stuck on either chem or eco (1 Viewer)

[chowmeinbeanbo]

hi guys,
i am in a big dilemma. i was doing chem tutoring last term but dropped this term because i didn't do that well in the first assessment (prac - i got 17th) but did well in eco - i got 1st. i got my second assessment for chem back and my rank increased to 7th and i remained 1st for eco after the second task. i wanna drop one of them because i want to do 10 units next year (phys, 4 unit maths, adv eng - thinking about doing ucat) but im not sure what to drop. i don't know if i can maintain my ranking for eco because i feel like im not devoting much effort into it - prob cos its getting a bit boring. the eco teacher is really good tho so if I chose it and work hard in it i think ill do ok. there are a lot of things to memorise and extended response is probably my weak point. But i feel like chem is more related to the other subjects i am doing and since im doing physics already, some stuff would overlap. it also scales better than eco. but i feel my marks for chem are more volatile cos sometimes i do ok but for prac, i do pretty bad. If i do decide to keep chem, i would think about doing tutoring again.

Or should i wait until the end of term and see how i do in prelims? if i do and i end up choosing chem, i feel like ill be behind on content cos i didn't go tutoring. or should i go chem tutoring this term and risk dropping it in year 12? Im considering working from a yr 12 chem textbook just in case i feel like keeping it.

thanks

 

[jimmysmith560]

I think it would be useful to address each option individually and discuss other factors that may influence your decision.

Keeping Economics:

Your current rank in Economics is excellent. Should you maintain this level of performance throughout year 12 (from your current rank, this seems possible), Economics would make a significant contribution to a high ATAR. Assuming that you want to study medicine, the only problem with Economics is that it is not related to your study interests as opposed to Chemistry, which, alongside Biology, is recommended for the purpose of studying a Doctor of Medicine. Here, you should ask yourself whether the relevance of Chemistry is significant enough that it outweighs the superior performance that you have currently displayed in Economics. Keep in mind that in most cases, a high ATAR (alongside the other requirements of course) is essential in terms of competing for a place.

Keeping Chemistry:

Despite your current performance being inferior in this subject, you have improved your rank between the first and second assessment tasks which demonstrates your ability to improve in this subject and eventually attain a favourable standard. You also appear to be more interested in Chemistry than Economics (consistent with the possibility of sitting the UCAT and your study interests beyond the HSC). Tutoring may also assist you throughout your HSC journey. I think that the main consideration in such a case would be whether you strongly believe that you can perform at an equivalent level to your current rank in Economics, for which you may need more certainty, leading us to the next point.

Other options:

I believe that waiting until the end of term and finding out your results in both subjects would allow you to make a more informed decision regarding the subject to drop. The good thing is that none of your year 11 results count towards your HSC results or ATAR, meaning that this approach is definitely safe.

Alternatively, have you considered dropping Physics? I think that doing so would preserve the advantages of both Economics and Chemistry, enabling you to work on both subjects throughout year 12 and thus avoid any potential regrets.

I hope this helps!

 

[chowmeinbeanbo]

Woah thanks a lot!!!
I have considered dropping physics originally. i got a pretty bad test result for the first assessment task (30/37) but decided to prob keep it cos i got 2nd which was surprising. My tutor told me i should base my choice on rankings so i kept it.
i had a big headache trying to decide whether to keep chem and physics but decided to keep physics tutoring (though i find it pretty confusing rn). I haven't done any other physics assessments so I'm not sure if it was the right choice!