Should I do extension science? (1 Viewer)

[jiho]

Hello,

I am currently a student in year 11, and I do the following subjects:
3U Maths
2U English
2U Physics
2U Bio
2U Software
2U Religion (Compulsory)

In year 12, I plan to move up to 4U Maths but drop 2U Software and 2U religion down to 1U, leaving me at at total of 11 Units. However, I have the option to pick extension science and I am unsure whether or not to do it. My two options being;
1. I drop a science (probably Bio) and pick up science extension
I might not do as well in 1U religion as I have a past record of not preforming that well, is my weakest subject by far and probably won't be beneficial to me.
2. I pick up science extension and and have 12U
I might have a lot of work to do, but it would probably beneficial towards my applications for uni.

Please let me know what you think,
Thanks

 

[jimmysmith560]

First, it's important that you have an idea of what the Science Extension course is about:

This course focuses on the authentic application of scientific research skills to produce a Scientific Research Report. Students propose and develop a research question, formulate a hypothesis and develop evidence-based responses to create their Scientific Research Report which is supported by a Scientific Research Portfolio.

Given your current subject selection and your options going forward, I would advise you to keep 12 units, provided you decide to take Science Extension. This is because dropping Software Design and Development as well as Biology and 1 unit of Studies of Religion means you will end up with 10 units, which include 1 unit you don't seem comfortable with/may not be able to perform well in, being SOR I. If you decide to take this route, but fail to perform well in SOR I, it can be detrimental to your ATAR since it will count towards your ATAR in this case.

It is also worth mentioning that Science Extension may be more difficult/demanding than Biology, which could be a reason to consider not taking it. However, this is only based on the opinion of a number of students. The best option in this case would be to take Science Extension while keeping Biology and see how you go in year 12. If you find that Science Extension ends up being too much, you can always drop it, allowing you to keep 11 units, which would protect you from the effect that poor performance in SOR I would have on your ATAR as that one unit would not count in this case.

I hope this helps!

 

[xilbur]

Hey boss,

First and foremost, you should do a subject that you ENJOY doing! The HSC is already going to be a stressful time, so you aren't helping yourself by doing subjects that you dislike but do because they scale well. I think that the more you enjoy a subject, the more willing you'll be to dedicate time to get better at.

I think you should also consider how much you're banking on your ATAR to get into a course. My first semester of university was a lot of basic stuff (I do a medical science degree, and we're repeating a lot of content from year 12 bio!) so just keep in mind that doing well in a particular subject shouldn't mean that the rest of your other subjects should suffer and by extension your ATAR.

Overall, if science extension really intrigues you, I'd go for that subject. If you're just picking it purely because you're given the option to do so, consider why science extension would be more interesting to you than another science you're doing (such as biology).