Biology or Physics for HSC? (1 Viewer)

[rahila9261]

Should I do biology or physics in year 11 and 12? Anyone have any advice for which one is better scaling wise, competition, how time consuming they are etc. My other subjects are Advanced english, maths ext1, chemistry, modern history and legal.

Need to choose really soon

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.. thanks

 

[luvtads]

I do both chemistry and biology, and the combination is great. I find that chemistry helps me quite a bit in biology. Do Bio, even though physics is better scaling. Bio is more fun and interesting but it also has a lot of memorising

 

[pwoh]

Best way to find out is to have a look through the syllabus, or notes/textbooks etc and see which one interests you more. Biology appears to be a lot of memory work, whereas physics is good if you're a strong math student.

 

[kaz1]

I do both chemistry and biology, and the combination is great. I find that chemistry helps me quite a bit in biology. Do Bio, even though physics is better scaling. Bio is more fun and interesting but it also has a lot of memorising

Chemistry also helps quite a bit in Physics. Bio being more fun than Physics is a subjective opinion, I would find Physics more fun.

 

[Deer]

Chem>Bio>Physics.

Physics is obviously very maths based. I didn't do it though, so I can't comment.

I'm a humanities/englishy person so I prefer bio. I think it's the most similar to humanities. It has more that you can apply to the real world, in my opinion. I only like chem better because my teacher is fantastic.

But yeah, a lot of memorising in bio but its easy peasy. Depends if you would rather learn a smaller amount of information and be able to apply and derive solutions in the exams (physics) or just regurgitate. The hardest thing you'll have to doin bio is interpret graphs. Rest is just memorise memorise memorise.

 

[Klutsov]

Having not done bio i cannot comment on it, but Physics does not contain as much maths as people say...There is still A LOT of memorising to be done

 

[Carrotsticks]

If your a strong Math student go with Physics. But given you are a Female, do bio.

Not necessarily. I myself thoroughly enjoy maths and I do quite well in it, but I absolutely hate physics (I do bio)

 

[ilikebeeef]

Should I do biology or physics in year 11 and 12? Anyone have any advice for which one is better scaling wise, competition, how time consuming they are etc. My other subjects are Advanced english, maths ext1, chemistry, modern history and legal.

Need to choose really soon

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.. thanks

Best way to find out is to have a look through the syllabus, or notes/textbooks etc and see which one interests you more. Biology appears to be a lot of memory work, whereas physics is good if you're a strong math student.

+1. Although maths isn't that really much of a factor on how much you enjoy Physics. Maths =/= Physics. But the textbook and syllabus browsing bit, I would strongly recommend.

Scaling wise, Chem>Physics>Bio although really Chem and Physics are VERY similar. Physics is sometimes even scaled higher than Chem.

Physics is more time-consuming in my opinion. Despite this, I enjoy the Physics course more than Bio.

 

[sinophile]

I did all three sciences. I found Biology much more enjoyable than Physics (and I consider myself a math guy), but thats just my opinion.

Biology:
-Lots and lots of memorisation. There are like two things that involve calculations and there is little processing work. If you're good at memorising, do it.
-Because it involves mostly regurgitating, its possible to finish the 3-hour exam in under 1 hour if you're of Band 6 material (see below).
-Biolgoy scales very poorly. IIRC, you have to get the top 2-3% to reach Band Six.
- Like all sciences, it involves nature and practice of science questions. This constitutes most of the 'processing work' youll ahve to do

Physics: -Fair bit of working with mathematics, its usually knowing how physics formulae are derived and applying these formula to real-life questions.
-Unlike maths, you do not need to memorise equations. All of them, except for two or three, are given to you in the exam.
-That said, a notable part of Physics involves memorising history of physics and the nature&practice of science.
-Scales a lot better than Biology, the scaling is roughly equal to Chemistry.


EDIT: and like some guy above me said, take a look at the syallbus for both subjects, especially the dot points section of it. In addition to this, I also suggest you look through a few year's worth of past papers, because for Physics many things are tested in the exam which aren't explicitly stated in the syallbus (e.g proving formulas, applying formulas)

 

[rahila9261]

thanks guys

but like is the physics course and extension maths course similiar?

and does biology scale really badly compared to physics? what sort of a mark do you need in biology for it not to scale down?

does chemistry help more with physics or biology?

 

[ilikebeeef]

thanks guys

but like is the physics course and extension maths course similiar?

Although both have SOME aspects of each other, they are not similar.

and does biology scale really badly compared to physics?

Not A LOT but a little bit.

what sort of a mark do you need in biology for it not to scale down?

Biology does not scale down.

does chemistry help more with physics or biology?

It really depends on what your school will be doing for the option module.

 

[ben150891]

the best advice i can give you is try to pick what you think you will enjoy the most. the more you enjoy a subject/ find it interesting the better you will do in it. theres no point picking a high scaling subject just because of its scaling. Also if you maybe consider what you might want to do in the future allthough your highschool subjects dont matter it might make you learning at uni a bit easier.

 

[stampede]

i did both, found physics easier as there was hardly any memorising work (i hate memorising shit)

bio, as some1 before me said, is all memorising and regurgitatin
hsc physics isnt as maths based as one would stereotypical associate physics with, but i found the 2009 hsc exam to have alot more maths in it; win

i got the same mark for both of em, but i put way more effort in bio

physics > bio
imo.

 

[NewiJapper]

Biology is a more rewarding subject. You learn much more useful stuff than what happens when a ball is dropped to the ground

 

[adomad]

OP's Gender = girl hence biology! but phy is more interesting IMO

 

[ilikebeeef]

Biology is a more rewarding subject. You learn much more useful stuff than what happens when a ball is dropped to the ground

My teacher once said "Biology is applied Chemistry, and Chemistry is applied Physics."

OP's Gender = girl hence biology! but phy is more interesting IMO

Hey, don't say that. :mad1: I am a girl and I enjoy Physics more than Biology.

 

[stampede]

Biology is a more rewarding subject. You learn much more useful stuff than what happens when a ball is dropped to the ground

lol, useful stuff ay, animal and plant responses to temperature change ftw?

 

[ATAR_boy]

Biology is a more rewarding subject. You learn much more useful stuff than what happens when a ball is dropped to the ground

Depends on your perspective. Biology is a bludge for year 11 and HSC. As for Physics, you actually have to think, its not all memorising like Bio.

 

[whackymac]

As the saying goes, 'physics is phun'.

 

[biopia]

Do physics! It is the best subject. For me, it was really easy most of the time. You just need to learn the dot points and you'll be fine. I've heard bio is like that too though. Physics definitely scales better. I would recommend it if you prefer numbers.

It's nerdy, but Physics was my favourite subject... I miss it haha.