VCE Subject Selection Guide (uncertain year 9/10s, please read!)

[heids]

*^{I swear if anyone actually reads that thing I'll eat my shoes}

Hope they're tasty

OK, I already feel like I have enough support for this! (that is, no one's disagreed yet )  I'm willing to do - new study designs - Eng, HHD, Bio and Texts & Traditions, and I'll try and get other help over PM.  Feel free anyone to volunteer here, and give any suggestions about how it should be done (or not done)

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Subject Reviews

This is a growing bank of reviews of VCE subjects, to make your subject choices easier!  Since it's currently extremely empty and I idiotically lost my work by leaving it in the browser rather than a word doc so three I've written will have to come another day and I'm so frustrated and tired that I have to post this even with only five reviews, so anyone able to contribute with any subject, even briefly, please PM me!

Things to remember:
- Most of these cover Units 3/4, and may not reflect what your 1/2 experience will be like
- Study designs may have changed by the time you get to the subject (however, differences shouldn't be radical)

English Studies

English Language

Courtesy dmitridr

Why choose English Language?
English Language is generally more objective than mainstream VCE English due to its ‘scientific’ nature. If you’re someone who is more into science and maths, then I’d highly recommend English Language for you. However, it must be noted that this is not applied to all students and may be construed as a generalisation. For example, I studied VCE English Language, yet hated maths and science, and was my subject of choice because of the engaging and interesting subject matter.

English Language is arguably more practical and applies more to the ‘real world’, in that you learn about concepts and principles that could be applied in your everyday communications. This could include, which register (formal or informal language) to use depending on the situation and mode, as well as how to communicate with strangers to build social rapport (a friendly relationship).

To see a complete VIDEO explanation of the differences between English and English Language, please go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEqh_LdiVWw&spfreload=10

Unit 3 Content
In this unit, students investigate English language in contemporary Australian social settings, along a continuum of informal and formal registers. For example, you’ll look at both informal and formal pieces of language such as a terms and conditions, or a conversation between two close friends. In each of these pieces, the language is vary considerably and you’ll need to link these language choices to the register (informal/formal).

Formal language is literally language that has the following features:
•   It’s generally less ambiguous (i.e. clearer)
•   It’s generally more cohesive (glued together better)
•   More explicit
•   Often reinforces social distance and relationship hierarchies
•   Promotes a user’s authority and expertise (i.e. think of jargon)
•   It clarifies, manipulates or even obfuscates (confuses)
•   It can negotiate social taboos, that is it can be used to avoid offending certain groups in society.

They consider language as a means of social interaction, exploring how through both written and spoken texts we communicate information, ideas, attitudes, prejudices and beliefs. For example, racism and sexism can come across in language (and sometimes it’s not so obvious!).

Students consider how texts are influenced by the situational and cultural contexts in which they occur. They examine how function, field, mode, setting and the relationships between participants all contribute to a person’s language choices, as do the values, attitudes and beliefs held by participants and the wider community. What this means in basic terms is that the language choices we make in conversation or in the written mode ALWAYS dependent on the situation, culture, relationship, purpose, and so forth. For example, when conversing with a teacher, you’re more likely to NOT swear because of the relationship between you and your teacher. However, with a close friend, the use of swearing indicates a close social distance.

Unit 4 Content
In this area of study, students look at how identity and language are linked. Remember that the language we use is highly reflective of WHO WE ARE as a person. In this unit, students look at the following (mainly):
•   the role of Standard and non-Standard English in Australian society
•   the ways in which a variety of Australian identities are constructed and reflected in a range of texts
•   the characteristics of Australian English in contrast to Englishes from other continents, in phonological, morphological, lexical, and grammatical patterns
•   the features of Broad, General and Cultivated Australian English accents
•   social and personal variation in language according to factors such as age, gender, occupation, interests, aspiration and education
•   features of language that contribute to a sense of individual identity and group membership
•   representations of individual and group identities in a range of texts

Expectation in SACs and Exams + Question Style
You are expected to study hard (that’s a given), if you are to succeed. One thing many students don’t realise, I believe, is that wider reading and research is essential if you’re to received a differential advantage over your peers. Being linguistically aware (i.e. knowing what’s happening around you in terms of language) and being able to find quotes and references online is absolutely essential.

