Too many "essay-based" subjects ? (1 Viewer)

[goodnightbeck]

I'm currently finishing Year 10, looking forward to Year 11 next year
I have my subjects confirmed, and I'm pretty pleased with the choices I've made;

Advanced Extension English
Ancient History
Modern History
Society & Culture
Legal Studies
Photography

However I was wondering if I could have some people's opinions or advice based on previous experiences...

Do these all seem too "essay-based"?
Do you believe the amount of content involved with each will be an issue, workload-wise?
Will the lack of science/maths be weird to get used to (although I'm glad to drop them, haha)?
Can so much reading/writing become dry?
What are your experiences with these subjects?
Which ones did you enjoy/dislike, and why?
And finally (even though I know it doesn't matter, apparently, just for curiosity)
Do these subjects scale-well? (excluding photography of course)

Thankyou so much in advance !
Means a lot for you to take the time to answer,
And I realize the questions are all quite subjective, but it'd still like to hear what you think
Don't worry about answering them all

P.s. I'm willing to work hard, because I'm passionate about everything I have chosen

 

[ashie0]

I'm currently finishing Year 10, looking forward to Year 11 next year
I have my subjects confirmed, and I'm pretty pleased with the choices I've made;

Advanced Extension English
Ancient History
Modern History
Society & Culture
Legal Studies
Photography

However I was wondering if I could have some people's opinions or advice based on previous experiences...

Do these all seem too "essay-based"?
Do you believe the amount of content involved with each will be an issue, workload-wise?
Will the lack of science/maths be weird to get used to (although I'm glad to drop them, haha)?
Can so much reading/writing become dry?
What are your experiences with these subjects?
Which ones did you enjoy/dislike, and why?
And finally (even though I know it doesn't matter, apparently, just for curiosity)
Do these subjects scale-well? (excluding photography of course)

Thankyou so much in advance !
Means a lot for you to take the time to answer,
And I realize the questions are all quite subjective, but it'd still like to hear what you think
Don't worry about answering them all

P.s. I'm willing to work hard, because I'm passionate about everything I have chosen

Then these subjects are perfect for you.

 

[duckcowhybrid]

Modern, Ancient and English are the only uncapped (i.e. 100 scales to 100) subjects you picked. Ancient scales pretty badly though, only Modern/English scale decently. But if you do fairly well you can still get a good ATAR depending on your aim (gonna need to pull 95s though if you want 99+). Essay based subjects are fine, my top 7 units and my favourite subjects are all essay based. And loving them means there's minimal work and very high marks involved (at least for me). You just need to cram really hard during exams to memorize all your content. But that shouldnt be a problem if you like the subjects.

 

[shuttle_bus5]

Those subjects do not scale well at all. The only good scaling subjects are 3 and 4 unit maths and a few of the languages. I think you are confused with aligning.

From friends who did a similar 12 unit's to you, they got sick of having so many essay based subjects. It is a huge effort to be constantly producing decent 15,20 and 25 mark essays across 5 subjects.
But if you are passionate with what you are doing, you will do well.

 

[jeshxcore]

Ahh well go for it
I'm doing legal studies modern history, business and IPT.. 3 out of the 4 are essay based..
just go for it if you enjoy it.. if you enjoy it, youll keep working at it.. and youll do really well with it

 

[ladymarella]

I'm planning on 3unit English, 5 unit History and 3 unit maths for HSC. I'm thinking the maths will give me some respite, but i also enjoy it, so that helps.

 

[Shadowdude]

Uhh, there is no such thing as Five Unit History. It's Ancient, Modern and Extension Hist... Maths and English are different as they are Linear, Maths --> MX1 --> MX2. Adv. English --> EX1 --> EX2.

Firstly, what is "Advanced Extension English"? You mean Adv. English with Extension 1 English?

If so, they scale fine - EX1 is good, but your ATAR Aim is 97 - and I will say it right here, right now, you will struggle very much for an ATAR of 97 with those subjects. Unless you are super smart and get near 100s for all of them, which realistically, do not happen very often - you are looking at an ATAR of 85-90.

Advanced English is moderate scaling, Extension 1 English is better. Ancient I hear is bad, Modern History is moderate, Society and Culture don't even think about it, and Legal is low-moderate. Unless you take History Extension or Extension 2 English, to give you some breathing space and get rid of bad-scaling subjects... I do not really think you can get 97, UNLESS you can pull 95+ in all of your subjects, consistently, and especially in the HSC.

Here's a 'scale factor' table for your subjects.

