6 Subjects In Y12 and 2 Extension Programs

[CosmonautNinja]

Hi,

Next year I plan on doing 5 unit 3&4 subjects and 1 extension program subject (hopefully UMEP Physics).
For anyone who has done a simillar workload; how hard is it?

Also has anyone done 2 extension program subjects? (I'm thinking of dropping Chemistry and replacing it with RMIT Maths)

Note: I did units 3&4 further maths this year so I'll have 5 vce subjects even if I do 2 extension studies.

Thanks

[lm21074]

Hey CosmonautNinja!

Welcome to ATAR Notes

I can't tell you much about the workload of 5 Unit 3&4 subjects and a uni extension, because a) I'm planning on doing that next year and b) it is dependent on the subjects and extension subject you do. For a uni extension subject, you should be able to get a good idea of the workload by looking at the number of lectures and tutorials in a week and seeing the number of contact hours. For UMEP, you can see this here.

Also, something you should note is that you can only complete one uni extension subject in VCE.

Hope this helps

Edit:

Schools should note that if a student undertakes two Higher Education studies VTAC will count only one study towards the increment.

Will have to check with the institution to see if they allow you to take more than one extension study. It's generally not recommended because it may increase the workload of a VCE student a lot, and the most important studies are arguably VCE subjects during Year 12.

[CosmonautNinja]

Thanks for the reply!

For a uni extension subject, you should be able to get a good idea of the workload by looking at the number of lectures and tutorials in a week and seeing the number of contact hours. For UMEP, you can see this here.
Hope this helps

I've taken a look and it's only 2 hours a week + study time for physics which doesnt seem too bad. I wasnt able to find anything RMIT though.

Also, something you should note is that you can only complete one uni extension subject in VCE.

I've already done a unit 3&4 this year so I can still reach my 6 subjects even if I did 2 extension studies and one didnt count towards my ATAR.

[lm21074]

re: RMIT - if you click on this link https://www.rmit.edu.au/study-with-us/levels-of-study/pre-university-study/rmit-extension and click on the subject you're interested in, then "course guide", and scroll down, it should tell you the likely contact hours.

I've already done a unit 3&4 this year so I can still reach my 6 subjects even if I did 2 extension studies and one didnt count towards my ATAR.

See the edit I made to my above post

Good luck!

[AngelWings]

For anyone who has done a simillar workload; how hard is it?

I can’t say myself as I never did it, but can direct you to the UoM Subject Review Thread, which includes reviews on PHYC10003 and PHYC10004, the subjects you’ll likely be taking if you do UMEP Physics, as per Lm’s link above. That will show some people’s perspectives on these subjects, although they may have done it in first year uni.

Thanks for the reply!I've taken a look and it's only 2 hours a week + study time for physics which doesnt seem too bad. I wasnt able to find anything RMIT though.

Note that a uni unit typically takes around 12 hours/ week, including contact hours and independent study. (Or at least, this is the typical amount given at Monash to first year uni students as a guideline.)

Remember also to factor in commute times and study times outside of contact hours. (Although I did find that a number of first year uni subjects didn’t always take the full 12 hours, and first year uni subjects are usually what you’d be taking as Uni extension program subjects...definitely depends on the person and subject though.)

CosmonautNinja, would you be able to do this on top of 4/5 VCE subjects?

In regards to RMIT Uni Extension Program, I found this, which you can look up the maths subject you’re interested in. (There’s a few you can pick from.)

I'm thinking of dropping Chemistry and replacing it with RMIT Maths

Only warning I would give here is, if you’re intending on taking a course where Chem is a prerequisite after Year 12, you’ll still need Chem. This includes (but isn’t limited to): Medicine, some engineering (especially chemical engineering) and some health science-y courses (e.g. veterinary science, biomed at some unis). If you’re interested in any of those courses, replacing Chem with another uni extension program subject might not be the best choice.

You can check some (not all) courses that require Chem as a prerequisite here.

Note: Lm21074 posted as I was typing so there may be some overlap. Posting anyway since I discuss slightly different points.