English is more to do with analysing a text, whereas English Language is more to do with analysing current language usage, so keeping on top of this by using the internet and listening to your peers will allow you to get a higher mark. For example, many of my friends have recently been using ‘Uber’ as a verb, which can be seen in the example, “I ubered here tonight”. This is the result of technology having an impact on our language choices, with a similar phenomenon happening to Google a decade ago - “I googled this issue”.

In the exam, you’ll be presented with three sections:

1. Short Answer
In this section, you’ll be presented with questions and have to include answers in the lines below. The questions will be based around a text that you’ll read (either spoken or written) and MUST include metalanguage is you’re to succeed. Look at the marking when doing this.

2. Analytical Commentary
An analytical commentary is simply language analysis - where you look at a text (spoken or written) and analyse its language features and work out why the author may have used these features. For example, you may analyse an advertisement and work out how persuasive language plays a crucial role in achieving it’s purpose to persuade you to buy a product.

3. Essay x1
This is often the most difficult section for students, and unlike the English exam, you only need to do 1 essay and NOT three! To succeed in this section, you need to have many current examples (again, this links back to your own research) that allow you to stand out from the crowd. Avoid cliche examples or examples that are too old.

Perceived Difficulty
Like anything in life, each subject has its own area of difficulty. English Language is no exception. What’s most difficult for students is understanding the metalanguage (a ton of jargon) and applying it in their responses for all three sections of the exam. You need to ensure you have a wide range of quotes and modern examples too.

Time management is also an issue too for students. You need to practice under TIMED CONDITIONS. Many students forget this. It’s fantastic if you can write an A+ essay in 5 hours, but if you can’t reproduce it in 45 minutes (exam), then there’s no point at all.

Changes to the Study Design in 2016
From what I can see, there are relatively few changes to the study design - the actual content and study areas are staying the same, however, I have noticed that more metalanguage has been added to the metalanguage list for all units. This is no problem, however, as the metalanguage added to the list is already contained within all the units, and now it seems that VCAA want to ‘surface’ these terms to make it more obvious to students.

Conclusion
Overall, I would highly recommend you choose English Language if this subject matter interests you, if you like practicality and if you’re a maths/science student. However, with that being said, make sure you get a second opinion from your teachers at school and also go through the 2016 study design meticulously.

I do offer a ‘study design summary’ services, whereby I will sit down with you for one hour and help you comprehend key areas of the study design, while asking you specific questions to allow you to decide for yourself. If this interests you, please send me a private message or email me at [email protected]

Maths/science/technology

Psychology

Courtesy Joseph41

Content:

Unit 3 Psych is titled ‘The conscious self.’ To quote the study design, it “focuses on the study of the relationship between the brain and the mind through examining the basis of consciousness, behaviour, cognition and memory.” AOS1 (‘Mind, brain and body’) covers:

Spoiler

> Normal waking consciousness and altered states of consciousness
> Sleep, and how to study it
> Sleep deprivation
> The brain, including the roles of the four lobes and the two hemispheres
> The nervous system
> Studies of the brain, including aphasia, spatial neglect and split-brain
> Research methodologies

And AOS2 (‘Memory’) covers:

Spoiler

> The mechanism of memory formation, including neurons and other parts of the brain
> Memory decline
> Amnesia, including dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
> Various models for explaining human memory
> Various theories of forgetting
> Manipulation and improvement of memory
> Research methodologies

Unit 4 Psych is titled ‘Brain, behaviour and experience.’ To quote the study design, it “focuses on the interrelationship between learning, the brain and its response to experiences, and behaviour.” AOS1 (‘Learning’) covers:

Spoiler

>Behaviours not dependent on learning
> The neural basis of learning, including neurons and plasticity
> Learning theories, including classical conditioning, operant conditioning, trial-and-error learning, and observational learning
> John Watson’s ‘Little Albert’ experiment
> Research methodologies

And AOS2 (‘Mental health’) covers:

Spoiler

> Concepts of normality and differentiation of mental health from mental illness
> Classification of mental conditions and disorders
> The biopsychosocial framework
> The relationship between stress and wellbeing, including the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping
> One of the following mental disorders and its management: anxiety disorder (specific phobia); mood disorder (major depression); addictive disorder (gambling); or psychotic disorder (schizophrenia)

I should note here two things. Firstly, you might notice that research methodologies seems to fall under each AOS. This is because it’s sort of assumed knowledge throughout the entire course. From what I have gleaned, many schools don’t spend much time on it, but it is quite an important part of the syllabus. This is really the only advantage of completing Units 1/2 before Units 3/4, in my opinion. Secondly, the study design is changing. The accreditation period for Units 1 and 2 will expire on 31 December 2015; the accreditation period for Units 3 and 4 will expire on 31 December 2016.

