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March 28, 2024, 08:36:06 pm

Author Topic: WACE Subject Selection Advice  (Read 2884 times)

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jack.joy03

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WACE Subject Selection Advice
« on: October 13, 2021, 12:49:07 am »
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Hi! I am in Year 10 and from WA. I would like some advice regarding subject selection for Year 11&12. I aim to gain entry into medicine.

The subjects I have in mind are:
 - Mathematics Specialists
 - Mathematics Methods
 - Physics
 - Chemistry
 - English
 - German
 Modified Suicide Six  ;D

The advice I have gathered is that picking subjects that scale well is beneficial. But always consider whether you can manage to do the subject. For example, if you're doing bad at maths, you would be advised to not do Specs even though it scales really well and gives a 10% bonus. But if you're doing average in maths, you would be advised to take Specs because it will help you gain a higher TEA, resulting in a higher ATAR. Is this true?

I was also advised by successful medicine applicants to take a LOTE subject because the LOTE bonus will come in very handy when aiming for 99.95. Is this also true?

P.S. If you have any advice for me, please share it with me.

God bless you!
« Last Edit: October 13, 2021, 12:51:17 am by jack.joy03 »

heuthel

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Re: WACE Subject Selection Advice
« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2021, 07:44:38 pm »
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I started Year 11 with very similar subjects to yours except that I did Human Biology instead of German and ended up dropping Specialists later in Term 3. To answer your questions,
1. Personally, I would definitely say consider whether you can manage the subjects, not just content and knowledge wise but also time and load wise. I've always been pretty good at maths, and my Year 10 Pathway 1 maths grade was around 90~. It's not super impressive but I thought I would do well in Specialists and so I picked that. However, with concentrating on 5 other subjects as well, I had a very hard time making space to study for Specialists. I barely met the average of the class with a 65% when I did the Semester 1 exam, even though I didn't have a hard time understanding the contents.

Although Specialists does scale up, it's not really worth juggling 6 subjects, unless you're a very efficient time manager unlike me lmao. It's also really easy to slip up and fall behind in Specialists, given your classmates are naturally smart students who are good at maths and it was kinda crushing to stress out on catching up with everyone else, especially when some kids had even started studying chapters and chapters ahead. So I'd say pick up Specialists if you 100% think you can manage it well, not just because it scales up.

2. I personally didn't pick a LOTE subject but I have friends who does French and Japanese, and their ATARs are surprisingly very good despite the LOTE subject is one of their lowest. I'm not entirely sure about the basis of the bonus but I've heard them say that they managed to raise their scaled ATAR from around 93 to 95 with just the LOTE bonus so it's pretty helpful if you're okay with your language choice.

I hope this was of help.