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Guide to selecting your HSC Courses (1 Viewer)

astroman

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May 12, 2014
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7,069
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Las Vegas
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I am doing for years 11 and 12

Economics
Engineering Studies
Business Studies
Advanced English
Modern History (Hopefully 3unit in year 12)
Mathematics 2 unit

I can't stand science and I love Economics, Modern History and Maths...
What should be my drop subject in year 12?
how do u know u love them when you haven't even started studying them?
 

Spiderman000

New Member
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Re: How NOT to pick HSC Subjects

Greetings, everybody. I am currently in Year 10 and I intend to study law at a renowned university in 2018. Law requires a very high atar. I was just wondering whether I should choose the good scaling subjects for next year. I am interested in the humanities like business and legal, but I heard it doesn't scale very well. Even though I don't favour the sciences as much as the humanities, I don't really mind doing science. I heard chemistry scales quite well, and I believe with some hard work I could score a decent mark in chemistry. I am not that great at maths so ext 1 would be a gamble for me. I have decided to stick to 2 unit. I am very good at english and all my teachers/tutors recommend that I do extension english. Therefore I intend to do extension english. The subjects that I'm going to pick for Yr:11 are...
- Ext 1 English
- 2 unit maths
- Chemistry
- Biology
- Economics
Will this combination get me to a 95 plus atar? (I know that scaling doesn't matter if you are really good at a subject but I don't think I'll be in the top for legal or business.)
 

BLIT2014

The pessimistic optimist.
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Uni Grad
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I am doing for years 11 and 12

Economics
Engineering Studies
Business Studies
Advanced English
Modern History (Hopefully 3unit in year 12)
Mathematics 2 unit

I can't stand science and I love Economics, Modern History and Maths...
What should be my drop subject in year 12?
Don't pick subjects with the assumption you'll be dropping certain subjects.
 
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I don't know if this has been mentioned but I just wanted to add that many uni courses have Maths and/or Chemistry as prerequisites.
 
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Drongoski

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i don't know if this has been mentioned but I just wanted to add that many uni courses have Maths and/or Chemistry as prerequisites.
But, if I understand it correctly, nowadays conveniently and deliberately, not spelt out as prerequisies by the universities, but as assumed knowledge. Therefore, the onus is on the student to ensure he/she has the necessary Maths background; "don't blame us if you do not. You have been forewarned". That way, they can enroll students who are clearly ill-equipped to complete the course.



Edit

Today's(7 Aug 15) issue of the Australian Financial Review has a report that says exactly this. I was incensed to read that the dean of Science at UNSW was reported as saying."The reason the university has moved away from maths prerequisites was that maths teacher shortages meant that not all students got the chance to do advanced maths in schools". Was he being serious or was he lying for giving such an excuse?? In my view, such universities are being irresponsible and dishonest.
 
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Librah

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You can still probably do some courses even if you don't have the "assumed knowledge" checked off. I picked Biology in 1st sem USYD, and still got the D in that, without having completed HSC biology.
 

WrittenLoveLetters

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I am doing for years 11 and 12

Economics
Engineering Studies
Business Studies
Advanced English
Modern History (Hopefully 3unit in year 12)
Mathematics 2 unit

I can't stand science and I love Economics, Modern History and Maths...
What should be my drop subject in year 12?
How about you complete at least two terms of Year 11 before considering dropping stuff for Year 12 :)

-In Commerce we are doing a term on Economics
-Modern History, In history we did a unit on the Vietnam War and World War 2
Also, being a heavy Humanities student on the Business-y side (so no History, Society & Culture or Geography for me), I find that Commerce is not an entirely clear indicator of what Economics is really like. It resonates much better with Legal Studies and Business Studies, on a small level, more with Legal Studies in my honest opinion.
 

WrittenLoveLetters

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Female
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Re: How NOT to pick HSC Subjects

Greetings, everybody. I am currently in Year 10 and I intend to study law at a renowned university in 2018. Law requires a very high atar. I was just wondering whether I should choose the good scaling subjects for next year. I am interested in the humanities like business and legal, but I heard it doesn't scale very well. Even though I don't favour the sciences as much as the humanities, I don't really mind doing science. I heard chemistry scales quite well, and I believe with some hard work I could score a decent mark in chemistry. I am not that great at maths so ext 1 would be a gamble for me. I have decided to stick to 2 unit. I am very good at english and all my teachers/tutors recommend that I do extension english. Therefore I intend to do extension english. The subjects that I'm going to pick for Yr:11 are...
- Ext 1 English
- 2 unit maths
- Chemistry
- Biology
- Economics
Will this combination get me to a 95 plus atar? (I know that scaling doesn't matter if you are really good at a subject but I don't think I'll be in the top for legal or business.)
If you do Chemistry, will you be ranked high? Do you have that confidence to slip into Top 10, Top 5 or even better Top 3? Not point being ranked in the last quarter, or even worse, in the last spot UNLESS of course, it was a Selective school and exams were difficult and thats how you ended up there.

