VCE:NEED HELP IN CHOOSING!

[Solistice]

Hi! I'm a fellow student thinking of doing,
English(because compulsory), Art-Media(because of passion!) and Business Management( because of light
workload) as my first three VCE subjects,and I have a couple of questions I'm hoping to get answers for.

First question, how many subjects should I take?
I heard that Media is quite heavy, so I'm wondering how many subjects students who do Media usually
take.Would five subjects be too much? I'm thinking of doing four or five subjects by the way, but
which one is the better option?

Second question, what subject(s) should I choose?
I know it depends on how many subjects you decide to take,
but in the following list of subjects I chose, which one(s) require the least amount of work?
(I'm not being lazy or anything, I'm just worried about the workload.)
And which one(s) would you most recommend on doing if you're going to do Media?

<subject list>

-Philosophy ( not exactly passionate but interested )
-Psychology ( same as Philosophy)

-General Math ( I don't like math, but I'm ok with it; plus I also heard it's fairly easy)

-Classical studies ( I'm a little less interested on this one; mostly because there's so less info
about what its actually about)

-Japanese First Language (I think I will be fine with it; but I'm worried of the workload)

I will really appreciate it if anyone could kindly give me an answer or suggestion based on your experiences!

[eloisegrace]

Hi Solistice!

While I am not doing very similar subjects to you, I hope that this advice helps

First, I would do 5/6 subjects. I think 4 is too risky if you end up screwing an exam up or something, so I think 5/6 depending on if you will accelerate a subject or not. If you are not completing a 3/4 in year 11, I would do 5, but if you are, I would recommend 6 (1 in yr11 5 in yr12).

Second, I would look at university pre-requisites for courses you are interested in. Try and fill as many of these as possible so you can apply to as many courses that you are interested in

Out of the subjects you have listed, I would choose the ones you are most interested in. Don't worry so much about if its content-heavy or not, if you enjoy it it won't matter. You seem interested in Media so I would definitely try that.

General/Further maths has a low workload imo, and could break up your hums subjects.
LOTE's are a very good subject to study at VCE as they are useful in real like and also scale nicely Also if you complete First Language I am assuming you are fluent so the subject would be more about honing your skills.

I don't have any experience with Philosophy and Classical Studies, but look at the Study Designs to see if you like the courses or not. Same with Psychology, however there are more external resources about it that could help your decision.

I hope this helps and feel free to post or PM me any more questions!

Eloise 

[AngelWings]

I agree with Eloisegrace’s answer: you should be basing the rest of your subjects on what you enjoy primarily and what you require as prerequisite subjects. What sort of courses are you hoping to get into after VCE, if you’re hoping to continue your studies?

[hairs9]

If your school offers VCD, I would highly recommend you do it, as it has a lot to do with graphic design
I have done Psych and I absolutely loved it. Most of the content is super relatable and interesting and it's not too hard to do well at, as long as you learn how to answer the questions properly.

[AngelWings]

I want to do a Bachelor's degree on animation, screenwriting or graphic arts..something like that anyway.
I am thinking of  Melbourne uni or RMIT as my tertiary institution..though I don't know if I will get in or not.

These types of degrees often require you to submit additional requirements and don't always rely solely on your ATAR. When they do rely on ATAR, usually the main prerequisite for these degrees is your English subject's raw SS. I'd suggest that you do a bit of research into these degrees and at the institutes you want to do them at, using Google and VTAC CourseSearch to begin with.

For example, a quick Google search gave me this Bachelor of Design (Animation and Interactive Media) at RMIT, which has a range of criteria for entry and requires a 25+ raw SS in English (30 raw SS if you're doing EAL). Range of criteria often means that you'll have to do extra things to be admitted into the course, which for this course you'll need to check out the section titled "Additional requirements for admission" that states that on top of your ATAR they'll also want you to submit an applicant statement, 12 images you made/took yourself and a visual storyboard you drew up when you go to apply for university, typically via VTAC around August of your final year of high school.

Note that the requirements differ for each degree, but for the ones you're after, the institute will often want you to submit selection tasks (which are the applicant statement, images and visual storyboard in this example), a folio and/or do a folio presentation/ interview in front of several people involved in the course/ entry into said course (typically occurs around September or December of your final year of high school). Folios are often due close to the VCE exam period though, so please manage your time well and be careful!

I'd also have a look into specialist institutes like SAE, AIE (Academy of Interactive Entertainment) and JMC, as well as those that you have mentioned if you really want a career in these areas. This will not only give you more options, but more insight into the industry opportunities that you could be involved in if you get in.            

Do you have any thoughts on how to get a good ATAR score?

We have a lot of resources here on the ATARNotes forum about this, including articles and a board dedicated to how ATARs are calculated. Feel free to check those out or ask your own questions there!  

From your response, I got that LOTE is a good subject to choose, so I'm thinking of doing that.

If you enjoy it, absolutely!

Also, I'm thinking that I should do Philosophy or Psychology for my last one or two subjects.Have you guys done it before? I don't know what to expect , though..I've never studied any of them before. Can any of you tell me what its like ?

I did Psych U3/4 in Year 11 back in the day (2013), but not Philosophy. Since I completed it so long ago, you might find my opinion a bit outdated and biased, so please take it with a grain of salt.

I found Psych to be really interesting, especially delving into concepts to do with the mind and brain. If you like learning about how the brain works, how learning, forgetting and memory works and much more, then this is probably the subject for you. It is considered a slightly more "content-heavy" subject, but it is also one of the most common and popular sciences to take in VCE. I'd suggest having a look through the VCE Psychology study design to get an idea of whether or not it interests you. (Study designs can be found here.)   
 
Like Hairs9 said, VCD (short for Visual Communication and Design) might be of interest to you as well, but I'd also consider Studio Arts or Art if these are offered at your school. These subjects are more folio-oriented subjects, meaning they'll be hard work but very worth it if you're interested in art, media and design-type subjects and careers. (They may also be great in giving you practise in making a folio, which might help you out when it comes to making your (typically separate) folio/ selection tasks for entry into uni/ higher education.)