Year 11 Subject Selection - HSC (1 Viewer)

[nataliedurr1]

Hey guys

im kinda new to this, but i was hoping you could help me out. I am an A / B grade student and does very well at school.
I am currently picking the subjects i want to do for years 11 and 12. I am having trouble deciding what i should do but the following list is what i am thinking of doing...

My Subjects are:
2u Maths
Italian (2u)
Chemistry (2u)
Legal Studies (2u)
Adv English
SOR 1 or SOR 2 (catholic school so i have to do religon)

I want to go into the medicine field when i leave, i want to achieve high 80s / low 90s.

sooo.. in conclusion,
which religion should i do? -- which one is better?
are my subjects scaled good?
should i change any subjects?
what do you think about my subjects?
do i need to do 2 sciences to get into medicine?

Thank you

 

[FancyPenguin]

Hi, In year 10 as well so no first hand experience with the subjects but I have/had the same problem with the religion in a catholic school thing. I would definitely recommend SOR1 to you however if you choose this you will be studying 11u in year 12, but the benefit will be a lower workload in year 11(from what I've heard from friends 14u and hell), but this also means you have a back up unit is you bomb out on a subject.

BTW what field of medicine are you aiming for?




BTW what field of medicine are you aiming for?

 

[astroman]

if you want to do med, u need 99+

 

[laura-jayne14]

Biology & Chemistry would be recommended. What level of Italian are you thinking of doing - beginners or cont.? PM if you want advice regarding what it's like, but I really enjoy it.

Sent from my Lumia 710 using Tapatalk

 

[Drongoski]

If you are serious about doing Medicine, choose subjects that will help you achieve that. Choose subjects that will help you achieve your goal, not what you like or are passionate about. For example: in what way is Italian going to help you? Granted you have to do SOR, choose one with lightest load. You must choose subjects that can help you achieve very high ATAR, but there is no point choosing a high-scaling subject, if you cannot handle it. Of what relevance to your aim to do Medicine is Legal Studies? And only 2U Maths? If you can't handle 3U Maths, I don't think you are of the calibre to aspire to Medicine; there are so many out there who are very smart. With your types of subjects, what are your chances of achieving an ATAR of 99.xx?

I'm not trying to discourage you. I want you to be realistic, and it is not easy when you are about 15. You must choose your subjects very carefully - which is of course what you are trying to do with your post.

 

[RivalryofTroll]

If you are serious about doing Medicine, choose subjects that will help you achieve that. Choose subjects that will help you achieve your goal, not what you like or are passionate about. For example: in what way is Italian going to help you? Granted you have to do SOR, choose one with lightest load. You must choose subjects that can help you achieve very high ATAR, but there is no point choosing a high-scaling subject, if you cannot handle it. Of what relevance to your aim to do Medicine is Legal Studies? And only 2U Maths? If you can't handle 3U Maths, I don't think you are of the calibre to aspire to Medicine; there are so many out there who are very smart. With your types of subjects, what are your chances of achieving an ATAR of 99.xx?

I'm not trying to discourage you. I want you to be realistic, and it is not easy when you are about 15. You must choose your subjects very carefully - which is of course what you are trying to do with your post.

Definitely agree with this post and the ''realistic'' view.

However, I'd like to mention that one can get into UWS Medicine (which is fantastic, given the relatively new facilities from what I heard) with a 95~ ATAR (perhaps even 93~ if you live in the right area)... provided that they do well in the UMAT + interview.

I don't think the OP is limited to the 99+ or 99.95 required by UNSW Medicine and USYD Medicine respectively.

 

[rumbleroar]

I think you should look into doing biology if you're interested in doing medicine. And also, you'll need to be looking at a much higher ATAR if you're looking to get into medicine (iirc, the minimum ATAR requirement for med at UNSW is 96, but the average is like 99.2)

which religion should i do? -- which one is better?
- no idea, don't do religion

are my subjects scaled good?
- if you do really well in all your subjects, scaling won't really affect it

should i change any subjects?
- probably consider doing biology

what do you think about my subjects?
- I don't know, I'm not you haha

do i need to do 2 sciences to get into medicine?
- no its not a pre-req, but its just recommended.

 

[Futuremedstudent]

I think you should look into doing biology if you're interested in doing medicine. And also, you'll need to be looking at a much higher ATAR if you're looking to get into medicine (iirc, the minimum ATAR requirement for med at UNSW is 96, but the average is like 99.2)

which religion should i do? -- which one is better?
- no idea, don't do religion

are my subjects scaled good?
- if you do really well in all your subjects, scaling won't really affect it

should i change any subjects?
- probably consider doing biology

what do you think about my subjects?
- I don't know, I'm not you haha

do i need to do 2 sciences to get into medicine?
- no its not a pre-req, but its just recommended.

