love it if you guys could list what subjects you guys are completing/completed.

Thanks guys!

Hey!

This year I'm studying French, Spesh, Chemistry and Literature. I'm finding the subjects is pretty different from each other:
- Spesh is of course pretty skills-based, lots of formulas to understand and questions to complete in order to understand the logic behind it all.
- Chemistry seems to be a mix between a heavy content subject with a sprinkling of calculations thrown in. Lots of written questions to do and some unavoidable content memorisation
- Literature.... well lots of texts to read with some content in the form of historical context and various literary techniques, and a whole, whole bunch of writing.
- French is such a mix of different skills: speaking, reading, writing and listening so how I study for it really varies depending on whether I'm wanting to focus on grammar, comprehension etc. Seems to be less guided than my other subjects in that it's essentially "lol just get better at French over the year" with the pesky detailed study thrown in.

Sometimes having such different subjects where there isn't a whole lot of overlap can be pretty difficult. I have to switch from numbers mode to essay mode when going from my Spesh class to my Lit class, for example, and it can feel a struggle to balance all of them at the same time (even considering I'm only doing 4 this year, hah), because yes they can be pretty heavy.

Would this affect my ATAR... who knows. Maybe. But I chose these subjects because I enjoy them, and I think that that's more important, cause it motivates me to study more and I feel like I'm getting more out of the year than if I was studying a subject I found "easy" but dead boring.

Hope this helps and that I haven't rambled on too much!

[Sine]

Not in my signature (and hasn't been there for a long time ...)

Year 11: Biology
Year 12: English, Mathematical Methods, Chemistry, Specialist Mathematics and MUEP Chemistry

I will say that the reason I did Biology in year 11 was due to the sheer amount of content and theory within the subject which I felt would've taken too much time during year 12 (or at least would've impeded my other subjects at least a little bit).

If you are in year 10 it might be worth spreading out your content heavy subjects into multiple years.

[homeworkisapotato]

Would this affect my ATAR... who knows. Maybe. But I chose these subjects because I enjoy them, and I think that that's more important, cause it motivates me to study more and I feel like I'm getting more out of the year than if I was studying a subject I found "easy" but dead boring.

Hope this helps and that I haven't rambled on too much!

Hi Duelmaster22 thanks for replying and it's definitely helpful. I really like your subject choices...did you do 2 3/4s last year?

Not in my signature (and hasn't been there for a long time ...)

Year 11: Biology
Year 12: English, Mathematical Methods, Chemistry, Specialist Mathematics and MUEP Chemistry

I will say that the reason I did Biology in year 11 was due to the sheer amount of content and theory within the subject which I felt would've taken too much time during year 12 (or at least would've impeded my other subjects at least a little bit).

If you are in year 10 it might be worth spreading out your content heavy subjects into multiple years.

Hi Sine! I'm definitely thinking about spreading out my content heavy subjects. Thank you for replying!

I'd love some more inputs! Keep it coming guys

[Duelmaster22]

Hi Duelmaster22 thanks for replying and it's definitely helpful. I really like your subject choices...did you do 2 3/4s last year?

Ahah thanks! Yeah, I did Psychology and Maths Methods last year. I definitely agree that spreading out subjects over multiple years is a good idea, because the fact that I've already completed some subjects takes the strain off a bit (and I live for my free periods).

Do you have a basic outline of what subjects you're wanting to take next year?

[Ionic Doc]

So my subjects are in my signature

I guess I'm doing a few content heavy subjects . . . but my reasoning for this is because I personally enjoy these subjects and am not afraid of the workload. I feel as long as you are interested in the subjects you are doing and consistently revise you should be able to stay on top of them. You, in particular, have a fairly challenging workload with bio, Latin, lit. I don't really know what Latins like, but I'm guessing it's challenging due to the scaling 

If you feel like you won't be able to handle the workload maybe try to organise your time more effectively ( than what you already do) or in the worst case scenario switch out one of your subjects for something more 'manageable' to balance your workload.

good luck 

[K888]

I did Revolutions 3/4 in year 11 and then in year 12 I did English, Methods, Chem, Bio and French. I think they're counted as fairly heavy subjects?
Honestly I'm glad I did Revs in year 11 but that's probably more for my enjoyment than anything. It let me take a lot more of an interest in the subject, and sure, because I could dedicate a lot more time to it, it probably contributed to it being my best study score.

If you get a good balance going in year 12 though, you'll be fine. Ultimately, VCE is designed to be challenging but achievable, so don't let the "heaviness" of subjects put you off doing them if they're what you're really interested in doing.

