unit 1&2 in year 10

[pootato]

hi, im a year 10 doing lit this year. my friend's doing bio.

we were talking about vce today and she said that it was better to do a unit 1&2 in a science subject in year 10 than it was to do one in year 11. her reasoning for saying that was because the smarter people get into a unit 1&2 in year 10, and that in year 11 anyone can get into a vce science subject. she told me that having smart people in your cohort helps with sacs and exams, and that it is desirable to have a 'strong' cohort because they help you get a good grade and you get scaled up and whatnot.

could someone please clarify if what she said is true or not? does it really matter what field your subject is in for year 10? also, could someone please tell me how a strong cohort helps you get a good grade? thanks to anyone who answers.

[Sine]

hi, im a year 10 doing lit this year. my friend's doing bio.

we were talking about vce today and she said that it was better to do a unit 1&2 in a science subject in year 10 than it was to do one in year 11. her reasoning for saying that was because the smarter people get into a unit 1&2 in year 10, and that in year 11 anyone can get into a vce science subject. she told me that having smart people in your cohort helps with sacs and exams, and that it is desirable to have a 'strong' cohort because they help you get a good grade and you get scaled up and whatnot.

could someone please clarify if what she said is true or not? does it really matter what field your subject is in for year 10? also, could someone please tell me how a strong cohort helps you get a good grade? thanks to anyone who answers.

Hey

Nope, the field of your year 10 subject should not be the deciding factor. You should think about what you are interested in and is happy to study. (whilst looking at prereqs for any course that you are interested in). Your friends logic doesn't make sense for me, since if you do for example bio in yr 11+12 you would still have the "smart people" who are doing it in yr10+11 in your cohort. (although they would be a single grade below you). I really don't think any of this, slight differences of cohort strengths, actually matters but your own performance.

[Aaron]

No it does not. All that is required for a Unit 1 and 2 subject is a pass ('satisfactory'). What an 'S' (satisfactory) actually means is determined by your school. It does not in any way contribute to your ATAR.

The argument re: cohort, smart people, scaling etc. applies only to Unit 3 and 4 subjects.

Please choose a subject based on your strengths and interests, as opposed to rumours, friend choice etc.

[Shadowxo]

For 1/2 all that matters is a S/N so your class doesn't really matter. Since I'm assuming doing a 1/2 in year10 means doing a 3/4 in year 11, the following information is regarding 3/4.

The people in your cohort is (supposed) to not affect your mark. It sometimes does when, for example, some people try hard at the SACs and give up on the exam but the strength of your cohort shouldn't affect your mark at all!
How it works is:
-Do SACs at school. The students are each given a "rank" within their class/es. (mark isn't used, only for verification. It's the rank that matters)
-Do exam at the end of the year. The students are again given a mark and a "rank" within their classes for this exam.
-The SAC marks are shifted to meet the exam marks. 1st in the class gets the highest exam mark, middle person gets the middle mark, etc. They try to make it as fair as possible. More information can be found here http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/exams/statisticalmoderation/statmod.aspx

So, in short, having smart people will mean the exam marks in those classes will be higher, and therefore the SAC marks will probably scale up more, BUT your rank will be lower in the class, so it cancels out. The people in your class shouldn't matter, you should get the same marks either way (but sometimes small classes or certain scenarios can distort the marks a bit)