SAC and exam skills and question styles:

Psych is quite unusual insofar as including a range of question styles. There are multiple choice, short answer and extended response questions that will come up on both SACs and the exam. SACs for Unit 3 will contribute 20% (three SACs); SACs for Unit 4 will contribute 20% (three SACs); and the exam will contribute 60% to your final score. SACs can be somewhat varied in style but usually are rendered in exam-style format. The exam contains three sections. Section A contains 65 multiple choice questions, Section B contains 15 short-answer questions, and Section C contains 3 extended response questions (sort of; there is usually one extended response worth ten marks with two shorter questions). The exam is worth 140 marks in total (Section A: 65; Section B: 60; Section C: 15).

Responding well to questions doesn’t require brilliant writing skills, but it is largely contingent on memory. Although the multiple choice questions give you some sort of guidance, you will often need to distinguish between various theories or apply different concepts to case study scenarios. Psych is fairly content-heavy but, if you’re okay with that, is very enjoyable.

Difficulty:

As we all know, this is subjective. Personally, I found it slightly more difficult to grasp than, say, Health & Human Development, but I wouldn’t say that it was overly tricky. If you have a decent memory and you do a decent amount of work, you should be fine.

Can you do 3/4 without 1/2?

Yes, you can. I did Unit 1/2 Psych, but I don’t think it’s strictly necessary. The main disadvantage you will face is in regard to research methods, which is covered through 1/2 further to 3/4. But really, it wouldn’t take too long at all to catch up.

Conclusion:

I highly recommend Psych, especially if you’re considering it as a career, or are interested in humans and the way that they operate. I enjoyed Psych so much that it pushed me into doing Psych at uni (for a while), but several of my friends who are doing entirely different things now don’t regret completing Psych in the slightest.

Best of luck!

Arts

Visual Communication and Design

Courtesy Joseph41
Content:

Unit 3 VCD is titled ‘Design thinking and practice.’ To quote the study design, it focuses on “provid[ing] students with the knowledge and skills to undertake a successful design process.” In AOS1 (‘Analysis and practice in content’), students:

Spoiler

> Complete a range of design exercises to develop an understanding of the breadth of visual language employed in visual communication design fields
> Respond to stimulus material
> Increase their practical skills and knowledge with a specified focus on three areas of design: communication, environmental and industrial

And in AOS2 (‘Design industry practice’), students:

Spoiler

> Investigate how the design process is interpreted within industry
> Work on a broad variety of case studies that demonstrate different approaches to the stages of design process and practices of both contemporary Australian and international designers
> (Where possible) observe industry practices, interview local designers and interact with industry in an authentic experience

And in AOS3 (‘Developing a brief and generating ideas’), students:

Spoiler

> Apply design thinking skills to develop a creative client brief (this brief is then used in Unit 4)
> Undertake suitable research to generate a range of visual ideas
> Employ manual freehand drawing and visualisation drawing methods to present annotated ideas

Importantly, unlike the previous study design, students are not required to produce an entire folio in Unit 3. When I did VCD in 2012, for example, Unit 3 required an entire folio, and Unit 4 required an entire folio. I think it’s better now!

Unit 4 VCD is titled ‘Design development and presentation.’ To quote the study design, it focuses on “the final stage of the design process where final presentations are produced and presented.” In AOS1 (‘Development of design concepts’), students:

Spoiler

> Review the range of ideas developed in Unit 3
> Develop distinctly different concepts that address each identified client need and the requirements of the brief
> Apply creative, critical and reflective thinking to select ideas and refine them in consultation with the brief
> Consider the functional and aesthetic value of each concept using mock ups to support the preferred option

And in AOS2 (‘Final presentations’), students:

Spoiler

> Resolve two separate visual communication final presentations

And in AOS3 (‘Evaluation and explanation’), students:

Spoiler

> Reflect on their work and develop a story that articulates the merits of their final presentations
> Review their design process and annotations to extract evidence that will support their pitch presentations

SAC and exam skills and question styles:

I should preface this by noting that SACs may have changed slightly since I completed VCD. However, my SACs were a combination of practical application and theory. Some SACs required manual drawing, and producing an end product (2D) that adhered to a provided brief; others were theory-based that focused on design elements and principles.