The average atar for unsw is 99.6

 

[lightthefuze]

I think you should look into doing biology if you're interested in doing medicine. And also, you'll need to be looking at a much higher ATAR if you're looking to get into medicine (iirc, the minimum ATAR requirement for med at UNSW is 96, but the average is like 99.2)

which religion should i do? -- which one is better?
- no idea, don't do religion

are my subjects scaled good?
- if you do really well in all your subjects, scaling won't really affect it

should i change any subjects?
- probably consider doing biology

what do you think about my subjects?
- I don't know, I'm not you haha

do i need to do 2 sciences to get into medicine?
- no its not a pre-req, but its just recommended.

1. I'm currently taking SOR 2U, and there are many topics - around 8. Teachers seem to fly through content as fast as they can to ensure that we have enough time to re-study content for each topic and then present it in the form of an end-of-topic assessment task. I'm planning to dropping down to 1U as the content is half of 2U and extension kids are in those classes = motivation.

2. An interesting mix of KLAs, if you are planning on doing 1U SOR, I recommend taking on an extension subject or other 1U course. If not, take 2U SOR in Year 11 and then drop down to 1U SOR at the end of Term 3 next year. Just make sure that you want to do these subjects and you have a strong amount of interest in them.

Also, you may have heard this many times BUT please do not choose or switch to subjects just because you friends are there, your parents are forcing you to, if you don't think you're capable of doing it, scaling (!!!)or if you've heard bad/hard things about it (this was my one and the consequences made me want to shoot myself in the foot!). If you get weird gut feelings about your subjects after you've chosen them, you can still change them a few weeks after Term 1 starts next year (make sure to pay close attention to the content, syllabus, topics that will be learnt [Prelim and HSC] and the teacher [in most cases, your Prelim teacher will be your HSC teacher!])

Feel free to message me at any time! xx

 

[Starling]

Hey Natelie
I'm a yr 12 student who's currently aspiring to do medicine
First of All I strongly disagree with drongski. You should do subject that your like or are passionate about as ultimately your going to be studying them for 2 years and if you don't enjoy them you won't likely get the result you need to get into medicine. There is one important I would ask you and all the other people aspiring to get into medicine
WHY DO YOU!!! PERSONALLY WANT TO DO IT
Medicine despite all the prestige and money is an exhausting, challenging and life long career.
When applying for medicine in most cases there will be 3 deciding factors: ATAR ,UMAT, interview (for undergraduate entry)
Depending on where you apply each factor will weigh differently for example I wish to get into the UNSW medicine course and there each factor is considered equally, and in terms of your subjects there is NO PREREQUISITE chemistry is recommended but it doesn't matter if your not doing
The one thing you should take into account if your not doing science is whether you actually enjoy learning about the human body: learning textbook amount of content on hundreds of dieases, dissecting human body, learning about the anatomy of each and every organ and body parts.
DEALING WITH BLOOD !!!!
It's is really important for you to think about why you actually want to do medicine and in the interviews the will ask you this. To get more info you can watch the unsw medicine information night videos and also go to this page called matrix education blog which has tonnes of advice from people who have achieved top atar 99-99.95 some how have gone into medicine some how choose something else and also they have a YouTube channel with people who are doing medicine and other degrees on advice and what their degree is like

In terms of your subjects I would say doing varied subjects is fine but in terms of atar this is how I would put for chances into getting into medicine at UNSW
99-good chance
98 - okay chance with high umat
97- very unlikely (e.g.15%)
96 impossible unless perfect umat and interview
I will point out this is when atar umat and interview weigh equalling, in uws I'm pretty sure umat and interview worth more but double check on website
Don't believe me double check on multiple atar calculators ask your career advisor on her opinon of you doing medicine

For most part I'll tell you do your own research on OFFICIAL pages and compare the info to what people say on forum
Also I can almost guarantee that despite doing any subject (as long as it count towards your atar double check for SOR as I think one of them is non atar) if you can achieve 90 in ever single one you will get and atar of high 97 to 98
I recommend also to achieve that use yr11 to build up your study habits and you should be able to study roughly 4hrs on weekdays and also in your school holidays start preparing ahead for your subjects by looking and trying to understand the content if you don't get that ok cause when you start them in school you can clear your understanding more easily and you be ahead of everyone



One final thing no matter what people tell you about whether you can do it or not you should try and find out the truth of things yourself and develop a strong mindset for the struggles ahead of you

Good luck and may you be where you wish to be....

 

[nataliedurr1]

I do want to do medicine, its jsut i think with the subjects i have chosen i will be able to do better in them because i have interest in them, rather say if i did physics, chem and bio - i definately wouldnt do as well because my interest is not that high. I think i will be able to achieve higher with the subjects i am good at and i enjoy.

 

[nataliedurr1]

Thank you, so much!!!. May i ask, what subjects do you study for year 12 ?

 

[panda15]

Hey Natelie
I'm a yr 12 student who's currently aspiring to do medicine
First of All I strongly disagree with drongski. You should do subject that your like or are passionate about as ultimately your going to be studying them for 2 years and if you don't enjoy them you won't likely get the result you need to get into medicine.

