Subject Selection Decisions - NEED HELP !!!! (1 Viewer)

[Total_Nerd]

At my school, all these teachers have made subject selections such a big deal, the worst part of it is that subject selection is in term 3,- 2 weeks from post date for me- and i need some help and advice on choosing my subjects.

So first of all, i'm an above the average student. This year I got consistent B's in all my subject- most which just missed the mark of A. My main concern on subjects that I need advice about is Science (Bio, Chem and Physics), Maths ,SOR and English - basically all my subjects.

With English i've been recommended for Advance but i'm not sure whether I should go into standard and do well or complete with higher grade students and do Advance. Also what is the difference between the two.

I'm planning on doing all three sciences, my teacher told me to go for it- but a lot of other people have been saying that it's really hard and i wouldn't be fit for all of them. I really like science and i find it quite fascinating- should i do it ? Also what maths level do you need for Physics, and is Bio difficult?

I've been offered SOR2 in my school as it is compulsory to do Religion, since i'm 16th in my grade out of approx. 150 students. I'm really fascinated by the course they're offering - but i'm not sure whether should I take up SOR2 instead of SOR1 especially with the workload. I was never great in religion, but this year i'm somehow doing really good- i'm just not sure i'll be able to compete with all my classmates.

My last and final question has to do with Mathematics. I'm currently in 5.3 (advanced) and doing averagely okay. I really like maths (i know nerdy) because I understand it and it's like a second language with me. I have problems in tests though being able to tell the questions apart in which formula to use- i'm not very good in picking out the small differences. But in class I understand each exercise after the teacher has only explained even 1 question or by looking at the text book. In 5.3 I came anywhere between 10th-20th out of the 50 students in Advanced, so technically i'm approx. 10th-20th in my year. My teacher recommended me to do advanced because she thought that Ext.1 would take up a lot of my time. I really want to Ext.1 to especially help in physics. Because I don't put much effort into maths now I believe I have the capability to do Ext.1. Should I go against my teacher's recommendation and try Ext.1 ?

I know these are a lot of questions, but for the past 2 weeks I haven't been trying to figure out what to do... please help me make a decision.

 

[rand_althor]

With English i've been recommended for Advance but i'm not sure whether I should go into standard and do well or complete with higher grade students and do Advance.

You should do Advanced.

I'm planning on doing all three sciences, my teacher told me to go for it- but a lot of other people have been saying that it's really hard and i wouldn't be fit for all of them. I really like science and i find it quite fascinating- should i do it ? Also what maths level do you need for Physics, and is Bio difficult?

I'm doing Physics, Chemistry and Biology at the moment, and I can say that though the subjects aren't easy, they are manageable. The key to doing well is to constantly revise and make sure you understand your content. Once you've done this, do past papers to expose yourself to various types of questions and figure out if you're still unsure about some areas.

Physics requires up to Year 10 Maths. You will mostly be re-arranging formulas and making substitutions.

I find that Biology has a lot of content. It is difficult if you don't pay attention and leave revising to the day before the exam. The content itself is not too difficult to understand, so if you constantly revise, you'll be fine.

I really want to Ext.1 to especially help in physics.

Extension 1 Maths does not (as far as I am aware) share common content with Physics. You could do 2U Maths and still do good in Physics.

Because I don't put much effort into maths now I believe I have the capability to do Ext.1. Should I go against my teacher's recommendation and try Ext.1 ?

I recommend you try it out during Year 11 and determine whether you can cope with it or not. If it is too much work for you and you can't cope, drop it.

 

[Total_Nerd]

.Thanks so much

I think i'm more of choosing all three sciences, is because i feel as if i'm not going to do well if i choose HSIE subjects. Thanks for the advice

 

[DatAtarLyfe]

English
In terms of content, the main difference between Advance and Standard is that in one of the modules, you have to study a Shakespearean text as part of your AOS. Of course because it is Advanced English, the texts are analysed in more detail and the quality of your essays and creative writing pieces are expected to be of a high calibre. I recommend you do Advanced, in fact i recommend everyone does Advance, as Standard aligns significantly lower in the HSC than Advanced, so it is harder to get a Band 6. Also, the teachers tend to challenge you a lot more which drives you to do a lot better in the subject. You should only do Standard English if you GENUINELY hate English. Worst case scenario you can drop to Standard in Year 12, before HSC
If you want more information on selecting the right English level, go to this thread:
http://community.boredofstudies.org...uld-i-do-esl-standard-advanced-extension.html