The current course breaks up assessment in this way: Unit 3 SACs are worth 20%; Unit 4 SACs are worth 5%; the ‘School-assessed Task’ (folio) is worth 40%; and the end-of-year examination is worth 35%.

To be brutally honest, I found the VCD exam by far the hardest of my six. This might be due to the relative lack of available resources, but it may also be because coming up with a product or something artistic, as opposed to spouting off definitions, can be quite challenging. Particularly when you have finite time.

Difficulty:

As above, I found the exam quite challenging. During the year, the folios (now folio in the singular) required a lot of work. A lot of work. If I spent as much time as I did on VCD on any of my other subjects, I have no doubt that I would have achieved a much higher study score than I did for this subject. In saying that, however, it’s mentally draining in a different sort of way. The advantage of VCD is that it doesn’t require that much mental effort in the same sort of way that is required in, say, Methods. A lot of the time I spent on my folios, I was thinking of other things.

Just a note here, though: if you have a bad back, you’re not going to like this subject.

Can you do 3/4 without 1/2?

I think technically you can. You probably don’t miss all that much from not doing Units 1/2, aside from familiarity with various pieces of terminology and the folio process. You might also need to catch up on technical drawing skills; however, that should be outlined fairly heavily in your textbook. I think 1/2 would be preferable more than say, 1/2 HHD or 1/2 Business Management, however.

Conclusion:

VisCom is a good subject, and was one of my favourites – if not my favourite – throughout the entirety of Year 12. It can be very, very rewarding insofar as producing a final product and a folio. However – and this is rather a large however – if you’re looking for a ‘bludge’ subject, this isn’t it. If you want a subject that you can spend very little time on, this isn’t it.

In hindsight, I wouldn’t do the subject again, and my reasoning is this: I initially planned on a career in design, and VCD would have been conducive to that field. But it didn’t pan out like that, and I feel I could have been benefitted more, in terms of what I’m doing now, by another subject.

Food for thought, tit for tat. VCD is grouse and you’ll love it if you put in the effort. If you let it drag over your head, you’re going to have a bad time.

Humanities/health

Physical Education

Courtesy Smiley_

A new study design will begin in 2017.

I really really enjoyed this subject! Having a subject that involved pracs and physical activity was great and a good break from my other subjects. It is also really good if you are interested in sport, health or fitness as you can apply some of the knowledge that you learnt to your life.

Unit 1 involves all the body systems that relate to exercise such as the respiratory, circulatory, skeletal and muscular system. It also includes energy systems which is a bit focus in Unit 3 and 4.  Then it goes on to talk about biomechanics and how it affects sport, e.g. it talks about the laws of motion and how they can affect throwing a ball or how your centre of gravity is affected.  There is also a detailed study on a topic, which you can read up on here.

Unit 2 involves sports coaching and measuring physical activity which includes the National Physical Activity Guidelines.  Your school will choose another detailed study.

Unit 3 content:
- ways of measuring physical activity for both individuals and the population
- the National Physical Activity Guidelines
- the socioecological model (boring!)
- different strategies that promote physical activity in Australia and how effective they are
- a more biological section that covers:
     > the ways different energy systems work and the fuels they use
     > how fatigue works and how to recover
     > how the respiratory, muscular and cardiovascular systems work

Unit 4 content: it's called 'Enhancing Performance', and that's basically what it is!  Covers:
- what fitness is and how to assess it
- principles of fitness training
- methods of fitness training
- other performance-improving techniques (legal and illegal), like diet, hydration, psychology, drugs
- anti-doping codes
This section also includes a 6 week training program where you will learn about training principles such as progressive overload and duration as well as fitness testing.

Skills and difficulty
The exam is mainly short answer, with no long or extended response questions; there are a few multi choice.

