Do i drop chem? (1 Viewer)

[TeaTav]

Hi guys! You may have made me make a similar post earlier, whether i should drop chem or not. If you've seen my status post, you would know i was forced to keep chemistry this term, and start matrix chem tutoring.
After half a term, i'm honestly starting to like chem more, it's still my most difficult subject (other than E1 math), but i'm starting to understand the content more and i'm doing okay. For my goal ATAR, i roughly need to score within the top 5% of chem students, so a probably a band 6. My school hasn't gotten a band 6 for years in chemistry, even students who loved and worked so hard in chemistry usually just miss the band 6 mark by a few points. For context, i'm at a middle-of-the-road catholic school, we aren't in the top 100, but are just below it, usually sitting around rank 105-115 every year.
Another thing to consider is that i failed year 11 chem. I got a 44% in the prelims. The class average was 35%, so it was a shared issue. My school isn't great with chem in general. In terms of my class i came fourth out of like 15, half the class has dropped now.
All things considered do you guys think scoring that high is possible for me at my school?
Would it be worth it to keep chem? (My assessment is in a couple weeks, i'll update you guys after i get the results!)
Thank you all so much <3

 

[WeiWeiMan]

Hi guys! You may have made me make a similar post earlier, whether i should drop chem or not. If you've seen my status post, you would know i was forced to keep chemistry this term, and start matrix chem tutoring.
After half a term, i'm honestly starting to like chem more, it's still my most difficult subject (other than E1 math), but i'm starting to understand the content more and i'm doing okay. For my goal ATAR, i roughly need to score within the top 5% of chem students, so a probably a band 6. My school hasn't gotten a band 6 for years in chemistry, even students who loved and worked so hard in chemistry usually just miss the band 6 mark by a few points. For context, i'm at a middle-of-the-road catholic school, we aren't in the top 100, but are just below it, usually sitting around rank 105-115 every year.
Another thing to consider is that i failed year 11 chem. I got a 44% in the prelims. The class average was 35%, so it was a shared issue. My school isn't great with chem in general. In terms of my class i came fourth out of like 15, half the class has dropped now.
All things considered do you guys think scoring that high is possible for me at my school?
Would it be worth it to keep chem? (My assessment is in a couple weeks, i'll update you guys after i get the results!)
Thank you all so much <3

top 5% is well above band 6

scoring high is very possible. who cares how people at your school have done? there are many people who feel no love for chemistry who've gotten band 6s.

what's your goal atar anyway

also bro english is at least 50 times harder than chemistry

 

[TeaTav]

top 5% is well above band 6

scoring high is very possible. who cares how people at your school have done? there are many people who feel no love for chemistry who've gotten band 6s.

what's your goal atar anyway

also bro english is at least 50 times harder than chemistry

Goal ATAR is 98+, but i'm specifically aiming for 98.5. I got the percentile from Talent 100 ATAR calculator
I don't think English Adv. is extremely hard (Maybe bc i was recommended to do Ext English in year 11), but everyone has their own strengths, for me, chem is as challenging as Ext 1 Maths lol, especially since i struggled with year 11 content and aren't confident with what is assumed knowledge.
I most likely will keep tho because it scales well so maybe ill do well- I'll have to see after my first task
also i love ur turtle pfp
Thanks!

 

[Trial&Error]

Chemistry requires a lot of time to learn. It’s quite content heavy and everything needs to be learnt in a lot of depth. Sometimes you’ll have to learn things outside of the syllabus in order to understand. Unlike other subjects (like physics for example), you can’t just skim over a couple of dot points, and a lot of the time things don’t come intuitively. Everything is so tightly knit that even missing one small bit of info can mean you won’t understand a whole inquiry question. And they love to ask trick questions and inter-module questions, so on top of content, your exam technique needs to be really well polished.

I personally found that I spent the most study time per week on chemistry and I still think I might fall just short of band 6.

I would say do this term’s exam, and then probably drop it (unless by some miracle you get the highest in the class). I think, given your school’s history, you might have to be 1st or 2nd to get band 6. Also don’t fall for the “high scaling” reasoning. In 2024, 87 raw was required to get 90.

Also, if you drop it, you’ll have so much more time to spend on your other subjects, which are quite high yield.

Best of luck!

 

[Flatuitous]

outside of the syllabus in order to understand

Could u give me examples?
I'm quite curious on how to get better at chem cuz im lwk hella ahh

 

[WeiWeiMan]

Goal ATAR is 98+, but i'm specifically aiming for 98.5. I got the percentile from Talent 100 ATAR calculator
I don't think English Adv. is extremely hard (Maybe bc i was recommended to do Ext English in year 11), but everyone has their own strengths, for me, chem is as challenging as Ext 1 Maths lol, especially since i struggled with year 11 content and aren't confident with what is assumed knowledge.
I most likely will keep tho because it scales well so maybe ill do well- I'll have to see after my first task
also i love ur turtle pfp
Thanks!

what marks did u put in? surely if you're aiming for 98+ just aim for 99+

imo, math ext 1 is significantly easier to b6 than chem but neither are super difficult.

i did english ext in yr11 and it was my worst subject :O (eng adv was SOMEHOW my best)

turtle pfp lwk goated fr fr