dropping english extension 2 (1 Viewer)

[hatterene]

Hey! I hope everyone is doing well. Lately, I've been feeling a little stressed and disappointed and I need some advice to meet my atar goal of 96.

So semester 1 has come to an end and results have come out, and I am underperforming significantly. For reference, I do go to a top selective school and in year eleven, I ranked 1st or near top 20 for all my subjects, except for Maths Advanced, however when I entered year twelve, my results have become increasingly declining even though I have been putting in much more hours and effort into it. I have booked an interview with my careers advisor, but I felt as if their advice was unsatisfactory. They basically gave me the "do what you want, don't think about marks" response and I didn't receive any advice about how to regain confidence and studying. So I am coming here instead.

I feel as if my biggest problem is English Extension 2, and I have been toying with the idea of dropping for a month now. I am currently ranked last (14/14) and so far 70% of the course has passed. The first task was a viva-voce task weighted 30%, in which the average seemed to be around 21/25... I got 16/25 and came last lol. I felt as if this mark was justified, I truly did not have an understanding of viva-voces but I did have an understanding of my content. Then, my current teacher left the class and we are replaced with a new teacher - which is where shit went south. I can feel as if she is demotivated to teach us, we do not do activities like before, coming into the class is just getting screamed at and sitting at our desks for 2 hours per week. We had barely any preparation leading up to task 2, which had a massive weighting of 40%. The average then was around 16/25 and I got 11/25, ranked second last. We only have 1 task until the externals, and I feel like I have no more motivation to continue the subject because I am starting to dread coming to class and I know that my ranking means I am taking the external marks of whoever did the worst. The only piece of motivation I have left is the scaling of the subject, since 4U subjects scale significantly well, but is it even going to be beneficial to a last-ranked student? Since I am doing 11 units, this is the subject that is currently not getting counted.

For my other subjects, I am alright. We completed 2 tasks for everything, leaving 1 assignment left, trials and the HSC.
For English Advanced, English Extension 1 and Business Studies, I thoroughly understand the subject and am performing better than the grade average, plus coming 2nd for Business for task 2. I do not know the specific rankings for the tasks as of yet.
For Maths Advanced, I need to dedicate more time to it, since my understanding is solid but my exam skills are poor, but I am ranked 22/80 for the first task and around 40/80 for the second.
For Legal Studies, our grade suffered with hard exams, but it is something we have been collectively improving on. I am ranked below average for both tasks, though. However, I did top this subject in the preliminary course so I believe I have the strength to regain my confidence.
My other problematic subject is Maths Extension. I have begun tutoring for this subject since it is my worst alongside English Extension 2. My first task performance was mediocre, I ranked around 50/108. However, my previous task was horrible - I ranked 102/108. Though, I think tutoring and increased intensive studying can help me regain my confidence, as I achieved almost 1st rank in preliminary tasks for this subject.

Please give me any advice! I am open to honesty, no matter how harsh!

 

[nilatar]

Oh my god
4U English with 3U Maths?
Asking for trouble...

 

[nilatar]

There are more knowledgeable folks that will assist you here but my prevailing thoughts is yes, perhaps you should drop EE2 considering you are feeling demotivated and your teacher is hopeless. Absolutely no point in doing EE2 just because it scales well. Enthusiasm and a solid support network are imperative for strong results.

 

[Velocifire]

Hey! I hope everyone is doing well. Lately, I've been feeling a little stressed and disappointed and I need some advice to meet my atar goal of 96.

So semester 1 has come to an end and results have come out, and I am underperforming significantly. For reference, I do go to a top selective school and in year eleven, I ranked 1st or near top 20 for all my subjects, except for Maths Advanced, however when I entered year twelve, my results have become increasingly declining even though I have been putting in much more hours and effort into it. I have booked an interview with my careers advisor, but I felt as if their advice was unsatisfactory. They basically gave me the "do what you want, don't think about marks" response and I didn't receive any advice about how to regain confidence and studying. So I am coming here instead.