PE has a really good balance of memory vs applying your knowledge questions.  Because nothing in it is very hard to understnad, it's not difficult to do well in.

For longer summaries of each outcome in Units 3 and 4, see here.

Health and Human Development

Content

Unit 3

- what is health, and the ways we measure a population's level of health [lots of definitions]
- differences between people's health, and why they exist (we use 'determinants of health' to explain this)
- our top diseases (National Health Priority Areas) - what they are, why they're bad, what increases their risk, and how we try to stop them
- nutrition
- different general approaches to improving health
- healthcare system: learn details about how Medicare works, how private health insurance works etc., and the Govt's healthcare jobs
- VicHealth (a health promotion group who do stuff to improve health in Victoria)
- how the government promotes healthy eating

For more content details, try Overview of unit 3 AOS 1 and Overview of Unit 3 AOS 2.

Unit 4

- what is human development and sustainability
- differences in health & development between developed and developing countries and why they exist, e.g. due to access to education, healthcare, safe water, income, food, etc.
- some ways we help developing countries get better health and human development and how much impact they have:
--> the UN
--> types of aid
--> the WHO
--> Australian aid
--> NGO aid
--> lots of programs that target specific issues, like education, healthcare, income, safe water, food, etc.

More details: Overview of Unit 4 AOS 1 and Overview of Unit 4 AOS 2.

SAC and exam skills and question styles
There are 3 SACs in each unit which test the course content in order with short-answer questions - essentially, they're like 1/6 of the exam.  All questions are short answer, the highest questions being worth 6 marks.  They follow a fairly simple and easily learnable formula/template.  The sorts of things you have to do are:

a.  Regurgitate content you've learned
b.  Identify content in case studies
b.  Explain the impact of the content on society (our health and development), which is fairly easy to make up.

It doesn't require great writing skills or much creativity - but it does require ability to memorise information.

Difficulty
Imo, fairly easy compared to most.  It's quite content-heavy, with lots of information and definitions to learn, but it's all very easy to understand.  There's also little competition as people often take it as their bludge, and the 99ers tend to avoid it.  (Of course it still takes work).

Can you pick up 3/4 without 1/2?
Definitely!  This gives details on what content you'd need to catch up on.

Conclusion
I highly recommend doing this subject if you're at all interested in health and the growth of developing countries; Unit 3 is very relevant to general knowledge about health and healthcare, and Unit 4 helps you realise how other countries are so disadvantaged, and why.  Unless learning content is absolutely not your thing, if you work hard, I believe you have a chance of scoring far more highly than you would in many other subjects.

Also see this guide and this post for more details

Business Studies

LOTE

[n.a]

Okay, so I'm not Year 9 or Year 10 (I'm in Year 11 ), but I have a question. When I tell people that I'm doing Further this year, and Methods and Spesh next year, they tell me that only 2 of my 3 Maths subjects will be 'counted' towards my ATAR, so what am I doing and why am I wasting my time.

It's NOT a waste of time, because I love Maths and I love having 3/6 subjects as Maths, but is it true? Will one of them not be counted?

[pi]

Okay, so I'm not Year 9 or Year 10 (I'm in Year 11 ), but I have a question. When I tell people that I'm doing Further this year, and Methods and Spesh next year, they tell me that only 2 of my 3 Maths subjects will be 'counted' towards my ATAR, so what am I doing and why am I wasting my time.

It's NOT a waste of time, because I love Maths and I love having 3/6 subjects as Maths, but is it true? Will one of them not be counted?

Not quite. Only 2 can be counted in your Top 4. Your worst one scaled will be 'bottom 2' even if it's a 50.

[n.a]

Not quite. Only 2 can be counted in your Top 4. Your worst one scaled will be 'bottom 2' even if it's a 50.

But it still contributes to my ATAR, right?

[schooliskool]

But it still contributes to my ATAR, right?

Yeah you still get the 10% increment.
People say its a waste of time because if you look at the bigger picture, what you get in methods and spesh will (most probably) be higher than your further score. It just sucks because even if you don't score as highly on your other subjects, one of your maths will be irrelevant (your bottom two only add to your atar score a little bit) so your top four might not consist of your actual top study scores.
But if you enjoy it man, it isn't a waste of time.
And anyway, bit late to back out now ey? You could drop spesh but I don't recommend it, it's a great subject aswell as it does wonders to your atar. Good luck man.

