4U English + Ext History? (1 Viewer)

[Jayphen]

Okay. I have just begun year 12, and at the moment I have opted for 11 units as follows -
* Modern History
* Ext. History
* 4U English
* IT
*General Maths

I can afford to drop 1 unit obviously, and after the stock "This is as hard as subjects come" speech from my history teacher, I am somewhat terrified at the prospect of spiralling into a deep, dark abyss of schoolastic failure and related stress.

I am quite willing to sacrifice my social life. My social life has sprouted, bloomed, and is just now beginning to bury itself once more. I have everything I need, and being the social butterfly is no longer a priority to me.

That said, the amount of study and such I am trying to convince myself I will be able to do does scare me to an extent.

My question is: is it wise to do Ext2 English AND Ext. History, both of which require a major work? I'm fine with English. I just need to stumble across an idea and then I will be fine. However as much as I love the idea of history, I haven't done as well as I would have hoped in year 11. This was largely due to the fact that I didn't study at all, went out way too much, and indulged in too much self-destructive behaviour. I got 47% in my year 11 end of year exam for modern.

I just feel as though time is running out, even though we are only a week into year 12. I'm sure this is normal for students who have chosen subjects requiring a major work. I just want to know if anyone has done both Ext. History and 4U English, and lived to tell the tale.

 

[ur_inner_child]

It will always be risky doing demanding subjects. Doing Music 2 & extension (all composition electives), Visual Arts and English Extension 2, I did 6 majorworks along with 6 journals, and 11units all up. (That's if you count music 2 core composition as a majorwork).

If you're really passionate enough about what you're doing, esp english extensions, I think you already know that answer to whether you'll do okay.

I know a girl who did 4u english with history extension. I'm already predicting that she'll get over 90, cuz she's just soooooooo enthusiastic and strives for A marks even if she fails an assessment.

But yeah it's been done before. And they are living and breathing.

Go for it! If you're really that scared, pick up something! That way, you have more options.

 

[Jayphen]

Unfortunately there is nothing else I can possibly pick up - I dropped Software which left me with 9 units not including ext2 English.

Thanks for your reply .. I guess the best thing to do is just to give it a little time and see how I cope.

 

[Sarah168]

I was in the same position as you but I didn't have the time management skills OR the confidence to do Ext 2 so I dropped it. Looking back now, I sorta wish I had kept it and worked hard but it's such a stressful year so maybe it's better not to have done it. Anyway, enough about me! lol Just keep everything until you absoultely feel that you can't handle and there is no point wasting time in carryingon. As for people wo have done both and lived to tell the tale? there a few on the BOS board i think...

 

[ujuphleg]

Ok, this year i did:

4U English
3U History
3U Music and
1U studies of religion.

With 3 BIG major works (I opted to do Musicology Elective for Music, which is a 3000 word essay submitted to the board and thats you ENTIRE music course -- much like 4U english actually) I survived - in fact I loved it.

I am very much a major work person, so it suited me fine. I love English, so 4U was more like an extended hobby which I did in schooltime more than a subject.

3U History is the next most rewarding subject I did after 4U English. I've learnt so so so so so much, and I love every second of it, to the extent that often, the 30 or so pages of reading i have to do a week for the subject seems more like a bonus than a chore. Besides, if you are aiming to go to university, that amount of reading for EACH of your subjects will be the case, so think of it as a warm up.

I loved Extension mainly becayse it was challenging. Modern is very much a spoon feed, chew on it and regurgitate it subject. Occasionally you have to think about what you are chewing. With Extension, you have to examine, think, argue and back up everything you come across. We had some very very good class discussions which helped a lot.

I would keep everything you have at the moment and see how it goes. The golden rule of subject selection: You can always drop it but you can't always pick it up.

I wish you all the best. Please contact me if you want any more help.

