Parents want me to do Chem, I don't. Advice?

[mnafady2006]

Hey guys,

Last year i did 2 year 12 subjects, or should i say one as i only did Arabic on the basis that i wanted to do 4 subjects next year to ease off the workload and such and knew from the very beginning it was going to be a subject in my bottom two.

Now that's not the problem,
Problem is i have been struggling or more so hating chemistry throughout year 11 and put close to no work and effort into the subject , somehow managed to pass. After attending the TSFX headstart lectures and the AN lecture by Thushan I've realized how complicated and technical the subject can get haha.

If it was up to me i would have dropped chemistry in year 11 and picked up health or a humanities related subject as i seem to do better in those, however my dad has been insisting on me completing chemistry as i might change my mind and do something in the science field and it will open up a lot of doors etc. What makes it even harder is the fact that my dad is a professor in chemistry with a PHD and all and tells me its all easy once you understand the concepts and he is willing to help me throughout it

I'm pretty certain on entering the commerce/law fields, however there have been times where I've thought about biomedicine/ biomedical sciences but thats rarely.  I understand chemistry is not a prequisite  for the comm & law fields and i highly doubt id ever get into a science / bio medicine field.

Not to confuse anyone, my father is not forcing me into a Science/ Medical field , he understands that part but still wants me to do chemistry even though i told him its not a pre-req. He said he never knows when i might change my mind lol

So should i stick through and listen to my dads advice and put in the effort with chemistry ( maybe i'm just overwhelmed by the quantity of material covered in the headstart lectures) or should i pick up HHD which i would be pretty sure i'd do better in

I have also thought about picking up both chemistry and Health but 5 subjects really puts me off, is the workload manageable?
I understand most year 12's do 5 subjects but wouldn't doing 4 subjects and spending my free periods improving on my other 4 subjects seem like a better option?

Sorry for the grammatical errors and all, typed on my phone.
Any advice / suggestions are welcome,
Thank you

[keltingmeith]

If your dad has a PhD in chemistry, here is one simple fact he should be able acknowledge:

Year 12 Chemistry education is crap and terribly uninspiring to most.

I loved year 11, then hated year 12, and now I want to get an extended major + honours and hopefully PhD in the area. If you did not like year 11, and are not looking forward to year 12, do not do year 12 chemistry.

Maybe meet your dad in the middle - by taking biology as opposed to health, you can still do a science degree at Monash or Melbourne. If you then decide you want to go into biomedical science, you can then still do this through a science degree + careful unit selection, and even pick up chemistry in first year university if it looks like you'll need it. You DO NOT need year 12 chemistry to do chemistry at an undergraduate level.

EDIT: Should probably be careful with the bold part - if you have a good teacher, you can still enjoy year 12 chemistry. However, quite a lot of my friends and myself hated year 12 chem, and all of us want to get at least a minor in it now. That might say more about the excellence of the chemistry program at Monash than year 12, though.

[mnafady2006]

Our teacher is a new graduate teacher but he's a great well knowledgable guy.
However most of my friends have decided to either get tutoring for the subject or are going to the TSFX master classes.
I think i could manage with chemistry but i'm not sure if its worth it.

If your dad has a PhD in chemistry, here is one simple fact he should be able acknowledge:

Year 12 Chemistry education is crap and terribly uninspiring to most.

I loved year 11, then hated year 12, and now I want to get an extended major + honours and hopefully PhD in the area. If you did not like year 11, and are not looking forward to year 12, do not do year 12 chemistry.

Maybe meet your dad in the middle - by taking biology as opposed to health, you can still do a science degree at Monash or Melbourne. If you then decide you want to go into biomedical science, you can then still do this through a science degree + careful unit selection, and even pick up chemistry in first year university if it looks like you'll need it. You DO NOT need year 12 chemistry to do chemistry at an undergraduate level.

EDIT: Should probably be careful with the bold part - if you have a good teacher, you can still enjoy year 12 chemistry. However, quite a lot of my friends and myself hated year 12 chem, and all of us want to get at least a minor in it now. That might say more about the excellence of the chemistry program at Monash than year 12, though.

[thushan]

Ahh...sorry about that. I hope I'm not the reason you are turned off Year 12 chem.

[M_BONG]

The general rule of thumb in VCE, and in life, is to do things that you are interested in. I did 1/2 Chemistry and dropped it because I hated it and that probably saved me a lot of stress in Year 12.

For example, I did Specialist because i) scaling ii) my parents wanted me to because they thought it was an easy ATAR boost; I worked my butt off trying to understand the concepts even though I hated it  (probably contributing to me not understanding deep enough to get a high score) and I got a 33 (45 scaled) and that didn't even end up being in my top four - waste!!!. As cliched as it might sound, doing things you hate to please people is stupid. I think your father should be understanding enough, if you reason with him, that you will achieve the same (or even better) score if you do what you like more.

[mnafady2006]

Ahh...sorry about that. I hope I'm not the reason you are turned off Year 12 chem.

Honestly speaking, your lecture was one of the best lectures i've ever been too. Like i genuinely enjoyed it  and had fun throughout, top notch ! looking forward to methods tomorrow !
Especially the question and answers, was really great how you answered all those personal questions haha !
It's more of a personal thing for me understanding the concepts and all, takes some time to get my mind around things, kind of like how you felt with German and Eng lang, except i probably wont get 50's like you hahahaha

[mnafady2006]

The general rule of thumb in VCE, and in life, is to do things that you are interested in. I did 1/2 Chemistry and dropped it because I hated it and that probably saved me a lot of stress in Year 12.

For example, I did Specialist because i) scaling ii) my parents wanted me to because they thought it was an easy ATAR boost; I worked my butt off trying to understand the concepts even though I hated it  (probably contributing to me not understanding deep enough to get a high score) and I got a 33 (45 scaled) and that didn't even end up being in my top four - waste!!!. As cliched as it might sound, doing things you hate to please people is stupid. I think your father should be understanding enough, if you reason with him, that you will achieve the same (or even better) score if you do what you like more.

mmmm makes sense, ill try convincing my dad and see how i go haha. Like all my other subjects are great, its just chemistry thats bugging me . Would be a huge stress reliever if i didn't do chem

[datfatcat]

mmmm makes sense, ill try convincing my dad and see how i go haha. Like all my other subjects are great, its just chemistry thats bugging me . Would be a huge stress reliever if i didn't do chem

Tell your dad that you feel stressed doing chem and it may drag your other subjects down since you need to spend more time on chemistry?