[n.a]

Yeah you still get the 10% increment.
People say its a waste of time because if you look at the bigger picture, what you get in methods and spesh will (most probably) be higher than your further score. It just sucks because even if you don't score as highly on your other subjects, one of your maths will be irrelevant (your bottom two only add to your atar score a little bit) so your top four might not consist of your actual top study scores.
But if you enjoy it man, it isn't a waste of time.
And anyway, bit late to back out now ey? You could drop spesh but I don't recommend it, it's a great subject aswell as it does wonders to your atar. Good luck man.

Yeah, I'd much prefer doing all the Maths, than having to deal with WRITING subjects, which is decidedly be crap at, anyway. Less stressful for me, in a way. Anyway, thanks for the support!

[TheMereCat]

Yeah, I'd much prefer doing all the Maths, than having to deal with WRITING subjects, which is decidedly be crap at, anyway. Less stressful for me, in a way. Anyway, thanks for the support!

Hey, i'm doing all the maths just like you, and so i'm in the same position, I guess the main thing is as long as you enjoy the math subjects and you stay on top of your game in year 12 you should be good.

[Kimiakimia]

Advise pls!!!!!


I'm in year 11 currently and  I'm doing 1/2 chemistry,1/2 methods, 1/2specialists, 1/2 English, and 3/4 biology and I'm really unsure whether to do physics for my 6th subject or not for this year

Note that I want to do the same exacts subjects for year 12 except that I'll finish bio this year

is it going to be too much work load for year 12 having spesh,methods English (EAL), chemistry and physics alltogether and If so, what other subjects do you recommend to swap with physics

[Joseph41]

Advise pls!!!!!


I'm in year 11 currently and  I'm doing 1/2 chemistry,1/2 methods, 1/2specialists, 1/2 English, and 3/4 biology and I'm really unsure whether to do physics for my 6th subject or not for this year

Note that I want to do the same exacts subjects for year 12 except that I'll finish bio this year

is it going to be too much work load for year 12 having spesh,methods English (EAL), chemistry and physics alltogether and If so, what other subjects do you recommend to swap with physics

Welcome to the forums!

Depends. What are you interested in? What might you want to do after school? What are you good at?

[heids]

oh help no

someone bumped this, now I realise I haven't followed up on that subject reviews thing for months... *adds another item to her overflowing plate*

is it going to be too much work load for year 12 having spesh,methods English (EAL), chemistry and physics alltogether and If so, what other subjects do you recommend to swap with physics

This is a fairly typical workload - 5 in year 12 is normal and you're doing the Asian 5 like 2/3 of this forum.  Do you enjoy physics or not?  If you hate it, consider something else.

[MightyBeh]

someone bumped this, now I realise I haven't followed up on that subject reviews thing for months... *adds another item to her overflowing plate*

I can write one (and/or make someone else do it) for Further if you'd like. Given that it's module-based it might be better as a collaboration thing though.

[dankfrank420]

Advise pls!!!!!


I'm in year 11 currently and  I'm doing 1/2 chemistry,1/2 methods, 1/2specialists, 1/2 English, and 3/4 biology and I'm really unsure whether to do physics for my 6th subject or not for this year

Note that I want to do the same exacts subjects for year 12 except that I'll finish bio this year

is it going to be too much work load for year 12 having spesh,methods English (EAL), chemistry and physics alltogether and If so, what other subjects do you recommend to swap with physics

Personally, I didn't find physics much of a workload. It's just straightforward calculations (considering you're doing spesh) and some theory that you can literally copy onto a sheet of paper. It's the easiest of the 3 sciences in my opinion, ironic given I scored the lowest in it (probably due to my lack of effort ahah).

However, if it intimidates you, go for Further as you seem interested in math given your subject choices.

[Joseph41]

Just bumping this fantastic thread, as there have been a lot of subject selection questions recently.

Remember: you don't need to study subjects that scale up to score highly.

[Joseph41]

BUMP!

It's that time of year again. Already, we've seen heaps of people looking for advice on subject selection. Whether you're in Year 9, Year 10 or Year 11, this thread will be really helpful - the opening post is fantastic.

Make sure you let us know if you have any questions.