ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE Mathematics/Science/Technology => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Science => Topic started by: banterific on January 04, 2016, 05:07:02 pm
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Hi guys just contemplating whether to do biology or chemistry next year
Will appreciate any advice regarding which is more enjoyable/easier
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Difficulty depends on your interests and strengths. Typically Chemistry is viewed as being more difficult, but this isn't true for all. Similarly, it's impossible to say which is more enjoyable because that depends on where your educational passions lie.
It's quite hard to answer this for you with such little information. Can you give us some more background? Are you in year 10 at the moment and wanting to pick one of these subjects? If so, which of the two have you preferred in your science subjects leading up to the decision? What kind of career path do you want to follow? Some courses have Chemistry as a prerequisite subject but not biology. Lastly, have you considered doing both/what are your other subjects?
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Hi guys just contemplating whether to do biology or chemistry next year
Will appreciate any advice regarding which is more enjoyable/easier
Everyone has their own different opinion.
Some might say Chemistry is better, while other may say Biology is better. It depends, what sort of science studies, you enjoy the most.
Biology is mainly stuff to do will:
Evolution (inheritance etc...)
living objects (cells, bacteria, humans etc...)
organism functionality
etc...
You can have a view of the Biology curriculum here: http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/biology/BiologySD-2016.pdf
While chemistry is more to do with:
redox reactions
metals
periodic tables
properties of elements
lathanoids and actinoids
etc..
You can have a view of the Chemistry curriculum here: http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/chemistry/ChemistrySD-2016.pdf
Hopefully this helps :)
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Hi guys just contemplating whether to do biology or chemistry next year
Will appreciate any advice regarding which is more enjoyable/easier
For mine, Biology is both more enjoyable and [a lot] easier. With that said, I'd still choose Chemistry for a few reasons:
-Chem serves as a prereq for some courses, biol does not.
-Chemistry can be understood without Biology, but you will never appreciate Biology without Chemistry
-Chemistry is a better introduction to "science", as it were, than Biol
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Chemistry is a prerequisite for Engineering, Medicine, Biomed and Science.
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Chem is more useful as a prereq, but you can sometimes get a subject bonus for doing Bio
I did them simultaneously, and I would definitely recommend this. By doing Chem, you'll have a better understanding of Bio and vice versa. Also, some of the content in their study designs overlap
I personally prefer Biology, and the fact that it doesn't involve calculations in VCE was definitely a plus for me lol
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metals
periodic tables
properties of elements
lathanoids and actinoids
These things barely appear in VCE chemistry at all LOL.
Chemistry is more about how chemicals influence your day to day life, whether you realise it or not. You talk a little bit about the basics (such as equilibria, redox reactions, definitions of acids/bases, types of organic chemicals, etc.), but otherwise most of it is taking those concepts and seeing how to apply them to day to day life. (things such as "how do we make energy?", "how can I know the strength of an acid?", "what is an acid used for?", "what chemicals make up my body?", "how does this relate to the food I eat?", etc.)
If your torn between the two truly and fully, my experience suggests that there's more biology in VCE chem than there is chemistry in VCE bio, and so by doing chem you open yourself to more of "both" as you would if you did bio (if that makes sense, hah). Otherwise, my opinion is with most other people - something, something, pre-reqs.
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These things barely appear in VCE chemistry at all LOL.
Chemistry is more about how chemicals influence your day to day life, whether you realise it or not. You talk a little bit about the basics (such as equilibria, redox reactions, definitions of acids/bases, types of organic chemicals, etc.), but otherwise most of it is taking those concepts and seeing how to apply them to day to day life. (things such as "how do we make energy?", "how can I know the strength of an acid?", "what is an acid used for?", "what chemicals make up my body?", "how does this relate to the food I eat?", etc.)
If your torn between the two truly and fully, my experience suggests that there's more biology in VCE chem than there is chemistry in VCE bio, and so by doing chem you open yourself to more of "both" as you would if you did bio (if that makes sense, hah). Otherwise, my opinion is with most other people - something, something, pre-reqs.
got that stuff from Year 10
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Everyone has their own different opinion.
Some might say Chemistry is better, while other may say Biology is better. It depends, what sort of science studies, you enjoy the most.
Biology is mainly stuff to do will:
Evolution (inheritance etc...)
living objects (cells, bacteria, humans etc...)
organism functionality
etc...
