SOR 1 vs. SICT (non atar religion) - thoughts? (1 Viewer)

[technokitty99]

Okay so for context, I'm a yr11 student starting yr12 right now and going to a catholic school, where i have no choice but to keep at least 1 religion unit.
i DO have a choice on whether i do studies of religion or studies in catholic thought (non atar), and this past yr ive been doing SOR 2 but unfortunately its one of my weakest subjects if not my weakest if im being real
here are my yr11 course marks (prelim marks in brackets):
math std: 91 (90)
english std: 70 (67)
physics: 70 (70)
chem: 62 (69)
seng: 78 (78)
sor2: 69 (50

sooo... should i do sor 1 for 11 atar units? or do nonatar religion for 10 atar units + just that on top, i honestly think i could be fine either way

pros of sor 1:
better class environment (way smaller class than sict, more studious people rather than sitting in class with clowns)
can contrib to atar if i do well in it (i can do good in religion if i want to)

pros of nonatar:
less to stress about since it doesnt count toward hsc
i wouldnt need to study for it
no trial / hsc exams

 

[Legendary16]

In my case I had to drop down to SICT since I would have 12 units otherwise, and it would've been very intensive as far as study goes. Some other reasons you could consider are - if you'd need it for a future career path, whether your current workload (or future workload) is a lot, and if you believe you can make it worth the effort you will put in. Depending on who you get as a teacher, there are opportunities to do work from other subjects (basically a study period) in SICT and it is quite useful if you're running behind.

 

[killer queen]

I think it depends on how determined you are to dedicate yourself to SOR! since it's the worse prelim mark, then maybe taking SICT and having the break is best. but if you know it will surpass your performance in other subjects, then SOR I can be quite a decent ATAR contributor once you get the syllabus down pat. memorising them is a pain but personally I actually found it a break from my other subjects, which were more question intensive. personally, I find it's much easier to improve in SOR than subjects like chem, so maybe take that into consideration? dropping down to SICT is definitely the most convenient choice, but depending on how pressed you are for a certain ATAR, SOR's potential as a high-scoring subject is not to be underestimated.

signed,
someone who slacked off on SOR until trials and realised that it might count to their ATAR

 

[technokitty99]

hmm i see
i agree that sor is probably gonna be more straightforward to improve in (being honest with myself i put in 0.1% the effort i shouldve just because i dont really like the subject)
i do wish to get at least an 85 atarso im definitely gonna step up my marks across the board, ill just hjave to think for a bit on whether its worth it i guess

 

[Study to success]

I think sor 1 should be better cause if u think u can do better if u try it def will be worth it cause it is one of the easier subjects to get a band 6 in

 

[Geniusly]

It might be a bit late, but as someone who dropped from SOR 1 to SICT, here's what I recommend. Just for some context, I took SOR 1 for Yr 11 and ranked first with 90% in prelims. However, I always found the subject boring and would rather be studying another subject.

If you enjoy SOR, then keep it. It will just take a lot of practice to get good, but at least it won't feel boring. I'd recommend doing at least one set of short answers a week and an essay every few weeks. Make sure to look at Band 6 essays and take their ideas and quotes.

If you don't enjoy SOR, then just drop it. For me, it caused me so much less stress and worry about studying for a subject that I was genuinely bored to learn. Even though you'll be in a class with the 'clowns', most of the time in my experience the teacher didn't really care about us doing the work, so you can just put on headphones, sit at the back of the class and study. For me this gave me heaps more time to study my other subjects that I was actually passionate about and enjoyed, and it improved my marks quite substantially.