iloveeggs
future cat lady <3
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2023
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- HSC
- 2025
ive seen a lot of y10 kids ask this question and they are a bit misguided about how many to take. here are my 5 cents about how many units is safe to take. i am not discouraging people from taking whatever amount of units they want to, i am just explaining what it might look like to do x amount of units and letting them choose. please feel free to share your own experience or correct me if you know better
in y11
if you are looking to get early entry or just want good grades in general, be warned that if you have more units than what you can realistically handle you will struggle to get the grades you want bc you will be more overwhelmed. think seriously about how much work you will have based on your subjects and the number of units.
if you plan on taking 3 or more of the following:
my personal experience is that i did 2 sciences, 2 extension subjects, 1 accelerated subject and a humanities subject with 12 units in y11, and i struggled hard and im dropping to 11 units for y12.
if you have a lot of extracurricular commitments and you care about them and dont want to drop them dont take too many units so you wont be overwhelmed
here is a guide for y12, bc when you pick in y10 for y11 subjects it is good to also have a really rough idea about y12 and whatever you really need to do more units in y11 to have leeway to drop and stuff like that
generally you don't need more than 12 units for y12, 13 is fine if you're studious and you did well in y11 with 13 units, 14+ is overkill. not saying you cant do well with a lot of units but it does get counterintuitive if you are doing more units for safety bc when you do more units you have less free time to study for the 10 units that matter and you will struggle worse than if you had less units. i get you want to be safe by allowing for more units but its like wearing heavy armour in combat that might keep you safe but slows you down and makes you an easy target
hope that helps someone
in y11
10 or 11 units | 12 units | 13+ units |
this is completely fine if you are very certain of the subjects you want to take and you know these subjects are manageable in terms of your performance in them and your atar goals it does mean you have less leeway in dropping and picking up subjects, so you have to be certain this is what you want to do more free periods and free time to focus on the subjects you do, can lead to better outcomes if you use your time wisely | 12 units is usually manageable for the average person most schools make it mandatory to have exactly 12 units bc it gives you optimal leeway to dorp and pick up subjects without beign much of a burden usually doesnt involve morning/afternoon classes outside of school hours a few free periods | 13 is ok, it does give you space to see what you are good at and stuff before dropping or picking up subjects for y12 but it is a lot of work for y11 itself 14 or more is too much imo and very hard to handle. it might even involve you taking morning or afternoon classes bc a lot of schools don't have enough periods in the day to cover 14 units very few free periods if any |
if you are looking to get early entry or just want good grades in general, be warned that if you have more units than what you can realistically handle you will struggle to get the grades you want bc you will be more overwhelmed. think seriously about how much work you will have based on your subjects and the number of units.
if you plan on taking 3 or more of the following:
- at least 1 ext subject
- at least 1 science
- at least 2 social sciences subjects
- at least 2 humanities subjects
- at least 1 subject involving a major works
- at least 1 accelerated subject (meaning you will do the hsc in y11)
my personal experience is that i did 2 sciences, 2 extension subjects, 1 accelerated subject and a humanities subject with 12 units in y11, and i struggled hard and im dropping to 11 units for y12.
if you have a lot of extracurricular commitments and you care about them and dont want to drop them dont take too many units so you wont be overwhelmed
here is a guide for y12, bc when you pick in y10 for y11 subjects it is good to also have a really rough idea about y12 and whatever you really need to do more units in y11 to have leeway to drop and stuff like that
10 or 11 units | 12 units | 13+ units |
completely fine, manageable workload more free periods and free time to focus on the subjects you do, can lead to better outcomes if you use your time wisely | manageable workload a few free periods gives you peace of mind knowing if you bomb 2 units you will be okay | 13 is ok ig, 14+ is crazy idk how ppl handle it very few free periods you have 3+ units for safety |
generally you don't need more than 12 units for y12, 13 is fine if you're studious and you did well in y11 with 13 units, 14+ is overkill. not saying you cant do well with a lot of units but it does get counterintuitive if you are doing more units for safety bc when you do more units you have less free time to study for the 10 units that matter and you will struggle worse than if you had less units. i get you want to be safe by allowing for more units but its like wearing heavy armour in combat that might keep you safe but slows you down and makes you an easy target
hope that helps someone