Science
I will quickly give you a run down on what each Science is about.
Biology: I don't do Biology (as i thoroughly despise anything to do with plants and cells and all that bullshit) so I can't give go into too much detail but in general, most of the topics will revolve around cells, anatomy, microorganisms and just anything associated with living beings. I do know that of all three sciences, Bio has the most content in terms of writing and thus there is a lot to remember, but i guess all the writing helps you write essays faster in English

Chemistry: Chemistry is by far my favourite Science. The content is all to do with atoms, bonds, chemicals, reactions and covers most concept at a molecular level. Chemistry requires you to understand concepts (rather than just plain remembering them) and then be able to apply them to experiments and calculations (oh btw, there is quite a bit of calculations involved and can get quite hairy if you don't pay attention). It's not as writing/content heavy as Bio but does contain a hell of a lot of experiments.

Physics: Physics has to do with pretty much everything at the macroscopic level such as motion, space, communication, energy etc. Out of three sciences, Physics is the one that requires you to really understand the content and various concepts in order to apply them to real-life scenarios. In my opinion, it is the most applicable science to real life situations and gives you a great insight into everyday phenomenons (how cars move forward, how we communicate with technology etc.) Just to clarify, you do not need a high level of maths to do Physics (atleast at the HSC level) Only in maybe motion will you teacher try to explain instantaneous motion an thus may need calculus, which requires Advanced maths at the very least, so you don't need Extension maths to do physics. Most of the calculations are straight forward plugs into formulas and rearranging formulas.

Yes, you should definitely do all three sciences as it will give you a nice feel as to what the content in each subject is about and which one(s) you tend to enjoy more. This way, you can drop the ones you don't enjoy in Year 12, no harm done. It can be a hand full at times to cope with assignments and homework, but most of the time if you manage your time well, you should have no problem.

Maths
Advanced maths should be recommended for all those that do 5.3 maths in year 10. It has a similar workload and the speed is relatively the same (depending on what school you got to). For extension, you need to ask yourself: Do i really like maths? Are you willing to put atleast one hour everyday for hw and other exercises? Will this be beneficial for my career and help me in the future? if you answered yes to any one of those, then you should definitely try extension. It's a step up from Advanced in difficulty (obviously), but is a lot more interesting and fun (lol, im a maths nerd). Also doing extension can really boost your marks for advanced as most of the skills are transferable between the two. My recommendation would be that you try it out, and if you really find it difficult, you can drop it year 12 and continue with advanced. Extension is a really rewarding subject if you do well in it and it's well known that it has dramatic scaling in you HSC so if you do it, make sure you give 110% effort into it. Remember, if you love Extension, Extension will love you back

Unfortunately, I can't answer your question about SOR i'm not doing it myself but i'm sure someone on the thread will answer it for you
Hope that helped you in picking your subjects. If you need more help, i'll be happy to help

 

[Kittyrules]

Just to clarify, you do not need a high level of maths to do Physics (atleast at the HSC level) Only in maybe motion will you teacher try to explain instantaneous motion an thus may need calculus, which requires Advanced maths at the very least, so you don't need Extension maths to do physics. Most of the calculations are straight forward plugs into formulas and rearranging formulas.

Also you need the very very basic year 10 trig, as in SOCAHTOA, to do vector addition. Otherwise as everyone said, Physics mostly only requires substituting numbers into equations.

I agree pretty much with what everyone else wrote, just about the whole 3 sciences thing I'm a bit iffy. My school wont allow people to do three sciences unless they show genuine interest and go to the principal with their parents and debate about it and say that there is nothing left for them to choose etcetc, because my school tends to have the mentality that three sciences is too much. I'm not sure, It all depends on how you organise yourself and your time. One girl is doing all three in my grade, and she seems to be doing alright. It will be quite a content workload, so think about how you would balance it with your other subjects. If you are really interested in it, go for it i guess!

Definitely do Advanced English. Its the whole thing as DatAtarLyfe said - the aligning business.