[hairs9]

Honestly just drop chem and don't replace it with anything. You can't do 2 uni extension subjects at the same time and them both count(you might be not allowed to do both altogether?? I know you can't do 2 through UMEP) and it's pretty hard to coordinate one uni subject, let alone two. I did 3 vce subjects+UMEP maths and it was pretty easy to manage so 4 vce subjects+ a uni extension subject would probably be a good workload. But I wouldn't do any more. Uni extension subjects are like 1.5-2 times the workload in terms of the step-up(sometimes more or less depending on assessment schedules) but they're very enriching and can help you complete your subject
But yeah, I wouldn't do more subjects than you need because it just is extra time that you could be using to catch up(you may have to miss class to go to tutorials or whatever), revise, and relax.

[CosmonautNinja]

Thanks for all of your responses.

I have checked and I can only do 1 UMEP subject but RMIT allows multiple subjects so if I do decide to one from each I don't think I would be reaching any limits. I am also aware that only one can count towards VCE.

if you click on this link https://www.rmit.edu.au/study-with-us/levels-of-study/pre-university-study/rmit-extension and click on the subject you're interested in, then "course guide", and scroll down, it should tell you the likely contact hours.

Thanks I'll check it out.

Note that a uni unit typically takes around 12 hours/ week, including contact hours and independent study. (Or at least, this is the typical amount given at Monash to first year uni students as a guideline.)

University terms are shorter than school terms right? If thats correct since UMEP Physics is held over school terms (plus pracs on holidays) I imagine that it won't be quite so many hours per week.

Remember also to factor in commute times and study times outside of contact hours.
CosmonautNinja, would you be able to do this on top of 4/5 VCE subjects?

My travel time would be 1 hour each way for either University which I don't think is too bad? Plus at least for RMIT I think some parts will be online for semester 1 (not sure about Melbourne).
I think I could manage doing it as I've found Y11 quite easy (except for English) and I've been able to average a B+ (or an A if I don't include English) but I'm here to see what other people think.

Only warning I would give here is, if you’re intending on taking a course where Chem is a prerequisite after Year 12, you’ll still need Chem.

I'm pretty sure at this point that if I did do chemistry at Uni it would only be first year chemistry, I'm pretty good at it and I don't dislike it but it's just not something that I really love like Maths and Physics.

Honestly just drop chem and don't replace it with anything.
it's pretty hard to coordinate one uni subject, let alone two.
you may have to miss class to go to tutorials or whatever

I kind of enjoy Chem though, albeit not as much as Physics and Maths so it's not something that I would want to drop unless I was replacing it with something that I would enjoy more. Also what do you mean by coordinating?
Knowing my school I'm pretty sure they would let me miss class to go to tutorials.

[Bri MT]

Thanks for all of your responses.

I have checked and I can only do 1 UMEP subject but RMIT allows multiple subjects so if I do decide to one from each I don't think I would be reaching any limits. I am also aware that only one can count towards VCE.
Thanks I'll check it out.
University terms are shorter than school terms right? If thats correct since UMEP Physics is held over school terms (plus pracs on holidays) I imagine that it won't be quite so many hours per week.
My travel time would be 1 hour each way for either University which I don't think is too bad? Plus at least for RMIT I think some parts will be online for semester 1 (not sure about Melbourne).
I think I could manage doing it as I've found Y11 quite easy (except for English) and I've been able to average a B+ (or an A if I don't include English) but I'm here to see what other people think.
I'm pretty sure at this point that if I did do chemistry at Uni it would only be first year chemistry, I'm pretty good at it and I don't dislike it but it's just not something that I really love like Maths and Physics.
I kind of enjoy Chem though, albeit not as much as Physics and Maths so it's not something that I would want to drop unless I was replacing it with something that I would enjoy more. Also what do you mean by coordinating?
Knowing my school I'm pretty sure they would let me miss class to go to tutorials.

RMIT and Melbourne both work on a semesters model; there are two semesters in a year with each semester consisting of 12 weeks of coursework and with a "midsem" break of 1 week during each semester. Usually midsem break overlaps with the school holidays. There is a longer break between the two semesters.

Uni goes through content much faster than high school generally. First year subjects can be a bit easier in this regard since you'll probably already know some of the content. For a first year science unit you generally have roughly 5-6 contact hours (I'm at Monash but my brother studies at RMIT and I'm pretty sure it was similar there) where you should be attending lectures, labs etc. but then you still need to spend more time to complete prelab quizzes, weekly quizzes, readings, lab reports, other assessment etc.

I doubt most students actually do the 12 hours but then again most students aren't really trying to maximise their marks (in my experience).

