Choosing subjects in year 10 for year 11 (1 Viewer)

[eunoia]

Hey guys! I am new to BoS so apologies if I don't talk about or use any features correctly and etc.

The process for year 11 subject selection is beginning in about a month and a half, and I am freaking out- I need advice as I don't know what subjects to pick.

*Some context that may be useful*

• I go to a school ranked 200+.
• I am 100% sure I want to go to uni after school, but I have zero clue on what branch of studies to do/what course to do in uni (I don't know what I want to do career-wise at all.)
• I am a straight A student who is one of the most academically intelligent students in my year.
• I'm aiming for at least a 90+ ATAR and being an all round achiever.
• My favourite subjects are maths and history, with maths being the subject I perform best at, alongside English.
• My least favourite and worst-performing subject is science...
• My electives for yr 9 and yr 10 were commerce and Japanese.

These are the subjects I am considering for the prelim year:

• 3U Maths
• Advanced English
• SOR 1
• Ancient History
• Either economics or legal studies

I don't know what to do from here. First of all, are these subjects good? How is the workload in these subjects? Do you have any experience in these subjects? Also would this combination so far lead to a good ATAR/scale well?

Now for the last few units, should I pick both economics and legal studies? Or should I just pick a science even though I feel I may not perform well? Should I maybe even choose Japanese continuers since I perform pretty good in that too?

I feel as if it is hard to pick considering I don't know what I want to do after school. Anyways, if you can give me any sort of advice about yr 11 subject selection, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[HazzRat]

Pick the subjects based on the vibe you get from them. If a subject appeals to you then there's a good chance you'll see yourself studying for it an excelling. Scaling is more of an end-result and not a cause. All it does is standardise your result to other subjects. The idea is that if you put a similar amount of effort into multiple subjects, you will get a similar scaled mark in each. The sciences only scale higher because you'll get a worse result to begin with.

Other things:

• You can definitely do economics and legal. If you want to do both, just do them.
• If you're iffy on whether you want to do a language then don't do it. Only if you see yourself studying for it.

 

[eunoia]

Pick the subjects based on the vibe you get from them. If a subject appeals to you then there's a good chance you'll see yourself studying for it an excelling. Scaling is more of an end-result and not a cause. All it does is standardise your result to other subjects. The idea is that if you put a similar amount of effort into multiple subjects, you will get a similar scaled mark in each. The sciences only scale higher because you'll get a worse result to begin with.

Other things:

• You can definitely do economics and legal. If you want to do both, just do them.
• If you're iffy on whether you want to do a language then don't do it. Only if you see yourself studying for it.

Thanks for replying fast!

I will probably end up doing legal and economics, but I might do deep research into uni options and what I want to do for my career as that will def help me make the final decision in about two months time. I probably won't do a science too since I haven't really got the absolute fundamental basics of it down and so I feel like I would struggle doing it for the next two years. Also, I won't do Japanese then as I can't really imagine myself studying for it and doing well.

Thanks again.

 

[jimmysmith560]

Welcome to Bored of Studies!

Based on the information that you have provided, you may be interested in studying a degree at university that will enable you to start a career in any of these fields:

• Engineering
• Law
• Teaching

An 90+ ATAR undoubtedly maximises your chances of studying a degree related to each of those fields. With that being said, receiving an offer for a Bachelor of Laws at universities such as USyd and UNSW typically requires an ATAR considerably higher than 90, although this does not negate your ability to study law at other universities with slightly lower (and perhaps more attainable) ATAR requirements.

I agree with HazzRat that scaling should not be the main factor to be considered when choosing your subjects. Your performance potential and interest in each subject that you are contemplating should be prioritised. You have considered these two elements in your post, which will hopefully enable you to make a more informed decision.

Given your lack of interest and least favourable performance in Stage 5 Science, taking a Science subject in Stage 6 seems unjustified. On the other hand, your current standard of performance in Japanese would justify you taking Japanese Continuers, although you may wish to reconsider such a decision if you are not genuinely interested in this subject as this can impact your ability to commit to it, especially considering that it is a language subject.

Taking Economics and/or Legal Studies also seems justified since you have studied Stage 5 Commerce. Have you also considered Business Studies? In supporting your decision, you should have a look at the syllabus document of each subject to gain a basic understanding of the topics/concepts covered in each subject. This is likely to assist you in determining whether or not you would be interested in taking a particular subject.

Finally, it is important to keep in mind that none of your results in year 11 contribute towards your HSC results or ATAR. This makes year 11 a great opportunity for you to experience each of your subjects (which eventually allows you to make an informed decision regarding the subjects to keep/drop), meaning that if you are still unsure at a later point in time, you are able to exceed the minimum requirement of 12 units in order to have the opportunity to experience as many subjects as possible before you start year 12.

I hope this helps!

