Hey! I'm in year 10 currently and I want to get into Undergraduate medicine (that's if I can manage to meet the crazy high standards). So I'm planning to do Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Maths specialists, and English as VCE subjects. Do you think getting a good score in these subjects would be good enough to land me a spot in Undergraduate med? How hard are they? Are they scaled well? I know I am doing 1/2 physics and hopefully chemistry this year (hopefullyyyyy). Would doing a 6th subject like Maths Methods give me a higher ATAR with these?
Thankyou so much
A lot of people who get into med do these subjects! But as long as you meet the pre-requisites for med (30 in English and 30 in Chem), you can do any combination of subjects :) A bit of advice you'll often hear said is don't just do subjects that scale up...do ones that you enjoy (obviously do ones that are a pre-req too). It's a bit of an eye-roll piece of advice but it's something that I think is super important. I'll also say that you need to have a chat with your teachers and also careers counsellor as well (if your school has one) - they know you better so can give a better insight than people on the internet :)
The difficulty of subjects is relative to your skills/strengths...but none are "pushovers". Some arguably take more work to score well in, some have more content, some are marked more harshly than others, etc etc. I've put my two cents/personal experience in the spoiler below.
Spoiler
I'd argue that Chem is the hardest science, because it involves a fair amount of calculations and knowledge, whereas something like Bio just involves knowledge and its application (it's still not a super easy subject) - although there were people in my Bio class last year who found Bio to be harder than Chem.
In Bio, it's the small mistakes that will end up costing you a lot of marks if you make them repeatedly, but I found it to be a pretty enjoyable subject, it's just one that you really have to learn how to answer questions exactly and how to spot what examiners are looking for in answers. For me, I would say Bio definitely took less effort than Chem, I also did end up with a SS 4 marks higher in Bio (although with scaling, Chem caught up).
English was probably one of the easier and more enjoyable subjects for me, just because I liked doing humanities subjects. It's a subject where it's important to know how to structure pieces and develop and explore ideas and implications. I'd say it's also important to work closely with your teacher with this subject - they can definitely help you improve in English, no matter how good or otherwise you think you are at it.
Methods was easily the hardest subject for me, and there's a large combination of reasons for that. Again, if you like maths, you might find it super easy :)
Your ability to get into med relies on you putting in the effort during year 12 no matter what subjects you do, doing well in the UMAT and doing well in an interview. It also helps to remember (and this is something you'll probably get told a lot once you get to VCE :P), that there's always another way into the course you want to do, even if it isn't through the front door!
Unsolicited extra life advice here as well, but don't let yourself be consumed by it all...use your ambition as a driving force but don't give up your life outside of school, sacrifice your friendships or health just for VCE...you can score extremely well without giving up any of this, just by working smart :D
Oh, and in terms of doing a 6th subject, it will give you that extra 10% in your ATAR, so I'd recommend doing it, but it's not essential. I already said it earlier but the best people to give you advice about this are your teachers/careers counsellor!
Here's the link to the 2016 scaling report so you can check out how subjects scale at different points: http://www.vtac.edu.au/files/pdf/scaling_report_16.pdf
All the best!