Got dogged, what subject now?

[Adequace]

This might turn in to a huge rant, pretty pissed right now as well.

My school has forced me take 6 subjects at school while taking CSL 3/4 next year. I was told in term 3 I was allowed to take 5 subjects next year and also CSL 3/4 at a XJS school, all of a sudden they change the rules and now I'm stuck taking 7 subjects next year.

I'm not willing to drop CSL or physics 3/4 next year because I believe I can do well in both of them. I wasn't allowed to make my sixth subject as CSL 3/4 at school but take my SACS and exam at my XJS. I don't know what to do. I don't want to do this 6th subject as my 1/2, I was just planning on picking up BM 3/4 in year 12 as my fifth subject.

I was planning on doing either food tech or PE since I could probably make the attendance for pracs but doubt I'd study for any of the subjects. I probably come off as immature and lazy but at the start of the year I was already wanted to just take 4 subjects in Year 12 but finally allowed myself to agree to pick up BM in Year 12.

I just didn't want to do 7 subjects in Year 11, but now they force me to. Sigh.

[spectroscopy]

oh, i was confused for a second and thought you were entering year 12 next year, in which case my suggestions would be very different.
you can still do 4 or 5  3/4s  in year 12 right?
if thats the case do pe or food tech i guess whichever youll enjoy more and have fun in the 1/2. or do a 1/2 with something youre a bit interested in but arent sure if you wanna do it in 3/4 like history or something.
then when it comes to year 12 you can just pick whatever you liked the most.

[Adequace]

oh, i was confused for a second and thought you were entering year 12 next year, in which case my suggestions would be very different.
you can still do 4 or 5  3/4s  in year 12 right?
if thats the case do pe or food tech i guess whichever youll enjoy more and have fun in the 1/2. or do a 1/2 with something youre a bit interested in but arent sure if you wanna do it in 3/4 like history or something.
then when it comes to year 12 you can just pick whatever you liked the most.

Yeah, I can do 5 3/4s in Year 12, but not 4.

The main problem is that I'll be taking 7 subjects in Year 11.

Edit: I guess the main thing I'm asking is what's the most easiest unit 1/2 subject? I'm thinking either BM or FM.

[spectroscopy]

Yeah, I can do 5 3/4s in Year 12, but not 4.

The main problem is that I'll be taking 7 subjects in Year 11.

Edit: I guess the main thing I'm asking is what's the most easiest unit 1/2 subject? I'm thinking either BM or FM.

7 in year 11 is ok. dont worry about how easy or hard the 7th subject is, because if you dont intend on doing it in 3/4, it wont affect your atar at all. if you really wanted you could put it in 0 effort into this 7th subject, and fail everything and just focus on your 3/4s. it wont affect your atar at all.
hence why you should do something fun like if you enjoy cooking or if you wanna keep up sport you can do food tech or pe units 1/2
i went to a select entry school where we had to do 6 subjects in school in year 11 (regardless of external 3/4s), and heaps of kids who got 95+ atars the next year did pe in year 11 and failed literally every sac (i mean literally less than 10% on sacs), but they just did it for fun in year 11 then dropped it going into year 12. so if you really miss sport, enjoy cooking, or you have lots of friends in a certain class (LOL) then just do that, and put in 0 effort and never study for it, and focus on your 3/4s AND your 1/2s that you intend to do in year 12 like maths/sciences/english etc.
its quite a common situation in year 11, good luck !

[strawberries]

I wasn't allowed to make my sixth subject as CSL 3/4 at school but take my SACS and exam at my XJS.

Why can't you take it at your school? Tbh, I'd rather take it at my school than at an external school (despite XJS being very highly-rated)

When I was in Year 11 I also did 2 3/4s (one of them being Chinese which my school does not offer). My school was like that too where we had to take 6 subjects in Year 11 at school no matter what we do externally (I think literally nearly every school is like that though?) and I saw it as a good thing because you got to learn more. If that rule wasn't in place I probably would've done 5 at school but in the end I'm glad because that "extra stress of a 1/2 subject" made me work better this year and I picked a subject I was interested in. Year 11 is undoubtedly one of the toughest years (tougher than year 12 imo ) and doing more subjects in Year 11 will definitely prepare you for the following year

I don't think any 1/2 subject is easy but it depends on the person. Do what you're interested in (and not what's 'easy' - I have no experience with BM/PE/Food Tech unfortunately but personally they sound quite difficult). Even if you do come off as immature or lazy that's fine, lots of kids at my school did that as well in your situation (and some of them were just lazy full stop).

