Subjects for my atar (1 Viewer)

[Cundle]

Hey everyone!
So I am currently in the process of choosing my subjects for year 11 prelim course.
I want to do psych or medical science in uni but I’m not exactly sure yet.
I am aiming for a relitively high ATAR so I can get into my desired courses.
I am tossing up between subjects but here’s what I have so far:

Advanced maths
Advanced English
English ext 1 (not sure as my teacher seems like she dosent think I am capable)
Bio
Chem
Economics
Studies of religion 1

If my teacher still doesn’t allow me to do ext English then I might have to swap for something else but I’m not sure as I don’t think I want to do 6 units of science...
Any suggestions and opinions on the chances of getting a high ATAR with those subjects? And what else could I do instead of extra English apart from ext math or another science just Incase I would need to chose...

Thanks!!

 

[fan96]

It always comes down to your subject performance rather than the subject scaling.

Except maybe if you chose a horrendously scaled lineup such as Aboriginal Studies, English Standard, Senior Science...

As for choosing the 12th unit you might consider SoR 2U (if your school offers it) or a social science.

 

[gallen88]

Hey Cundle,

It's great you have an idea about what you would like to do next year, good on you! I think you should consider the following to make your life a little less stressful when you are in Year 11 and Year 12.

You stated you wanted to do medicine, so I think its good you have selected Advanced Maths, Biology and Chemistry. Those subjects are probably a prerequisite for your course. It's great you are aiming for a high ATAR too, however, you do need to know that you do not pick your subjects based on scaling!

While it's great you are aiming for a high ATAR, selecting subjects based on scaling is a recipe for disaster. This is because if you select subjects based on scaling and you don't enjoy you are most likely not going to have motivation to study. I personally believe you should select your final subject based on what you ENJOY doing, because you will probably be more motivated to study for that subject. The HSC is all about your performance IN your subjects. If you do well in ALL of your subjects, you will achieve a high ATAR.

The duxes at my school for the past 5 years is someone who has done English Advanced/Extension, Modern History, Ancient History, History Extension, SORI, Legal Studies and Business Studies. (A combination of these subjects not every single one listed). They dropped Maths and Science - the perceived "high scaling subjects" - and achieved ATARs ranging from 98.10 to 99.50 (over the years the strength of the cohort altered). The reason why they did so well in the HSC is because the subjects they chose are subjects that they are good at and subjects they enjoyed.

I really admire your determination but I think you need to consider what you also enjoy as a subject, so you can also unload from the stress of the subjects you selected. You need to select subjects you enjoy, as well as courses you are good at and courses that are prerequisites, but selecting subjects can be either positive or negative.

There are heaps of users on this forum that did Maths Ext 2, Physics, English Adv, English Ext1/2, Biology and Chemistry who have smashed the HSC! Just ask strawberrye or pikachu975. However, there are other users on this forum (and outside this forum) who have done exceptionally well in the HSC without these subjects too. This website also outlines how someone did really well without basing subjects on scaling. https://www.matrix.edu.au/scored-atar-99-95-without-maths-natalie-buckett/ (she dropped Science too).

Good luck,
Gallen88

 

[captainneuro]

Just ask strawberrye or pikachu975.

pikachu shoutout

 

[pikachu975]

Hey Cundle,

It's great you have an idea about what you would like to do next year, good on you! I think you should consider the following to make your life a little less stressful when you are in Year 11 and Year 12.

You stated you wanted to do medicine, so I think its good you have selected Advanced Maths, Biology and Chemistry. Those subjects are probably a prerequisite for your course. It's great you are aiming for a high ATAR too, however, you do need to know that you do not pick your subjects based on scaling!

While it's great you are aiming for a high ATAR, selecting subjects based on scaling is a recipe for disaster. This is because if you select subjects based on scaling and you don't enjoy you are most likely not going to have motivation to study. I personally believe you should select your final subject based on what you ENJOY doing, because you will probably be more motivated to study for that subject. The HSC is all about your performance IN your subjects. If you do well in ALL of your subjects, you will achieve a high ATAR.

The duxes at my school for the past 5 years is someone who has done English Advanced/Extension, Modern History, Ancient History, History Extension, SORI, Legal Studies and Business Studies. (A combination of these subjects not every single one listed). They dropped Maths and Science - the perceived "high scaling subjects" - and achieved ATARs ranging from 98.10 to 99.50 (over the years the strength of the cohort altered). The reason why they did so well in the HSC is because the subjects they chose are subjects that they are good at and subjects they enjoyed.

I really admire your determination but I think you need to consider what you also enjoy as a subject, so you can also unload from the stress of the subjects you selected. You need to select subjects you enjoy, as well as courses you are good at and courses that are prerequisites, but selecting subjects can be either positive or negative.

There are heaps of users on this forum that did Maths Ext 2, Physics, English Adv, English Ext1/2, Biology and Chemistry who have smashed the HSC! Just ask strawberrye or pikachu975. However, there are other users on this forum (and outside this forum) who have done exceptionally well in the HSC without these subjects too. This website also outlines how someone did really well without basing subjects on scaling. https://www.matrix.edu.au/scored-atar-99-95-without-maths-natalie-buckett/ (she dropped Science too).

Good luck,
Gallen88

pikachu shoutout

Yeah do what subjects u like. If I did chem for scaling rather than bio I 100% would've done worse I'm sure.

 

[andrew12678]

Scaling > Passion any day. If I did subjects I liked (Ancient History, Modern History, SDD and English Extension 2) I would have fared ok provided I absolutely gunned them but still probably wouldn't have outperformed the higher scaling subjects I took

 

[supR]

Scaling > Passion any day. If I did subjects I liked (Ancient History, Modern History, SDD and English Extension 2) I would have fared ok provided I absolutely gunned them but still probably wouldn't have outperformed the higher scaling subjects I took

Did you enjoy your subjects?

 

[andrew12678]

Enjoy doing Phys, Chem and 4U maths? I guess so lol, I practically never got an A in science from Yr 7 -10 so I was a bit anxious at first. However after Yr 11, I saw that putting in a lot of hard work produced the results and receiving the rewards of the hard work in excellent assessment scores was definitely enjoyable.

 

[Cundle]

Sorry but not everyone can do extension 2 maths....

 

[captainneuro]

Sorry but not everyone can do extension 2 maths....

it's a good thing you don't need ext 2 to get 99 then. Your subjects now look good, and you don't even need higher maths for what you want to do. As long as you put in the work from enjoyment, you will get yourself a nice atar cos your subs are already high scaling.

 

[maths314]

You definitely don't need to, scaling is really arbitrary - it's basically just a compensation for the difficulty of a subject. Do the subjects that you think you would be able to spend a lot of time doing, which in many ways correlates to your enjoyment for the subject.

The only thing you need to watch out for with this method is not to choose ridiculously low-scaling subjects (i.e. general maths, standard english, etc.) and also just make sure that you can do well in the subjects you choose (i.e. don't underestimate the work you need to put into them simply because they may be easier).

Also, I would advise you start off with 3U English, and see how you go. You can always drop it later, and 99% of the time it helps a lot with 2U.

 

[laura-jayne14]

Choose subjects you enjoy as you are more likely to excel

 

[trecex1]

Pick the subjects you know you're good at and will keep for HSC. If you're unsure of which subjects you're good at it's better to pick high scaling ones (chem/eco/bio) rather than Ext Eng/Studies of religion. Sure you can get a high ATAR with any subject combination, but it is much easier with high scaling subjects.

The subject enjoyment part shouldn't matter as long as you have the discipline and motivation to get into the course you want.