In terms of Maths, I do 3U and its taught by the same teacher so its really hard for us to understand what is from extension and what is from advanced.Thus, I dont know how much harder it is In my school however, you do have to take 2 exams per term. One for 3unit and the other for 2unit. I'm not sure how your school does it, but yeah, two tests per subject in a term is a bit stressful. Extension does go at quite a fast but manageable pace. The thing is to properly understand the concept when you learn it because its too hard to catch up. That is why you have to do the maths homework - its not a thing to make students annoyed and stressed, but rather a thing to help truly understand what and how everything is happening in the topic. My teacher doesnt even check our homework, so we dont really have to do it (in theory) but after skipping it a couple times I greatly regretted it.

I also have no idea about SOR1 or 2, becuase we only have SOR1 in our school. My friend does it and enjoys it very much. I dont know what else to say sorry xD

The thing is to choose subjects that:
1. you are good at
2. you are interested in
3. that might help you in the future

Also think about how many units you want to do. 12, 13 or 14?
So far as a tally, what you have in mind is:
English - 2
Bio - 2
Chem - 2
Phys - 2
SOR2 - 2(1?)
Maths - 3(2?)

if we take the maximum from what you got there, thats 13 units. Which is one more than the required amount. That means that if you take everything, then you will be able to drop up to 3 units next year!

Hope something here helped, and good luck!

 

[Drongoski]

Reasonyou are even doing SOR is because you are in a Christian private school. Of course we all wonder about the purpose of life, of existence etc. Apart from such considerations, why would you even bother with SOR2?? Later in life, you can do all the studies of religion you care about.

Right now choose subjects that are going to be useful to you, especially in regard to courses you may wish to pursue after high school; not the subjects you like, but the subjects that are going to be helpful to you.

 

[Total_Nerd]

Reasonyou are even doing SOR is because you are in a Christian private school. Of course we all wonder about the purpose of life, of existence etc. Apart from such considerations, why would you even bother with SOR2?? Later in life, you can do all the studies of religion you care about.

Right now choose subjects that are going to be useful to you, especially in regard to courses you may wish to pursue after high school; not the subjects you like, but the subjects that are going to be helpful to you.

You're right, i really don't like Religion- but the course is sort of fascinating even though it's compulsory. So what you're saying is to not think about which one would be easier for me (or a bludge) but which would help me get a better mark in order to pursue my carer by getting a good ATAR?

 

[Drongoski]

You're right, i really don't like Religion- but the course is sort of fascinating even though it's compulsory. So what you're saying is to not think about which one would be easier for me (or a bludge) but which would help me get a better mark in order to pursue my carer by getting a good ATAR?

The ATAR (UAI etc) is just a gross measure of performance. What is is the use of getting a high ATAR based on your performance in you SOR and History, if you are pursuing a course with a substantial requirement for maths, when all you have is Maths General (even with a band 6) say. The Universities, I suspect, have deliberately chosen to not specify prerequisites for various courses, replacing them with assumed knowledge. Why are they doing this? So they don't tie their hands, and can accept more students (therefore fees, which they need to survive), even when they know many of them will not make it.

When I was a university student, most courses had qualifying requirements, whether or not they are spelt out as prerequisites. The drifting to softer options is a consequence of the use of ATARs as an important criterion for enrollment. The universities even give bonus ATAR points, under various excuses (they need more students to be accepted), and keep the pretence the cutoff ATARs are very high.

 

[Total_Nerd]

Very true...although that is what confuses me. Yes if i do SOR1 than i am able to excel more in my other subjects, but i'm just afraid it might bring my atar down. Although SOR2 does have more workload wouldn't it help be for the betterwise ? - so yeah. I know it's based on performance but i think i've been confused what other people have been saying with scaling and so on...

 

[Total_Nerd]

The ATAR (UAI etc) is just a gross measure of performance. What is is the use of getting a high ATAR based on your performance in you SOR and History, if you are pursuing a course with a substantial requirement for maths, when all you have is Maths General (even with a band 6) say. The Universities, I suspect, have deliberately chosen to not specify prerequisites for various courses, replacing them with assumed knowledge. Why are they doing this? So they don't tie their hands, and can accept more students (therefore fees, which they need to survive), even when they know many of them will not make it.

When I was a university student, most courses had qualifying requirement, whether or not they are spelt out as prerequisites. The drifting to softer options is a consequence of the use of ATARs as an important criterion for enrollment. The universities even give bonus ATAR points, under various excuses (they need more students to be accepted), and keep the pretence the cutoff ATARs are very high.