Advanced English 0.7915
Extension English 0.9098
Ancient History 0.6757
Modern History 0.7154
Society & Culture 0.6313
Legal Studies 0.6810

So for you EX1 is a good bet, so as Advanced English, Modern is starting to get iffy, and then you have the rest...

Remember, to get the higher ATARs you will be competing against those who do Chemistry (0.84), Maths (0.81), MX1 (1.00), and MX2 (1.07), Physics (0.81), English Extension 1/2 (0.91), along with all those scaling subjects. They will be preferred for the higher ATARs, because they can get a high mark which will stay high even after scaling, while a mediocre mark in a low scaling subject will be shot down, completely.

So you can do it - but it'll be very hard for you, unless you are like James Ruse material =P

 

[-may-cat-]

I'm currently finishing Year 10, looking forward to Year 11 next year
I have my subjects confirmed, and I'm pretty pleased with the choices I've made;

Advanced Extension English
Ancient History
Modern History
Society & Culture
Legal Studies
Photography

However I was wondering if I could have some people's opinions or advice based on previous experiences...

Do these all seem too "essay-based"?
Do you believe the amount of content involved with each will be an issue, workload-wise?
Will the lack of science/maths be weird to get used to (although I'm glad to drop them, haha)?
Can so much reading/writing become dry?
What are your experiences with these subjects?
Which ones did you enjoy/dislike, and why?
And finally (even though I know it doesn't matter, apparently, just for curiosity)
Do these subjects scale-well? (excluding photography of course)

Thankyou so much in advance !
Means a lot for you to take the time to answer,
And I realize the questions are all quite subjective, but it'd still like to hear what you think
Don't worry about answering them all

P.s. I'm willing to work hard, because I'm passionate about everything I have chosen

I did a very similar subject combination to you and yes there is a lot of essay writing but tbh this is simply what humanities involve; never-ending essay work. I personally didn't have an issue with it as i like humanities a lot and i just kind of accepted that this is what studying them involved. It is a lot of work but then again most HSC subjects are a lot of work and you will have to work hard to do well regardless of what you pick.

Also let me just say, fuck scaling, if this is what you are good at and this is what you like then this is what you should be doing. I didn't do any maths or science and it didn't affect me badly, my UAI was in the mid 90's. Then again it does depend on what your aims are and if you are aiming for 99+ then you will have to really thrash everything.

I really liked all my subject, especially ancient cuz thats just what im into (a lot of people don't like the way it is taught at HSC level). I liked legal but a word of warning, if you get crappy modules like workplace it can be very, very boring. On the plus side its easy as hell and can be good to push up your marks come exams.

 

[qwerty91]

Wait, so you're doing Extension One English and Advanced? Or just Advanced?
I did both of those, as well as SAC, Modern and Ancient.
I found SAC to be a very easy subject, and although you have to write a lot you generally get to write about what you want (for example, in the HSC I wrote my popular culture essay on Britney Spears-- and received an exam mark of 95)
Modern is a bit more challenging, however Ancient is really fascinating. If you're as passionate about these subjects as you say then achieving high marks should be a breeze! I actually found the study for these subjects entertaining...to an extent...haha

 

[ilikebeeef]

Do these all seem too "essay-based"?

Eheh I stay away from essay-based subjects because I'm more of a maths person lol. Yes the subjects you have chosen are very heavy on essays, but if you're a literary person, I'm pretty sure they're right for you.

Do you believe the amount of content involved with each will be an issue, workload-wise?

I've heard there's a lot of work for History in general but if you enjoy it then it should be okay.

Will the lack of science/maths be weird to get used to (although I'm glad to drop them, haha)?

Lol I've been more than happy ever since I didn't have to do Australian History/Geography. It was like a vanishing burden.

So, prolly not.

Can so much reading/writing become dry?
What are your experiences with these subjects?
Which ones did you enjoy/dislike, and why?

I did eco in year 11 which was "essay-based". It was interesting but I kept getting owned by (and hated doing) the essays hence I dropped it for year 12.

I did extension english in year 11. It was even more work than English Advanced. It was hell. So I dropped it in the last term in favour of picking up Physics.

Do these subjects scale-well?

Not really, when compared to the maths extensions, chem and physics.

P.s. I'm willing to work hard, because I'm passionate about everything I have chosen

That's the most important thing. Btw good luck.

 

[speedofsound]

I'm currently finishing Year 10, looking forward to Year 11 next year
I have my subjects confirmed, and I'm pretty pleased with the choices I've made;

Advanced Extension English
Ancient History
Modern History
Society & Culture
Legal Studies
Photography

However I was wondering if I could have some people's opinions or advice based on previous experiences...