[homeworkisapotato]

Do you have a basic outline of what subjects you're wanting to take next year?

I want to do methods, bio, chem, latin, specialist or english, and lit. The thing is I'd prefer to not do english but lit is so hard and it would be nice to have a backup english.

So my subjects are in my signature

I guess I'm doing a few content heavy subjects . . . but my reasoning for this is because I personally enjoy these subjects and am not afraid of the workload. I feel as long as you are interested in the subjects you are doing and consistently revise you should be able to stay on top of them. You, in particular, have a fairly challenging workload with bio, Latin, lit. I don't really know what Latins like, but I'm guessing it's challenging due to the scaling 

If you feel like you won't be able to handle the workload maybe try to organise your time more effectively ( than what you already do) or in the worst case scenario switch out one of your subjects for something more 'manageable' to balance your workload.

good luck 

Thank you so much Doc! I'll improve on my time management skills haha

I did Revolutions 3/4 in year 11 and then in year 12 I did English, Methods, Chem, Bio and French. I think they're counted as fairly heavy subjects?
Honestly I'm glad I did Revs in year 11 but that's probably more for my enjoyment than anything. It let me take a lot more of an interest in the subject, and sure, because I could dedicate a lot more time to it, it probably contributed to it being my best study score.

If you get a good balance going in year 12 though, you'll be fine. Ultimately, VCE is designed to be challenging but achievable, so don't let the "heaviness" of subjects put you off doing them if they're what you're really interested in doing.

Thank you K888 for the advice! The heaviness is a bit intimidating but you're right!

[K888]

Thank you K888 for the advice! The heaviness is a bit intimidating but you're right!

Not a problem. Also remember that people love to exaggerate so you might hear some terrifying stories but then things aren't so bad when you actually get into it. Plus, everyone has different strengths, so what some people might find really difficult, you might find super easy and vice versa.

I remember being absolutely terrified about the oral exam for French because everyone made such a huge deal about it, so I thought I was going to have to dedicate so much time to it. French ended up being probably my most chill subject and was below a lot of my other subjects in terms of how much I had to study for it.

[homeworkisapotato]

Not a problem. Also remember that people love to exaggerate so you might hear some terrifying stories but then things aren't so bad when you actually get into it. Plus, everyone has different strengths, so what some people might find really difficult, you might find super easy and vice versa.

I remember being absolutely terrified about the oral exam for French because everyone made such a huge deal about it, so I thought I was going to have to dedicate so much time to it. French ended up being probably my most chill subject and was below a lot of my other subjects in terms of how much I had to study for it.

Aaah that's so true! But the thing is last year 32 people got above 40 (I think raw) in english but only 2 people got above 40. The odds are against meeee

[homeworkisapotato]

I agree with what everyone’s been saying about spreading out your content heavy subjects. I’m doing two maths and two folio (methods and spesh, systems and viscom) so I’m doing one of each this year and one of each next year.

Aside from that I’m also doing physics, psych, studio arts, and English 1/2 at the moment. I have to do two extra subjects because I’m doing spesh and physics through distance ed. I might drop psych for HHD though.

I don’t think doing content heavy subjects will necessarily bring down your atar as long as you enjoy whatever subject you’re doing and you aren’t doing it for the scaling. If you don’t enjoy them, then the scaling probably won’t be worth it.

Hi milander thanks for replying! woahhh those are some really heavy subjects! I agree with you wholeheartedly and btw your subject choice is pretty amazing which is your favourite subject?

[homeworkisapotato]

They’re definitely heavy yiiikes 😬 but I enjoy them (most of the time) so it’s fine. Out of my current 3/4s I’d say systems engineering is my favourite. And studio arts is my favourite 1/2 but I’m dropping it at the end of the year. Out of the ones I’ll be continuing on with for next year my favourite has to be viscom.

I’m a big fan of folio subjects even though they have such a heavy workload and don’t even scale nice lol!

I was wondering why are you dropping out of studio? What's systems engineering about? Honestly I would do a lot of folio subjects too if I actually had artistic talent!

[homeworkisapotato]

I’m dropping studio as I’ve already done 3/4 a few years ago. So I’m just doing 1/2 now to fill up a space.

Systems is pretty similar to other folio subjects, but it incorporates physics and engineering concepts. Basically you have to design a product of some sort. You also learn stuff like mechanical and electrical systems and circuits.

Folio subjects are the best!  they’re definitely not for everybody though. A lot of people look at the scaling and underestimate how much work is involved.

Wow! That sounds really cool!