13 units for HSC? (1 Viewer)

[Fowl]

I'm considering for year 12:
3U English
4U Maths
Physics
Chemistry
Japanese

Which accounts to 13 units, but I've been told that it's too much. I can't drop ext English because I need a backup if I screw up Advanced (very likely), maths and phys are required for my degree, and I'm topping my grade in chem and Jap. If I had to drop something it'd probably be chem but I find that my strengths lie in the sciences and I'd be safe sticking to it.

I know 13 units is not impossible, but is it possible to get a 99+ ATAR without burning out?

Any advice?

*Edit: the reason why I want to do ext english is because I'm getting 97 in it while for advanced it's barely even 80's, but not sure if that changes in year 12. Also ext english is tremendously more enjoyable than advanced because of the depth required and explored.

 

[mreditor16]

I'm considering for year 12:
3U English
4U Maths
Physics
Chemistry
Japanese

Which accounts to 13 units, but I've been told that it's too much. I can't drop ext English because I need a backup if I screw up Advanced (very likely), maths and phys are required for my degree, and I'm topping my grade in chem and Jap. If I had to drop something it'd probably be chem but I find that my strengths lie in the sciences and I'd be safe sticking to it.

I know 13 units is not impossible, but is it possible to get a 99+ ATAR without burning out?

Any advice?

It's very hard to handle 12+ units, especially when doing 4u maths.

I would recommended letting go of 3U English, from what I hear, the workload is effectively like 2U English... This fear you have of 2U English not going well will matter even if you do 3u, because at least one unit from 2u English will count (since 2 best units of English always count)

think about it.... let go of 3u English is what I say

 

[photastic]

Burning out isn't the term but rather overworked. 13 units will definitely kill you unless you absolutely love the subjects. But then again, 1 ½ to 2 entire subjects won't count which is a waste of time. Just wait till the end of the 1st hsc term and see what happens whether you still can cope.

 

[Fowl]

I would recommended letting go of 3U English, from what I hear, the workload is effectively like 2U English... This fear you have of 2U English not going well will matter even if you do 3u, because at least one unit from 2u English will count (since 2 best units of English always count)

think about it.... let go of 3u English is what I say

I find that 3U english helps my 2U a lot due to having an extra teacher and more practice, and also my grades in 3U right now are probably 120/150 ranks better, not sure if that will still happen in year 12.

 

[faisalabdul16]

13 units during HSC year is stupid. Only 10 units count towards your ATAR. You'll be wasting your time doing 3 extra units which won't count. It's better to do 10 units, that way you have less subjects and can therefore maximize your marks through having more time. Also, what makes you think that you're going to ace extension 1 english if you fear of stuffing up advanced? Drop ext 1 english and another 2u subject which you are doing "crap" in.

 

[lpodtouch]

13 units during HSC year is stupid. Only 10 units count towards your ATAR. You'll be wasting your time doing 3 extra units which won't count. It's better to do 10 units, that way you have less subjects and can therefore maximize your marks through having more time. Also, what makes you think that you're going to ace extension 1 english if you fear of stuffing up advanced? Drop ext 1 english and another 2u subject which you are doing "crap" in.

I'd have to agree with you on this one - 13 units is quite frankly superfluous.

However, given your circumstances, I would suggest utilising the first few weeks of Year 12 to experiment as to which courses you enjoy/dislike (as prelim and HSC can differ quite vastly). If you're still uncertain at this point, compare your first year 12 assessment task results indicating your strengths/weaknesses in order to be discerning in your subject selection.

If you feel however comfortable with 13 units, by all means do so. There is however a strong emphasis that 3 units will not count toward your ATAR and will substantially consume your time - which could incontrovertibly be dedicated to other subjects.

Good luck!

 

[keithkung]

I don’t think its a problem if you are determined to get a good atar.
Im doing 14 units and I think the key is time management.
Besides 4u maths are all maths, when you are studying for 4u, 3u becomes easier to you, not to mention physics and chemistry.
You can always drop at anytime if you are overwhelmed by the workload.

