ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => Victorian Education Discussion => VIC Year 9 Discussion => Topic started by: Jarredz0r on August 07, 2014, 10:20:00 am
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Hi I'm in year 9 right now and I was wondering if you guys think it's a good idea to be doing 2 1/2 subjects in year 10.
Would the workload be too much? Would it be beneficial or detrimental to my atar?
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I am in year 10 at the moment, I am doing 1/2 Psych this year and next year will be completing two 3/4 subjects. As you normally would if you complete two 1/2's in year 10. Honestly, I would recommend it purely because you are at the stage where you only have two subjects to really focus on, so long as you still are learning and obtaining relatively good grades in your other subjects. Although, the difficulty of subjects varies, so which two VCE subjects were you thinking of doing next year?
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Well I'm definitely doing psych 1/2 next year, but for my other subject I was tossing up between economics and accounting - what would you recommend?
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Well I reckon doing Psych is a really good idea!! I am so happy I did it this year! As for accounting and economics... I'm not too sure. If I had to choose I would probably do accounting purely because it is considered to be less difficult than economics. Although this in my opinion varies depending on the person's interests and capabilities. But if you do intend on doing them both during VCE, it probably won't make too much difference, as they aren't opposites or anything like that.
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I'd say go for it. If you believe you can manage two in Year 10. I regret not knowing much of the VCE system when I was in Year 10. Probably would have done 2 myself.
I commend you on your interest for doing two VCE subjects in Year 10 though. It's good to see :)
In regards to your ATAR. It would do absolutely nothing (provided you passed these units). 1/2's don't contribute to your ATAR at all. Only 3/4's do. So in that aspect, nothing. If you continued on with them in Year 11 as 3/4's, then you would do less in Year 11/Year 12 as opposed to if you only did one or none.
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Thanks guys I really appreciate the feedback!
And yeah I've heard that accounting isnt as hard as economics, so I was initially planning on doing that.
My only gripe is the workload - I'm a procrastinator but I'm doing my best to change that, what was the workload like for a single 1/2 subject? (Sorry for all the questions)
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Hey, last year I completed four 1/2 subjects as a year 10 student (history 1/2 was compulsory for year 10s at my school) and I would say that my workload was definitely mangeable (though I found it a struggle to manage and organise my time sometimes). I found that the level of difficulty in my 1/2s was higher than my year 10 subjects - and there was a lot more content to learn .I think you can definitely tackle two 1/2s and the experience of doing VCE subjects in year 10 will help you for your VCE years that follow, and perhaps make it seem less daunting :P.
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Thanks guys I really appreciate the feedback!
And yeah I've heard that accounting isnt as hard as economics, so I was initially planning on doing that.
My only gripe is the workload - I'm a procrastinator but I'm doing my best to change that, what was the workload like for a single 1/2 subject? (Sorry for all the questions)
At my school it is recommended that you do 2-3 hrs of homework/revision/study per 1/2 subject per week.
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At my school it is recommended that you do 2-3 hrs of homework/revision/study per 1/2 subject per week.
And these are recommendations - some subjects will require much more study than others to keep up. I never really follow any of the "suggested" study times, although they are good guides (but a little high imho).
My only gripe is the workload - I'm a procrastinator but I'm doing my best to change that, what was the workload like for a single 1/2 subject? (Sorry for all the questions)
It really depends - I only did Units 1/2 Methods back in Year 10, but I don't think the workload was too hard or anything. I just made sure I paid attention in class and used my time in class effectively. As Aaron mentioned, it is a Unit 1/2 so at the end of the day it won't contribute to your ATAR, so use it as a learning experience but do not lose your life over it.
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You shouldn't worry so much about the ATAR now, because reality is that you need to pass it first! Anyway...
I did 3 1/2 subjects as a Year 10 student and I found that it was okay.
You have to be able to put in the effort, especially if it's a Science, Methods, Language or high content based subjects. It also depends on whether you like it and are willing to spend time. If you suck at time management, (and I will admit I do too) you may find yourself with a slight wake up call as to what you're going to experience the year after. (I quit two of these subjects afterwards, since I found them not to my liking.
Regarding workload, it really depends on the subject and whether you're any good at it. You may find yourself doing extra work if you feel you don't understand something or coming up towards SACs (assessment work, if you don't know). Some less prepared students will sleep late on nights before a major SAC.
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Do you think it's a good idea doing Economics and Psychology? I have no idea what the workload is like for either, and the advice I was given (in regards to whether I should choose economics or accounting) was that I should do economics in year 10, then follow up with accounting in year 11. Was this good advice? So please anyone who has done the aforementioned topics can you tell me what the workload is like?
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I completed Psychology 3/4 last year and to be honest I found it a little more relaxed in Units 1/2 compared to Economics 1/2 (which I also tried and dropped last year; it wasn't really my thing). Economics does require more effort and for me, missing out on days meant that I was pushed for time a lot. There's a lot of content to be learnt and I think you'd need to be very consistent in learning definitions for it (Psychology is similar, but to a lesser extent, in my opinion). Depending on the sort of person you are, you may find it to be enjoyable.
Psychology 1/2 was relatively okay, but of course, put some effort and time in to revise and you can push a 90% just fine. Do it like you would to any subject.
Overall, it was just what you made of it and with a little luck (and time) you should be fine. I didn't really find that my Economics work interfered with my Psychology work, because the SACs were more often than not in Psych than Economics, but I didn't do both together at the same level, so your experience may differ significantly.
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Wow thanks for that informative answer, just wondering, let's say I do psych 1/2 and economics 1/2 in year 10 - if at the end of the year I've decided that I don't want to continue economics (go on with 3/4) in year 11, can I just simply drop the subject?
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Wow thanks for that informative answer, just wondering, let's say I do psych 1/2 and economics 1/2 in year 10 - if at the end of the year I've decided that I don't want to continue economics (go on with 3/4) in year 11, can I just simply drop the subject?
Yes you can always drop a subject if you don't want to continue it.