Should I be concerned?

[abcdqd]

i think you should aim for a specialist score that scales over 50 so that it goes in your top 4, and not focus that much on methods. since specialist and methods have alot of complementary topics, you should still be able to do decently without putting as much effort into it. btw, if you can get a 50 in further, you should aim very high for biology and make it one of your top 4 as well

[max payne]

i think you should aim for a specialist score that scales over 50 so that it goes in your top 4, and not focus that much on methods. since specialist and methods have alot of complementary topics, you should still be able to do decently without putting as much effort into it. btw, if you can get a 50 in further, you should aim very high for biology and make it one of your top 4 as well

This. Stick, I had the privilege of being in a similar position as you having achieved a 50 in further in year 11 and doing all 3 maths. After playing around on atarcalc over the summer and also realising spesh's new insane scaling of +12, I realised it would most efficient if I concentrated on specialist and pretty much do nothing for methods-seriously all I did nothing all year and only did a couple trials at school before the exam. I didn't even do as well as I liked in the spesh exams and still managed a 39 raw scaled to ~50 and also ended up getting a methods SS of 42 (purely from spesh knowledge). So as you could see, even with a not-so-good exam performance in spesh, I would've still needed a 50 raw in methods to equalise my sscaled spesh score. I reckon that if your decent at maths, the easiest subject to get a scaled 50 in is specialist-bar none. So if I were you-and this is only if you want to maximise your ATAR in the most efficient way- I'd focus mainly on speah rather than methods aswell as one of the science subjects (chemistry is good since it scales nicely). Good luck 
Edit: So annoying to post from a phone. Edited so many times

[Stick]

It just feels so wrong to neglect a subject! :S I just really hope I do extremely well in Biology or Chemistry next year in such a way that it's naturally better than Methods. I'll have to see how things go though.

[max payne]

It just feels so wrong to neglect a subject! :S I just really hope I do extremely well in Biology or Chemistry next year in such a way that it's naturally better than Methods. I'll have to see how things go though.

Of course it does. That's because you enjoy learning and that's good. But you also have to realise that VCE is also a competition to get into your desired university course. Idk it's your choice but I just gave you some options.

[Stick]

Thanks - unfortunately, it's something I'm going to have to consider.

[Planck's constant]

Stick, there is this kid on AN who would describe your 'concern' as a first world problem

[Special At Specialist]

Stick, there is this kid on AN who would describe your 'concern' as a first world problem

Lol I know who you're talking about

But seriously though, Stick, don't worry. Think about it this way: if you'd scored really low in further maths, you wouldn't have this dilemma. You are only facing this problem BECAUSE you scored so well and now you have the potential to do extremely well.
Specialist maths is easier to get the higher scaled score (considering a 39 becomes a 50), so focus on that and only put minimal effort into methods. Knowing you, I think you could probably get a 45+ in biology, so that should overtake your methods score and you won't have to worry.

[pi]

If you enjoy all your subjects, there is no concern. If you don't like all your subjects, then there is a concern.

A few posters before (tldr) had a lot of numbers and whatnot in their posts. That's cool, but I think the line above is more important.

edit: typo

[Stick]

I enjoy all my subjects, but I'd hate that to jeopardise my future endeavours. I think I'm going to aim to ace all of my subjects equally well and if I can see that isn't going to turn out, I'll prioritise my subjects so that English, Biology and Chemistry get most of my attention.

To be absolutely honest, I have a feeling Chemistry may end up in my top 4 naturally anyway.

[pi]

Then you have no concern

"Don't play a numbers game, play a 'do the best I can' game" <-- my advice.

[b^3]

Then you have no concern

"Don't play a numbers game, play a 'do the best I can' game" <-- my advice.

This, seriously.

[Biceps]

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.

Chem is easier to get 45+ in than bio. In bio you're not only marked on how much you know but also how you say what you know.
Don't neglect methods btw just prioritize science subjects over it. I found that specialist helped me with methods anyway so i studied much less for methods.

[curry_bro]

Chem is easier to get 45+ in than bio. In bio you're not only marked on how much you know but also how you say what you know.

i dont know :S chemistry has a very tight A+ range, and i found biology to be very decent in difficulty. if youre a strong english student, the expression required for biology is not hard to meet. so long as you learn what the examiner is looking for in your wording, you should be able to get full marks for most questions.

i think if you work hard on building on your theoretical knowledge, stick, and perfect the writing style, you can definitely get a score around 45, or above.

[Fantasia94]

Yeah you're absolutely right curry_bro about biol. I seriously studied so much for biology and was incredibly passionate about it, like read the whole text book and did so many questions throughout the year, but felt that my english expression and interpretation let me down as English isn't my first language. But yeah, with correct expression and insightful knowledge about the course you will do spectacular!!

[watto_22]

Because of scaling, I would say Stick that you should work really hard for spesh.

Whereas methods can only ever be equal to your score for further, meanwhile spesh can scale above that magical 50.

Clearly getting 50+ for spesh is seriously tough, but that should really be your aim. With scaling from 2011 and 2012, you need about a 39 raw score to get above 50. That's like a low A+ for SACs and exams.

Throughout the year, if that 50+ is looking like a possibility, work really hard for spesh and also perhaps do less work for methods and put that time and effort into English which will definitely be in your top 4 (and hence 10 times more important to your ATAR than methods in your bottom 4).

If the 50+ for spesh isn't looking likely, ie your SAC marks are below A average, then maybe do the reverse of above - put more time into methods, less time into spesh and instead do more for English.

Alternatively, option 3 is to just work your hardest for all your subjects and whatever happens will just happen.
'Problem' solved