yr 11 Subject selection dilemma T-T (1 Viewer)

[Shavi Masee]

Okay so this is what I have planned so far
Math Ext 1 (3)
English Advanced (2)
Physics (2)
Music 2 (2)
SOR 1(compulsory) (1)
Chem (2)
Photography (1)

Visual arts is a reserve.

1. My math teacher said I'm on the brink of Adv and Ext 1, she thinks I'll struggle with the workload on top of my other subjects. Should I pick ext 1 and then drop it if it's challenging?
2. I honestly suck at English, a lot of people told me to pick adv, check it out, and then drop to std if it's hard. Is that a logical thing to do?
3. I have no idea what I wanna do after hs, how do I explore the courses in uni and know if I'll enjoy them? Should I then pick subjects based on that?
4. How the heck does scaling work? Should I be worried?

 

[drowningkat]

1) If your teacher says she's worried that you'll struggle with the workload for Math ext, I reccommend just not doing it. Unless you love maths and are really motivated, since it is a 1u course, you'll also have to worry about whether or not you have time for your other subjects and many people I know drops it at the start of year 12 because it is quiet challenging and not really worth the stress unless you are excelling in the subject.

2) For eng adv, I reccommend you trying it first since it won't do any harm. Scaling for standard eng is not great so you should be aiming for top 3 for standard if you are doing it. Just try adv out first, if its too hard then drop to std keeping the scaling in mind while doing so

3) I don't really reccommend picking subjects based on what you think you want to do for Uni. Trust me, it'll change a lot. Also if you do end up doing that and hate the subjects you picked it'll just make your senior years a lot more difficult. Motivation is already a hard thing to keep up esp with all the stress so I say pick subjects that are not too low scaling, know you'll perform decent in them and to an extent, also enjoy.

 

[wollongong warrior]

1. Are you thinking of pursuing stem? If yes, exposure to ext 1 maths will be good
2. Advanced and std English are the same thing, literally. Don't be fooled that if you drop advanced English because it's too hard, that you'll get an easier time in standard. In reality it'll get harder since you'll have to catch up on the texts they've covered so far
3. Pick what you're interested in and/or good at
4. Your scaling matters if the degree you're trying to get into requires a high atar

 

[C_master]

Okay so this is what I have planned so far
Math Ext 1 (3)
English Advanced (2)
Physics (2)
Music 2 (2)
SOR 1(compulsory) (1)
Chem (2)
Photography (1)

Visual arts is a reserve.

1. My math teacher said I'm on the brink of Adv and Ext 1, she thinks I'll struggle with the workload on top of my other subjects. Should I pick ext 1 and then drop it if it's challenging?

Nah keep 3u and only drop it if you are seriously struggling and cant cope. If I was u I would take what ur teacher said with a grain of salt but thats just me ig

 

[Pipi108]

Okay so this is what I have planned so far
Math Ext 1 (3)
English Advanced (2)
Physics (2)
Music 2 (2)
SOR 1(compulsory) (1)
Chem (2)
Photography (1)

Visual arts is a reserve.

1. My math teacher said I'm on the brink of Adv and Ext 1, she thinks I'll struggle with the workload on top of my other subjects. Should I pick ext 1 and then drop it if it's challenging?
2. I honestly suck at English, a lot of people told me to pick adv, check it out, and then drop to std if it's hard. Is that a logical thing to do?
3. I have no idea what I wanna do after hs, how do I explore the courses in uni and know if I'll enjoy them? Should I then pick subjects based on that?
4. How the heck does scaling work? Should I be worried?

yo jit, ur teacher a h8r, fuck him up next time you see him in class

 

[iloveeggs]

1. Maybe this is just because my teachers have been really unsupportive so far but I wouldn't take a teacher's word for how good I am at a subject. When I did junior science I was told I was a very poor student and that he couldn't see me do sciences in the future. I got an A in his class that year and ranked excellent in science from then onwards. Point is, teachers/marks don't always estimate your abilities correctly and YOU should assess how good you are and what your commitments and priorities are before making a decision. Do YOU think you are good at maths? Are you interested in the 3u course content? Does maths come naturally to you, or do you need to put in more effort to succeed than usual? If you are unsure about the workload, what I can say from my experience is that it's not that bad. It kind of depends on how much effort you want to put into it. If you think math is one of your strengths, definitely give it a shot and drop it later if you can't cope. If you don't think math is your strengths, maybe don't take it and focus your energy elsewhere. Sorry if this wasn't very conclusive but I'm happy to answer any further questions you might have.
2. Yeah I suggest taking advanced then dropping to standard if you feel like it's too hard. Often schools make yr 7-10 english hard to pick out potential 3u and 4u english kids, and what I find is that 2u english in y11 is not that hard ngl. You could try it for a bit and see how you feel.
3. Don't pick subjects based on what you are interested in uni. Often high school subjects don't even align with uni content and you won't be getting a head start or whatever if you pick a subject that is similar to a uni course. Uni also won't expect you to take these sort of subjects and as long as you have 2u english and math you should be okay for most courses. As for figuring out what you want to do in uni, I suggest doing to uni open days, speaking to current uni students, alumni, adults who have cool jobs etc. You should check out UNSW and UTS open days and programs because they have really cool excursion type programs where you go onto campus and current students and professors take you through the types of things that each course offers and stuff. Other unis also offer similar things but these were the unis that stood out to me in terms of their programs. Also think about where your interests lie and what kind of job you might want in the future.
4. You should only worry about scaling if you want an extremely high atar or want to get into a super super competitive uni course that needs that high of an atar, an example being undergraduate medicine. If you are at a high school in the top 50, the kids in your grade are smart and you are willing to put in the work you will be okay. If your school is ranked lower, getting a high atar is still achievable however it will be harder than if you were at a higher ranking school, and you will have to get higher internal marks and rank better in your cohort. Then again if you aren't going for a crazy competitive course this doesn't matter too much and just give the HSC your best shot.