Subject Question

[s.ay]

Hi all!
So, I'm currently in year ten, and have recently chosen my 3&4 for next year; History Revolutions. Received my timetable etc etc, all was good. BUT, a few days ago I got called into the senior school coordinators office for a 'chat'. I, and two others, were told that, if we wanted to, we could complete literature 3/4 next year instead (this hasn't previously been an option, but due to our marks, they are making an exception). My question to all you lovely people is should I continue as planned, and complete history? Or should I swap to lit?
Thanks

[iloveschool]

i think do literature as it will give u a taste of english which is one of your to 4 subjects for vce, and if u mess up on lit then u can gve it another go or try another english in year 12

[funkyducky]

I agree, do Lit, so you have a score for an english study to fall back on, seeing as one of either English or Lit must be in your top 4. It's just safer.

[monkeywantsabanana]

I suggest that if you really want to do Revolutions, you should do it in year 12 when your English is at it's 'peak'.

[s.ay]

mmm valid points all round. Thanks guys, will continue to mull over this

[iliketurtles]

I suggest that if you really want to do Revolutions, you should do it in year 12 when your English is at it's 'peak'.

Conversely, History is also very time consuming and you'd also have an advantage doing it with all the free time in year 11...that's how I felt about it last year at least.

[s.ay]

Yeah that's what has been drilled into my head. Such conflicting messages.

[Lasercookie]

Yeah that's what has been drilled into my head. Such conflicting messages.

I think you need to look at the course content, ask yourself which content sounds more interesting to you. And then go do that subject.
 
It's clear that there's reasonable reasons for both choices. e.g. doing lit in year 11 (and therefore revs in year 12) will result in this benefit but doing revs in year 11 (and therefore lit in year 12) will result in this benefit. It's an equally win-win situation, you end up benefiting either way. I don't think you have anything to lose.

I guess the hard part is picking which subject sounds more interesting. I don't think it's worth making this decision based in terms of what will give a slightly lighter workload and what might be "safer" (whatever that means) or whatever. If you put in the effort, more likely than not you'll do well.

[funkyducky]

There are lots of kids who do History in year 11, but not many who do Lit, so you could possibly have an advantage with Lit as your only 3/4 to concentrate on if you pick it, compared to almost everyone else having to balance it with 3-5 other subjects.

[EvangelionZeta]

Do Lit in year 12.  Lit is highly dependent on your independent thinking and your ability to grasp advanced concepts - you'll always be growing in these regards, and so doing it in year 12 (at the apex of your high school intellectual maturity) is the best idea, in my opinion.  That, and having heaps and heaps of time to it isn't going to help that much (unlike with History).

[Special At Specialist]

I'm curious why they let people accelerate literature but not english...

If I were you, I'd do history. History is the sort of subject that requires a lot of time but only a moderate intelligence/maturity. Since you are in year 11 next year you will have heaps of time to study for that one subject.

Literature is quite the opposite. It requires a lot of intelligence/maturity, but only a moderate amount of time. Someone who is "naturally gifted" tends to do well at literature, whereas in history, it's usually the people that devote the longest amount of time that get the highest marks.

[Menang]

I agree with EZ and Special.

For me, both subjects required a good deal of time, but literature also needed a different level of maturity. You'd be able to handle the concepts in Revolutions quite easily whereas I found a fair bit of literature really challenging even in Year 12.

[s.ay]

Great, thanks everyone for all your insight! I have decided to go with History afterall, just so that I can ensure my vocab and writing is at its peak in year 12 for lit, like some of you have suggested. Thanks so much guys