You can have a view of the Biology curriculum here: http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/biology/BiologySD-2016.pdf
While chemistry is more to do with:
redox reactions
metals
periodic tables
properties of elements
lathanoids and actinoids
etc..
You can have a view of the Chemistry curriculum here: http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/chemistry/ChemistrySD-2016.pdf
Hopefully this helps :)
Lanthanoids and actinoids!? You only ever look at those in the final year or two of a chemistry major. I don't know what syllabus you're following if you're doing that in high school :P
You do nothing on the properties of elements too. I daresay many VCE students aren't sure why atoms get smaller across a period and why metallic character decreases across a row but increases down a column
VCE chemistry is more useful in general than bio I feel because while you can study first year uni bio without any previous bio knowledge, you can't do that for chemistry. Keep that in mind.
Bio is also a lot of rote learning too, but I'm really biased against it.
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Lanthanoids and actinoids!? You only ever look at those in the final year or two of a chemistry major. I don't know what syllabus you're following if you're doing that in high school :P
You do nothing on the properties of elements too. I daresay many VCE students aren't sure why atoms get smaller across a period and why metallic character decreases across a row but increases down a column
VCE chemistry is more useful in general than bio I feel because while you can study first year uni bio without any previous bio knowledge, you can't do that for chemistry. Keep that in mind.
Bio is also a lot of rote learning too, but I'm really biased against it.
I was just writting the stuff I know about in chemistry :P
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I was just writting the stuff I know about in chemistry :P
Well...I'll be impressed indeed if it includes a comprehensive understanding of lanthanoid and actinoid complexes :P
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Lanthanoids and actinoids!? You only ever look at those in the final year or two of a chemistry major. I don't know what syllabus you're following if you're doing that in high school :P
You do nothing on the properties of elements too. I daresay many VCE students aren't sure why atoms get smaller across a period and why metallic character decreases across a row but increases down a column
VCE chemistry is more useful in general than bio I feel because while you can study first year uni bio without any previous bio knowledge, you can't do that for chemistry. Keep that in mind.
Bio is also a lot of rote learning too, but I'm really biased against it.
I don't think so
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I would definitely recommend Chemistry- although it is harder than Bio for the vast majority of people (as evidenced by its substantial scaling), it serves as a prerequisite for more courses than does Bio. Thus, for the sake of keeping your options open, I would choose Chemistry, so long as your year 10 results are decent and you think you have a good shot at getting 35+.
Off Topic: Chemistry was my best science, while Physics was my worst in Year 10 (both are from semester 1). Now, it turns out that Physics is my best science subject (a lot of improvement in semester 2!), while Chemistry was alright (I dont understand some of it now :P).
LOL...I dont even want to talk about my bio :-X
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I don't think so
Well it's not to say bio is rote learning. There is a lot of theory in bio; much more than in chem. But it isn't all memory work. Sure you have to know definitions and whatnot, but most of your assessments (sacs, pracs and exams) will focus on application. This means knowing your theory and applying that knowledge, which means you need to understand the content. Basically, you couldn't do very well rote learning bio content, because very few questions test your memory. It is a common misconception that because bio has a lot of theory you can just learn the content and that's all there is to it, but it really isn't!
I personally find bio a lot easier, because it's also my interest, and something I have always excelled at in school (my mother is also a research scientist in botany). I understand the content so much better than I do in chemistry, because I find it easier to relate it to real life. I find chem very difficult, but maybe that's just me. I don't think you can compare to say one is better or easier or more helpful than the other. Because they're all very subjective opinions; there's no set right or wrong opinion. It depends on what you want to do in your future/career, what your strengths are, what your interests are. We can't tell you that.
But of course heed the advice given in this thread it is all worth listening to! But focus on your abilities, because someone might say chem is better because they like calculations but if you don't, chem might not be better :) best of luck!!
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Do chemistry as Mr. T-Rav stated it is a prerequisite subject for many courses. Overall I would say biology is more rote based than chemistry and this is definitely true at university level.
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I thought the trends of the periodic table (atomic radius ect) were taught in unit 1 of VCE chemistry??
Anyways, I reckon chemistry is the better choice as some people are saying now. I'm a year 12 though, so don't take my absolute word for it. Was curious about the trends :/
That happens to be the part of 1/2 that doesn't make an appearance in 3/4
People tend to forget really, really fast