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
If you study hard enough, you can easily make it with these subjects (I am doing similar subjects this year, however instead of biology, I am basically doing first year university maths).
Brief difficulty outline : - Biology: Although I did do well in biology last year, I didn't find it interesting.... which is why I dropped. It is not that difficult to do well in biology... you just need to memorise the content basically (there are a few application questions, where you are tested on multiple things). Scales by ~1 (if you get a 40 raw study score)
- Chemistry: A bit more harder than Biology. A lot more mathematics is involved, and you need to remember a lot of formulas (the best way to memorise so many formulas in chemistry is through deriving them). You also need to write quite a few practical reports, and do a practical and a research investigation in year 11 (you only have to do the practical investigation in year 12).If you are good at maths, you won't have many problems doing stoichiometry (a lot of students have problem with this one). Scales by ~4 (if you get a 40 raw study score).
- Physics: I would say it's easier than Chemistry, but a bit harder a Biology. Once again a lot of maths and formulas are involved. You don't need to write as many practical reports as in chemistry, but you do have to do a research and a practical investigation in year 11 (and only a research investigation in year 12). Make sure you understand the concepts really well (
this applies to all maths and sciences), and are able to apply them to different scenarios and questions. Scales up by ~2
- Specialist maths: I was a bit disappointed by this one... The subject is quite overrated, and is much easier than it seems. You don't have to be really good at maths to do well in this subject. I think the key to doing well in specialist is understanding the concepts really well. Scales up by 10 if you get a 40 raw.
- Methods: Easier than specialist (some students think specialist is easier). Like other maths, you just need to be proffiecent with your calculator, and efficiently (can specify on this statement if you pm me) work through out your test. Scales up by 4-5 depending on exam difficulty.
- English: I am probably not the best person talking on this one, as I usually received 85-95% in my SACs last year (year 11)- I think HopefulLawStudent or Literally Lauren will be able to explain better than me
. Scales down by ~1 unfortunately.
Tbh I found all the subjects quite manageable last year. You just need to be update to date with everything (staying a chapter ahead of class really helps, and would basically allow you to have more to time to understand the content).
A 6th subject would definitely bring your ATAR up, and would really recommend you to do one. It doesn't necessarily have to be methods, it can be any other subject, however don't forget that in order to do specialist, you need to do methods (it is a prerequisite).
Good Luck
Note: This is my just opinion. It would vary from person to person, so in no way this can reflect the actual difficulty of the subjects listed above, as it is totally dependent on your perspective.(I will add a lot more information on these subjects in the coming days)