Subjects year 10/11

[Justanotherhuman]

Hey! I'm in year 10 currently and I want to get into Undergraduate medicine (that's if I can manage to meet the crazy high standards). So I'm planning to do Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Maths specialists, and English as VCE subjects. Do you think getting a good score in these subjects would be good enough to land me a spot in Undergraduate med? How hard are they? Are they scaled well? I know I am doing 1/2 physics and hopefully chemistry this year (hopefullyyyyy). Would doing a 6th subject like Maths Methods give me a higher ATAR with these?

Thankyou so much

[Syndicate]

Hey! I'm in year 10 currently and I want to get into Undergraduate medicine (that's if I can manage to meet the crazy high standards). So I'm planning to do Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Maths specialists, and English as VCE subjects. Do you think getting a good score in these subjects would be good enough to land me a spot in Undergraduate med? How hard are they? Are they scaled well? I know I am doing 1/2 physics and hopefully chemistry this year (hopefullyyyyy). Would doing a 6th subject like Maths Methods give me a higher ATAR with these?

Thankyou so much

If you study hard enough, you can easily make it with these subjects (I am doing similar subjects this year, however instead of biology, I am basically doing first year university maths).

Brief difficulty outline :
- Biology:  Although I did do well in biology last year, I didn't find it interesting.... which is why I dropped. It is not that difficult to do well in biology... you just need to memorise the content basically (there are a few application questions, where you are tested on multiple things). Scales by ~1 (if you get a 40 raw study score)

- Chemistry: A bit more harder than Biology. A lot more mathematics is involved, and you need to remember a lot of formulas (the best way to memorise so many formulas in chemistry is through deriving them). You also need to write quite a few practical reports, and do a practical and a research investigation in year 11 (you only have to do the practical investigation in year 12).If you are good at maths, you won't have many problems doing stoichiometry (a lot of students have problem with this one). Scales by ~4 (if you get a 40 raw study score).

 - Physics: I would say it's easier than Chemistry, but a bit harder a Biology. Once again a lot of maths and formulas are involved. You don't need to write as many practical reports as in chemistry, but you do have to do a research and a practical investigation in year 11 (and only a research investigation in year 12). Make sure you understand the concepts really well (this applies to all maths and sciences), and are able to apply them to different scenarios and questions. Scales up by ~2

- Specialist maths: I was a bit disappointed by this one... The subject is quite overrated, and is much easier than it seems. You don't have to be really good at maths to do well in this subject. I think the key to doing well in specialist is understanding the concepts really well. Scales up by 10 if you get a 40 raw.

- Methods: Easier than specialist (some students think specialist is easier). Like other maths, you just need to be proffiecent with your calculator, and efficiently (can specify on this statement if you pm me) work through out your test. Scales up by 4-5 depending on exam difficulty.

- English: I am probably not the best person talking on this one, as I usually received 85-95% in my SACs last year (year 11)- I think HopefulLawStudent or Literally Lauren will be able to explain better than me . Scales down by ~1 unfortunately.


Tbh I found all the subjects quite manageable last year. You just need to be update to date with everything (staying a chapter ahead of class really helps, and would basically allow you to have more to time to understand the content).

A 6th subject would definitely bring your ATAR up, and would really recommend you to do one. It doesn't necessarily have to be methods, it can be any other subject, however don't forget that in order to do specialist, you need to do methods (it is a prerequisite). 

Good Luck 

Note: This is my just opinion. It would vary from person to person, so in no way this can reflect the actual difficulty of the subjects listed above, as it is totally dependent on your perspective.

(I will add a lot more information on these subjects in the coming days)

[Justanotherhuman]

If you study hard enough, you can easily make it with these subjects (I am doing similar subjects this year, however instead of biology, I am basically doing first year university maths).

Brief difficulty outline :
- Biology:  Although I did do well in biology last year, I didn't find it interesting.... which is why I dropped. It is not that difficult to do well in biology... you just need to memorise the content basically (there are a few application questions, where you are tested on multiple things). Scales by ~1 (if you get a 40 raw study score)

- Chemistry: A bit more harder than Biology. A lot more mathematics is involved, and you need to remember a lot of formulas (the best way to memorise so many formulas in chemistry is through deriving them). You also need to write quite a few practical reports, and do a practical and a research investigation in year 11 (you only have to do the practical investigation in year 12).If you are good at maths, you won't have many problems doing stoichiometry (a lot of students have problem with this one). Scales by ~4 (if you get a 40 raw study score).

 - Physics: I would say it's easier than Chemistry, but a bit harder a Biology. Once again a lot of maths and formulas are involved. You don't need to write as many practical reports as in chemistry, but you do have to do a research and a practical investigation in year 11 (and only a research investigation in year 12). Make sure you understand the concepts really well (this applies to all maths and sciences), and are able to apply them to different scenarios and questions. Scales up by ~2

- Specialist maths: I was a bit disappointed by this one... The subject is quite overrated, and is much easier than it seems. You don't have to be really good at maths to do well in this subject. I think the key to doing well in specialist is understanding the concepts really well. Scales up by 10 if you get a 40 raw.

- Methods: Easier than specialist (some students think specialist is easier). Like other maths, you just need to be proffiecent with your calculator, and efficiently (can specify on this statement if you pm me) work through out your test. Scales up by 4-5 depending on exam difficulty.

- English: I am probably not the best person talking on this one, as I usually received 85-95% in my SACs last year (year 11)- I think HopefulLawStudent or Literally Lauren will be able to explain better than me . Scales down by ~1 unfortunately.


Tbh I found all the subjects quite manageable last year. You just need to be update to date with everything (staying a chapter ahead of class really helps, and would basically allow you to have more to time to understand the content).

