• Best of luck to the class of 2024 for their HSC exams. You got this!
    Let us know your thoughts on the HSC exams here
  • YOU can help the next generation of students in the community!
    Share your trial papers and notes on our Notes & Resources page
MedVision ad

How many units? (1 Viewer)

Sarah182

Herpes Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2008
Messages
851
Location
Somewhere over the rainbow
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
Hey everyone :) I havent been getting on lately so I apologise in advanced if anyone has asked this.
I have almost convinced myself that I am going to drop Bio and Extension maths and pick up 4 unit English. However this leaves me with 10 units, is this too risky?
I think if I keep Biology I will end up doing badly nonetheless and it wont count to my UAI, it is really the only subject I have had trouble with once I got on top of maths.
So what do you think, take the bare minimum and hope for the best or keep Bio and do 12 units? Or (another option I have been considering) do Extension 1 English and have 11 units including Bio in that.
I'm rambling now, thanks guys :)
 

tommykins

i am number -e^i*pi
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Messages
5,730
Gender
Male
HSC
2008
To be honest, I have NO idea why ANYONE would do more than 10 Units. Seriously, let's think about the statement of "is it risky" for now (sorry, I'm not targetting you specifically, just showing how moronic the notion really is).

"10 Units is risky because if you fail one, you're gone, so you need a back up ie. 12 units just in case".

Now, let's think about it - if you have an extra subject, that's AT LEAST 30-40 or more hours of study going INTO that subject. Even if you were to "fail" one of your subjects, your "backup" subject mark wouldn't be as great because you've had to divide the time you have between your failed subject and your back up subject.

10 units allows ALL your study time to count without having to divide your time into subjects that won't even matter. You "failing" one subject whilst doing 10 units would not have yield a siginificant difference if you were to do 12 units instead.

Conclusion - do 10 units.
 

Sarah182

Herpes Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2008
Messages
851
Location
Somewhere over the rainbow
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
Very well said, I was thinking along the same lines with doing ten units but most people at my school are doing 11 or 12 units and even at some schools students cant do 10 units, odd isnt it?
 

Aplus

Active Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2007
Messages
2,384
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
Sarah182 said:
I think if I keep Biology I will end up doing badly nonetheless and it wont count to my UAI, it is really the only subject I have had trouble with once I got on top of maths.
Judging from this post I would have to say that it might be best for you to maintain just 10 units of study. As you say, you have no doubt that you will perform poorly in it, so why bother? By having 10 units you'll be able to use the time gained from dropping Biology and invest it into your other subjects.
 

tommykins

i am number -e^i*pi
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Messages
5,730
Gender
Male
HSC
2008
Sarah182 said:
Very well said, I was thinking along the same lines with doing ten units but most people at my school are doing 11 or 12 units and even at some schools students cant do 10 units, odd isnt it?
I don't know why some schools do that, some teachers are so clueless that they make it compulsory to have 12 units when they probably don't realise that if students had 10 units their cohort could probably do better (I guess because their schools shit ranking that they force to students to do 12 units "just in case"?).

Even my teachers, tutors, school mates and even teachers from other schools (ie. Hornsby Girls/Sydney Boys, top ranking schools) find anymore than 10/11 units retarded.
 

sonyaleeisapixi

inkfacewhorebitchpixie.
Joined
Feb 28, 2008
Messages
1,327
Gender
Female
HSC
2008
I have to agree with tommykins. The only reason I do 13 units is because I couldn't decide what to drop and what to pick up. I'm indecisive.

If you can be decisive about your selections, stick with 10.
 

lyounamu

Reborn
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
Messages
9,998
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
Either 15 Units or 13 Units (most likely).

I would rather go with 13 Units though. (11 Units at school and 2 Units outside)

That's just for me.

If you wish to do more than 10, that's perfectly fine. But having more units means more work...
 
Last edited:

lyounamu

Reborn
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
Messages
9,998
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
tommykins said:
To be honest, I have NO idea why ANYONE would do more than 10 Units. Seriously, let's think about the statement of "is it risky" for now (sorry, I'm not targetting you specifically, just showing how moronic the notion really is).

"10 Units is risky because if you fail one, you're gone, so you need a back up ie. 12 units just in case".

Now, let's think about it - if you have an extra subject, that's AT LEAST 30-40 or more hours of study going INTO that subject. Even if you were to "fail" one of your subjects, your "backup" subject mark wouldn't be as great because you've had to divide the time you have between your failed subject and your back up subject.

10 units allows ALL your study time to count without having to divide your time into subjects that won't even matter. You "failing" one subject whilst doing 10 units would not have yield a siginificant difference if you were to do 12 units instead.

Conclusion - do 10 units.
Why? Because there are people who wish to do more than 10 Units of subjects because of their interest.

On top of that, there are schools that enfore the rule of more than 10 Units as in my school. My school basically forces everyone to do at least 11 Units. No one in my school in Year 12 (as far as I am aware) is doing 10 Units.
 

the-derivative

BCom/LLB (UNSW)
Joined
Nov 11, 2007
Messages
2,124
Location
Within the realms of the complex field.
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
I'm probably going to do 12 units, whether i get into a distinction course or not... and i don't see anything wrong with it. I mean as long as you can manage your time well and study hard for all subjects... I can see benefits of doing 12 units. However, you must be enjoying the units you are doing.. no point doing a subject - just in case you do bad in another.
 
