subject selection for yr11. im confused out of my mind. (1 Viewer)

fructosefather

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hey im so confused on what to choose for subject selection. I need to have them chosen by 4th august and I'm stilling tossing up subjects. The subjects i know I'm gonna for sure do are SOR1 (its compulsory fml), adv eng, and adv math. I was gonna do all three sciences and cafs but now im getting cold feet and thinking all three sciences is gonna be way to much workload and i won't be able to cope. i wanted to do cafs cos apperantly its a bludge and really easy to score high in. now I'm thinking of doing two sciences (have no idea which ones), design and technology and business services (VET). is a vet course a bad idea, do they really bring down your atar?

But I'm still open to other options as nothing is really concrete bc of confusion, the subjects i usually ace are science (ive enjoyed all of the bio,chem and physic topics we've done so far and done pretty well in all three, usually 90+ percent in all of them), i ace commerce, design tech and pdhpe too.
 

idkkdi

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hey im so confused on what to choose for subject selection. I need to have them chosen by 4th august and I'm stilling tossing up subjects. The subjects i know I'm gonna for sure do are SOR1 (its compulsory fml), adv eng, and adv math. I was gonna do all three sciences and cafs but now im getting cold feet and thinking all three sciences is gonna be way to much workload and i won't be able to cope. i wanted to do cafs cos apperantly its a bludge and really easy to score high in. now I'm thinking of doing two sciences (have no idea which ones), design and technology and business services (VET). is a vet course a bad idea, do they really bring down your atar?

But I'm still open to other options as nothing is really concrete bc of confusion, the subjects i usually ace are science (ive enjoyed all of the bio,chem and physic topics we've done so far and done pretty well in all three, usually 90+ percent in all of them), i ace commerce, design tech and pdhpe too.
take mx1 and triple. :) any subjects that are bludge and easy to scores high in gets scaled back down so it really isn’t scoring as high as you think and honestly there’s not much point having a bludge subject.

2u eng 3u math triple science sor makes 12 units which should be enough. If you really doubt your ability in mx1 or triple it might be better to take 14 units by adding on cafs. Not taking 3u math imo is not advisable for a science track student.
 

fructosefather

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thank you, but I really don't want to take mx1, in yr10 I'm in top 5.3 and comparatively doing quite better than the rest of the class, yet still not enough to be ranked highish. also, I suck at equations and stuff, and mx1 is based a whole lot around calculus and equations. although i think i get what you mean with the triple science and will take it!!
 

ahri

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I did triple science in Y11 (dropped Phys in Y12) and it really isn't more work lol, I also did modern and arguably modern history was more work than a single science so I would argue that doing 3 sciences is not any more work than most other subjects! For real, just pick what you enjoy and your hard work will carry you further than scaling or low workloads.
 

fructosefather

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I did triple science in Y11 (dropped Phys in Y12) and it really isn't more work lol, I also did modern and arguably modern history was more work than a single science so I would argue that doing 3 sciences is not any more work
ahhh I get what you mean since if I do triple science I'll just be investing my time in them, not with various other subjects too so it should be equal-ish work.

awe why give up the x1
my brain can't handle that much math hahahah
 

DanielTheMan

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my brain can't handle that much math hahahah
[/QUOTE]

Don't do physics if you can't handle that much maths
 

Velocifire

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Depends clearly on what you like. But from experience a few things to mention:

HSC Physics:
- The theory and concept by itself are not hard to understand. Although the HSC questions are not very straightforward. The questions tend to give scenarios or cases which relate to the concept, and you need to expand your thinking and be able to connect to various different situations where these concepts can be involved.
- Physics is not all mathematical. In year 12 the only maths dominated module is module 5 (Advanced Mechanics), even so you need to be able to grasp hold of the theories and concepts particularly.
- Some parts of physics require memorisation of history (specially module 7 Nature of light). Nature of light is quite literally a history lecture, in terms of how theories on light were investigated and found out.
- At times certain concepts and ideas do not make sense, and you need to do research outside of the syllabus in order to understand the theory well, and read/revisit certain topics multiple times to understand it.
- Overall, each module has its certain pros and cons. It is definitely not easy, and I'd probably say it is harder than chemistry because of some theories and concepts. But in saying that, its not that much harder than chemistry either. It really depends on you.

HSC Chemistry:
- The theories and concepts are very straightforward. Application of these are also straightforward. Unlike physics, the scenarios given are much more easier and straightforward, so if you know your content well its not that hard.
- Module 5 is mathematical, and includes quite a few hard maths question, in terms of equilibrium constant and solubility constant measurements. If you like maths, this is a plus point.
- Chemistry has more memorisation than physics, as its more broad. Each module, requires some extent of memorisation. If you do not like memorising lots of concepts and rules, then chemistry will definitely be a bit challenging.
- Chemistry experiments and physics experiments are pretty similar. (Not much difference except that physics experiments are boring but thats a personal opinion).
- Chemistry is content heavy (very content heavy) and this probably the main reason why it scales better than physics. There is a lot of content to cover, and memorisation isn't the way out, you need to be able to understand the reasoning behind each concept.
- Overall its hard because of the amount of content and memorisation. But if you know your content well than, its not that hard.

Again depends on you strengths. But from personal experience physics theories and concepts are a bit harder to understand than chemistry. Also, the mathematical aspects are not that hard in physics as people may exaggerate it to be.
If you study well from the start of year 11, then they both should be pretty straightforward.
 
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idkkdi

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AHHHH OMG THANK YOU, this seriously helped in getting a better understanding of the subject work-wise!!



Don't do physics if you can't handle that much maths
Physics is also about the concepts and ideas rather than being just purely maths.
[/QUOTE]

You can't do real physics without maths.
Consider this,

if you do not do 3U maths, your career options become limited in university. Realistically you need a solid grounding in at least 3U maths for all STEM subjects except bio.

So unless you want to take arts, law or commerce, (where even finance and accounting requires a decent bit of maths), you really should do 3U maths.
 

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