dropping subject advice!! (1 Viewer)

[imhungry990]

hey guys!! so basically, im in year 11 right now and currently i am doing a total of 15 units. 13 in school, and an external language outside of school.

Here are my subjects:

English Adv
English Ext
Math Adv
Biology
Chemistry
Visual Arts
SOR2
Accelerated Itallian Continuers (meaning i will be taking the HSC for this at the end of this year)

15 units is kind of a lot for me and i was thinking that i definetly needed to drop one subject so i could spend time focusing on my other subjects- and also since im doing my language for hsc this year i would need to spend more time on that too. we have classes almost 8 hours every week and a plus of dropping a subject would mean i would have some sstudy periods. for me, i was considering between biology, chemistry and visual arts.

here are my thoughts:
- right now,visual arts is my "fun subject". its like a subject i can kind of relax in because im ive done it as an elective in both years 9 and 10 and im pretty good with writing and waffling on, but i am aware of how poorly art scales for your ATAR unless you achieve the top top in it, and how for the hsc i would have to submit a major work- something a lot of time would go into.

- biology on the other hand as ive seen has ALOT OF CONTENT (which is expected bc its a "content heavy subject". its crazy to me how little lessons we had but theres so much to catch up on already. i'm not really a fan of it right now.. but i feel like i would maybe enjoy it as time goes on?? its just the amount of content we have to learn is insane ive also heard that in terms of scaling, chemistry scales better, but as expceted, it would be harder too.

-right now, im enjoying chemistry and the fact that we have less content is making me more comfortable because i feel like i can grasp the content, but i definetly feel like it will get harder in year 12 (as expected) but im not too sure, if i would want to drop bio and then eventually ending up hating chem.. i wouldn't say im AMAZING at math since im not doing ext1 rn id say im pretty "okay" with it, but ive heard you need math for chem...

when i drop a subject (2 units this year), that would leave me with 13 units for my preliminary course this year - 2 of those i already completed last year bc i did my language accelerated. so next year, if i drop another 2 units (idk what subject that would be), i would still have 11 units for my hsc.

im just a bit unsure because once you drop a subject, you cant really pick it up again so that is whats holding me back..

can someone that maybe did bio and chem or even visual arts for their hsc pls help me out?? maybe give me some advice too? + if you have any study tips/ techniques as well as any websites that you find/have found useful??

it would really help me out!!! thank you so muchhh!!!!

 

[grouchygigi]

I have not finished my HSC but I think I can offer some advice because I also started on 15 units during year 11 last year with an accelerated exactly like you. I think the scaling argument as everyone knows is probably the worst thing to use to decide whether to drop a subject or not because you are not taking in account how well you can do in it so just forget about that for now. So i accelerated biology which I can give some insights into right now and I'm somewhat familiar with chem and the amount of work to put in.

- Since you are in Year 11 TERM 1 and already thinking about dropping something, especially pre emptively, I get the feeling that your heart might not be in the right place for some subjects, I think if it is actually about the fact that you like the subjects and that's why you are doing them, you would probably not consider dropping. In this case I think you need to consider your motivations about why you are choosing to keep certain subjects, e.g. don't keep chem because it is "high scaling" or not as much work. I think it's best to stick it out and put all your effort into all the subjects for at least this term, what subjects you are actually willing to put the work into will become super apparent and drop the ones you are too lazy to do, it means you likely won't stick it out until the HSC.

- Talking about Bio since I can offer some thoughts. IMO, Bio should not be a "content heavy" subject. I think the content you need to remember in Yr 12 is quite a lot and there's no avoiding them. E.g. the biotechnologies, eyes and ears and kidneys. But in year 11, there was like no content and there was such a small amount of things you needed to remember. As long as you can explain the concepts, there's really no need to memorise anything. So I think it's a worrying sign that you are saying that it's "content heavy". Also if you want to study for Bio, best thing is to try to explain the concept instead of actually memorising anything e.g. diffusion and osmosis (don't memorise the steps or words).

- Chem is so hard, if you don't have the effort for Bio, you don't have the effort for chem unless you are a super chemist who loves chemistry so much.

TLDR: Maybe try not to think about scaling or trying to count the "content heavy" subjects you have, just think about the subjects you want to put the effort into. Stick it out and if there are subjects you tell yourself you will study for but then never do and you cannot see that changing, drop that one.

 

[imhungry990]

I have not finished my HSC but I think I can offer some advice because I also started on 15 units during year 11 last year with an accelerated exactly like you. I think the scaling argument as everyone knows is probably the worst thing to use to decide whether to drop a subject or not because you are not taking in account how well you can do in it so just forget about that for now. So i accelerated biology which I can give some insights into right now and I'm somewhat familiar with chem and the amount of work to put in.

- Since you are in Year 11 TERM 1 and already thinking about dropping something, especially pre emptively, I get the feeling that your heart might not be in the right place for some subjects, I think if it is actually about the fact that you like the subjects and that's why you are doing them, you would probably not consider dropping. In this case I think you need to consider your motivations about why you are choosing to keep certain subjects, e.g. don't keep chem because it is "high scaling" or not as much work. I think it's best to stick it out and put all your effort into all the subjects for at least this term, what subjects you are actually willing to put the work into will become super apparent and drop the ones you are too lazy to do, it means you likely won't stick it out until the HSC.

- Talking about Bio since I can offer some thoughts. IMO, Bio should not be a "content heavy" subject. I think the content you need to remember in Yr 12 is quite a lot and there's no avoiding them. E.g. the biotechnologies, eyes and ears and kidneys. But in year 11, there was like no content and there was such a small amount of things you needed to remember. As long as you can explain the concepts, there's really no need to memorise anything. So I think it's a worrying sign that you are saying that it's "content heavy". Also if you want to study for Bio, best thing is to try to explain the concept instead of actually memorising anything e.g. diffusion and osmosis (don't memorise the steps or words).

- Chem is so hard, if you don't have the effort for Bio, you don't have the effort for chem unless you are a super chemist who loves chemistry so much.

TLDR: Maybe try not to think about scaling or trying to count the "content heavy" subjects you have, just think about the subjects you want to put the effort into. Stick it out and if there are subjects you tell yourself you will study for but then never do and you cannot see that changing, drop that one.

OMG THANK YOU SO MUCHHHH i think ima drop chem