subject selection help!! (1 Viewer)

[gc653]

Hi these were the subjects I am considering for years 11 and 12 what do you think?

Mathematics 2 unit
Mathematics extension 1
English advanced
Economics
Modern history (maybe history extension in year 12)
SOR 2 unit (Catholic school)

I really like maths though I am not in accelerated (placed 3rd overall in the grade last year) will maths also help with economics for 11 and 12?? Is economics also hard? I really want to do it rather than business studies

Also whats history extension like?? Is it a lot of work? Or should I just stick with 11 units and do modern history?

I'm hoping to get 93 in my atar so I can get bachelor of economics in UNSW and major in accounting

Please help it would really be appreciated!

 

[OzKo]

Maths won't help for Economics at the high school level but in university, a mathematical mind is a huge plus.

 

[tashe]

Solid subjects.

In year 11, you need to do 12 units (you can drop to 11 units at the end of year 12).

That means, you would need to pick another 1 unit (to do for fun (maybe sport or arts) and drop at the end of year 12).

For economics (I didn't do it), I think all you do with maths is push numbers into the calculator to find a %. (Not sure on this one..) However, there's not much maths in economics.

 

[gc653]

ok haha thanx - didn't realize until I submitted the post!

 

[motaba]

Maths itself isn't hard at all in economics, just very basic calculations in very simple formulas. However it does help to have a logical, reasoning mind. Economics is a lot about concepts and the cause/effects of certain situations. If you are able to logically link between different areas of the economy, it is much easier than rote learning.
E.g. a higher interest rate will be an incentive for consumers to save and a deterrent for them to borrow, thus less money is spent, lowering economic activity. As a result of the decreased demand for products, businesses may lay off workers as they don't need as many people since they needn't produce as much, increasing unemployment.

 

[rumbleroar]

History extension from what I heard is a major project on a topic of interest. So I think a lot of it is self driven. You always have the choice of picking it up and dropping it, so I won't be too concerned about it now. As you go into year 11, your interests become a lot more definitive and you can decide for yourself whether or not you want to do it.

There isn't much overlap between maths and economics, besides statistics and graphs I believe.

 

[anomalousdecay]

The minimum you can do in Preliminary is 12 units (unless you accelerated a Preliminary/HSC course).

 

[historia]

History extension from what I heard is a major project on a topic of interest. So I think a lot of it is self driven./QUOTE]

^ This. 80% of your internal mark for History extension at my school (and I believe it's a very high percentage everywhere else) is a major research project that you pick, which has to be any area of historical debate. It's only a 2500 word essay, but it has to be pretty good and requires a fair bit of research. In my experience so far, it's the kind of subject that you'll find enjoyable if you're prepared to put the work in, but it's not the kind of thing where you can just coast by and get a good mark. There's also the coursework component, in which you study lots of source readings from different historians from different historiographical traditions/ historical periods and you do a core topic (they're all areas of historical debate and most are interesting.) TBH, at this stage it seems to be a fairly disproportionate amount of work for a one unit subject (although all my extensions seem like that so maybe I have a warped perspective.)
Also, it's very different to ancient+ modern, but if you like history and want to learn something new (easily the most new content out of the subjects i'm doing, it's not like modern where you can pick up most of the content quite easily or just from general knowledge. It's definitely worthwhile if you like history though. But on that note, I wouldn't be too fixated with what you'll pick up/ drop at this stage, just come into all your subjects with an open mind, because you could very well find yourself liking the subject that you thought you would drop (this happened in my case)

 

[Mutant Kitty]

Ancient is better than Modern.

 

[iJimmy]

some economics topics incorporate formulas and some math may assist.