should I do spesh?

[pari.j]

hi! im currently in yr 10 and my subject selections are soon.

I am planning to do 3/4 bio and 3/4 physics next year with 1/2 englang, 1/2 chemistry, 1/2 methods. I just need to decide whether I should do Spesh or accounting. I want to get the highest possible star but I'm worried because my only subject that scales up is physics but it only scales up by around 3. also, apparently 1/3 of Spesh is basically just physics? so I thought they would go well together. But, I'm worried that doing Spesh with those subjects would be too much of a workload and difficult for me to manage, even though maths has been my favourite subject since yr5. I want to obviously do accounting because it's easier and I want one chill subject, but it doesn't really scale much either and I'm worried it won't help my atar.

please help!! thanks for listening <3

[Joseph41]

Hey pari.j! How are you going?

In general, I'd recommend not thinking too much about scaling if at all possible when selecting subjects - perhaps using it only as a tie-breaker in the case of all other things being equal. Here's my rationale:

→ Scaling in the VCE system doesn't "reward" or "punish" you for studying certain subjects. In fact, the whole purpose of scaling is to make things more of an even playing field (more here if interested). If you "benefit" from subjects scaling up, that's really just accounting for the fact that the cohort was deemed more competitive. Equally, if you are "disadvantaged" by subjects scaling down, that's really just accounting for the fact that the cohort was deemed less competitive.

→ In my view, selecting subjects based on scaling alone is problematic and potentially actually counter-productive. Even taking the above point into consideration, it might be the case that you enjoy or are more passionate about one subject than the other. In that case, there's an extra factor in play. If you choose a subject that typically scales up but actually don't find it at all enjoyable and have no motivation to study, you might "benefit" from scaling (again acknowledging that this is really just neutralising things), but in my view, you're less likely to do well in the subject due to lack of motivation/interest.

Of course, that's not to say you shouldn't select Specialist Maths - not at all. I'd just personally try to remove scaling as a primary consideration if in your position.

Through VCE, I was super bitter because only one of my six subjects scaled up (and only by a little bit - English Language), so I thought I was being punished for my subject selection, and that the system was totally unfair, so I get that scaling can be a big consideration. If in doubt, though, I'd try to focus more on:

→ What you enjoy and are most passionate about
→ What subjects, if any, you need as university prerequisites (or what subjects might be useful down the track)
→ If you're so inclined, potentially what you excel at, or what you think will fit best with your other subject selections

[darkz]

hi! im currently in yr 10 and my subject selections are soon.

I am planning to do 3/4 bio and 3/4 physics next year with 1/2 englang, 1/2 chemistry, 1/2 methods. I just need to decide whether I should do Spesh or accounting. I want to get the highest possible star but I'm worried because my only subject that scales up is physics but it only scales up by around 3. also, apparently 1/3 of Spesh is basically just physics? so I thought they would go well together. But, I'm worried that doing Spesh with those subjects would be too much of a workload and difficult for me to manage, even though maths has been my favourite subject since yr5. I want to obviously do accounting because it's easier and I want one chill subject, but it doesn't really scale much either and I'm worried it won't help my atar.

please help!! thanks for listening <3

Well, in my opinion, the subjects you've chosen are pretty realistic in terms of workload and achievability - your workload will be slightly greater than others in Year 11 since you're doing two 3/4s, but in Year 12, your workload is actually on the light side since you're only doing four 3/4s. In terms of ATAR, there are two ways of thinking about this - either playing into scaling, or chosing subjects you enjoy. With the latter, the theory is that you will naturally put in more work and effort into subjects you like, which will therefore net you a higher SS. With the former, the theory is that scaling will help balance out the competitiveness and difficulty of the subject. However, the only way that the former can benefit your ATAR is either you're disciplined and willing to put in the work, or you enjoy the subject. So what I'm trying to say is that there is no easy way to do well - you can either choose a higher workload and aim higher, or you can chill through VCE, and even if you consider accounting to be more chill, doing well in it will still require work.