Serious Advice Needed ! (1 Viewer)

What should I do ?


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dannyboii

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Hey guys how are you all doing ? I've come here in search of third party, outside advice that might offer another perspective on my problems.
The subects I undertook by the end of year 11 were :
-2u maths + 3u maths
-Chemistry
-Physics
-Advanced English + 3u English
-Modern history

There are some problems with this set of subjects that made me regret my decisions
1. Throughout the year our school kept changing physics teachers and the one I currently have is absolutely awful. They cannot teach at all, so much so that most of my grade has resorted to getting TWO physics tutors each to make up for her awful teaching. Unfortunately I have neither the time or money to hire 2 physics tutors, even one takes up too much time. Plus I actually hate physics, it bores me.
2. I absolutely detest ext 1 English.I've always been an english person and I enjoy advanced english but for some reason I just can't commit to ext 1 english.

And so I wanted to know if it's too late to change subjects mid-way through the first term of Year 12 ? I plan to pick up 4u maths and I want to swap physics for business. I don't want to be on 10 units just yet, so i'd rather change from physics to business than just outright drop physics and stay on 10 units this early in the year. Plus I want to drop ext english.
So my school has agreed to let me change subjects and this is what my year 12 subjects will look like :
-4u maths
-Chemistry
-English advanced
-Business Studies
-Modern History

So what do you guys think ? Is it too late to move to business studies ? Apparently our grade's business studies teacher is amazing and great and teaches really well. How much of prelim do you need to know for hsc business studies ? Is business as easy as people say it is ? And in reguards to scaling I don't expect it to be a great scaler but is it an awful scaler like i've been hearing ? Will I be alright if I get above 90 ?

Any advice or help would be much appreciated.
Cheers !
 
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Flop21

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You want to do business studies over physics? That's crazy. Business studies is mind numbing. It's not great scaling but it's not awful scaling. It's 'easy' but because you don't really have to understand anything, and its just all rote.

I don't really understand why you can't keep physics? Because your teacher isn't spoon feeding you everything? What's stopping you from watching a video on the topic each night - there's plenty online. Hint... "letslearnscience". I don't get why you can't just learn yourself, textbook + youtube and you're set.
 

Crisium

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Having a shit teacher is a pathetic excuse for not wanting to do physics and NEEDING two tutors to keep up is even more disgraceful - I had a terrible teacher who did not understand anything in the physics course (I didn't bring a notebook to that class because he never wrote down any notes and when he was asked to explain something he would instead tell the student to go ask another student in the class to explain the concept)

To survive I just summarised 5 HSC physics textbooks and 2 other internet sources

They teach you everything from scratch for business so you should be fine if you choose to switch to it but people from year 11 may have a slight advantage since they do repeat some content

Good luck!
 

mcchicken

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I agree with both of these guys. Get some physics textbooks and utilise youtube to teach yourself. Idk why you want to switch to business because lemme tell you it's boring af. My experience with Ext Eng was that in Year 11 it was kind of boring and I didn't really care about it, but then I really enjoyed it during HSC.
Maybe give it a few more weeks before you make your final choice.
 

WrittenLoveLetters

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I thought you had to fulfil the 200-something hours Preliminary course to do the HSC course? Wtf. I wasn't allowed to pick up Legal Studies for the HSC just in case HSC Physics goes haywire
 

Crisium

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I thought you had to fulfil the 200-something hours Preliminary course to do the HSC course? Wtf. I wasn't allowed to pick up Legal Studies for the HSC just in case HSC Physics goes haywire
From memory I believe they only do it with Senior Science and Business Studies

For instance, students who were performing poorly in their harder counterparts (e.g. Physics for Senior Science and Economics for Business Studies) were encouraged to change to the easier subject for the benefit of the student (they find themselves struggling less) and the school (greater chance of yielding band 6's)
 

dannyboii

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I thought you had to fulfil the 200-something hours Preliminary course to do the HSC course? Wtf. I wasn't allowed to pick up Legal Studies for the HSC just in case HSC Physics goes haywire
As far as i'm aware your school can't really stop you from picking up subjects in year 12. They can just strongly advice against it. I have to catch up and write notes for all the prelim chapters during the holidays. Plus i'll have to sit for all the assessments. When I come back next year i'll have to show my teacher all my notes and make sure I passed all the assessments and then they'll sign me off as enrolled in the course
 

dannyboii

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To those who are suggesting that I teach myself the course. I considered this option and I've decided against it for a few reasons.
Firstly, because i'm quite a lazy person and I simply don't trust myself to teach myself a course as complicated as physics. I'm not willing to bet my HSC on the chance that I might pick up my game this year.
Secondly, as I've already stated I have quite a bad work ethic. I don't believe i'll be able to balance Chem,Physics and 4U well. I need to devote a lot of my time to 4U which is why i'm keeping modern and business since they're so easy that i'll only need a fraction of the time to study for them then for Physics or Biology.
Lastly, most of the people in my physics class were in accelerated maths and already finished 4U maths in year 11. They only take 3 subjects this year (chem,physics,english) and so have a lot more time to study and do well in physics. Plus like I said most of them go to two tutors. I simply can't compete with them and even if I could it would definitely come at the expense of my other subjects.