If you really badly don't want to do 7 subjects, you can get your parents to argue, complain about how stressed/depressed you are or drop it like 3 weeks into next year (only if you're desperate).

Good luck though!

I can understand why you're pissed but feel free to disagree

[Orb]

Doing it at xjs could very well do you no favours if you aren't a teachers pet (or save your Chinese, really depends).

It's important to consider whether you're the type of student your teachers would go the extra mile to subtly 'boost' your Sacs or whether you're the first one they'd take marks off.

If the latter would highly suggest doing it at school
If the former stay at xjs.

In relation to picking up a 1/2 really it's not much work at all. You can do no work since it'll never count

[Adequace]

Thanks strawberries and hamo,

I was thinking about taking Chinese at my homeschool but we rarely have students getting above 40+ every year and the standard is quite low compared to XJS. I could be assessed at school but still attend XJS for the 'superior' resources I guess.

Would this be a better option? I'm not sure if I can be rank one at my homeschool right now since I don't know whose taking Chinese.

[KYtho]

had the same issue as you did last year, school forced me to do 6 subjects inside of school whilst I was doing XJS outside;
honestly I get what you are saying; the chinese at my actual school wasn't great, we never produced 40+ students so for me, I really wanted to do it outside.

if you feel the same way, then yeah you should definitely pick a bludge subject. I picked eco 1/2 and basically bludged that subject for the whole year, you can probably find an easier subject than that to do as well. so yeah, find a 1/2 subject that you can chill and enjoy and don't let it affect your 3/4 studies.

it does get a bit rough with those few subjects but can manage it if you try. Good luck!

[Adequace]

had the same issue as you did last year, school forced me to do 6 subjects inside of school whilst I was doing XJS outside;
honestly I get what you are saying; the chinese at my actual school wasn't great, we never produced 40+ students so for me, I really wanted to do it outside.

if you feel the same way, then yeah you should definitely pick a bludge subject. I picked eco 1/2 and basically bludged that subject for the whole year, you can probably find an easier subject than that to do as well. so yeah, find a 1/2 subject that you can chill and enjoy and don't let it affect your 3/4 studies.

it does get a bit rough with those few subjects but can manage it if you try. Good luck!

Did you consider taking Chinese at your home school but also attend XJS for further help? I might end up doing that but I'm scared of the minimal strength of my homeschool cohort.

[strawberries]

I would rather be rank 1 in a weak cohort than a 'not high rank' in a strong cohort.

[appleandbee]

I would rather be rank 1 in a weak cohort than a 'not high rank' in a strong cohort.

Rank one obviously has its benefits as their SAC grades won't change apart from overall cohort moderation, but it doesn't help much if you are only ranked well simply because everyone else is shit ( not because you are good or anything). A lot of rank 1 in weak cohorts have got sub 40 study scores. Not being ranked well in a strong cohort is not ideal, but at least you have the cohort to push you. If you are a good student but not good enough to get a reasonable rank at XJS, doing Chinese at your school may be better if you can be rank one. If you are capable of getting a decent rank at XJS, stay there. I have friends who were doing average to above average at XJS and still managed to pull off high 30s SS, while I know people who were ranked amongst the top in other schools who got low - mid 30s.

As for the seven subjects in year 11, in my opinion it is less intense than 5 subjects in year 12 workload wise (it may be harder in terms of the transition,  but workload wise it's defs easier assuming you planning to all the year 12 subjects seriously). 1/2s are way less in depth than 3/4s. I do agree that there are little benefits with doing a 7th subject if you are not considering continuing with it or taking it seriously, it won't help with time management in that case. Just do what you enjoy most, if you are not planning to take it seriously.

[KYtho]

Yes; its a bit hard but if you can get in those really top few ranks at XJS its really good for your study score. My school has had heaps of kids who did Chinese inside their normal school and would have studied like crazy, got rank 1 etc BUT were still let down by their weak cohort. You should also look at how many people have achieved your desired study score in recent few years at your school.
I answered no to that last year so I just went screw it; I'm doing it outside

Did you consider taking Chinese at your home school but also attend XJS for further help? I might end up doing that but I'm scared of the minimal strength of my homeschool cohort.

Actually, I switched a quarter-way through the year and moved from taking the Chinese exam INSIDE of school to OUTSIDE of school at XJS, after people warned me of how bad it was to do inside of school. Funnily enough, last year no one inside of school did great whilst the 5 of us who did at XJS got 40+ SS