Is Repeating a VCE Subject Worth It?

sarangiya is a current Year 12 student. You can follow their progress via their VCE Journey Journal!

The thought may have crossed your mind: I wish I could do over this exam, this SAC, this subject. You think to yourself: If I had have tried that much harder, had that much more time to consolidate everything, had that bit of support I didn’t have this time around, I could have done so much better. Not many realise that doing just that is a real possibility. As a two-time repeater, I’m here to open your eyes to the chance of doing it over and doing it better.

Why you should consider repeating a subject

If you’re not in your final year of high school and have done a Unit 3 and 4 sequence, you have the chance to repeat said sequence instead of taking on a whole new subject. This has several advantages. Notably, you’ll have done the whole course once before your peers. You will have prior experience taking the exams, sitting the SACs, and hopefully already know most – if not all – the content. This not only gives you a head start, but alleviates much of the stress that you have already gotten through once before. As a consequence of this, you might find you perform much better on your second attempt. This can have great implications on your ATAR. Consider: you score a 35 in Biology in Year 11. In Year 12, you repeat Biology and pull a 45. If in your Top 4, this is a difference of 10 points in your aggregate, theoretically turning your 70.00 ATAR into a 77.30. [i]

Wait… but what about my 6th subject, I hear you ask. If your sixth subject (that, yes, is sacrificed in most cases if you repeat a subject) happens to end up in your bottom two – for example, if you got a 30 in Business Management the next year – you will only being adding three points to your aggregate… from a 70.00 ATAR to 72.30. [ii] In saying this, however, repeating a subject is not for everyone. Perhaps instead of Biology, Business Management was your calling and you do pull off a mint study score as well as keeping your 35 from Biology. Not to mention, finally getting that subject over and done with might have been a great relief to you – repeating it could bring back more stress because you just simply hate it. And let’s be real, learning the same thing again for a whole year is not the most fun. Whether repeating a subject is the best option for you is completely relative to your circumstance, but at the very least consider it! You could very well take your 42 to a Premier-awarded 50… I did!

How to smash your second attempt out of the park

You’ve decided to take another stab at it – but one problem remains. How does one succeed in a repeated subject? Taking a Unit 3/4 sequence for the second time is nothing like building from the ground up like you do in other subjects. You have your platform, it’s time to perfect.

First, learn what you didn’t know. It’s time to really commit yourself to learning the content and learning it properly this time. If there is anything you missed, get it down pat.

Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to revise. Your whole learning process this year is revision (you’ve already heard everything once before!). Keep what you know fresh – especially if you happen to be undertaking a changed study design – and perfect your responses, master the content and prepare for your SACs and exams.

Of course, the best way to do this is the third element – practice tests. You’ve already done some, but you’re going to do more. Research company Elevate Education found that the key indicator of VCE success is not IQ, or even how hard you work: it’s the sheer number of practice tests completed. [iii] What’s best is that you have a whole year to smash out paper after paper.

These three things are your bat, so get ready to knock a home run.

Doing a subject over again seems to be somewhat of a taboo topic. It seems to be a thought that never crossed anyone’s mind, and if it did, it was always met with a petty excuse. For example, I’m always asked: “won’t that take 10% off your score, though?”. Albeit true, it has since changed. According to the VCAA, “there is no penalty for repeating VCE units. Repeating a study at the Unit 3 and 4 level may improve your study score and enhance your chances of getting into a tertiary course.” [iv]

Maybe you got 23 in Chemistry in Year 11, when the prerequisite was 25. Perhaps you adore your subject and want to perfect your performance. It could be that you’re looking for a boost to your ATAR. Maybe you’re not keen on doing a full VCE load in Year 12. Or it may be because on 7AM that fateful morning, you opened your eyes and your heart sank.

Whatever the reason, open your eyes to the options available to you, take control of your VCE, and do it better.