That's my reasoning. Does it make sense ? I personally think it's the best thing for me but I really want to take in as many opinions as I can before I make my final decision. I'm honestly unsure about everything and it's really worrying me.
 

Crisium

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To those who are suggesting that I teach myself the course. I considered this option and I've decided against it for a few reasons.
Firstly, because i'm quite a lazy person and I simply don't trust myself to teach myself a course as complicated as physics. I'm not willing to bet my HSC on the chance that I might pick up my game this year.
Secondly, as I've already stated I have quite a bad work ethic. I don't believe i'll be able to balance Chem,Physics and 4U well. I need to devote a lot of my time to 4U which is why i'm keeping modern and business since they're so easy that i'll only need a fraction of the time to study for them then for Physics or Biology.
Lastly, most of the people in my physics class were in accelerated maths and already finished 4U maths in year 11. They only take 3 subjects this year (chem,physics,english) and so have a lot more time to study and do well in physics. Plus like I said most of them go to two tutors. I simply can't compete with them and even if I could it would definitely come at the expense of my other subjects.

That's my reasoning. Does it make sense ? I personally think it's the best thing for me but I really want to take in as many opinions as I can before I make my final decision. I'm honestly unsure about everything and it's really worrying me.
I think you've finally found the real problem - your lazy

It's just one year of hard work - There are 77 000 others in the state in the same position as you so the "ceebs" attitude is what you should get rid of (From all successful students they've told me that a positive attitude and good work ethic are all you need). It may come at a cost though (e.g. Deactivating FB, not playing games, not playing sport, etc.) but if you improve your time management then it doesn't have to

I've heard legitimate stories of people changing their ATAR estimate at the start of the year from an 89 to a 98 just by applying more effort - Make it count because you don't want to regret it when you're in uni with a degree you dislike
 

WrittenLoveLetters

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From memory I believe they only do it with Senior Science and Business Studies

For instance, students who were performing poorly in their harder counterparts (e.g. Physics for Senior Science and Economics for Business Studies) were encouraged to change to the easier subject for the benefit of the student (they find themselves struggling less) and the school (greater chance of yielding band 6's)
Oh shit really. Our school was like "Suck it up, princess and go do your course" (if we had just 10 units and was still finding it hard). Except for Senior Science, with Senior Science, you must have completed any Science course in Year 11 to go do it in Year 12.

As far as i'm aware your school can't really stop you from picking up subjects in year 12. They can just strongly advice against it. I have to catch up and write notes for all the prelim chapters during the holidays. Plus i'll have to sit for all the assessments. When I come back next year i'll have to show my teacher all my notes and make sure I passed all the assessments and then they'll sign me off as enrolled in the course
Actually, I'm referring to BOSTES rules and reading from the syllabus, you usually have to complete the Preliminary course as well, usually. Because when I logged onto my StudentOnline to check my HSC Business assessment mark and rank to be sure, my Preliminary "completed" courses came up as well. I don't know how your school gets it done, but good luck, hope the new subject changes really help.
 

Flop21

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To those who are suggesting that I teach myself the course. I considered this option and I've decided against it for a few reasons.
Firstly, because i'm quite a lazy person and I simply don't trust myself to teach myself a course as complicated as physics. I'm not willing to bet my HSC on the chance that I might pick up my game this year.
Secondly, as I've already stated I have quite a bad work ethic. I don't believe i'll be able to balance Chem,Physics and 4U well. I need to devote a lot of my time to 4U which is why i'm keeping modern and business since they're so easy that i'll only need a fraction of the time to study for them then for Physics or Biology.
Lastly, most of the people in my physics class were in accelerated maths and already finished 4U maths in year 11. They only take 3 subjects this year (chem,physics,english) and so have a lot more time to study and do well in physics. Plus like I said most of them go to two tutors. I simply can't compete with them and even if I could it would definitely come at the expense of my other subjects.

That's my reasoning. Does it make sense ? I personally think it's the best thing for me but I really want to take in as many opinions as I can before I make my final decision. I'm honestly unsure about everything and it's really worrying me.
Tbh this does make sense to me.


But business studies is a lazy person's worst nightmare. It was the most work I had to do for in the HSC (excluding my major project). Because see the syllabus? You have to know that off by heart, word for word and recall it. Same goes with all the content. And throw in case studies for every dot point (or the ones they say you need them for) you need to know off by heart (and throw in some specific figures).


I say just do whatever you're interested in. Because it'll all come down to how hard your willing to work for a subject, and you work harder naturally on a subject you like more. I didn't do physics so probably can't really help you exactly with your situation. However, I did regret picking business studies - and wish I did another science subject, because I like science and their tests. [But in the end I did alright in business].
 

