Subject Selection + Do prerequisites for Medicine in NSW exist? (1 Viewer)

[armtistic]

Hello the BoredofStudies community, this is my first time posting and I'd like to gather a few opinions on the selection of subjects.
Having just started year 12 a few weeks ago, I've been sitting on 12 units for a while as I consider what to drop so I can focus on my 10 units.
My current subjects are:

Advanced English
Advanced Mathematics(i.e. 2U)
3 Unit Mathematics
4 Unit Mathematics
Physics
Biology
Chemistry

My ambitions are to get into Medicine, hopefully at UNSW, however I am faced with a small dilemma.
So far I've done well during prelim for all three sciences (1st in Phys, 2nd in Bio, 2nd in Chem) and hence there's no glaringly obvious subject which I should immediately drop and so it basically comes down to teaching and scaling.


The most important question I have to ask is how necessary is Chemistry for medicine and at which universities is it required/recommended?
The reason that has become such an important question is because our Chemistry teacher is fairly awful and according to last year's HSC bunch, most of them had to teach themselves the topic.
The second most important question is, How difficult is it to teach one's self Physics or Chem?
Also how important is scaling to students close to the top i.e. 2nd place. Assume the cohort is pretty crap i.e. school rank ~100
There are a number of pros and cons for each of the sciences at this school and I would appreciate if anyone would read through them and provide some insights?

Chemistry
Option Topic: Industrial Chemistry
Pros:
• Integrates with either of the other sciences i.e. overlapping content (although how helpful this is I'm not sure)
• Recommended for med
• Good resources (Conquering Chemistry, Chemistry in Context, Excel HSC Chemistry, Surfing Chemistry, Success One Chemistry)
• Mid scaling
• Mediocre cohort
• Pending support classes by a better teacher

Cons:
• Potentially not coming first
• Very rushed, uncoordinated teaching
• Self-teaching/ textbook learning necessary

I'd have already dropped Chemistry by now if it weren't for its necessity (is it necessary??) for medicine. It has the worst teacher and without the support of a halfway decent teacher I doubt I can overtake first place meaning scaling will affect me (again, to what extent does scaling affect those close to the top?)


Physics
Option Topic: Medical Physics

Pros:
• Good at it
• Probably coming first
• High scaling
• Strongest cohort

Cons:
• Mediocre teaching
• Decent resources
• Probably requires self-teaching/ textbook learning
• Hardest subject?

Many people have suggested I drop physics due to the fact that our teacher is not much better than the Chem teacher in conjunction to the fact that it is generally considered the hardest science. However, I am coming first in the subject and I have a strong background in mathematics if that helps.

Biology
Option Topic: Communication

Pros:
• Probably the best taught
• Good resources
• Teacher actually has a plan

Cons:
• Likely not coming first
• Terrible cohort
• Weakest scaling

Biology has the best teacher, the bloke moves at an efficient pace and the course is well thought out, especially in comparison to the mess that is the Chemistry course at this school. The only downsides are the fact that the class is weakest for this subject and I'm not likely to come first (although it may be possible with a lot of effort on my part) and I'm worried about the effect of scaling.
The head of maths has recommended against a Phys-Chem combination (which is what I am left with if I drop bio) would be incredibly difficult to balance along with 4U considering that I will also be dealing with the UMAT next year.


Tl;dr How important is Chem to medicine? Is a mid band 6 possible with poor teachers and a lot of self-teaching? How badly does scaling affect someone in 2nd place if the cohort is fairly weak.

 

[eyeseeyou]

Tl;dr How important is Chem to medicine? Is a mid band 6 possible with poor teachers and a lot of self-teaching? How badly does scaling affect someone in 2nd place if the cohort is fairly weak.

Chem is somewhat important to medicine I guess. I heard that in uni med you don't learn a set chem course but you learn things like Biochem and such

It's just assumed knowledge and yes a mid band 6 is possible with poor teachers and a lot of self study. You could possibly invest in a tutor or get into group studying with friends

As for scaling IDK. If we're assuming 3rd place is strong then I guess your cohort won't affect you as much

 

[iStudent]

Chem is somewhat important to medicine I guess. I heard that in uni med you don't learn a set chem course but you learn things like Biochem and such

It's just assumed knowledge and yes a mid band 6 is possible with poor teachers and a lot of self study. You could possibly invest in a tutor or get into group studying with friends

As for scaling IDK. If we're assuming 3rd place is strong then I guess your cohort won't affect you as much

If you want relevance, then bio is the way. I mean there is a bit of chem but really they teach you everything from scratch such that there is no need to study chem in hsc to do well in med.

p.s. neither is important for med. I think only Monash have chem as a pre-requisite. For all other uni's, whether you did chem/bio/phys or not means little to nothing.

 

[Zoinked]

Chem is decently easy to self teach, just need someone (could be BOS, a tutor, head teacher) to be able to answer any questions you have. Get your hands on Ahmad Shah's chem notes they are amazing. With them + past papers its easy to get 90+ if you have the drive, which I hope a future med student does.

 

[armtistic]

If you want relevance, then bio is the way. I mean there is a bit of chem but really they teach you everything from scratch such that there is no need to study chem in hsc to do well in med.

p.s. neither is important for med. I think only Monash have chem as a pre-requisite. For all other uni's, whether you did chem/bio/phys or not means little to nothing.

I've heard that although it isn't a prerequisite, universities like UNSW have it do recommend it and knowing how competitive entry into medicine is I'm worried they'll take any reason to distinguish between and eliminate potential applicants.

 

[iStudent]

I've heard that although it isn't a prerequisite, universities like UNSW have it do recommend it and knowing how competitive entry into medicine is I'm worried they'll take any reason to distinguish between and eliminate potential applicants.

I honestly wouldn't be worried about that. Choose subjects that will get you a high atar. If chem isn't your thing, don't force yourself onto it. At most, you can use it in the interview - but the interview focuses more on your character, rather than your academics. Whether you did chemistry in high school means very little. At most you can use it as one of the reasons to say you want to study medicine because of your love of science.

If I was in your position though, I'd still keep chemistry - not because of its relevance to medicine, but because it's the highest scaling out of the 3 sciences. If your goal was to reach a really high atar (typically needed for medicine) then chemistry will make it easier - assuming you're equally proficient at the 3.

Also, you should probably get used to self-teaching. That's pretty much the foundation of medicine - self directed learning so you might as well start now!

 

[A1P]

I've heard that although it isn't a prerequisite, universities like UNSW have it do recommend it and knowing how competitive entry into medicine is I'm worried they'll take any reason to distinguish between and eliminate potential applicants.

To reinforce what iStudent has said no med selection anywhere judges you on the subjects. Your priority is to choose those that give you the most potential for a high ATAR and meet the prereq requirements. Apart from English you need Chem for Monash UTas Curtin, Chem+Maths for JCU, one of Chem/Maths/Bio for Adelaide. Also Maths 3U/4U and LOTE will earn you 2 bonus rank points each with UQ.

Save this table it'll come in handy at some stage
http://medstudentsonline.com.au/forum/threads/2016-17-med-schools-selection-criteria-for-y12s.31845/