Drop Economics OR Business Studies (1 Viewer)

[jaydenlay]

Hi all,

I'll provide a general rundown...

I currently study 13 units total;

- English Advanced
- Accelerated Math; HSC Adv + Ext 1
- Business Studies
- Economics
- Retail Services
- PDHPE

The question is should I drop Business studies or Economics? I'm already planning to drop PDHPE and pick up 4U Maths by the time HSC rolls around. Having said that I'll be free to drop one more subject after picking up 4U. Hence the toss up between the two HSIE subjects. In terms of rankings, I'm ranking top 5 within both subjects with relative ease. And having attend a top 80 partially selective school, there are a few other factors that need to be considered.

Factor 1;
My school historically has only ever received 2 band 6's in economics. With those two scores dating back to 2016 (8 years ago). Business studies on the other hand gets an average of around 8 band 6's consistently every year. So historically I'd be better off choosing business studies if I weren't an outlier.

Factor 2;
The teachers... We've all had good and bad teachers before. But the discrepancy is quite significant when it comes to business studies vs economics. My business studies teacher is the head teacher, and one of the best HSIE teachers you could get in the school. While my economics teacher was hired this year, has content knowledge but doesn't properly teach the class, and assigns work that doesn't correlate to the syllabus. How I tackle economics is by having an out loud almost conversation-like teaching approach where my economics teacher tries to teach me a concept while I piece it together and then once I understand the content I then teach the concept to the rest of the class. Yea... My economics teacher doesn't really teach the class...

Factor 3;
Cohort. Obviously your cohort matters, especially if you're not gonna take at least the top 2 spots in your cohort. My business studies cohort is understandably packed. One of the largest subject cohorts in the school, but the quality of the cohort is mostly non-selective and not to offend but not the brightest either. Having talked to them and discussing things, they do put effort into business studies more than other subjects, but overall it's quite little effort to start with. The economics cohort on the other hand has a lot higher selective; non-selective ratio. I understand it doesn't necessarily matter selective or not but it is the best way to categorise a cohort without knowing everyone individually. My economics cohort is almost 70-80% selective students and it's evident given the competitiveness when it comes to the top ranks of economics.

Factor 4;
We've always heard the phrase, pick the subjects you'll enjoy. But it really is hit or miss. I do enjoy concept of economics and do significantly better in having an understanding in economic concepts rather than business studies. Although I do find business studies much more enjoyable from a learning standpoint. This may be because of the teacher but in terms of enjoyment, time flies faster for me in business studies than economics.

Factor 5;
Time; Something I won't have much of given I'm picking up ext 2 maths as HSC year comes around and I'll be doing my final accelerated HSC for both 2U & 3U math during the first few weeks of year 12. With that in mind I'm not too sure which subject would take up the most amount of my time given that I don't do any independent study on any other subject other than maths at the moment.

PS; I understand that this is a long read so I'll end it there. But any thoughts?


TLDR; I do really well in both business and economics (Ranking top 5 for both), I'm picking up 4U maths and will be down to 8 units by HSC year given that I'm an accelerated student. Historically, my partially selective school doesn't do too well in HSC economics while an average of 8 people get a band 6 in business every year. I enjoy both subjects but I have a bad teacher in economics but a really good one in business. Having aim for an all rounder HSC result, which of the 2 HSIE subjects should I drop?

 

[jimmysmith560]

This is a highly informative post. I hope that other students who are in a similar situation to you find it and any subsequent advice that you receive useful.

Answering your question would require examining each factor that you mentioned in terms of assisting you (hopefully) in making an informed decision regarding the subject that you should drop.

Factor 1:

It is reasonable to expect your school's cohort to achieve more band 6's in Business Studies than in Economics given its rank and the perception that Economics is a slightly more difficult subject than Business Studies. Assuming that this trend does continue (which remains possible despite not being guaranteed), you may wish to consider keeping Business Studies on the basis of security, that is, a higher chance of achieving a band 6 provided that you are ranked sufficiently high relative to your cohort (which may not need to be as high as an equivalent rank in Economics) in addition to favourable performance in your Business Studies HSC exam.

Factor 2:

Teachers are undoubtedly an important resource and will become more important when considering that the HSC course of both Business Studies and Economics introduces more sophisticated concepts that would require a good teaching style in order to avoid problems relating to your understanding of the content. However, you seem to be performing favourably in Economics despite not having a great teacher. Because of this, I would question the possibility of your Economics teacher causing learning difficulties for you in year 12.

Of course, if you strongly believe that the issue of teaching quality will become more significant going into year 12, then Business Studies has the edge over Economics given the superior teaching quality, which will become more relevant as you progress through year 12, especially when you seek feedback and/or clarification on specific concepts.

Factor 3:

I believe that there are two perspectives on the notion of cohorts, the first being that a higher percentage of selective students being part of your Economics cohort may be an indication that your Economics cohort will be more academically capable overall than your Business Studies cohort, which comprises less selective students. While being part of an academically capable cohort is definitely beneficial, the increased competition may increase the difficulty of attaining a rank that would maximise your chance of achieving a band 6 in Economics, which can become somewhat concerning when considering the number of band 6's achieved by previous cohorts.

This brings us to the second perspective, which is that it would be easier to obtain a rank that would maximise your chance of achieving a band 6 in Business Studies as part of a less capable cohort, not to mention the potentially higher chance of receiving a band 6 without necessarily ranking as high as you would otherwise need to in Economics.

It would be difficult to advise based on this category, given that it depends on your own interests and priorities. You should therefore reflect on this aspect in terms of each subject in an attempt to support your eventual decision.

Factor 4:

This is an interesting situation. I would suggest having a look at the syllabus document of Business Studies and Economics in order to gain a general idea of the topics/concepts covered within the HSC course of each subject. Perhaps your first impressions could support your decision.

From your comments, it seems like Business Studies may be a more complete package than Economics. The good thing is that thoroughly enjoying a subject is likely to support your performance in that subject and in your case, this seems to apply more to Business Studies rather than Economics. Additionally, Business Studies includes a minor economics component within the Finance topic, where concepts such as exchange rates and economic outlook will be covered.

Another thing that you may wish to consider is whether you intend to study a degree that expands on the content of either Business Studies or Economics beyond the HSC, such as a Bachelor of Business/Commerce or a Bachelor of Economics (or similar). Business Studies provides basic insight into four areas of business which can be further explored as part of a relevant major within a Bachelor of Business/Commerce, whereas Economics provides more in-depth insight into one area of business, which can be further explored as part of a relevant major within either a Bachelor of Business/Commerce or a Bachelor of Economics (or similar).

Factor 5:

Mathematics Extension 2 is definitely a time-consuming subject. However, the fact that you will be sitting your HSC exam for Mathematics Advanced and Mathematics Extension 1 in the first few weeks of year 12 means that you will only need to worry about Mathematics Extension 2 after you successfully complete those exams. 8 units worth of subjects should not be as time-consuming as 10+ units, which is advantageous because in such a case, you should be able to comfortably allocate enough study time towards each of your subjects.

However, if you feel the need to have as much study time as possible (especially for the harder subjects), then you may wish to consider keeping Business Studies since it may be less difficult and may therefore not require as much study time as Economics.

I hope this helps!