Very true...although that is what confuses me. Yes if i do SOR1 than i am able to excel more in my other subjects, but i'm just afraid it might bring my atar down. Although SOR2 does have more workload wouldn't it help be for the betterwise ? - so yeah. I know it's based on performance but i think i've been confused what other people have been saying with scaling and so on...

 

[sharoooooo]

Im doing all the subjects you mentioned! (I do SOR but I choose to bludge it) But apart from that, I think you should go with Maths Ext 1! You can do it! Prove your teacher wrong! I mean, you gotta try it since you seem like a pretty keen maths student!
For Physchembio, I've always been a more science-y person, so i wanted to do phys and chem (because experiments are fun) and I like learning about Space (in physics). With Bio, it is quite a lot of content, and i only picked it because i had no interest in anything else at my school, and Bio is a good option as some things can overlap with chem and help a little bit.
And..for English, I'd say, go with ADVANCED! When i was in yr 10, i was in the bottom english class (true story) and even though my teacher told me to do standard, i chose to do advanced. The difference between Adv and Standard is that Adv scales way more than Standard but its not that much harder than Standard. So why not just do Advanced? You will do better by being an average student in Adv than a top student in Standard (unless you are super genius, but then again if you were beasting Standard...you'd be in Adv ha ha)
Btw, if you are worried about workload, just do SOR I. I spend about an hour studying for SOR exams the night before and i still manage to pull off a grade A-B mark.

I hope this has helped. Go with Physchembio, maths2/3 and Eng Adv (and SOR I)
Good luck

 

[BLIT2014]

Im doing all the subjects you mentioned! (I do SOR but I choose to bludge it) But apart from that, I think you should go with Maths Ext 1! You can do it! Prove your teacher wrong! I mean, you gotta try it since you seem like a pretty keen maths student!
For Physchembio, I've always been a more science-y person, so i wanted to do phys and chem (because experiments are fun) and I like learning about Space (in physics). With Bio, it is quite a lot of content, and i only picked it because i had no interest in anything else at my school, and Bio is a good option as some things can overlap with chem and help a little bit.
And..for English, I'd say, go with ADVANCED! When i was in yr 10, i was in the bottom english class (true story) and even though my teacher told me to do standard, i chose to do advanced. The difference between Adv and Standard is that Adv scales way more than Standard but its not that much harder than Standard. So why not just do Advanced? You will do better by being an average student in Adv than a top student in Standard (unless you are super genius, but then again if you were beasting Standard...you'd be in Adv ha ha)
Btw, if you are worried about workload, just do SOR I. I spend about an hour studying for SOR exams the night before and i still manage to pull off a grade A-B mark.

I hope this has helped. Go with Physchembio, maths2/3 and Eng Adv (and SOR I)
Good luck

Advanced English ALIGNS better then Standard English.

Aligning is the proportion of people getting band 4,5,6 etc

 

[Total_Nerd]

Im doing all the subjects you mentioned! (I do SOR but I choose to bludge it) But apart from that, I think you should go with Maths Ext 1! You can do it! Prove your teacher wrong! I mean, you gotta try it since you seem like a pretty keen maths student!
For Physchembio, I've always been a more science-y person, so i wanted to do phys and chem (because experiments are fun) and I like learning about Space (in physics). With Bio, it is quite a lot of content, and i only picked it because i had no interest in anything else at my school, and Bio is a good option as some things can overlap with chem and help a little bit.
And..for English, I'd say, go with ADVANCED! When i was in yr 10, i was in the bottom english class (true story) and even though my teacher told me to do standard, i chose to do advanced. The difference between Adv and Standard is that Adv scales way more than Standard but its not that much harder than Standard. So why not just do Advanced? You will do better by being an average student in Adv than a top student in Standard (unless you are super genius, but then again if you were beasting Standard...you'd be in Adv ha ha)
Btw, if you are worried about workload, just do SOR I. I spend about an hour studying for SOR exams the night before and i still manage to pull off a grade A-B mark.

I hope this has helped. Go with Physchembio, maths2/3 and Eng Adv (and SOR I)
Good luck

Thank you so much, you made me smile there. Ahaha love your story- i probably am someone like you (only chose to do physics cause i'm interested in space) but thank you!!!!!!