While I agree with the principle of what you said, if OP wants to go into medicine, then the subjects she should enjoy are also the subjects that would scale up/be prerequisites for medicine (Chem/Bio/Phys/High level maths). Medicine is a VERY intense degree, and if you don't have a passion for these subjects, I would seriously recommend looking for alternative career paths.

 

[photastic]

While I agree with the principle of what you said, if OP wants to go into medicine, then the subjects she should enjoy are also the subjects that would scale up/be prerequisites for medicine (Chem/Bio/Phys/High level maths). Medicine is a VERY intense degree, and if you don't have a passion for these subjects, I would seriously recommend looking for alternative career paths.

Agreed, don't have any passion for science which is why I fall asleep during exams

 

[FancyPenguin]

A family friend I know who's dream was to get into med got a 99.6 atar and sadly still didn't make it in(she flunked the interview).
If you're still passionate about the med thing (for the reason of helping people and the like), you can also aim for nursing and other things i guess. BTW do physicians assistants exist in Australia cause that would be really awesome.

 

[Soulful]

If you are serious about doing Medicine, choose subjects that will help you achieve that. Choose subjects that will help you achieve your goal, not what you like or are passionate about. For example: in what way is Italian going to help you? Granted you have to do SOR, choose one with lightest load. You must choose subjects that can help you achieve very high ATAR, but there is no point choosing a high-scaling subject, if you cannot handle it. Of what relevance to your aim to do Medicine is Legal Studies? And only 2U Maths? If you can't handle 3U Maths, I don't think you are of the calibre to aspire to Medicine; there are so many out there who are very smart. With your types of subjects, what are your chances of achieving an ATAR of 99.xx?

lol and you're basing this off countless years of experience I believe?

People need to stop thinking that maths is the only subject which can gauge someone's intelligence.

To OP, don't listen to the h8ers, do the subjects you are passionate about, but definitely consider biology; if you pick it and dislike it, you'll realise that med isn't the best course for you before it's too late. However, if you enjoy it, you'll be ahead and more confident about your future

 

[Starling]

No probs Natelie

The subjects I'm doing are:
Biology
Chemistry
3 unit maths
4unit maths
Advanced English

For me science is passion causes from my its interesting to see how things interact in our world and connection between things
I chose maths because for its naturally easy
I really dont like english but im slowing getting to appreciate it more but if i could drop it would

Btw i also did physics as and acclerated course and I get 81 for that but that isnt enough to get the result I need for medicine
so thats why im doing 10 units in yr 12
y
also what panda15 said is definelty true in the sense that medicine is an extremely intense course there is a science base around but you can pick that up in uni
and also panda15 a person a person who hasnt done english or science has gotten 99.95 check the uac website for it
high scaling has no importance if you dont enjoy the subject your doing
also if you want to know how my results are for my subjects ive written on the post by the unsw99.4 medicine tutor

 

[Drongoski]

lol and you're basing this off countless years of experience I believe?

People need to stop thinking that maths is the only subject which can gauge someone's intelligence.

To OP, don't listen to the h8ers, do the subjects you are passionate about, but definitely consider biology; if you pick it and dislike it, you'll realise that med isn't the best course for you before it's too late. However, if you enjoy it, you'll be ahead and more confident about your future

Op can choose to heed Soulful's advice or mine or neither. It's up to you.

It's amazing you think a person offering serious and well-meaning advice is a h8er?

 

[matchalolz]

Op can choose to heed Soulful's advice or mine or neither. It's up to you.

It's amazing you think a person offering serious and well-meaning advice is a h8er?

I actually think that what this guy is saying is valid. Sometimes you need to consider what will be useful over what you are passionate about, however what I think is that often, the things that are useful are the things you are passionate about. I reckon for something as tough as medicine, if you don't like the subjects that it involves, it's not the path for you. OP, i think you should choose biology, but also leave your options open in case you realise med isn't your thing. E.g. at the start of yr 10 I had always imagined myself doing the typical asian 5 subject combo, but now I actually take no sciences at all because i realised just in time that I had no passion for science. I don't know about you but for me things can change very easily, keep this in mind and good luck with your choices.

 

[panda15]

and also panda15 a person a person who hasnt done english or science has gotten 99.95 check the uac website for it
high scaling has no importance if you dont enjoy the subject your doing

Wut. No they haven't.

People may have gotten 99.95 without science, but when you are aiming for an ATAR high enough to get into medicine, scaling definitely has to be considered in your subject choices. A hell of a lot of people that get over 99 do 4U maths, one of the highest scaling subjects.

And my post wasn't about whether choosing a subject you enjoy doing is more important than scaling. I was pointing out that if OP wants to go into medicine, then the courses she should enjoy are the courses that typically scale well (science and high level maths). However she has stated that she does not enjoy science, which is why I'm questioning her motives for wanting to do medicine.