 

[faisalabdul16]

I don’t think its a problem if you are determined to get a good atar.
Im doing 14 units and I think the key is time management.
Besides 4u maths are all maths, when you are studying for 4u, 3u becomes easier to you, not to mention physics and chemistry.
You can always drop at anytime if you are overwhelmed by the workload.

Phys and Chem have little math, and it's basic. People who do general maths can do the calculations in the HSC course for phys and chem

 

[matchalolz]

please drop english extension.

No matter what, 1 unit of eng adv will always count and imo extension doesn't really help. The two subjects require pretty different approaches in order to get good marks (in my school at least) and it's just not worth it. Figure out how to do better in advanced and spend that extra time studying for all your other subjects.

 

[dan964]

I'm considering for year 12:
3U English
4U Maths
Physics
Chemistry
Japanese

Which accounts to 13 units, but I've been told that it's too much. I can't drop ext English because I need a backup if I screw up Advanced (very likely), maths and phys are required for my degree, and I'm topping my grade in chem and Jap. If I had to drop something it'd probably be chem but I find that my strengths lie in the sciences and I'd be safe sticking to it.

I know 13 units is not impossible, but is it possible to get a 99+ ATAR without burning out?

Any advice?

*Edit: the reason why I want to do ext english is because I'm getting 97 in it while for advanced it's barely even 80's, but not sure if that changes in year 12. Also ext english is tremendously more enjoyable than advanced because of the depth required and explored.

I did the same except didn't do ext 1 English.
You will regret doing all of it. Depends how good you are at Maths. You should drop down to 11 units at least.
Advanced English always will count to ATAR (2u)

 

[dan964]

if it wasn't for the case that you are doing well at Japanese I would have recommend dropping it because the work load is like a 3u subject. so effectively you are doing 14 unit work load. What course that requires Physics??

 

[Fowl]

Thanks guys for the suggestions so far, really appreciate it.

if it wasn't for the case that you are doing well at Japanese I would have recommend dropping it because the work load is like a 3u subject. so effectively you are doing 14 unit work load. What course that requires Physics??

Basically all natural sciences and engineering courses (except the ones that also need chemistry, which is few). Also physics isn't a bad workload because it's less content based, this year I didn't have to study except the night before but that's because I'm genuinely interested in physics so I do a lot of physics-related stuff ahead of time. I guess that's the case for Japanese too, as in the workload's become easier due to my anime watching.

 

[BLIT2014]

Try it out...

I've known people doing 4 unit Mathematics and doing 13 units and coping fine, and people doing 4 unit Mathematics, and struggling on 10 units.

 

[silkroads]

It's interesting to see that there's a growing trend to do just 10 units. When I did the HSC, there was a sizable number of people doing 13+ units in one year (around 30% of my grade). This was at a top selective school, granted.

But to answer your question, I don't see why doing 13 units is a problem. Sure, it's a lot more work and you have to really love what you do, but I actually found it helped me manage my time better as I never really had time to waste - there wasn't any temptation to procrastinate.

Worst comes to worst, do 13 for term 4 and then drop the subject you're enjoying the least/doing the worst in.

 

[dan964]

Drop chemistry I recommend, only after T4...

Thanks guys for the suggestions so far, really appreciate it.



Basically all natural sciences and engineering courses (except the ones that also need chemistry, which is few). Also physics isn't a bad workload because it's less content based, this year I didn't have to study except the night before but that's because I'm genuinely interested in physics so I do a lot of physics-related stuff ahead of time. I guess that's the case for Japanese too, as in the workload's become easier due to my anime watching.

 

[Queenroot]

The tables will turn in Year 12, you won't necessarily top a subject just because you are during prelims. If you don't like a subject, drop it. Even 12 units is too much, I would drop to 11.

 

[Pikachuisgod]

Don't let people online who've never met you or know your circumstances personally to decide for you.

 

[bakstar]

Try the subjects out for a few weeks and see if you can cope with the workload or if the subjects which you did really well in prelim keep coming across as such in HSC.

 

[kalstar]

11 is the magic number

 

[Queenroot]

11 is the magic number

It truly is #somuchregret