 

[sharoooooo]

Wow, you chose Advanced English just because it "scales way more than Standard". Are you even good at English? I highly doubt it. Stop promoting this bullshit that you should choose a subject if it "scales better" than other subjects. Subjects only scale you up if you put in effort and do well in them!

tbh I hate english. But I'd hate it whether I chose Standard or Advanced.
Plus, Im good enough for the scaling to take place (im not boasting, just making a point)
And I do put effort into English. I prefer Maths/Science subjects but I also take the time to work on my English too

 

[sharoooooo]

Thank you so much, you made me smile there. Ahaha love your story- i probably am someone like you (only chose to do physics cause i'm interested in space) but thank you!!!!!!

Hahaha no worries Good luck!
[Space is the best]

 

[Total_Nerd]

cool

 

[Spiderman000]

Very true...although that is what confuses me. Yes if i do SOR1 than i am able to excel more in my other subjects, but i'm just afraid it might bring my atar down. Although SOR2 does have more workload wouldn't it help be for the betterwise ? - so yeah. I know it's based on performance but i think i've been confused what other people have been saying with scaling and so on...

So...does SOR 2 unit scale good or not?

 

[Sien]

So...does SOR 2 unit scale good or not?

You should NOT pick a subject based on scaling.

 

[JuliusSeizure]

At my school, all these teachers have made subject selections such a big deal, the worst part of it is that subject selection is in term 3,- 2 weeks from post date for me- and i need some help and advice on choosing my subjects.

So first of all, i'm an above the average student. This year I got consistent B's in all my subject- most which just missed the mark of A. My main concern on subjects that I need advice about is Science (Bio, Chem and Physics), Maths ,SOR and English - basically all my subjects.

With English i've been recommended for Advance but i'm not sure whether I should go into standard and do well or complete with higher grade students and do Advance. Also what is the difference between the two.

I'm planning on doing all three sciences, my teacher told me to go for it- but a lot of other people have been saying that it's really hard and i wouldn't be fit for all of them. I really like science and i find it quite fascinating- should i do it ? Also what maths level do you need for Physics, and is Bio difficult?

I've been offered SOR2 in my school as it is compulsory to do Religion, since i'm 16th in my grade out of approx. 150 students. I'm really fascinated by the course they're offering - but i'm not sure whether should I take up SOR2 instead of SOR1 especially with the workload. I was never great in religion, but this year i'm somehow doing really good- i'm just not sure i'll be able to compete with all my classmates.

My last and final question has to do with Mathematics. I'm currently in 5.3 (advanced) and doing averagely okay. I really like maths (i know nerdy) because I understand it and it's like a second language with me. I have problems in tests though being able to tell the questions apart in which formula to use- i'm not very good in picking out the small differences. But in class I understand each exercise after the teacher has only explained even 1 question or by looking at the text book. In 5.3 I came anywhere between 10th-20th out of the 50 students in Advanced, so technically i'm approx. 10th-20th in my year. My teacher recommended me to do advanced because she thought that Ext.1 would take up a lot of my time. I really want to Ext.1 to especially help in physics. Because I don't put much effort into maths now I believe I have the capability to do Ext.1. Should I go against my teacher's recommendation and try Ext.1 ?

I know these are a lot of questions, but for the past 2 weeks I haven't been trying to figure out what to do... please help me make a decision.

Ok these are my recommendations:

Do English Advanced - scales a whole heap better and you have the option to drop whereas if you do standard its impossible to go up

Do the subjects YOU personally enjoy and pick subjects that may be relevant to what you want you do in the future - if you want to do med, then yes you need to do sciences, but maybe check UNI courses and see what assumed knowledge or pre-requisites are required before you select your final choices.

Sciences - i don't know anyone who does all three sciences so its fairly rare cause the work load is hard, but if you have the motivation and drive then go for it, you can drop if you can't handle the pressure.

Be realistic - it looks like you have potential but don't aim for medicine if you realistically think you will only get a 80 ATAR.

Maths - this is really important. Choose the highest maths possible for you. A 70/100 overall marks in 4U maths is very different to getting a 70 in General Maths or 2U and you can drop the ex1 or Mathematics if you find the other courses harder but you cant go up a level.


See how you go in Yr 11 and build some solid foundations for the year ahead. Having these foundations will make it sooooo much easier for your final year with less stress. Think of it as building a house - in order to build a house you need bricks with cement and a solid foundation. If this isnt the case and you don't worry about yr 11 as much then when year 12 arrives (when places the roof and the walls to the house) the house is unstable if foundations are not strong enough. The stronger the foundations the stronger the house.

Good luck mate