How many subjects?

[chem88]

I'm in year 11 and putting in my subjects for next year.
Currently doing a 3/4 and not sure how well I'll do in it, but wondering if i should do 4 subjects next year or the full load of 5? Or would 4 + uni subject be better? my subjects are hard and work intensive

Do any options make for easier/less stressful year 12, or tend to give a better score?

thanks in advance

[t35t]

There's a guy in my UMEP group whose doing a full 5. But it isn't just *any* 5 subjects, it so happens to include 4 of the hardest subjects ever (subjectively speaking)

Specialist, English, Physics, Chemistry, Methods +UMEP BIO

I have no idea how he manages tbh- but he shows that it's possible. I certainly think a full load of 5 is possible + UMEP, however, I think that it would be adding more stress upon yourself, whereas say, doing 4+UMEP might ease the stress significantly
options are simple: A) study hard with 4 subjects and prioritize+ focus. You give yourself breathing space and resting time but you severely limit your options as to what can go into your bottom 2 (I only have, at the end of the day, 5 vce +UMEP- bit silly of me, but then I think to myself about what other subject I could have possibly done, and I realised I didn't really have much of a choice anyways)
or B) choose 5 subjects, add quite a significant amount of stress upon yourself- but by the same token you keep your options open as to what is planned upon as being the top 4. Only do 5 subjects if your the type of person who, once commited, continues on with their heads held high no matter what. If you do 5 subjects +UMEP, and find that its an incredibly stressful challenge, but you keep your head held high and push through, then I say go for it. If you don't want to play your chances, as in, you don't know if whether you'll be able to do that or not, then I say just do 4 subjects.

By the way, despite my friend having a full schedule, he still has time to read comic books.

Also, to place things in perspective, I think there are some grammar schools that require you to do 6 subjects at year 12 (in the same year)- so that's the equivalent of 5+UMEP. It's not impossible- but it's certainly moreover a question of stress and its extent

[tigerlivie]

In all honesty, if you're doing the UMEP it's probably your passion anyway (otherwise you wouldn't consider doing it, right?) so why not just treat it like a Y12 subject? Adding that extra subject does give you greater flexibility regarding top 4, but if you love something you're likely to want to do the work and want to sacrifice some time for it - and then will likely get good marks anyway.

I'm doing pretty intense subjects this year, and plan to do UMEP next year and I've been told from every person I've asked to "do it as a Y12 subject, why would you put that much stress on yourself?"

I guess the question you need to ask yourself is - do you really need that 5th subject? It sounds like the guy above could've sacrificed specialist and just gone straight for UMEP maths.

[paulsterio]

I'm in year 11 and putting in my subjects for next year.
Currently doing a 3/4 and not sure how well I'll do in it, but wondering if i should do 4 subjects next year or the full load of 5? Or would 4 + uni subject be better? my subjects are hard and work intensive

Do any options make for easier/less stressful year 12, or tend to give a better score?

thanks in advance

First of all, there are no "hard" subjects, if you find that your subjects are "hard", it might mean that you're not picking the right subjects - I experienced the same thing, the subjects which I enjoyed I found rather easy, but the subjects which I didn't enjoy, I found really hard.

Options - well, I'd say, do what you enjoy and do what motivates you to work!

[iirene]

I'm currently doing 4 + UMEP in year 12. I chose to give up my sixth subject, which was VET Interactive Digital Media (a folio subject). Honestly, it wouldnt have been MUCH more work and i was GOOD at it but it was an afterschool class, as was my UMEP on another day. I'm also on the school leadership team. So this year I've been going to meetings (because you have to be involved with diff things and organise events, etc) so much that I have a lunchtime meeting 3/5 days of the week. With the extra subject, I would be running around all lunchtime as well as losing at least two days of homeworking time - One for UMEP and one for VET (not to mention tutor).

The only thing I would change about this year is not dropping my VET subject. I loved it... but between my leadership role, "hard" subjects and UMEP, it seems like it may have 'thrown me over the edge' by swallowing a chunk of my time. At times, I look at my subjects and wonder if I was crazy to choose them. But there wouldn't be one of these subjects that I would give up (the whole choosing subjects you love thing).
Admittedly, sometimes work just gets a bit much. So it's all about time-management and all that shizz. I learn as I go so that it's pretty much stuck in my head somewhere: cramming does not work very well for me . So even if I do have, say, as an example of my past experiences, 1 or 2 sacs a DAY for EVERYday of a week... It's not too bad since you already know all the content anyway.

So, as they say, year 12 is what you make of it. It would definitely be 'easier' without one of my role/subjects/UMEP, but it wouldnt have been the same. Saying this, I know some people who are constantly more stressed than me and they're doing five of the "easy" subjects (no uni) without being really involved in co-curricular stuff. Remember, you need support from your school saying that they think you can handle it as well. 5+ uni will be hard, but possible.

[charmanderp]

Specialist, English, Physics, Chemistry, Methods +UMEP BIO

Not including uni bio, I think that's probably the most common combination of subjects taken. And if you're friend enjoys reading comic books (apologies for playing on stereotypes, although I'm a humanities student who reads comic books) he's very possibly passionate about those subjects

But yeah, like Paul said, there are no 'hard' subjects; I find Chemistry and English to be subjects I barely need to study for to do well, but can't even get above 80% in Methods without working really hard. It's all relative. Only you can know what you're capable of.