I feel as if my biggest problem is English Extension 2, and I have been toying with the idea of dropping for a month now. I am currently ranked last (14/14) and so far 70% of the course has passed. The first task was a viva-voce task weighted 30%, in which the average seemed to be around 21/25... I got 16/25 and came last lol. I felt as if this mark was justified, I truly did not have an understanding of viva-voces but I did have an understanding of my content. Then, my current teacher left the class and we are replaced with a new teacher - which is where shit went south. I can feel as if she is demotivated to teach us, we do not do activities like before, coming into the class is just getting screamed at and sitting at our desks for 2 hours per week. We had barely any preparation leading up to task 2, which had a massive weighting of 40%. The average then was around 16/25 and I got 11/25, ranked second last. We only have 1 task until the externals, and I feel like I have no more motivation to continue the subject because I am starting to dread coming to class and I know that my ranking means I am taking the external marks of whoever did the worst. The only piece of motivation I have left is the scaling of the subject, since 4U subjects scale significantly well, but is it even going to be beneficial to a last-ranked student? Since I am doing 11 units, this is the subject that is currently not getting counted.

For my other subjects, I am alright. We completed 2 tasks for everything, leaving 1 assignment left, trials and the HSC.
For English Advanced, English Extension 1 and Business Studies, I thoroughly understand the subject and am performing better than the grade average, plus coming 2nd for Business for task 2. I do not know the specific rankings for the tasks as of yet.
For Maths Advanced, I need to dedicate more time to it, since my understanding is solid but my exam skills are poor, but I am ranked 22/80 for the first task and around 40/80 for the second.
For Legal Studies, our grade suffered with hard exams, but it is something we have been collectively improving on. I am ranked below average for both tasks, though. However, I did top this subject in the preliminary course so I believe I have the strength to regain my confidence.
My other problematic subject is Maths Extension. I have begun tutoring for this subject since it is my worst alongside English Extension 2. My first task performance was mediocre, I ranked around 50/108. However, my previous task was horrible - I ranked 102/108. Though, I think tutoring and increased intensive studying can help me regain my confidence, as I achieved almost 1st rank in preliminary tasks for this subject.

Please give me any advice! I am open to honesty, no matter how harsh!

Hi lesser farm girl

how do you do

 

[jimmysmith560]

As @nilatar mentioned, dropping English Extension 2 would be the best thing to do. Not only is it good to drop because it will be hard for you to improve your rank at this stage (it's quite pointless to try to improve now because even if you do, improvement may not be significant and you may not be happy with your final rank), but dropping it also means you will get additional study time for your other subjects, in which you can actually perform well. Dropping 4U English will get that burden off your shoulders, subsequently reducing your stress and allowing you to have a positive mindset so you become ready to study for your other subjects.

Make sure you have a thorough knowledge of Business Studies and Legal Studies content. Try practising relevant questions when possible so you can improve the quality of your answers and long responses (essays/reports). This shouldn't be difficult and is rather a matter of time and diligence.

For maths, regularly revise your 2U and 3U content and practise relevant questions so you can apply your knowledge and (if applicable) spot mistakes and work on those weak points so you don't make those same mistakes again. Also, try to make the most out of tutoring as that could be quite helpful too.

All the best!

 

[DarkOperator618]

Oh my god
4U English with 3U Maths?
Asking for trouble...

i know someone doing 4u maths and 3u english

may he rest in peace (he's suffering in 4u)

EDIT: he's not dead lol

 

[hatterene]

There are more knowledgeable folks that will assist you here but my prevailing thoughts is yes, perhaps you should drop EE2 considering you are feeling demotivated and your teacher is hopeless. Absolutely no point in doing EE2 just because it scales well. Enthusiasm and a solid support network are imperative for strong results.

Yeah, I agree with you. I genuinely enjoy the subject, and I want to put a lot of effort into the subject. Which I can say I do. However, is it bad to make decisions based on teachers? Heard that was a no, no.

 

[hatterene]

Hi lesser farm girl

how do you do

Not thriving atm!!

 

[hatterene]

As @nilatar mentioned, dropping English Extension 2 would be the best thing to do. Not only is it good to drop because it will be hard for you to improve your rank at this stage (it's quite pointless to try to improve now because even if you do, improvement may not be significant and you may not be happy with your final rank), but dropping it also means you will get additional study time for your other subjects, in which you can actually perform well. Dropping 4U English will get that burden off your shoulders, subsequently reducing your stress and allowing you to have a positive mindset so you become ready to study for your other subjects.

Make sure you have a thorough knowledge of Business Studies and Legal Studies content. Try practising relevant questions when possible so you can improve the quality of your answers and long responses (essays/reports). This shouldn't be difficult and is rather a matter of time and diligence.

