Is scaling really important for HSC? (1 Viewer)

[whoknows5555]

Hey everyone, right now I am in the process of choosing my subjects for year 12 and I need to drop at least one subject because I'm kind of struggling with the workload. My subjects so far are English Adv, Maths 2U, Chem, Physics and Latin. But I am unable to decide between English Extension and Biology. I tend to do better in Biology because it's easier and I'm getting marks around 95%, however I've heard from some people that Biology doesn't scale very well and that a 95 in Biology could get scaled down to an 85! English Extension on the other hand, I am getting average marks around 80% but I heard that it scales really well.
So should I focus on doing something that I'm getting better marks in or something that scales really well?

Thanks guys!

 

[Elisa Sweet]

I just asked my teacher pretty much the same thing. No, it doesn't. In fact, if you don't do well enough in the higher scaling subject, then you can get a worse ATAR than if you had chosen the easier subject. Don't worry about scaling, just do what you want and feel most comfortable with.

 

[enoilgam]

Generally speaking, you're better off sticking with a lower scaling subject that you are doing well in, as opposed to a high scaling subject where you arent performing so well. But that would depend on the subjects and your exact performance in each. Given the situation you have described, I would say choose Biology over EE1. However, it's probably worth hanging onto all your subjects for the first term or so of the HSC so you can get a better perspective on the HSC course for each subject.