A 6th subject would definitely bring your ATAR up, and would really recommend you to do one. It doesn't necessarily have to be methods, it can be any other subject, however don't forget that in order to do specialist, you need to do methods (it is a prerequisite). 

Good Luck 

Thankyou so much! As methods in a prerequisite for Maths specialist, does it mean you can do them both in 1 year, Year 11? Unfortunately I'm not doing Maths Methods in year 10..

[Vaike]

Thankyou so much! As methods in a prerequisite for Maths specialist, does it mean you can do them both in 1 year, Year 11? Unfortunately I'm not doing Maths Methods in year 10..

Yes, you can simultaneously do Methods 1/2 and Specialist 1/2 in year 11, so don't stress about not doing it early in year 10 Are you doing any 1/2 studies in year 10? If not, you may have to drop one subject going into year 12 depending on school, as schools generally suggest doing 5 maximum, although I'm sure it's possible to do more but its a good idea to get one or more out of the way early

[K888]

Hey! I'm in year 10 currently and I want to get into Undergraduate medicine (that's if I can manage to meet the crazy high standards). So I'm planning to do Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Maths specialists, and English as VCE subjects. Do you think getting a good score in these subjects would be good enough to land me a spot in Undergraduate med? How hard are they? Are they scaled well? I know I am doing 1/2 physics and hopefully chemistry this year (hopefullyyyyy). Would doing a 6th subject like Maths Methods give me a higher ATAR with these?

Thankyou so much

A lot of people who get into med do these subjects! But as long as you meet the pre-requisites for med (30 in English and 30 in Chem), you can do any combination of subjects A bit of advice you'll often hear said is don't just do subjects that scale up...do ones that you enjoy (obviously do ones that are a pre-req too). It's a bit of an eye-roll piece of advice but it's something that I think is super important. I'll also say that you need to have a chat with your teachers and also careers counsellor as well (if your school has one) - they know you better so can give a better insight than people on the internet

The difficulty of subjects is relative to your skills/strengths...but none are "pushovers". Some arguably take more work to score well in, some have more content, some are marked more harshly than others, etc etc. I've put my two cents/personal experience in the spoiler below.

Spoiler

I'd argue that Chem is the hardest science, because it involves a fair amount of calculations and knowledge, whereas something like Bio just involves knowledge and its application (it's still not a super easy subject) - although there were people in my Bio class last year who found Bio to be harder than Chem.
In Bio, it's the small mistakes that will end up costing you a lot of marks if you make them repeatedly, but I found it to be a pretty enjoyable subject, it's just one that you really have to learn how to answer questions exactly and how to spot what examiners are looking for in answers. For me, I would say Bio definitely took less effort than Chem, I also did end up with a SS 4 marks higher in Bio (although with scaling, Chem caught up).
English was probably one of the easier and more enjoyable subjects for me, just because I liked doing humanities subjects. It's a subject where it's important to know how to structure pieces and develop and explore ideas and implications. I'd say it's also important to work closely with your teacher with this subject - they can definitely help you improve in English, no matter how good or otherwise you think you are at it.
Methods was easily the hardest subject for me, and there's a large combination of reasons for that. Again, if you like maths, you might find it super easy

Your ability to get into med relies on you putting in the effort during year 12 no matter what subjects you do, doing well in the UMAT and doing well in an interview. It also helps to remember (and this is something you'll probably get told a lot once you get to VCE ), that there's always another way into the course you want to do, even if it isn't through the front door!
Unsolicited extra life advice here as well, but don't let yourself be consumed by it all...use your ambition as a driving force but don't give up your life outside of school, sacrifice your friendships or health just for VCE...you can score extremely well without giving up any of this, just by working smart

Oh, and in terms of doing a 6th subject, it will give you that extra 10% in your ATAR, so I'd recommend doing it, but it's not essential. I already said it earlier but the best people to give you advice about this are your teachers/careers counsellor!

Here's the link to the 2016 scaling report so you can check out how subjects scale at different points: http://www.vtac.edu.au/files/pdf/scaling_report_16.pdf

All the best!

[Justanotherhuman]

My school is forcing me to do a humanities subject because they promote balance, I'm not sure what to do. I'm not passionate about humanities nor does it interest me, also I feel as tho doing humanities would change the plan I have for myself in the future entirely. I'm not sure what to do. I go to John Monash Science School. I was thinking about changing schools maybe but I don't really know... Just need some advice?

[K888]

In the end, this is entirely up to you...I'd personally say it's not worth moving schools over it, because moving schools means leaving friendship groups, getting used to a whole new school culture, etc...

Personally, I don't see how if you really want to be a doctor, how doing a humanities subject is going to change your end goals. If it changes your goals, then maybe consider whether that original goal was really something you wanted to do? Also, remember that so many people have no idea what they want to do with their lives once they finish high school...and that's ok! You don't need to figure out the direction of your life straight out of high school...you have so many coming years in which you can find out what you really want to do

I'm a big advocate for humanities subjects, because you learn different skills and things compared to the maths and science subjects I personally found that my humanities subject (and LOTE for that matter too) was great because it felt like I was engaging a different area of my brain, and I was also learning stuff that I could use outside of an educative environment. Once you give it a shot, you might find that you actually like it!
Plus, you're only in year 10, so you have a while to go! You can change subjects around and all that as you discover what you like/what you're good at.

And believe me, a lot of people don't like humanities subjects until they get to VCE - whether that be because of the content you cover in years 7-10, the class you're in, etc. Keep an open mind, give it a shot and don't spend the whole time telling yourself that you'll hate it...because if you do, you will hate it!
Your school makes students do a humanities subject for a reason - trust that they do it for a good reason and give it a chance