For maths, regularly revise your 2U and 3U content and practise relevant questions so you can apply your knowledge and (if applicable) spot mistakes and work on those weak points so you don't make those same mistakes again. Also, try to make the most out of tutoring as that could be quite helpful too.

All the best!

Hmm, in the miraculous chance that I do get 100% for the next task (weighted 30%), what significance does that have on my performance? And how detrimental is coming last, because I heard that last should always be avoided since you will be capped with taking the mark of the lowest externals as your school assessment mark, is that true?

I will work on improving my knowledge of the syllabus for my HSIE subjects, thank you! And for math, I have been working on at least one text book exercise every night so the content remains fresh. Thank you!

 

[hatterene]

i know someone doing 4u maths and 3u english

may he rest in peace (he's suffering in 4u)

EDIT: he's not dead lol

HAHA, but I feel like I am wasting my life because the subject scales so well and its such a, I guess, "flex".

 

[nilatar]

Yeah, I agree with you. I genuinely enjoy the subject, and I want to put a lot of effort into the subject. Which I can say I do. However, is it bad to make decisions based on teachers? Heard that was a no, no.

In EE2, you should be ultimately the one that formulates the concept, direction and form of your MW. By teacher's advice, I am referring to editorial, structuring, wording suggestions etc. Yes, never embrace advice from teacher's that changes the face of your MW or doesn't fit with you. It's your work, after all. On the note that you genuinely enjoy E2 and strive to put the effort in, whether you drop it or not should come from your instincts. It's just a shame that you're in the predicament of having a poor support network for E2, because you've got every other quality you need to do exceptionally well. Nonetheless, provided you capitalize on your remaining tasks and whip up an impeccable final product, you can still do exceptionally well.

 

[jimmysmith560]

Hmm, in the miraculous chance that I do get 100% for the next task (weighted 30%), what significance does that have on my performance? And how detrimental is coming last, because I heard that last should always be avoided since you will be capped with taking the mark of the lowest externals as your school assessment mark, is that true?

Unfortunately, coming last in a subject can be quite detrimental. And yes, the lowest assessment mark is adjusted to equal the lowest HSC exam mark, as per NESA's moderation process.

Getting 100% in your next assessment task will surely improve your rank to (I believe) somewhere between 10th and 5th. However, is it possible to get 100% in said task given the current circumstances? I don't mean to underestimate your capabilities or discourage you of course but it's important that you're aware of what mark you can reach in your upcoming assessments. If you believe you can get 100%, definitely go for it and see how you go. If not, perhaps a different approach may be required.

I will work on improving my knowledge of the syllabus for my HSIE subjects, thank you! And for math, I have been working on at least one text book exercise every night so the content remains fresh. Thank you!

No worries!

 

[hatterene]

Unfortunately, coming last in a subject can be quite detrimental. And yes, the lowest assessment mark is adjusted to equal the lowest HSC exam mark, as per NESA's moderation process.

Getting 100% in your next assessment task will surely improve your rank to (I believe) somewhere between 10th and 5th. However, is it possible to get 100% in said task given the current circumstances? I don't mean to underestimate your capabilities or discourage you of course but it's important that you're aware of what mark you can reach in your upcoming assessments. If you believe you can get 100%, definitely go for it and see how you go. If not, perhaps a different approach may be required.



No worries!

Given that, does that mean that scaling only affects you positively if you do well? I honestly don't think it is possible to get that high in this subject, but I do believe it is achievable in my other subjects. No matter how hard I try I feel like I would always be down bad, EE2 is a huge gamble as my class puts it LOL.

 

[nilatar]

Given that, does that mean that scaling only affects you positively if you do well? I honestly don't think it is possible to get that high in this subject, but I do believe it is achievable in my other subjects. No matter how hard I try I feel like I would always be down bad, EE2 is a huge gamble as my class puts it LOL.

For EE2, scaling will effect you in a much more positive manner than most other subjects, provided you do well. E.g., if you were on the 90th percentile for EE2, you might get a 45/50 scaled mark (E4). Whereas, if you were on the identical percentile for Advanced, you'd fall around the mid / low 80s. That's why you should be having faith in yourself that you CAN do well, and grab that E4 . If you feel you lack the support / time / etc to 'do well' in EE2, with these other predicaments making you consider dropping, maybe it is something to think about. But once again, "I guess it's a matter of following your heart and intuition and doing what you think is best. " - @jimmysmith560 , 2021

 

[jimmysmith560]

Given that, does that mean that scaling only affects you positively if you do well? I honestly don't think it is possible to get that high in this subject, but I do believe it is achievable in my other subjects. No matter how hard I try I feel like I would always be down bad, EE2 is a huge gamble as my class puts it LOL.