 

[HazzRat]

Thanks for replying fast!

I will probably end up doing legal and economics, but I might do deep research into uni options and what I want to do for my career as that will def help me make the final decision in about two months time. I probably won't do a science too since I haven't really got the absolute fundamental basics of it down and so I feel like I would struggle doing it for the next two years. Also, I won't do Japanese then as I can't really imagine myself studying for it and doing well.

Thanks again.

Yes , research careers too. I'm in a similar boat in that I don't know what I want to do, other than something business-y. Atm, probably comm/law but I'll see what I end up doing. Comm/law is a very dry degree so idk.

 

[eunoia]

Welcome to Bored of Studies!

Based on the information that you have provided, you may be interested in studying a degree at university that will enable you to start a career in any of these fields:

• Engineering
• Law
• Teaching

An 90+ ATAR undoubtedly maximises your chances of studying a degree related to each of those fields. With that being said, receiving an offer for a Bachelor of Laws at universities such as USyd and UNSW typically requires an ATAR considerably higher than 90, although this does not negate your ability to study law at other universities with slightly lower (and perhaps more attainable) ATAR requirements.

I agree with HazzRat that scaling should not be the main factor to be considered when choosing your subjects. Your performance potential and interest in each subject that you are contemplating should be prioritised. You have considered these two elements in your post, which will hopefully enable you to make a more informed decision.

Given your lack of interest and least favourable performance in Stage 5 Science, taking a Science subject in Stage 6 seems unjustified. On the other hand, your current standard of performance in Japanese would justify you taking Japanese Continuers, although you may wish to reconsider such a decision if you are not genuinely interested in this subject as this can impact your ability to commit to it, especially considering that it is a language subject.

Taking Economics and/or Legal Studies also seems justified since you have studied Stage 5 Commerce. Have you also considered Business Studies? In supporting your decision, you should have a look at the syllabus document of each subject to gain a basic understanding of the topics/concepts covered in each subject. This is likely to assist you in determining whether or not you would be interested in taking a particular subject.

Finally, it is important to keep in mind that none of your results in year 11 contribute towards your HSC results or ATAR. This makes year 11 a great opportunity for you to experience each of your subjects (which eventually allows you to make an informed decision regarding the subjects to keep/drop), meaning that if you are still unsure at a later point in time, you are able to exceed the minimum requirement of 12 units in order to have the opportunity to experience as many subjects as possible before you start year 12.

I hope this helps!

Thanks, this was extremely helpful.

I will definitely take onboard what you said and look into careers related to those you mentioned. I am very interested in USyd and what they provide, although I do know it requires an extremely high ATAR to get into a lot of their courses, particularly law as you had mentioned, I think it is at least 99.50? Anyways, I will also look into business studies and compare it with the other HSIE subjects I am tossing up between too. Thanks so much again!

 

[eunoia]

Yes , research careers too. I'm in a similar boat in that I don't know what I want to do, other than something business-y. Atm, probably comm/law but I'll see what I end up doing. Comm/law is a very dry degree so idk.

Yeah, that's hard because both comm and law degrees are kinda versatile and provide you with key skills and knowledge that can be applied to various different industries, although I think comm may be more versatile and lead to a wider range of job opportunities since law is pretty competitive. Also, if you somehow don't land a solid job with the law degree and decide to apply for a general job like a receptionist or something, you may be rejected for being 'too educated/over-qualified' (or maybe that's only an issue in America, idk), although a law degree can also lead you to government jobs and stuff.

Idk

 

[HazzRat]

Yeah, that's hard because both comm and law degrees are kinda versatile and provide you with key skills and knowledge that can be applied to various different industries, although I think comm may be more versatile and lead to a wider range of job opportunities since law is pretty competitive. Also, if you somehow don't land a solid job with the law degree and decide to apply for a general job like a receptionist or something, you may be rejected for being 'too educated/over-qualified' (or maybe that's only an issue in America, idk), although a law degree can also lead you to government jobs and stuff.

Idk

Law is good to have regardless of what job you want and can often get your foot in the door of non-legal industries. Investment banking and finance are also very competitive but love to see a l.l.b. on your resume. Even law school failures don't typically end up working as receptionists. In the legal world, they're called paralegals.

 

[Ksalu]

a subject being "good" is subjective as everyone has their own experiences and opinions. I feel like it would be more beneficial for you to ask yourself if you genuinely enjoy and are capable of the subjects you chose, rather than asking other people.

ANCIENT HISTORY!!! I personally don't find it to have that much of a workload. As long as you listen in class, make notes consistently and send practice paragraphs to your teacher, you should be fine. Your experience may be different to mine. Doing ancient or modern does the provide the option of history extension in y12 so thats a bonus. Similarly, Japanese provides the option of Japanese extension in y12.

