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Year 12 Subjects Dilemma (1 Viewer)

Zephyrio

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Hey guys and girls,

I'm in a bit of a predicament.

Right now, I don't know what to do about year 12 subjects.

Right now, I am doing 3U English, 3U maths, chemistry, biology and modern history.

I don't really like biology so I'm going to drop that. My modern mark right now is 39.5/40 for the first semester, and my teacher advised me to do history extension. I'm definitely going to pick up 4U maths. And I'm keeping chemistry.

The dilemma here is whether I should drop biology right now, pick up ancient (my modern history teacher said that I'd probably be made an exception because I am doing well in modern.) By doing this, my year twelve subjects would be English, 4 Maths, chemistry, modern history, ancient history, history extension.

But! I don't know whether I should do 4U English instead of ancient history. Currently, I am topping advanced with a friend of mine, and I'm also topping extension. But if you've read other threads, you'll know that I am topping extension with a first semester mark of 64%. And I go to a selective school =\.

So what do you guys think? Ancient history or EE1&2? Any advice will be much appreciated. =)
 

tennille

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Obviously your school must be marking hard if you are coming first with that average (and I think selective schools tend to mark harder). If you are topping both advanced and extension, you should also do 4 unit. It'll probably be easier for you to do 4 unit rather than picking up ancient history (which menas you'd need to catch up).

If you enjoy english, then do 4 unit.
 

undalay

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What are your chemistry marks/ranks like ?
4math 4 eng 5 history ? sounds fun.

But if you want to keep chem then:

4Math 4Eng 2Modern 1His ext. : 13 units.

Then drop the ext. of you choice after you've got a feel of the subjects/workload.

Not sure about taking up ancient history unless your confident you'll gain high marks.
 

Zephyrio

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Chem rank for half yearly: 5th
Chem rank for first semester: =2nd/3rd

I think that I'd do well in ancient, because I'm just into history. But then I'm also into English so... >_>.

EDIT: But I totally suck at bio.
 

undalay

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Good chem ranks.
Basically your good at all your subjects :D

Your topping english ext. however only with 64%? Talk to your ext. english teacher and ask them for honest advice about how you are going at your current level. For example are you achieving at a band 6 level.

Possibility:
2 chem 2 ancient 2 modern 4 math 2 eng 1his ext: 13 units.
 

Zephyrio

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Yeah, I think I will talk to them.

I talked to some year 12s who have done the HSC. They basically said that my school marks incredibly hard. One of them was getting 50-70% in his HSC assessments, and ended up getting an E4 for extension. =\
 

tennille

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That's why Board of Studies uses ranks rather than marks; simply to be fair. Some schools either mark hard (and it looks like it in your case since you attend a selective school) or mark too easy.
 

Cheap Thrills

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Just because you kick ass in modern, doesn't mean your gonna do exceptionally well in ancient. It has a different way of thinking and writing. Often teachers (especially history ones in my experience) try to persuade students to do as many of their subjects as possible. Last year my history teacher tried to get me to do ancient, modern, society and culture and aboriginal studies. Don't be too influenced and pick what you wanna do, not what your teachers want you to do.
 

Zephyrio

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=)

Yeah. Of course I'll do the subjects I want to do, not the subjects my teachers want me to do - if this was the case, I would have done ancient from the start of prelim. (My elective history teacher said that I tricked her into thinking that I'd do both histories. =.=) But, in order to make my decision I'll obviously have to see what my teachers think, and whether they think I'll be able to achieve highly. It's a bit 50-50 it seems. Last year I thought I was great at bio! The truth hurts. LOL.

And thanks for those bits of info about ancient.
 

Jachie

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Ancient is dull. If I were able to drop a subject, I probably would drop it. I'm hoping it picks up now that we're doing Celts, but the first two topics (Archaeology and Troy) were just boring and redundant. I'd personally go with English, but it's ultimately up to you. Good luck :)
 

morganforrest

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4U english is just composing a major work...i wouldn't do it unless you really like writing as it doesn't seem to require the same skills as adv and 3U. It'll be tough to pick up ancient at this point
 

bringbackshred

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morganforrest said:
4U english is just composing a major work...i wouldn't do it unless you really like writing as it doesn't seem to require the same skills as adv and 3U. It'll be tough to pick up ancient at this point
Yeah. Wrong.
 

mudcake42

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I got a question for all you under the same title :p

3 unit maths, English adv, Chemistry, Biology, IPT, Business Studies = 13 units

I could

4 unit maths, english adv, chemistry, biology, IPT = 12 units

or keep it the same with 13 units.

which one is more workload? I would have to spent alot of time on 4 unit so it could hurt my UAI rather then help it ...
 

jemsta

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mudcake42 said:
I got a question for all you under the same title :p

3 unit maths, English adv, Chemistry, Biology, IPT, Business Studies = 13 units

I could

4 unit maths, english adv, chemistry, biology, IPT = 12 units

or keep it the same with 13 units.

which one is more workload? I would have to spent alot of time on 4 unit so it could hurt my UAI rather then help it ...
that depends on how strong your maths skills are....if youre doing alright in it, chances are that youll do relatively well in ext 2 maths but that isnt to say that you could just slack off, because like you said you would need to devote heaps of time to ext if you wish to do well in it.
however, i would seem to think that the one with 13 units has more workload, but it might be different for different people.
 

Jachie

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mudcake42 said:
I got a question for all you under the same title :p

3 unit maths, English adv, Chemistry, Biology, IPT, Business Studies = 13 units

I could

4 unit maths, english adv, chemistry, biology, IPT = 12 units

or keep it the same with 13 units.

which one is more workload? I would have to spent alot of time on 4 unit so it could hurt my UAI rather then help it ...
Keeping in mind I don't know your math capabilities, I would pick up 4U Maths. If you're strugging you can always drop it, or have it not count towards your UAI since you'll have two units of backup. I don't know, I don't think there's any harm in picking it up when you always have the option of dropping it.
 

Zephyrio

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Jachie said:
Keeping in mind I don't know your math capabilities, I would pick up 4U Maths. If you're strugging you can always drop it, or have it not count towards your UAI since you'll have two units of backup. I don't know, I don't think there's any harm in picking it up when you always have the option of dropping it.
You could drop whatever subject, but you'd have to be quick into the HSC year. No use not being good at something, saying "I can improve!" but ultimately not doing too well.
 
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speaking from experience right? ;)

you don't *have* to be quick to drop it. in fact i was very "quick" in dropping P.E., and i didn't drop it for a particular reason except that i couldn't see myself dropping anything else (and this was right at the end of year 11). i soon wished i hadnt dropped it.

if you have figured out that a certain subject is your worst/most hated and absolutely nothing will change for the hsc, then sure go for it. but be sure of it.
 

Jachie

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Zephyrio said:
You could drop whatever subject, but you'd have to be quick into the HSC year. No use not being good at something, saying "I can improve!" but ultimately not doing too well.
Yeah, if you have only 10 units with no back-up, which isn't the case for this poster. Even using the worst-case scenario where they don't drop it and fail miserably, chances are it'll just not go towards their UAI. No harm, no foul.
 

mudcake42

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yeh I get great marks in 3 unit maths but only because I put alot of effort into it and I dont know how quick you have to be , to succefully do 4 unit and all your other subjects as well?
 

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