BandSixFix

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So what do you guys think ? Is it too late to move to business studies ? Apparently our grade's business studies teacher is amazing and great and teaches really well. How much of prelim do you need to know for hsc business studies ? Is business as easy as people say it is ? And in reguards to scaling I don't expect it to be a great scaler but is it an awful scaler like i've been hearing ? Will I be alright if I get above 90 ?

Any advice or help would be much appreciated.
Cheers !
It'll be alright man, don't worry. Addressing each of your queries:
- No its not too late to move to business studies - hence why its the few courses that let you
- Its good your teacher is amazing, although you could argue business is rote and doesn't require understand, a good teacher will help you regardless, especially if you're behind.
- There is quite a few things that carry over from prelim, although you will cover them again as you go through your HSC course.
- Business isn't easy per se, you could call it a relatively laid back subject although, as long as you keep ahead of your work - as it is quite content heavy.
- I'm not sure what you're hearing, but although business doesn't scale like shit, it may not be up there with Physics/Economics etc. But don't worry about the scaling, there have been alot of high achievers who have taken business studies
 

WrittenLoveLetters

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- I'm not sure what you're hearing, but although business doesn't scale like shit, it may not be up there with Physics/Economics etc. But don't worry about the scaling, there have been alot of high achievers who have taken business studies
LIKE ME ;D Okay I'm joking, I'm out //runs off
 

leehuan

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Firstly, to everyone else, I was not informed that you can go down from something like economics into business studies. The only one I knew about was going from a specialised science to 'senior science'.

Ok, now, as a side note, keep 3U English up till the half yearly exam. But if you still find it ridiculous after that, drop without hesitation.

Onto the main topic. If you're going to have a poor work ethic, then good luck with 4U, let alone physics. I'll admit I am lazy too, but here's the thing. During the HSC my work ethic was at least above standard. Maths was my talent, so I didn't have to throw a ton of workload in. But 4U still pushed me. And tbh, physics pushed me harder than 4U because it doesn't 100% make sense to me. (And I hate it when things don't make 100% sense).

The concept of scaling should be removed from your mindset. Especially 'shit scalars'. A bad scalar can be forced into being good by just putting in the effort and attaining a high band 6.

Now, your crap teacher. Ok, sure, it's painful. But tbh, what's a bad teacher going to do if you're motivated to carry on? I liked my English advanced teacher way more as a person, than in the classroom. Ugh, what did I even learn. But who cares! I pushed through despite my dislike for the subject and come the trials, I did well in paper 1 (40/45). Then I realised paper 2 was holding me down. So what? Come stuvac (study vacation, i.e. the holiday break before your actual HSC exams) I did my best to gun paper 2. I was always good at Mod A, and by the time it was over my Mod B was comparable and I was only going to lose marks in Mod C.
The ultimate result, however? I thought I was going to get a 70 (low band 4), but now I'm reasonably confident enough about an 85 (mid band 5).

EFFORT IS KEY.

So with your case, it can be argued two ways and neither is truer to the other.

The only thing, that should incline you to change, is if you hate physics so much you wish you had never done it because the CONCEPTS were what sucked, and feel business has far more interesting concepts.
 

mcchicken

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Tbh this does make sense to me.


But business studies is a lazy person's worst nightmare. It was the most work I had to do for in the HSC (excluding my major project). Because see the syllabus? You have to know that off by heart, word for word and recall it. Same goes with all the content. And throw in case studies for every dot point (or the ones they say you need them for) you need to know off by heart (and throw in some specific figures).


I say just do whatever you're interested in. Because it'll all come down to how hard your willing to work for a subject, and you work harder naturally on a subject you like more. I didn't do physics so probably can't really help you exactly with your situation. However, I did regret picking business studies - and wish I did another science subject, because I like science and their tests. [But in the end I did alright in business].
Can confirm.
I did two subjects that were very easy - Retail and CAFS, and I can tell you that my marks in 3U English, Modern, PDHPE and Legal were consistently on par or higher than my marks in those two, which are some of the easiest HSC subjects on offer. The subjects that I enjoyed were the ones that I went out of my way for, put the most effort it, and easily retained the bulk of the knowledge required. Don't rely on business being easily rote-able or whatever. Look at the syllabus and decide whether you have an interest in it, because let me tell you that it will make all of the difference. (Especially if you are lazy af :p)
 

Sien

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regardless of the teacher's teaching abilities, why tf would people need 2 tutors. I'm shit at english and teacher doesn't like me, does that mean i need 4 lol wtf
You shouldn't be that reliant on the teacher to pull you through tbh
And biz was so dry, my eyeballs shriveled up, couldn't even let the tears of boredom roll down my face
 

AppleTea

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regardless of the teacher's teaching abilities, why tf would people need 2 tutors. I'm shit at english and teacher doesn't like me, does that mean i need 4 lol wtf
You shouldn't be that reliant on the teacher to pull you through tbh
And biz was so dry, my eyeballs shriveled up, couldn't even let the tears of boredom roll down my face
yes sien, yes it does... especially for you
 

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