subject selection help … (1 Viewer)

[shixuans]

hello - a bit conflicted about subject selections

as of right now i want to get a degree relevant to international relations (preferably at the ANU bc they have an interesting course)

subjects for nxt yr i’m definitely sure abt:
- mx1 (compulsory)
- eng ext 1 (to take ext 2 in y12)
- mod his
- eco

wondering which of the below is better for the last 2 units:
- phys

• i do physics olympiad as an extra-curricular [outside of school] so i have resources for self-studying (textbooks) and people (classmates) i can go to if i don’t understand anything
  • i find concepts easy to understand but difficult to apply
• ive been told that tutoring is important for phys but it seems like a lot of money and i dont want it to eat up time either
  • i’m not disciplined enough for self-study - i’ll probably miss important concepts
  • i’m willing to go to tutoring if i commit to the subject

• i don’t really like science at all but i find physics interesting at a fundamental level
• the depth study really puts me off
• a lot of tryhards might take it and that will really affect my mental and the way i feel abt the subject
• ive heard it’s quite prac-oriented but i dont really like pracs.
  • at the same time, pracs really help me understand the content

• mainly i think i need something outside of a humanities subject to set myself apart - physics might be a hit or miss

- legal studies

• i’m not really looking to go into law but i know enough about social issues to understand the content and i can apply knowledge from other humanities subjects
• i like the political aspect a lot more than the ethical aspect - but it’s not too bad

• i’m afraid a lot of humanities tryhards might take legal
• i’m not sure about taking 3 humanities either - i don’t want to appear overspecialised or narrowly focused

- drama

• really chill i take it right now
• not looking to do drama as a bludge subject, will actually put thought into it
• ifl it’s good for english too bc there’s a lot of thought abt social conventions

• i might not have enough storage space in my brain to memorise lines (humanities student.jpg)
• rehearsing scenes is a bit of effort

 

[jimmysmith560]

This sounds like ANU's Bachelor of International Relations. If this is the degree that you are contemplating, then you might be able to apply a more relaxed approach to your subject selection. This is because the ATAR requirement for this degree, being 85, should not be difficult to achieve and is achievable with any combination of subjects. Based on this, you may wish to prioritise your own interest in each subject that may potentially be added to your selection, and whether you may be interested in a subject more than another. From the information that you provided, you seem to be interested in Physics more than Legal Studies. To my knowledge, Physics is the best scaling subject when compared to Legal Studies and Drama. While scaling should not be a primary consideration with respect to subject selection, scaling may come in addition to your interest in Physics, giving you another reason to take Physics.

On the other hand, Drama seems like a good option since you took this subject in year 10, making you slightly familiar with aspects of this subject that could make Drama at Stage 6 level a more tolerable experience. While favourable performance in any subject requires sustained effort, the fact that you are willing to demonstrate diligence in this subject is promising. I think that another benefit of taking Drama is that its workload may potentially be less significant than Physics and/or Legal Studies, possibly making it more compatible with the other subjects that you have already decided to take, i.e. your subject combination would then feature a more reasonable workload.

Regarding the notion of tryhards, I think that you should probably not let this deter you from taking a subject that you might be interested in. While a significant number of academically capable students increases competition, it also makes a cohort more academically capable as a whole, which is a good thing with reference to year 12. This is because there would not be a need to rank as high as you would if you were part of a less academically capable cohort and wish to perform well.

Alternatively, you may wish to consider taking two subjects instead of one (leading to a total of 14 units), allowing you to experience more subjects throughout year 11. Depending on your experience, you can subsequently choose to drop one or both of those subjects (or perhaps another subject) by the end of year 11, resulting in the best possible subject combination as you commence year 12.

I hope this helps!

 

[shixuans]

Wow, alright, thank you very much. Your response was very helpful (for instance - I didn’t know that the ATAR requirement was 85, thank god haha). I think you’ve got a point about the tryhards LOL. But yeah I think I’ll definitely eliminate legal studies and think a bit harder about physics vs drama (I guessed every single question of a physics quiz just after I made the post, so it might need a bit of reconsidering…)