In addition to the above, scaling relates to the HSC exam whereas moderation deals with your internal assessment mark. If you look at subjects like Mathematics Extension 2, doing "bad" at the HSC exam will probably get you a mark in the 80's, because of how well it scales.

Where I feel a pragmatic approach may be required is in the fact that English Extension 2 just seems like an unnecessary burden for you at this point. You should consider dropping it so you can focus on your other subjects, where you can actually get good marks. That'll help you get a good ATAR.

If you decide to challenge yourself and keep English Extension 2, you should consider the first part of @nilatar's suggestions.

"I guess it's a matter of following your heart and intuition and doing what you think is best. " - @jimmysmith560 , 2021

Machynlleth Wisdom moment

 

[hatterene]

In addition to the above, scaling relates to the HSC exam whereas moderation deals with your internal assessment mark. If you look at subjects like Mathematics Extension 2, doing "bad" at the HSC exam will probably get you a mark in the 80's, because of how well it scales.

Where I feel a pragmatic approach may be required is in the fact that English Extension 2 just seems like an unnecessary burden for you at this point. You should consider dropping it so you can focus on your other subjects, where you can actually get good marks. That'll help you get a good ATAR.

If you decide to challenge yourself and keep English Extension 2, you should consider the first part of @nilatar's suggestions.



Machynlleth Wisdom moment

thank you!!! you guys are both so amazing. my final question would be:
to do well in 4U at this point takes a lot a lot a lot of time, with not really a promised ending, but my other subjects are so low scaling (legal studies), which I have the potential to do very well in since I thoroughly understand the course. Is there ever a chance that 4U will be counted but legal would not? Given the scaling.

 

[jimmysmith560]

thank you!!! you guys are both so amazing. my final question would be:
to do well in 4U at this point takes a lot a lot a lot of time, with not really a promised ending, but my other subjects are so low scaling (legal studies), which I have the potential to do very well in since I thoroughly understand the course. Is there ever a chance that 4U will be counted but legal would not? Given the scaling.

No worries!

It depends on how well you perform in each of them. 4U English is only one unit right? If you end up performing better in English Extension 2 than in Legal Studies, only one unit of Legal Studies will count (because you’re doing 11 units). But it should be much easier to perform well in legal than in 4U English and when you perform well in subjects like legal, I believe you’ll no longer need 4U English’s scaling (in that case 4U English won’t even count).

 

[hatterene]

No worries!

It depends on how well you perform in each of them. 4U English is only one unit right? If you end up performing better in English Extension 2 than in Legal Studies, only one unit of Legal Studies will count (because you’re doing 11 units). But it should be much easier to perform well in legal than in 4U English and when you perform well in subjects like legal, I believe you’ll no longer need 4U English’s scaling (in that case 4U English won’t even count).

Hypothetically, if I get 100% in the next task, that would leave my maximum final internal marks as 66%, which would place me in a pretty low percentile for all EE2 students in the cohort. I can not get higher than 66%, although it is possible to get 100% in my last task, I doubt I can achieve it. Majority of my grade of every other subject has not passed yet, so I can bounce back easily. Idk, this is just such a mess because EE2 scales so well, and I would only keep it because if I do well I will be scaled amazingly, but I don't think I can do well. But if I drop it, I risk my ATAR being lower than it can be but it takes time away from focusing on math and stuff.

 

[jimmysmith560]

Hypothetically, if I get 100% in the next task, that would leave my maximum final internal marks as 66%, which would place me in a pretty low percentile for all EE2 students in the cohort. I can not get higher than 66%, although it is possible to get 100% in my last task, I doubt I can achieve it. Majority of my grade of every other subject has not passed yet, so I can bounce back easily. Idk, this is just such a mess because EE2 scales so well, and I would only keep it because if I do well I will be scaled amazingly, but I don't think I can do well. But if I drop it, I risk my ATAR being lower than it can be but it takes time away from focusing on math and stuff.