Do these all seem too "essay-based"?
Do you believe the amount of content involved with each will be an issue, workload-wise?
Will the lack of science/maths be weird to get used to (although I'm glad to drop them, haha)?
Can so much reading/writing become dry?
What are your experiences with these subjects?
Which ones did you enjoy/dislike, and why?
And finally (even though I know it doesn't matter, apparently, just for curiosity)
Do these subjects scale-well? (excluding photography of course)

Thankyou so much in advance !
Means a lot for you to take the time to answer,
And I realize the questions are all quite subjective, but it'd still like to hear what you think
Don't worry about answering them all

P.s. I'm willing to work hard, because I'm passionate about everything I have chosen

i do every single one of those subjects bar photography.

whilst there is a fair bit of essay writing, i really don't think it's an issue if you're good at essays and extended responses. i haven't had a problem with the amount of writing involved because it's what i excel at.

nor have i had an issue with the load of the content. whilst yes, there is a LOT to learn, i personally haven't had a huge abundance of problems with it. all you need to ensure is that you stay on top of all your work and don't fall behind. start assignments early, begin revising early, type up notes early, etc.

lack of science and maths is definitely not weird!!!! i embraced this change completely.

i will admit sometimes the reading does get a bit tedious, but don't let that discourage you from doing these subjects. they're all great, fascinating courses.

i personally enjoy modern history, society & culture and legal studies the most. i don't really enjoy ancient history because it is so distant to our current society that i don't find it all that relevant, whereas with modern history i do. legal studies is great for learning about CURRENT issues. and society & culture is just amazing in general. and yeah the hsc english syllabus is shit but we have to do it.

some scale ok for being humanities, but it doesn't matter as long as you do well in them. you're far better off getting a band 6 in these subjects than a band 4 in maths and sciences.

 

[qwerty91]

Uhh, there is no such thing as Five Unit History. It's Ancient, Modern and Extension Hist... Maths and English are different as they are Linear, Maths --> MX1 --> MX2. Adv. English --> EX1 --> EX2.

Firstly, what is "Advanced Extension English"? You mean Adv. English with Extension 1 English?

If so, they scale fine - EX1 is good, but your ATAR Aim is 97 - and I will say it right here, right now, you will struggle very much for an ATAR of 97 with those subjects. Unless you are super smart and get near 100s for all of them, which realistically, do not happen very often - you are looking at an ATAR of 85-90.

Advanced English is moderate scaling, Extension 1 English is better. Ancient I hear is bad, Modern History is moderate, Society and Culture don't even think about it, and Legal is low-moderate. Unless you take History Extension or Extension 2 English, to give you some breathing space and get rid of bad-scaling subjects... I do not really think you can get 97, UNLESS you can pull 95+ in all of your subjects, consistently, and especially in the HSC.

Here's a 'scale factor' table for your subjects.

Advanced English 0.7915
Extension English 0.9098
Ancient History 0.6757
Modern History 0.7154
Society & Culture 0.6313
Legal Studies 0.6810

So for you EX1 is a good bet, so as Advanced English, Modern is starting to get iffy, and then you have the rest...

Remember, to get the higher ATARs you will be competing against those who do Chemistry (0.84), Maths (0.81), MX1 (1.00), and MX2 (1.07), Physics (0.81), English Extension 1/2 (0.91), along with all those scaling subjects. They will be preferred for the higher ATARs, because they can get a high mark which will stay high even after scaling, while a mediocre mark in a low scaling subject will be shot down, completely.

So you can do it - but it'll be very hard for you, unless you are like James Ruse material =P

Despite the challenging nature of these subjects, I do not think that it is a "struggle" to achieve an ATAR of 97+ through them.
Besides my 98 in Ancient, my remaining subjects (all of which were humanities, and drama) were scored between 90 and 94, however I managed to achieve an ATAR of 98.45.
I actually think that these subjects make it easier to receive 97+, as when it comes down to it scaling means nothing. What matters is how hard you work, and the individual results you attain. Throughout my HSC I ignored the talk about "scaling" and "alignment" and sheerly focused on getting the best results. If you keep that in mind you'll do great.

 

[lalala xD]

Go for it, if you're happy with it than that's what's matters, you'll do well in them then

don't worry i'm going for essay-based subject too, i guess i'll be writing a heaps of essays too for advanced english, extension english, modern history and economics.

