Subjects: Biology vs Ext Maths (1 Viewer)

[Guol]

Hi everyone. I've just started the Yr12 course at my school (HSC next year) and I'm in abit of a dilemma.
You may have seen my other thread about deciding whether to do Ext2 Eng. Well, this past week I've been going around speaking to teachers etc, and my Eng Ext teacher said I should definitely take Ext2 Eng. So I decided to go with it..

But that means I'm stuck here with 13 units - so for my HSC I'll probably need to drop a subject.

Now, we've managed to get our exams back (all except English), and the results are:
Legal Studies: 84% - Avg: 77%
Business Studies: 83% - which is around class avg.
Biology: 61% - Avg: 66%
2U Maths: 91% - Avg: 85%
Ext Maths: 46% - Avg: 55%
(Mind you, they made the Ext Maths extremely difficult to determine 4UMaths classes)

I spoke to my teachers and decided that I'd go with 13 units for a few more weeks (as we can't drop anything in the next 2 weeks anyway), and that way I can see what I think of Ext 2 Eng.
However, if I do like it, then I'll need to make a decision of whether I drop Ext Maths or Bio (those 2 being my weakest subjects).

Now, if I drop Bio it means I'll have 11units, which will give me a bunch of free periods to go with, and I'm thinking that I can then use this to study and improve my Ext Maths. However, with a mark like mine would you think success even possible without getting a tutor or anything? Like would solid hard work improve it to a higher level? I mean, my teacher said Maths is just a whole lot of practice rather than having to force yourself to memorise stuff. And they deliberately made this test hard to determine Ext2Maths applicants. The thing I found is that Ext Maths has actually helped me boost my 2u Mark to what it currently is, so that's an important aspect to consider.
On the other hand, if I drop Ext Maths then I'll have Bio. Now it's an interesting subject to me, but involves a tonne of memorising, and I've been told the HSC course is very demanding. And interest doesn't help too much, as you can obviously see I got a terrible mark (although this was also a harshly marked subject).

So yeah, I guess I'm goin to find both of those subjects pretty demanding, and as I'm doing equally bad in those 2 subjects I can't really say which one I'm better at.
But [at any past Yr12s] if you were in my place, having done the subjects you did, would you take up the Bio and try to do the memorising etc, or would you take up Ext Maths and try to use free periods to your advantage and hopefully it will pay off.

Thanks,
Guol

 

[angmor]

lol trust me free periods are useless. there are precious few people who actually have the initiative to study during free periods.
do what you like best.

 

[Jachie]

They're both shit subjects

But drop Bio because it'll give you less units and more frees and MX1 will supposedly help you with 2u and even if you fail miserably it won't even matter because it will be your eleventh unit. Plus, bio is aids so listen to my advice if you want to truly maximise your lulztiems in the upcoming year.

 

[watatank]

not much point basing it on how many free periods you have. you'll end up wasting them anyway. . if you really don't then kudos to you.

if i were you i would drop 3u maths before bio (if you're that interested in it) but i wouldn't do it just yet. i would keep all my subjects at least till the end of the year. see how you go in these assessments first. and then reassess your position.

hope that helps. :wave:

 

[Guol]

not much point basing it on how many free periods you have. you'll end up wasting them anyway. . if you really don't then kudos to you.

if i were you i would drop 3u maths before bio (if you're that interested in it) but i wouldn't do it just yet. i would keep all my subjects at least till the end of the year. see how you go in these assessments first. and then reassess your position.

hope that helps. :wave:

Yeh, that makes alot of sense.
Now, I wouldn't say that I'm fully into Bio and everything, but what I meant by "it's interesting" was more relative in comparison to the other sciences. So yeh, wouldn't be a big loss if I dropped it :/
And to be honest, for Maths I'd probably put some of the free periods to use, but would end up not fully utilising them to my advantage. So you're right there.
But hey, what you said sounds like a good plan.
*sigh* - Damn subjects

 

[ForgetReality]

I had the same problem, excpet replace biology with modern history.
I ended up dropping my third unit of maths, but to be fair, my mark in the prelims was something around 18%...

Anyway, it will severely reduce your stress levels, especially if three unit is something you're doing for your ego instead of your potential career path.

And I expect four units of english to be relatively time consuming...(I'm doing this too..)

 

[nubix]

They're both shit subjects

But drop Bio because it'll give you less units and more frees and MX1 will supposedly help you with 2u and even if you fail miserably it won't even matter because it will be your eleventh unit. Plus, bio is aids so listen to my advice if you want to truly maximise your lulztiems in the upcoming year.

wdf mafs iz awsum

 

[Jachie]

wdf mafs iz awsum

so's english, you might want to give it a try sometime.

 

[morganforrest]

Keep whichever one you enjoy the most. But if you'd like my advice I would reccomend keeping MX1. I've found it extremely useful for 2unit and you find that as the year progresses you get much better at the subject. Don't be surprised by what appear to be craptastic marks. The school wont scale ur marks so they'll always look shit.

But definitely stick it out with both subjects for a while and reasses ur situation in a few weeks.

 

[xclusv2bhung]

lol i reckon you should keep everything you have now `til about the start of year 12 when you realise your strengths and weaknesses

i had 13units right up until my trials this year , then decided to drop 3u english lol , since it had such a huge workload and i wasn`t doing that well in it anyway.

but yeah , dont be too worried about dropping it now , see which ones you like and dont like.

 

[Fish Sauce]

so's english, you might want to give it a try sometime.

nah

 

[genril]

so's english, you might want to give it a try sometime.

lol, you beat me to it.

 

[Season]

Ext. Math is SUPPOSED to be hard, biology is not

for me

its

easy memorisation subject which scales shit vs. hard pain in the ass subject that scales like you would not believe

If you're averaging maths then keep it, I aced bio going to a good school and it still wasn't as good as my physics or chem.

as for free periods, i have used most of mine, sometimes I just used them to recoop but for the most part i used them. Depends on you whether you take it up. It has paid off too, so far I have two medical interviews and I'm expecting more to come in, while if I screw that up I still have law as a fall back.