Subject Change or drop unit or keep same subject

[lin217]

1) Should I drop bio or change to senior science? or keep... I really hate bio so much because there's so much content and nothing actually interests me in bio. I'm not doing that great either (literally ranked half way out of the people who do bio at my school). subjects I do are:

Biology
General Mathematics
Visual arts
Food Technology
SOR2
Standard English

2) Food technology, Visual Arts, Standard eng and SOR2 are subjects that I'm fine with but Genny and Bio hmmm, not so much haha. Genny I must keep though because I may possibly become a teacher in the future, and because a lot of jobs require math anyways. Every Bio lesson I go to makes me feel so drained out - maybe because of the course itself or because of my teacher (freaky and very strict). A lot of the times I get confused with the pracs and when I was in year 11, I failed the Bio prelim exam (cries) because I couldn't really apply my knowledge to unseen scenarios.

3) HOWEVER, if I don't have the choice to move to Senior Science (because of school reasons), is it best to drop or keep Bio?

4) I know I do a lot of the "drop kick" subjects (also bad scaling ones) so I'm really worried about what I should do. SOMEBODY PLEASEEEEEE HELP ME!!! D:

[Lumenoria]

O man I was in a similar position to you on 13 units. I was getting high 80s-90s in everything but in bio I was getting 20s lol. I'm actually quite academically intellectual if you ask people in my school, but I just hated biology so much to the point where I didnt care for it at ALL. I've never dropkicked a subject SO much in my life. I dropped it 2 days ago and it's seriously the best decision I've made for myself. I didn't pick up anything in its place, so now I spend my frees studying for other subjects and it's been really helping in increasing my productivity. If you hate the subject as much as I did, in addition to having low marks, you're honestly not going to benefit from staying in the class—the way you're wording this scenario doesn't seem like you'll get anything positive out of it at ALL. Even if you have the mentality that you'll persevere through it in the future, your hatred for it will make it exceedingly difficult to perform well in it. For me, my hatred was derived from an overall lack of interest in sciences in general; so you might very possibly fall into the same scenario if you take this path. Maybe take senior science for a few weeks and see how you go?

[beatroot]

1. If you think that biology doesn't really interest you it's probably best to move to senior science. Though Senior Science does involve some biology but to of a lesser extent. If you can't drop to senior science, see how you go with biology this term. Since you still have twelve units you can drop bio whenever you want during Year 12. When half yearlies pass by, see how you perform. Though I firmly believe that it's better to keep twelve units altogether as you still have a backup subject just in case.

2. 'Drop kick subjects' are a complete myth. Just because food tech or standard english is not considered as the same 'level' as chemistry or maths ext 2., doesn't mean it will drag you down. It's how YOU apply yourself to the subject. A lot of previous HSC students from my school have gotten above 90, majority have done Visual Arts, SOR 2, Standard English and Biology. Like I said previously, people add in more effort into Year 12 so this allows for a higher scaling/average.

[bimberfairy]

I personally recommend that you not keep a subject you don't enjoy. First of all, you don't enjoy it! Why would you want to torture yourself and attend classes for a subject you hate. Second, all of that wasted energy that you could be channeling into other subjects that you DO enjoy. It's definitely up to you whether you want to drop it, based on if you enjoy or like the subject, and from what you've typed, you seem to downright dislike it. Your 10 highest units are taken into account for your ATAR, and if you know you won't do well in Biology, it'll probably end up as the units that DON'T count.

As for your Senior Science dilemma, I recommend that you check out the syllabus first! Know what you'd be learning in the class, what areas of science etc. and see if anything catches your interest.

Honestly, don't worry about scaling. If you choose subjects that you genuinely enjoy or are good at, the scaling won't even matter! Trust me on this (: