Should I be concerned?

[Stick]

So as you can see in my forum signature, I'll be completing all three Maths subjects for VCE, which means I may incur a penalty if all three of them end up in my top 4. Especially since I got a 50 in Further, I'm starting to become a little bit worried that the chances of me incurring the penalty are greatly increasing. Am I needlessly worrying? Is there anything I can do to ensure Biology or Chemistry end up in the top 4?

EDIT: My version of 'penalty' is not having three Maths in your top 4 when under normal circumstances they would be. Forgive me for my poor word choice.

[jimmy22]

So as you can see in my forum signature, I'll be completing all three Maths subjects for VCE, which means I may incur a penalty if all three of them end up in my top 4. Especially since I got a 50 in Further, I'm starting to become a little bit worried that the chances of me incurring the penalty are greatly increasing. Am I needlessly worrying? Is there anything I can do to ensure Biology or Chemistry end up in the top 4?

Umm... Work very hard at them?

I don't think you should be worried at all though. You seem to have a passion in Biol and Chem so i'm sure you'll do very well.

[HighLatency]

Incur penalties? What kind of penalties?

I thought you couldn't have 3 maths in your top 4, period.

[Stick]

I'm just so annoyed that my school encourages strong Maths students to do all three subjects. Sure, I will take responsibility for not being better informed about VCE in Year 10, but I think it's also quite detrimental for the school to actually push for it. Not that I'm taking my 50 for granted, of course.

I'm just hoping there's something I can do to make the possibility of a penalty really unlikely. :/

[FlorianK]

So as you can see in my forum signature, I'll be completing all three Maths subjects for VCE, which means I may incur a penalty if all three of them end up in my top 4. Especially since I got a 50 in Further, I'm starting to become a little bit worried that the chances of me incurring the penalty are greatly increasing. Am I needlessly worrying? Is there anything I can do to ensure Biology or Chemistry end up in the top 4?

Well you could fail methods or you could do well in those subjects haha.
But to sooth you, your 50 will always remain in your top 4.
Lets say you get [these are not predictions!!!]
English:40 --> 39
Further:50 --> 50
Methods:40 --> 44
Specialist:40 --> 51
Chemistry:35 --> 40
Biology:35 --> 36

Then your increments will be:
English - 39
Specialist - 51
Further - 50
Chemistry - 40
Methods - 4.5
Biology - 3.6

And well you don't get penalized they just don't count more than 2 math subjects to your top 4.

But yeah as a tip, when you have work for Chem and Methods to do always prioratise Chem, because it will count much more than methods and well you do alot of methods in spesh anyways. So yeah my advice is to partly neglect methods and work harder for those subjects that will be in your top 4

[Stick]

At this stage, this is what I think I may get:

English: 40 --> 39
Biology: 40 --> 41
Chemistry: 40 --> 44
Further Mathematics: 50 --> 50
Mathematical Methods (CAS): 40 --> 44
Specialist Mathematics: 35 --> 47

I either need to make sure that I do much better in Biology (I'm not sure though) or prioritise my studies in such a way that Chemistry takes precedence over Methods. :/ I'm just not sure. It feels wrong to neglect a study.

[FlorianK]

Just study heaps for everything haha

[Stick]

I will do that anyway. Some people have said I should be aiming for a 45 in Biology instead of a 40, but since I've only started it's difficult to gauge just how good I am at the subject. :S If that ends up to be the case, then I have little to worry about.

[BoredSatan]

There isn't a penalty.. You just get your lowest maths subject as a bottom 2..

[brenden]

You should definitely be aiming for a 45+ in Biology...

[REBORN]

You should definitely be aiming 45+ in Chemistry...

[Conic]

The only penalty for doing 3 maths is that you can only have 2 in your top 4. You don't need to worry about "forcing" Bio and Chem into your top 4 as long as you do well in them.

[b^3]

Stick just stop stressing over all these small things and just do the best you can in everything, no point worrying about these things when you can't do anything to change it (i.e. you're not going to change subs and its best if you stick to what you're good at). And theres no point blaming the school, you've already got a damn 50 under your belt, you should be happy with that. If you get halfway through the year and see that one subject isn't working as well as others, then start prioritising but don't start before you even know how you're going to go in any of them.

[Stick]

Please don't turn this into a "Stick stop stressing/Stick be grateful/Stick don't blame others" thread. I've noticed that more often than not I merely ask a question and people then tell me to "stop". Thank you for your contribution, however.

[Kuchiki]

I can definitely empathise and understand your concern. Between the restriction on maths subjects and the compulsory English subject, there was always the possibility that I would end up with my two lowest-scoring subjects in my primary four, and that would have really annoyed me.

With that in mind, I intentionally neglected Specialist this year (since I did well in Methods last year, I assumed that Methods would be in my top four, which actually didn't happen). I know it feels wrong to neglect a study, but just think of it as a sacrifice.

If you can manage to study a lot for all your subjects, then go ahead. But otherwise, prioritise what's going to contribute more to your ATAR. I dedicated half the Term 3 holidays and all of my exam period solely to English Language, and I just managed to make it my 4th highest subject score.

Don't worry about it too much, though; just keep it in mind when dividing up your study time.