 

[chandelier]

I did Extension History, 4U English and Society and Culture, so yeah, like ujuphleg I also had 3 major works.
It CAN be very stressful at times, and unless you manage your time well then most likely one of your works will suffer. However, I really don't think that ext. history is as hard as your teacher is making it out to be. Challenging, yes, but doable nonetheless....
Ext. history is great because it gives you chance to 'think outside the box' and exercise independent thought, Ext. English is also great because (if you're doing creative) it's like you're a little kid again with a big-ass canvas and an unimaginable amount of paints at your disposal(with no teacher around forcing you to paint the sky blue, or some equally boring colour)
My advice, if you enjoy thinking for yourself then take both subjects and drop one later on if it gets too much (I think our class dropped from 16 to 7 by the end of last semester)

 

[max]

-Doing extension history with 4 unit english and maths is considerably more difficult.

They use different centres of the brain, and takes some adapting.

 

[alika]

If you are prepared to work and DO NOT PUT it all to the last minute your should be fine. I mean it will take commitment but it isnt impossible. I did 3 subjects that required major works including ext history and im fine. i mean there was a lil bit of stress finishing everything on time but thats cos i procrastinated and left my art major work late. But it in the end it all worked out. Ext is a great subject both english and history. Just make sure for history you research fully your topic and dont leave it till the last minute choosing a topic. Oh and get your teacher to look over drafts of what you are doing every one in a while it is exreamly helpful.
And hey if it al gets too much next year you can aways drop ext eng or history you dont have to keep doing them. One of my frineds drop a subject in the last week of school for yr 12 - 3 weeks b4 exams.
good luck

 

[gemita]

I did both ext hist and 4U english, plus art which was another major work. By far I found my extensions in english and history the most rewarding and the most challenging subjects I chose, and I'm so glad I did them because otherwise, like someone said, school would just have been one giant excercise in memorising a syllabus.

My history teacher gave us that talk too, and while to some extent it's true, I found that time management isn't as huge a deal as everyone makes it out to be. I am TERRIBLE with time management. I did my entire ext history major work (research and writing) in the space of 14 days - the last 2 weeks of the holidays before it was due. My work didn't suffer for it because once I started it I threw myself into it, loved every second, worked at least 6 hours a day and got 100%. It was fantastic.

Same happened with 4U english (not the 100% bit, I haven't got the mark back yet). I didn't start my reflection statement till 11pm the night before it was due, and wrote the last 4000 words 2 days before. My internal mark is 100%.

I'm not saying that this is the way to do it. What I'm saying is I don't think you should be put off by everyone telling you that time management is the key and if you don't feel confidant about your discipline don't do it. I think if you're willing to throw yourself into it heart and soul, even if it is at the last minute, then definitely go for it. These subjects are some of the few high school subjects which actually broaden your mind and your perception rather than teaching you to memorise a syllabus. Go for it!

 

[gordo]

dude, you'll be fine
all i can recomend is not leaving the 4u till term 3
3u history is nothing, its the same as one of the assessmnets we did in 2u where we had to write an essay.

they are realyl not hyped up as they seem.

its not the major work u would worry about in extn history, there is a lot of content too for the exam

i did 4 eng, 4 maths, 3 history and physics this yr and the workload has been fine, its those eco subjects that have all the content

 

[waterfowl]

If you're good at time management then go for it.

I am not good at time management so doing 4U Eng and Ext Hist wasn't a good idea for me. I ended up dropping 4U because I knew I wouldn't be happy with the job I would have done on a film for 4U (I went on exchange to Austria for 3 weeks so that also contributed to my decision, and the lack of time that would create).

Although I ended up not doing that well on Ext Hist, I was still happy with the result, but if I had kept doing 4U I wouldn't have been as happy because I am a perfectionist when it comes to making films because that is my passion and career.

One thing to remember is that with 4U there is no course content...with Ext Hist there is an awful lot.

So my suggestion is that you consider what you really want to do, how much time you have and all that kind of stuff I'm sure you've been told before!
Oh, but stick with it for a little while. I dropped 4U at the end of Term 1 (Term 2 yr 12).