[hairs9]

Also what do you mean by coordinating?
Knowing my school I'm pretty sure they would let me miss class to go to tutorials.

Like coordinating tutorials and class including travel time, as well as dealing with when you have sacs on or a uni assessment/exam. You will likely have to miss at least one of your uni classes in the year for a sac, and that could grow with doing multiple subjects.
Missing year 12 classes is not ideal but missing 1-2 a week can be manageable(especially if you have enough frees to catch up). But with 2 subjects, the classes you miss from each will start to add up.
Also I'm not sure how coordinating the two(and later 3) exam timetables would work. Usually the extension program staff are pretty accommodating about if you have a vce exam on at the same time but not sure if both uni exams were scheduled at the same time if they would let you move.

But if you did drop chem and didn't replace it, I'm pretty sure most unis have chem units where they don't require vce chem as a prerequisite so you could give yourself a slightly lighter load next year and still explore chemistry to your heart's content the following year.

[AngelWings]

Only warning I would give here is, if you’re intending on taking a course where Chem is a prerequisite after Year 12, you’ll still need Chem. This includes (but isn’t limited to): Medicine, some engineering (especially chemical engineering) and some health science-y courses (e.g. veterinary science, biomed at some unis). If you’re interested in any of those courses, replacing Chem with another uni extension program subject might not be the best choice.

You can check some (not all) courses that require Chem as a prerequisite here.

I'm pretty sure at this point that if I did do chemistry at Uni it would only be first year chemistry, I'm pretty good at it and I don't dislike it but it's just not something that I really love like Maths and Physics.

I think you've accidentally misinterpreted what I was trying to say. What I meant is that VCE Chemistry is a prerequisite subject for some uni courses, such as the Bachelor of Medical Science (Monash), some engineering courses and some health science-y courses (e.g. veterinary science or biomed at some unis). If you do not take VCE Chem, you will not be able to directly apply for these courses when you apply to get into uni. As a result, please be cautious with your decision to switch out of VCE Chem if you're interested in any uni courses that require VCE Chem.

[CosmonautNinja]

RMIT and Melbourne both work on a semesters model; there are two semesters in a year with each semester consisting of 12 weeks of coursework and with a "midsem" break of 1 week during each semester. Usually midsem break overlaps with the school holidays. There is a longer break between the two semesters.

Uni goes through content much faster than high school generally. First year subjects can be a bit easier in this regard since you'll probably already know some of the content. For a first year science unit you generally have roughly 5-6 contact hours

I've double checked and for the UMEP Physics there is a 2 hour theory and demonstation lecture every week during school terms as well as pracs during school holidays and personal study. I could be wrong but this doesn't seem like too much of a workload?

I think you've accidentally misinterpreted what I was trying to say. What I meant is that VCE Chemistry is a prerequisite subject for some uni courses, such as the Bachelor of Medical Science (Monash), some engineering courses and some health science-y courses (e.g. veterinary science or biomed at some unis). If you do not take VCE Chem, you will not be able to directly apply for these courses when you apply to get into uni. As a result, please be cautious with your decision to switch out of VCE Chem if you're interested in any uni courses that require VCE Chem.

I definitely don't plan to do anything Health or Biology based at university and they seem to be the only things that require it other than Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and they're not something that I plan on studying either. So completing units 3&4 Chemistry would be more intrested based than future studies based.

Missing year 12 classes is not ideal but missing 1-2 a week can be manageable(especially if you have enough frees to catch up). But with 2 subjects, the classes you miss from each will start to add up.
Also I'm not sure how coordinating the two(and later 3) exam timetables would work. Usually the extension program staff are pretty accommodating about if you have a vce exam on at the same time but not sure if both uni exams were scheduled at the same time if they would let you move.

But if you did drop chem and didn't replace it, I'm pretty sure most unis have chem units where they don't require vce chem as a prerequisite so you could give yourself a slightly lighter load next year and still explore chemistry to your heart's content the following year.

UMEP Physics doesn't run during class time which is a positive and I don't think I would do RMIT Maths if it did.
I hadn't thought about the possibility of an exam time table clash but with only 2 subject I'm thinking that would probably be unlikely?
I don't really know what I want to study at Univerity beyond something Maths and/or Physics related so should I not keep subject slots at univeristy open for subjects from those fields? And if I do find the workload to hard next year I could just drop chemistry part way through?