Engineering degrees, including software engineering, typically treat Physics as assumed knowledge. This is the case of
USyd's Bachelor of Engineering Honours (Software Engineering), which treats Physics and Mathematics Extension 1 as assumed knowledge. Engineering Studies does not appear to be considered assumed knowledge. From this, one can infer that Physics is more important and would therefore be the subject that you should keep, given that the knowledge gained from studying this subject will be useful if you end up choosing to study software engineering, most likely in your first year. However, other institutions, such as UNSW, only treat Mathematics Extension 1 as assumed knowledge, which is the case of their
Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (Software). Based on this, if the specific university that you are thinking of attending treats Physics as assumed knowledge, then it would probably be better to keep Physics and drop Engineering Studies. If not, then you can make a decision based on other factors.
The good thing is that the Bachelor of Actuarial Studies at both
MQ and
UNSW only treat Mathematics Extension 1 as assumed knowledge, meaning that, if you end up choosing to study this degree, your choice of the subject to drop can also be made easier. In such a case, you may wish to consider two factors:
- Your experience of each subject: Which subject have you enjoyed more during your time in year 11? If the concept of assumed knowledge ends up not being an issue, then you should consider keeping the subject that you had a more positive experience with and would be interested in learning more about.
- Your performance in each subject: In which subject has your performance been superior during your time in year 11? If you feel that you cannot make a decision based on your interest in each subject (for example, you may be equally interested in both Physics and Engineering Studies) and provided that the concept of assumed knowledge ends up not being an issue, then you should keep the subject in which you are currently performing better and believe that you can perform well in throughout year 12.
I hope this helps!
