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March 28, 2024, 10:10:22 pm

Author Topic: Should I drop math spec for psychology?  (Read 3028 times)

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cocobby

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Should I drop math spec for psychology?
« on: September 09, 2021, 07:52:50 pm »
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I’m currently in year 11 studying methods, specialist, bio, literature and chem. I did very poorly in my last two specialist tests so have been advised that I drop it for another subject. I’m considering taking up psychology as I truly have an interest in it and will probably enjoy it more than spec. However, I have heard it scales down. My peers also complain that it’s difficult. Given I take up psych next year and perform well in it, would it still be possible for me to achieve a high (95+) atar?

Blobfishman15

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Re: Should I drop math spec for psychology?
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2021, 09:36:48 pm »
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I think this depends. My first question is do you have any career choices you wish to pursue that require specialist? If not, then the 2nd question is do you enjoy specialist maths? You can think of specialist maths in two ways: "I'm doing it because it scales really well and I get 2 adjustment ranks therefore boosting my ATAR significantly" or "I enjoy maths and if maybe I try harder I can do better"

Psychology does not scale down that bad, it goes down by 1 or 2, but if you think you're going to enjoy it and might want to pursue a career in psychology then you should maybe give it a shot and see how it turns out. But I think you should take extreme consideration into this since you're doing Unit 3 and 4 psychology without the Unit 1 and Unit 2 prior knowledge. Don't take the word of your friends that psychology is hard, the difficulty of the subject is completely subjective, and plus sometimes teachers will say the sciences are hard in an effort to scare them out which I personally don't think is a good idea. An ATAR 95+ is very possible if you get 80s + in your subjects + psychology (if you do choose to take it up).

Hopefully this answers your question, but my recommendation is maybe talk to your careers pathway teacher or whoever that looks at subjects at your school, talk to your parents and kids from older grades to gain some perspective on the subject. Have a good think and I wish you the best of luck for Grade 12.  :D