What subjects to drop after accelerating? (1 Viewer)

[morgoe]

I've just finished doing 2U and 3U Maths in an accelerant class.
92/100 for 2U Maths
90/100 for 3U Maths

Im happy with the results but I'm not sure what subjects to drop now..
My other subjects are English 2U and 3U, Visual Arts, Ancient History, Studies of Religion 1 (forced), 4U Maths.
I can either drop ALL my Maths - not repeat 2U or 3U and drop 4U maths - or I can drop 3U English. English is a really hard subject for me, moreso 2U than 3U. I usually spend a lot more time than it before tests studying than for other subjects, but I dont have as much homework for it.
Maths 4U is killer..SO much homework, more than 50% of my workload each night, and I'm not going great. 8/11 in my class and my mark was 14/30. My class is pretty restricted though..11 people in it and theres about 120 people in my year.

I'm leaning towards dropping all my Maths and doing 8 units this year so I can focus on my English (perhaps get a tutor too) and also spend a lot more of my time (and also study periods) on my Visual Arts. Also 2U English is my worst subject and if I drop 3U English then both units of my 2U English (which will suck) will be counted in my UAI. In prelim I came 8/22 in 3U English and 17/60 in 2U English or 17/120 if you're counting standard english as well.

My parents reckon I should go with 4U Maths because it scales so well, because all my other subjects are humanities and because I'm pretty naturally talented at Maths (I think I'm the only one in my 4U class without a tutor but I'm considering getting one after my last results :/). I was getting pretty bad marks in 3U at the start of that course (like...30%), but I was always 4th out of about 20 in my accelerant class. In this course I'm JUST failing but I'm going a lot worse rankwise. And its taking up a LOT of my time...I only started studying the night before for one of my assessments because I had too much homework.

Ancient History and Studies of Religion I've got down pat without too much work... 3/25ish in History with a mark of 24/25 (the 2 top guys got 24.5/25). Studies of Religion haven't got marks back but for prelim exam I came 2/120 with about 2-3 hours of study. Visual Arts I came 2nd (gap between 1 and 2, and between 2 and 3 was pretty big) in last year but the guy who came 1st has now dropped the subject, so I should be able to come first again.

What do you guys recommend? Or at least, what have your experiences been with these subjects? Is going down to 8 units too little work, even with 3U English and Visual Arts?

Sorry for the long post and sorry again if I posted it in the wrong place ><

 

[risole91]

hmmm, so are you saying that if you drop 4u maths.
your 2u and 3u will become irrellavent?

 

[Jachie]

wateva 1 u lyk least!!!!!

 

[morgoe]

@Risole
No they wont become irrelevant, I just wont do them any more. I'll keep the marks, and they'll count towards my UAI (if they're in my top 10), but I dont have to do them anymore

@Jachie
I dunno...I probably prefer English 3U but I like Maths because its such a nice break from all the deep thinking of other subjects, most Maths is just mechanical repetition which makes it a nice 'study break'.

 

[risole91]

@Risole
No they wont become irrelevant, I just wont do them any more. I'll keep the marks, and they'll count towards my UAI (if they're in my top 10), but I dont have to do them anymore

.

im confused..
so where you planning on repeating the 2 and 3 unit courses for maths??

 

[tanjin]

Drop Visual Arts.

The amount of time and effort you'll put in, unfortunately won't pay off unless you do incredibly well because of scaling.

 

[Kujah]

No, since he's already done the 2u and 3u exams and has gotten a result for them, he doesn't need to do the courses anymore. If he drops 4U, he'll have no Maths at all to do in Year 12.

But at the end, since he's accelerated, the results that he achieved earlier in 2U and 3U may contribute to his UAI if they are in the top 10 units.

EDIT: And for my opinion, I think you should stick with what you've got so far until the half-yearlies, With these exams, they'll be a genuine indication of what you should do and not do.

 

[cs01001]

Drop Visual Arts.

The amount of time and effort you'll put in, unfortunately won't pay off unless you do incredibly well because of scaling.

That defies what tanjin normally says about scaling.

But hmm, I would stick with Kujah's suggestion of waiting till half yearly to see how everything works out.

Good luck.

 

[Zephyrio]

If you've accelerated and gotten band six in both 2U and 3U, there's no need to drop 4U. Just because it is time consuming, you are good at maths and capable of doing well. Maybe re-sit the 3U maths exam again, so you boost that 90.

Drop the one you dislike most. Or wait until half yearlies so you see how you're going.

 

[tanjin]

That defies what tanjin normally says about scaling.

But hmm, I would stick with Kujah's suggestion of waiting till half yearly to see how everything works out.

Good luck.

Not really. It's pointless for him to have a subject that may scale him down, when he's well on his way to a uai of 99+.

Visual Arts takes as much time and causes as much stress as 4u English but the scaling is very different. Scaling sucks.

 

[morgoe]

@Ris
I'm either repeating 3U Maths as well as doing 4U Maths, or I'm dropping ALL Maths. I won't be repeating just 2U and 3U Maths.

@3unitz
I've gone pretty badly (rankwise not worried so much markwise) in my 4U test last term and although I haven't been putting in a LOT of effort, I haven't been slacking off, probably the same amount of effort I put into 2U and 3U (Which TBH wasn't very much..)
It'd be good for my UAI BUT I only need like an 87ish which I think should be pretty easy for me. English is a hard subject mostly because I have no idea how to approach most things and I think getting a tutor would help a LOT. If I dont take 3U English then my 2U English marks are definately in my UAI, whereas if I take 3U English, I will probably only end up with 1 unit of Advanced English (my worst subject).

@Tanjin
Nope, Visual Arts is definately needed (not a pre-req or assumed knowledge but its almost expected) for what I want to do (atm) in uni...which is like digital animation/design/etc. I also REALLY enjoy Visual Arts, its probably my favourite subject just because the lessons are so much more relaxing. Plug in my iPod, draw for 50 mins.

@Kujah/cs01001
I'm not sure if I can drop subjects after half-yearlies. I'm under the assumption that my last chance is the first couple of weeks of Term1. I dont think I'll be able to find out until I get back, and if I'm keeping 4U Maths I really need to start doing some work towards it.

@Zephyrio
As I said in my original post I liked 2U and 3U Maths because they're a sort of 'study break' because they're more mechanical repetitive calculations than deep thinking. 4U Maths moves away from that and requires a lot more thinking, I can't just sit there and do it with my brain half asleep ;p Also, the stuff I got wrong in my last exam, some of it was basic BASIC stuff that I can't imagine why I got wrong. Like, the addition of 2 complex numbers (general ones, y + zi; y - zi) on a graph - I ended up tryign to work it out algebraiclly (god how do you spell that?!) instead of adding the vectors on the graph... I'm also a little afraid of getting burned out, I've been doing consistent work all through school, increasing as the workload increased but it'd suck to get burned out. I partly want to drop 4U just so I can "relax" (very big inverted commas there) this year.

 

[Kujah]

I am sure in any school, the student is allowed to drop a subject at any time before the actual HSC exams.

Just keep on trying in 4U, and consistently put in the effort and determination. With past papers and practice, you'll do good.

 

[tanjin]

Don't drop anything for now

Like Kujah said, wait it out and decide a bit later. Drop your weakest subject when that time comes.

 

[risole91]

@Ris
I'm either repeating 3U Maths as well as doing 4U Maths, or I'm dropping ALL Maths. I won't be repeating just 2U and 3U Maths.

.

ahh i see.
can you not just do 4unit?
cause if you could 4 unit and 3, that would be the way to go!