Fresh start next year, bring on all those essays

 

[Essjaybee]

I'm currently finishing Year 10, looking forward to Year 11 next year
I have my subjects confirmed, and I'm pretty pleased with the choices I've made;

Advanced Extension English
Ancient History
Modern History
Society & Culture
Legal Studies
Photography

However I was wondering if I could have some people's opinions or advice based on previous experiences...

Do these all seem too "essay-based"?

They're very essay based, but only you know your limits and strengths so nobody else can say for sure if they're "too" essay-based.

Do you believe the amount of content involved with each will be an issue, workload-wise?

Your courses (Photography aside) are more focused on memorising than applying skills. If that suits your learning style, then it's a good thing.

Will the lack of science/maths be weird to get used to (although I'm glad to drop them, haha)?

If you're glad you dropped them, don't second guess yourself.

Can so much reading/writing become dry?

Yes, it can.

What are your experiences with these subjects?
Which ones did you enjoy/dislike, and why?
All I can actually comment on is EA, EE1 and LS. Advanced is horrible (but i blame my teacher mostly), EE1 was awesome, but modernism and postmodernism bored me. But HSC is so awesome. Legal is one of my favourite subjects, its awesome and not too essay-ish. Just know ststistics and facts.


And finally (even though I know it doesn't matter, apparently, just for curiosity)
Do these subjects scale-well? (excluding photography of course)

Thankyou so much in advance !
Means a lot for you to take the time to answer,
And I realize the questions are all quite subjective, but it'd still like to hear what you think
Don't worry about answering them all

P.s. I'm willing to work hard, because I'm passionate about everything I have chosen

And take qwerty91 as an example, don't lose faith

 

[bubbrubb]

in short.
yes.


too much to memorise and too hard on your hand (when memorising and during hsc)

maths at least you don't have to memorise nething.. you just practise so you leave your mind free (and hand). considering the fact that memorising the 5 english essays can be an ordeal for some.... you are going to stumble with it unless you are able to write on the spot.

they are also low scaling. so you can't fuck up at all.

 

[goodnightbeck]

Just want to say, thankyou so much to everybody for their feedback, I found it all extremely helpful
I'm currently doing the subjects I outlined originally, and despite the workload/essays I am absolutely loving them !
Next year I'm planning to simply drop the 2 unit I'm doing the worst at (likely Modern History) and pick up either Extension 2 English or Extension History, so we'll see how that goes
My average percentage across all subjects thus far is 89.125% (based on orals, assignments, simply as raw marks) so I'm hoping I can continue to work hard, and gain the marks I eventually need for 97+ ATAR
I also go to a selective high school ranked in the top 30 off memory, so hopefully that helps
Anyway,
Thankyou everyone for your feedback

 

[cassann08]

Well, I picked the exact same subjects as you except for photography. At my school they only ran ancient so modern was out so I decided to do a traineeship instead. Also, my teachers "suggested" that i do extension 1 english - so I do
I'm not gonna lie, it's not easy. but if you are as motivated as you seem then go for it. A friend of mine from another school is also doing society and culture so it must just be the crappy teacher i have that's making me want to drop it next year.
they may be all "essay-based" subjects, but its those that give you a higher ATAR if that's what you're after.
its good to see you really enthusiastic about your subjects for yr 11.

 

[Villa94]

I'm currently finishing Year 10, looking forward to Year 11 next year
I have my subjects confirmed, and I'm pretty pleased with the choices I've made;

Advanced Extension English
Ancient History
Modern History
Society & Culture
Legal Studies
Photography

However I was wondering if I could have some people's opinions or advice based on previous experiences...

Do these all seem too "essay-based"?
Do you believe the amount of content involved with each will be an issue, workload-wise?
Will the lack of science/maths be weird to get used to (although I'm glad to drop them, haha)?
Can so much reading/writing become dry?
What are your experiences with these subjects?
Which ones did you enjoy/dislike, and why?
And finally (even though I know it doesn't matter, apparently, just for curiosity)
Do these subjects scale-well? (excluding photography of course)

Thankyou so much in advance !
Means a lot for you to take the time to answer,
And I realize the questions are all quite subjective, but it'd still like to hear what you think
Don't worry about answering them all

P.s. I'm willing to work hard, because I'm passionate about everything I have chosen

Well, I do Ext, Ancient and Legal.

Ext and Ancient are great but Legal is really BORING with my teaching and Modern seems good from my friends.

The workload should be fine if you put the effort in and as long as you have a good memory then you should be fine with all the essays or words.

And as you say you are passionate about ur subjects which is the most important thing when choosing your subjects, not scaling.

Good Luck