I feel like Japanese might be a good option for you to diversify your subjects. From my personal experience, doing multiple writing subjects might be a bit exhausting. I did 3u english, ancient and modern before dropping modern for VA. Additionally, don't stress too much about subject selections now as I'm pretty sure that at most schools, you can switch in the first 3 weeks of y11. By the end of the year, you'll probably gain a greater understanding of what subjects you want to do.

 

[HazzRat]

do remember for law, you need to do the LAT (Law admissions test) as well (unsure if this varies across unis)

Only for UNSW. Recommended though.

 

[eunoia]

a subject being "good" is subjective as everyone has their own experiences and opinions. I feel like it would be more beneficial for you to ask yourself if you genuinely enjoy and are capable of the subjects you chose, rather than asking other people.

ANCIENT HISTORY!!! I personally don't find it to have that much of a workload. As long as you listen in class, make notes consistently and send practice paragraphs to your teacher, you should be fine. Your experience may be different to mine. Doing ancient or modern does the provide the option of history extension in y12 so thats a bonus. Similarly, Japanese provides the option of Japanese extension in y12.

I feel like Japanese might be a good option for you to diversify your subjects. From my personal experience, doing multiple writing subjects might be a bit exhausting. I did 3u english, ancient and modern before dropping modern for VA. Additionally, don't stress too much about subject selections now as I'm pretty sure that at most schools, you can switch in the first 3 weeks of y11. By the end of the year, you'll probably gain a greater understanding of what subjects you want to do.

Yes!! I am 100% doing ancient history as I absolutely adore learning about it and my history teachers are so good at my school, I have great relationships with all of them meaning that I would be more inclined to seek a lot of feedback from the teachers. Like you said too, I don't wanna be stuck with a lot of writing so I will def think about whether or not to choose Japanese to change up my choices. Thanks for giving some advice !

 

[MissKrabappel]

Hey guys! I am new to BoS so apologies if I don't talk about or use any features correctly and etc.

The process for year 11 subject selection is beginning in about a month and a half, and I am freaking out- I need advice as I don't know what subjects to pick.

*Some context that may be useful*

• I go to a school ranked 200+.
• I am 100% sure I want to go to uni after school, but I have zero clue on what branch of studies to do/what course to do in uni (I don't know what I want to do career-wise at all.)
• I am a straight A student who is one of the most academically intelligent students in my year.
• I'm aiming for at least a 90+ ATAR and being an all round achiever.
• My favourite subjects are maths and history, with maths being the subject I perform best at, alongside English.
• My least favourite and worst-performing subject is science...
• My electives for yr 9 and yr 10 were commerce and Japanese.

These are the subjects I am considering for the prelim year:

• 3U Maths
• Advanced English
• SOR 1
• Ancient History
• Either economics or legal studies

I don't know what to do from here. First of all, are these subjects good? How is the workload in these subjects? Do you have any experience in these subjects? Also would this combination so far lead to a good ATAR/scale well?

Now for the last few units, should I pick both economics and legal studies? Or should I just pick a science even though I feel I may not perform well? Should I maybe even choose Japanese continuers since I perform pretty good in that too?

I feel as if it is hard to pick considering I don't know what I want to do after school. Anyways, if you can give me any sort of advice about yr 11 subject selection, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hello, advanced English is a beautiful subject and is totally rewarding. In terms of sciences, ask your science teacher and inquire into their judgement. If you feel as if you aren’t going to do well in a subject I recommend avoiding it, pick subjects that afflict your interests because those Subjects you will do well in as you have the motivation to do so.

 

[eunoia]

Hello, advanced English is a beautiful subject and is totally rewarding. In terms of sciences, ask your science teacher and inquire into their judgement. If you feel as if you aren’t going to do well in a subject I recommend avoiding it, pick subjects that afflict your interests because those Subjects you will do well in as you have the motivation to do so.

Yes, I will definitely organise talking to my science teacher/s to consider whether or not I will do a science subject next year. I see you do biology and chemistry, how are you finding the subjects? Is it a heavy workload? Is the content genuinely interesting?

Thanks for replying !

 

[MissKrabappel]

Yes, I will definitely organise talking to my science teacher/s to consider whether or not I will do a science subject next year. I see you do biology and chemistry, how are you finding the subjects? Is it a heavy workload? Is the content genuinely interesting?

Thanks for replying !

they’re content heavy and you do have to work hard in both, however I feel as if chemistry has less concepts but much more difficult concepts and biology has more concepts which compensates it’s difficulty.

 

[Eagle Mum]

These are the subjects I am considering for the prelim year:

• 3U Maths
• Advanced English
• SOR 1
• Ancient History
• Either economics or legal studies

I count only 11 units if you are only doing one of the two options of economics or legal studies. I understand that 13 units is the minimum required for Yr 11, so you might have to consider what other subject you might be interested to take. You can drop units at the end of Yr 11.