Joined
Nov 10, 2007
Messages
661
Location
Reykjavík
Gender
Male
HSC
1998
agreed, you should do 10 units and concentrate on them rather than just putting work into another two for no real reason (considering you assume you'll be doing bad anyway). although, doing 4u eng as part of that 10 units is risky so you should probably try and pick up another unit or keep ext maths. you might want to drop ext 2 eng in the future
 
Last edited:

zzzz12345

Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2007
Messages
79
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
Sarah182 said:
Hey everyone :) I havent been getting on lately so I apologise in advanced if anyone has asked this.
I have almost convinced myself that I am going to drop Bio and Extension maths and pick up 4 unit English. However this leaves me with 10 units, is this too risky?
I think if I keep Biology I will end up doing badly nonetheless and it wont count to my UAI, it is really the only subject I have had trouble with once I got on top of maths.
So what do you think, take the bare minimum and hope for the best or keep Bio and do 12 units? Or (another option I have been considering) do Extension 1 English and have 11 units including Bio in that.
I'm rambling now, thanks guys :)
Would your school even allow you to do 10 units if you plan on doing 4U English? I know that at some schools (including my own) it is recommended that if you are taking extensions (especially subjects like 4U English and maths) that you have at least one back-up unit in case you decide to drop it (some schools won't even allow you to do 10 units if you do 4U of a subject). There is some logic in only doing 10 units but I personally plan on taking 12 because I want to do both 4U maths and History Extension. The most pertinent reason to take a few extra units is if you decide to drop the 4th unit of English or another extension so that you're not stuck with it if you suddenly find yourself hating the subject. Taking that into account if you're sure that you'll definitely keep your 4th English unit and that your school allows such a scenario then do what works best for you. I'm definitely doing 12 units next year (so I have to drop a subject) but then again I'm paranoid and already torn in regards to what subject to drop.
 

dpospination

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2007
Messages
210
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
i have 14 units, but 2 of them include hsc maths, so hopefully i can go good in it and rop it so i have 12 units next year :)
 

tommykins

i am number -e^i*pi
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Messages
5,730
Gender
Male
HSC
2008
lyounamu said:
Why? Because there are people who wish to do more than 10 Units of subjects because of their interest.

On top of that, there are schools that enfore the rule of more than 10 Units as in my school. My school basically forces everyone to do at least 11 Units. No one in my school in Year 12 (as far as I am aware) is doing 10 Units.
And if they are interested, let them.

I'm talking about "backups" as the motive, not interest.
 

lyounamu

Reborn
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
Messages
9,998
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
tommykins said:
And if they are interested, let them.

I'm talking about "backups" as the motive, not interest.
Ok, fair enough.
 

bawd

Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2008
Messages
889
Location
Sydney
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
I'm doing twelve to thirteen units depending on whether or not I get accepted for English Extension 2, Maths Extension 2 and how many units I drop.
 

marcquelle

a.k.a. Michael...Hi!
Joined
Dec 7, 2006
Messages
1,490
Location
Jervis Bay, N.S.W.
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
14 but not by choice, i want 12 but

a) school won't let me have any less then 12
b) i want 4U English so they require me to have a back up subject which sucks
c) the only subject i want to drop is maths but i can't the Uni that has accepted me wants me to have it
d) i like every other subject
 

wendus

krawr.
Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
653
Gender
Female
HSC
2008
tommykins said:
To be honest, I have NO idea why ANYONE would do more than 10 Units. Seriously, let's think about the statement of "is it risky" for now (sorry, I'm not targetting you specifically, just showing how moronic the notion really is).

"10 Units is risky because if you fail one, you're gone, so you need a back up ie. 12 units just in case".

Now, let's think about it - if you have an extra subject, that's AT LEAST 30-40 or more hours of study going INTO that subject. Even if you were to "fail" one of your subjects, your "backup" subject mark wouldn't be as great because you've had to divide the time you have between your failed subject and your back up subject.

10 units allows ALL your study time to count without having to divide your time into subjects that won't even matter. You "failing" one subject whilst doing 10 units would not have yield a siginificant difference if you were to do 12 units instead.

Conclusion - do 10 units.
no.

things do stuff up and plans don't always work out. back up subjects are good. 11 or 12 units is good. if you're doing 10, it IS risky.
 

Doctor Jolly

. Per Aspera Ad Astra *
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
1,229
Location
Study Desk
Gender
Female
HSC
2009
I'm doing (planning) 12 Units. It's 10 if I decide to drop Japanese which is sitting on an 85% yes.
 

tommykins

i am number -e^i*pi
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Messages
5,730
Gender
Male
HSC
2008
wendus said:
no.

things do stuff up and plans don't always work out. back up subjects are good. 11 or 12 units is good. if you're doing 10, it IS risky.
...

Then by your same logic 12 units is risky as you may get a lower mark in a subject than if you were to do 10 units ?
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top