Is 13 units too much for the HSC? (1 Viewer)

[ClaudzSquiggle]

I love all of my subjects, so can't really decide what to drop (except 3 unit English ... *shudder*)
The things I am hoping to pick up are:
4 Unit Maths
Chemistry
Physics
Advanced English
Modern History
History Extension

I've ranked pretty well in most of my subjects, apart from Physics which I need for my degree, and English which I'm stuck with anyway.
I want to do History Extension, but I can't without doing Modern History... And everyone else in my grade is doing just 10, 11 or 12 units.

So yeah, any advice? Did you do 13 units, and how did you find it? Was it a huge workload?

 

[nexusbrah]

It depends if you can control the workload! Honestly things change next year so stick with 13 units if you want and during the first two terms you can decide what to keep/drop

 

[ClaudzSquiggle]

Is there anything you would recommend dropping?

 

[albertcamus]

Drop Hist Ext. Every person I know that has done it, has found it to be too much work and has disliked it.

 

[madharris]

If you were 2 drop, you probably have 2 options
1: the subject you hate the most
2: the subject that you're doing worst in

But as nexus stated, things change. I thought I could handle 13 units and had my mind set on doing 13 until the half yearlies in year 12 where I realised that it was too much and dropped to 11. I think it was a good decision as it reduced my workload by heaps and allowed me to focus on my other subjects

 

[kalstar]

I think you should drop extension history. Maybe you can handle 13, but maybe you can't. Give it a go?

 

[MilkDrinker]

I go to school with a friend who is on 13 units (and doing very well), she does sports, extra curricular activities etc. She also does a lot of the subjects that are on your list. Therefore, it is possible to handle 13 units, but it just depends on the student.

 

[nexusbrah]

If I were to drop something more than likely id drop ext history.

 

[nifkeh]

Guys stop telling her to just extension history already. Do you even know what the subject is about? At my school, literally the beginning of year 12 to trials is just doing a major work, so just writing out a 2500 - 3000 word essay about a topic that relates to historiography, and the teacher checks with you along the way the whole time, kind of like doing English Ext 2. Also, during the time from term 4 to term 3, you are also learning theory about historiographical issues and historians. This is not a problem as literally most people just start revising when trials hits them (as they only test this theory in trials). It is not a stressful subject as it has its own pace, but however of course if you slack in *any* subject, you are bound to be caught up in a problem for that assessment. That can be maths, sciences, english, history. Doesn't matter. Just because there's an 'extension' slapped to history doesn't make it an impossible task. Ancient history and modern is more work than this one unit, of course.

Anyway, to OP. Stick with 13 units for the 1st term of year 12, and find out what subjects you're liking/not really liking. If you're still undecided you can go through to the half yearly assessments. A lot of people do drop units along the course of year 12 (such as english extension, history extension (that is if their major work just becomes a burden to them as it's basically rewriting an essay and handing it in for like at least 5 times, or from 4U maths to 3 unit). Please consider what you prefer, it's not about 'extension history is tough and hard' or other unjustified things you have yet to experience yet.

 

[loversinjapan]

Stick to the 13 units and try everything out. I've carried my 12 units all throughout because I enjoy my subs (hist ext included). You can always just drop along the way.

 

[juicystar07]

Hi!
Doing 13 units isn't absolutely impossible. I did it all throughout prelim and HSC and still managed an ATAR of 95. (Not boasting, just showing that 13 units does not necessarily decrease your chance of acheiving an okay ATAR)
It definitely has a lot to do with your ability to handle the wordload. For me personally, I enjoyed 13 units because I always had something to do. I always need to do well when I'm stressed or if I have a lot of work to do, and having 13 units meant that if I finished studying one unit, there was always another unit to study for (if that makes sense)

 

[SuchSmallHands]

I've settled on doing 13 next year (technically 14, but one is non-ATAR religion so...) and my teachers are all pretty confident that I can cope fine, so I don't see why the same wouldn't go for you. Good luck

 

[obliviousninja]

I think that PLC makes it compulsory to do 14 units in year 11. gg

 

[ebbygoo]

Guys what are your thoughts on this- I need to keep chem next year for the uni course I'm interested in, however, I'm not doing too well at the moment. I need to improve my mark in chem, and I do 13 units, however, I do economics, which will not matter to me for my uni course, and I don't enjoy it that much, but it is my strongest subject. What to do

 

[ClaudzSquiggle]

Mmm.. I have heards about the 14 units for Prelim. I know someone in Manly, and its the same thing there.
I think I'll just keep everything for now. I'm planning to do a science-y degree at uni, so this could be one of my last oppurtunities to do some history

To ebbygoo: Maybe keep both economics and chem. I'm sucking at Physics but not expecting it to count for my ATAR, so I have 11 units that I want to score insanely well in. Same kinda scenario for you?

 

[Verify]

Guys what are your thoughts on this- I need to keep chem next year for the uni course I'm interested in, however, I'm not doing too well at the moment. I need to improve my mark in chem, and I do 13 units, however, I do economics, which will not matter to me for my uni course, and I don't enjoy it that much, but it is my strongest subject. What to do

Do a bridging course for chem after the hsc