If you can not get top in Legal or Business, what will guarantee you a top rank in Economics? Out of the three, Economics is the hardest, most challenging Business-y subject in the Humanities sector. So as a wild assumption, if you are not going to be strong in a typically, very easy subject, because Business Studies is relatively easy, will you maintain a strong and dominant position in Economics?

Fuck scaling, in general. Please read the OP's post, no point doing terrible in "high scaling" such as Chemistry and Economics if you do not have a strong performance and position.
 

matchalolz

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Re: How NOT to pick HSC Subjects

If you do Chemistry, will you be ranked high? Do you have that confidence to slip into Top 10, Top 5 or even better Top 3? Not point being ranked in the last quarter, or even worse, in the last spot UNLESS of course, it was a Selective school and exams were difficult and thats how you ended up there.

If you can not get top in Legal or Business, what will guarantee you a top rank in Economics? Out of the three, Economics is the hardest, most challenging Business-y subject in the Humanities sector. So as a wild assumption, if you are not going to be strong in a typically, very easy subject, because Business Studies is relatively easy, will you maintain a strong and dominant position in Economics?

Fuck scaling, in general. Please read the OP's post, no point doing terrible in "high scaling" such as Chemistry and Economics if you do not have a strong performance and position.
Although I do relatively agree with what you brought up, I do have a point to make. While business studies is "easier" and lends itself to rote learning, this means that everyone has the capacity to do well, and in a very competitive environment, one little slip up (happened to me) could send you down multiple ranks if everyone else has a greater chance of doing well... however with a more challenging subject where actual understanding is required (such as economics) not everyone has the ability to do well as it is more rigorous. You're less likely to slip up with "silly" errors and more likely to "fuck up" due to actual gaps in understanding.

Now at OP I have to say that I don't do chem, but in general if you have greater academic abilities, pursuing more challenging subjects would be more ideal, especially in your situation (high atar needed), less silly mistakes and less risks with scaling. I've heard that chem requires a lot of memorising, it's got to scale better than business and legal for a reason. I don't know you personally but take this into a consideration
 

davidgoes4wce

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Would a possible subject selection of this be possible for a Prelim Year 11 student?

Year 11
England Advanced Prelim
Mathematics Prelim
Maths Extension 1 Prelim
Chemistry Prelim
Physics Prelim
Senior Science Prelim

Year 12
English Advanced HSC
Mathematics HSC
Mathematics Extension 1 HSC
Chemistry HSC
Physics HSC
Senior Science HSC
 

BandSixFix

Disillusioned
Joined
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Messages
1,510
Gender
Female
HSC
2016
Would a possible subject selection of this be possible for a Prelim Year 11 student?

Year 11
England Advanced Prelim
Mathematics Prelim
Maths Extension 1 Prelim
Chemistry Prelim
Physics Prelim
Senior Science Prelim

Year 12
English Advanced HSC
Mathematics HSC
Mathematics Extension 1 HSC
Chemistry HSC
Physics HSC
Senior Science HSC
Don't see anything wrong with that.
 

MouseTop

Member
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Messages
67
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Undisclosed
HSC
2018
How about mine?
Year 11
Advanced English
Business Studies
Economics
Construction
3 Unit Maths
SLR

Year 12
Advanced English
Business Studies
Economics
Construction
4 Unit Maths
 

BandSixFix

Disillusioned
Joined
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Messages
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Gender
Female
HSC
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How about mine?
Year 11
Advanced English
Business Studies
Economics
Construction
3 Unit Maths
SLR

Year 12
Advanced English
Business Studies
Economics
Construction
4 Unit Maths
Sounds good.
 

eyeseeyou

Well-Known Member
Joined
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Space
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Would a possible subject selection of this be possible for a Prelim Year 11 student?

Year 11
England Advanced Prelim
Mathematics Prelim
Maths Extension 1 Prelim
Chemistry Prelim
Physics Prelim
Senior Science Prelim

Year 12
English Advanced HSC
Mathematics HSC
Mathematics Extension 1 HSC
Chemistry HSC
Physics HSC
Senior Science HSC
There's 11 units for year 11, not 12
How about mine?
Year 11
Advanced English
Business Studies
Economics
Construction
3 Unit Maths
SLR

Year 12
Advanced English
Business Studies
Economics
Construction
4 Unit Maths
Don't think I've ever heard of this lol
 

timxv

New Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2016
Messages
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Gender
Male
HSC
2018
Re: How NOT to pick HSC Subjects

hi.
within the next week i have to select my subjects for year 11 & 12. I'm aiming for an above 90 atar. Is this possible with my current subjects:

english advanced
economics
legal studies
maths adv
biology
drama

I've consistently achieved A's in all of my subjects but I'm concerned that these subjects may not scale well.
 
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