 

[littlewing]

heyy

i have also just started yr12
im doing 4u english, 3u history (modern), 3u french and 2u music (music 1)
so i get the stressfulness

but i think you'll be fine, just don't procrastinate (something i do a lot of the time and will have to work on too!!!)

let me know how you're going, only a few weeks of year 12 and already it's pretty scary. but i think it will be great!

cya

 

[The Nick]

My 12 units consisted of 4U English, Modern & Ext History, Eco, Legal and Religion. My advice would be to just find a topic you like for the major works as early as you can, and just run with them.

Write on something you've wanted to study in History but haven't in the course. Don't choose something really obscure though.

With English, I can't stress how important it is to write on something you like. When you get that major work finished, you should enjoy it, not think of how much stress it gave you.

The most important thing is that you have fun doing it, because then you'll put in the effort you need, and you won't get stressed out.

 

[Farcanell]

Well if you're dedicated enough to finishing early time management shouldn't be a problem. Extension history major work can be completed easily enough in 35 hours, so when spread across the one and a half terms between when you get your final proposal back and when the assignment is due, its not much of a problem.

What is a problem though IMO is your marks for modern... I know you haven't been studying much, but 47% is a hell of a lot lower than what most other people doing extension history get. The major work component is certainly doable in spite of this -- if you're really far ahead of schedule and hand in like 10 drafts you're pretty much guarateed doing well regardless of how bad you may have been to begin with.

However people often neglect thinking about the coursework component, and while it is incredibly low on content, it remains exceedingly hard in spite of this. Keeping in mind how it counts for 40% of your total mark, its not something one can really ignore despite the lesser focus placed on it

Anyway there's no reason why you couldn't keep both ext2 english and ext history. Nobody has ever found general maths or IT too taxing so its not as if the extra major work is unmanagable... other factors like a crap exam timetable for the trials or hsc would probably play far greater an influence.

 

[Aussiechick]

argh! I just wrote a nice reply to this topic, then when I went to click reply it thought I wasn't logged in! how annoying!

Anyway, what I said was you should go for it I did EE2 and Ext Hist and I did fine, even though I grew to resent my Hist Ext project at one stage & couldn't even look at it, it turned out fine, and I ended up getting the best mark in the class! so keep with it, cuz 11U is always better than 10U, at least you have half a fall back

 

[Jos]

I did History Ext. and 4U English and it was great. You shouldn't worry about the major works because Hist. ex major is an internally marked major work and is due long before Eng Ext2 major is due. There was a lot less pressure placed on HistX major than you would think. Plus, its a really good subject and by the end of both courses you will feel really good about all the work you did. I also did 11 units in year 12. Its not too much and it gives you room to stuff up.

 

[bahodl]

2 girls at school both do 4u english, 5units of hist (ie modern ancient and ext) and art lol

so....many....essays....... not to mention 3 majorworks

i did ext hist but only 3u eng for the same reason ur worried about - i also had 2 music compositions to do and i didnt trust myself to keep the work solid throughout the year on all 4 majorworks - but now i regret not doing 4u eng and i reckon if u can trust urself not to do them all in the last minute then its worth doing both - also because u get to CHOOSE what u write about which makes them fun and u get a real sense of pride and achievement when theyre done

Doing Music 2 & extension (all composition electives)

go composition all the way - i was gonna do ext music but 2 many units

 

[gemita]

2 girls at school both do 4u english, 5units of hist (ie modern ancient and ext) and art lol

so....many....essays....... not to mention 3 majorworks

Not that this is at all relevant, but....I do those exact subjects.

 

[bahodl]

hehe cool - were the copious amounts of majorwork time bearable?

 

[gemita]

Let's just say I had a lot of sleepless nights. Literally - the night before extension2 was due I had 2 and a half hours sleep.

But it was all worth it. Apart from the fact that they're the subjects I love and the ones I get the most out of since I enjoy them and enjoy getting creative, I went into exams with one entire unit already done and 3/4 of the other done.