Subject selections for year 11 2013 (1 Viewer)

[goobypls]

Well its that time of year where many year 10's will be submitting their subject selections for year 11, I thought I would come on here and ask for some advice as I am unsure what subjects I am going to put on my selection sheet. I have a rough idea but I am not 100% sure and would greatly appreciate some advice from any past HSC students or people currently in year 11.

My rankings for half yearly exams this year (I go to a top 50 private school, my year is fairly large with 210 students):

English: 40/210
Commerce: 25/97
Science: 80/210
Maths pathway B: 55/55 (I am really disappointed with this as I moved up from a lower maths stream halfway through the semester and missed more than 50% of the content in the exam, I still worked relatively hard to try and catch up but I am still disappointed.)
Geography: 13/22
IST: 21/40


My current thoughts on what subjects I might do next year:

Advanced English
Mathematics
Economics
Legal Studies
Geography
Biology
SOR 1


How well do these subjects scale and what is the workload like for them?
Also how difficult is chemistry and physics compared to biology?

Thanks for any thoughts/suggestions and good luck with your subject selection year 10's

 

[krnofdrg]

Well its that time of year where many year 10's will be submitting their subject selections for year 11, I thought I would come on here and ask for some advice as I am unsure what subjects I am going to put on my selection sheet. I have a rough idea but I am not 100% sure and would greatly appreciate some advice from any past HSC students or people currently in year 11.

My rankings for half yearly exams this year (I go to a top 50 private school, my year is fairly large with 210 students):

English: 40/210
Commerce: 25/97
Science: 80/210
Maths pathway B: 55/55 (I am really disappointed with this as I moved up from a lower maths stream halfway through the semester and missed more than 50% of the content in the exam, I still worked relatively hard to try and catch up but I am still disappointed.)
Geography: 13/22
IST: 21/40


My current thoughts on what subjects I might do next year:

Advanced English
Mathematics
Economics
Legal Studies
Geography
Biology
SOR 1


How well do these subjects scale and what is the workload like for them?
Also how difficult is chemistry and physics compared to biology?

Thanks for any thoughts/suggestions and good luck with your subject selection year 10's

From the looks of your current ranks, I would not advise you to do Maths for HSC. If you're currently coming last in your year, that means there is a serious issue and best that you solve them as soon as possible before hitting the senior years if you plan to do 2U Maths. But since you're in year 10, there is huge potential that you may skyrocket your performance in year 11 and 12. Think wisely about this one though as you do not want to jeopardize your ATAR by struggling solely on one subject. Just ask this question to yourself, "Do I enjoy maths and am I going to perform well in it for year 11 and 12?".

I think the subject choice you made with for your preliminary HSC, you should be fine with them and you should really determine whether to drop them or not later in year 11 after you test the content and examinations out. It's very hard to determine at this rate, do what you like and again what you perform well in.

With regards to scaling, I think it's a very irrelevant notion to consider when studying and choosing subjects. My only advice is do the subjects you enjoy and you're guaranteed to do well in terms of performance throughout the HSC.

Last question I am not very sure about if Chemistry or Physics is more difficult in comparison to Biology, but I heard they Biology is less difficult. Who knows, you should ask your teachers or some of the members who have experienced this. Sorry on this one

 

[enoilgam]

If you are coming last in pathway B and you moved up from pathway C, then doing 2 unit maths probably isnt advisable. This is especially the case if you havent covered content which is only included in 5.3 and assumed knowledge for 2 unit. I didnt do any of the sciences, so I cant speak from first-hand experience, but most people consider biology to be easier then physics and chemistry. But then again, difficulty is subjective.

 

[Demento1]

You shouldn't worry about the scaling and I am sure many people on the site will tell you, choose the subjects you enjoy and take an active interest in. Provided you can perform well in the subjects of your choice (i don't see any problem with your selections), scaling will not be detrimental to your ATAR and you should not worry about it. However, you may have to consider very carefully about your choice of 2U mathematics. Did you transition from an intermediate to advanced course, hence the difficulty in maths? Currently, I would not advise you to do mathematics as reflected on your results, but do so if you really think you can change.

 

[goobypls]

I am going to start working really hard at bringing my maths rank up again by the end of the year, I am currently getting tutoring to assist with the content I missed and hopefully by the end of year exams I will be able to bring my rank up to between 30-40. I really really want to do 2 unit maths next year as it is the bare minimum for alot of uni courses that I am interested in such as Commerce and Science as well as civil engineering which I am really doubting that I will be able to do.