Year 12 Subject Selection (1 Viewer)

[pendleberries]

Currently I am taking the following subjects:
English Advanced (Compulsory), Studies of Religion II (Compulsory), Biology, Legal Studies & Ancient History
I had to repeat year 11 as I transferred to a new school at December of last year and it was what was best for me at the time, however I completed an accelerated course (Investigating Science ATAR 79) last year and the units transferred with me so that’s why im doing 10 units currently. Because of this I can do 8 units in year 12 and i my current plan is to move to studies of religion I and do history extension so I total 2 units, then drop Biology so my schedule would look like:
English Advanced, SOR I, Legal Studies, Ancient History & History Extension

My questions are:
Is History Extension worth it?
Is Biology a good Year 12 subject (currently im 40 something in the year so I’m not bad at it by any means, just hate my teacher with a burning passion)
Would my schedule be too complicated?
Also general opinions would be nice

 

[dav53521]

My questions are:
Is History Extension worth it?

I did history ext when I was in yr 12 so I've give my 2 cents on it. From what I remember history ext is all about historiography (the history of history) so it is quite different from 2u history (at least for modern, didn't do ancient) as you look at historians instead of events.

It is quite a bit of work for a 1 unit course as you are required to read a lot and be knowledge on each historian you cover as you will be expected to know them well and be able to quote them as you will be using them in your HSC/Trial essays as sources. Personally I found it quite different from modern history due to how history ext is more about historiography so you will learn about how history has been written over the years in the first topic and in the second topic you learn about the historiography of a certain person or event.

Personally I found the major work to be quite enjoyable as you are researching an area you are interested and write about how the construction of history has led to a person/event being changed or disagreed over. I did find that the major work can get a bit intense at time however, it was a fun and rewarding experince.

The Trials/HSC can be of a hit or miss depending on the question given. Unlike 2 unit history history ext is given only two questions and no matter what topics/historians you covered you will be expected to answer that question. This means that if a question is more geared towards what you studied you'll find it a bit easier but if it's not it might be a bit difficult, however, the questions are quite broad and open so it won't be impossible to answer it using the content you have been taught. Also for the first section you will be given two decent sized sources that you are expected to use in your essay to help argue your point. They do give you 10 minutes for the reading time so it is possible to get through them within the reading time but you need to ensure that you understand what the source is saying. For section 2 recently if I recall correctly there has only been 1 shorter source but you still need to engage with it and use it within your essay. Also as you are given two hours (one for each section) you are expected to write more because you are given more time to work through each section.