You still have 3U Maths which scales well. A 96 ATAR can be achieved with pretty much any subject combination. You'll need as many band 6's and E4's as possible for an ATAR this high. Rather than focusing on English Extension 2 which will take time you could instead spend on your other subjects (in which you know you can perform well), dropping it would in fact allow for additional study time for your other subjects. If you compare the scaling of English Extension 2 to how many other subjects you can perform well in, I think the latter easily outweighs the benefit of doing 4U English.

I did Mathematics Extension in year 11 and my original plan was to do Mathematics Extension 2 in year 12. However, towards the end of year 11 I realised that 4U maths was way beyond my capabilities and that my mark in 3U maths was not convincing for me to keep 3U maths. Maths was taking a lot of my time and I thought that doing Mathematics Advanced alone would allow me to focus more on my other subjects, in which I can actually perform well, which it did.

 

[dan964]

Hey! I hope everyone is doing well. Lately, I've been feeling a little stressed and disappointed and I need some advice to meet my atar goal of 96.

So semester 1 has come to an end and results have come out, and I am underperforming significantly. For reference, I do go to a top selective school and in year eleven, I ranked 1st or near top 20 for all my subjects, except for Maths Advanced, however when I entered year twelve, my results have become increasingly declining even though I have been putting in much more hours and effort into it. I have booked an interview with my careers advisor, but I felt as if their advice was unsatisfactory. They basically gave me the "do what you want, don't think about marks" response and I didn't receive any advice about how to regain confidence and studying. So I am coming here instead.

I feel as if my biggest problem is English Extension 2, and I have been toying with the idea of dropping for a month now. I am currently ranked last (14/14) and so far 70% of the course has passed. The first task was a viva-voce task weighted 30%, in which the average seemed to be around 21/25... I got 16/25 and came last lol. I felt as if this mark was justified, I truly did not have an understanding of viva-voces but I did have an understanding of my content. Then, my current teacher left the class and we are replaced with a new teacher - which is where shit went south. I can feel as if she is demotivated to teach us, we do not do activities like before, coming into the class is just getting screamed at and sitting at our desks for 2 hours per week. We had barely any preparation leading up to task 2, which had a massive weighting of 40%. The average then was around 16/25 and I got 11/25, ranked second last. We only have 1 task until the externals, and I feel like I have no more motivation to continue the subject because I am starting to dread coming to class and I know that my ranking means I am taking the external marks of whoever did the worst. The only piece of motivation I have left is the scaling of the subject, since 4U subjects scale significantly well, but is it even going to be beneficial to a last-ranked student? Since I am doing 11 units, this is the subject that is currently not getting counted.

For my other subjects, I am alright. We completed 2 tasks for everything, leaving 1 assignment left, trials and the HSC.
For English Advanced, English Extension 1 and Business Studies, I thoroughly understand the subject and am performing better than the grade average, plus coming 2nd for Business for task 2. I do not know the specific rankings for the tasks as of yet.
For Maths Advanced, I need to dedicate more time to it, since my understanding is solid but my exam skills are poor, but I am ranked 22/80 for the first task and around 40/80 for the second.
For Legal Studies, our grade suffered with hard exams, but it is something we have been collectively improving on. I am ranked below average for both tasks, though. However, I did top this subject in the preliminary course so I believe I have the strength to regain my confidence.
My other problematic subject is Maths Extension. I have begun tutoring for this subject since it is my worst alongside English Extension 2. My first task performance was mediocre, I ranked around 50/108. However, my previous task was horrible - I ranked 102/108. Though, I think tutoring and increased intensive studying can help me regain my confidence, as I achieved almost 1st rank in preliminary tasks for this subject.

Please give me any advice! I am open to honesty, no matter how harsh!

I would drop Extension 2 English. If you aren't understanding the content, the teacher is toxic, then I would drop the subject. I will make a note, that your marks in this subject for task 1 are probably justified - remember that marks are always moderated based on external exam performance, so if their are hard exams and the cohort does well in the HSC, then your internal marks will improve greatly.

I was in a similar situation, I peeked during the first round of assessments and Year 11 and then burned out terribly for the rest of Year 11 and Year 12 (managed to composed myself by trials). In your situation, doing less is better.

With Maths Extension, I would say, don't aim for Rank 1, it is not possible in your situation. But you can aim for a mark of 80-85% or higher in the trial. You have to be realistic and don't beat yourself over something that may not be achievable.

I would also make sure you are keeping a good eye on your health, it could be the reason your results are suffering is because you are overworking, and perhaps might burn out if you don't be careful.