Getting 99 with humanities subjects

[HossRyams]

I'm not sure if this has been asked before, but it's suddenly hit me that I've been mindlessly saying I'd like 99 and have been doing work for it, but still haven't grasped how hard that is. My year 11 scores were satisfactory but it does mean to basically guarantee myself a 99 I'd have to push methods into my bottom 2. At first I thought that'd be easy because I knew maths was my weakness by far, so I believed that achieving higher in subjects I love wouldn't be too difficult.
But now I'm thinking about how all my subjects scale up very little or down, and I'd have to average with a study score of 45 (After scaling) for the 4 subjects I'm taking this year to get a 99 (and I mean a 99.00 pretty much).
All the people I know personally who've gotten above 99 did specialist, methods, chemistry etc. And I'm aiming for 99 because it's needed for my "plan" so far. I know there are back-up options but obviously I want to aim as high as I can!
Anyone know of people who have been successful while doing mainly non-scaling/humanities subjects? Any advice? Or am I over-thinking it?

And why does English and Philosophy etc. have little/no/down scaling - although I like them a lot, they seem so challenging to me... :|

Thanks in advance =]

[ggxoxo]

It's definitely possible- BUT you really have to do really well in your English subject! There was a guy who did all humanities subjects and only did 5 subjects and got 98.50 (so if he did 6 subjects and did as well in that as all his other subjects he would have got 99)

Didn't EZ do mostly humanities/literature subjects and got 99.85???

[AllAboutTheLGs]

Just do your best, sure you may be at a significant disadvantage to the people who do Spesh (scaling is ridiculous, +12 is just awesome) if you do the best that you can you should be able to achieve that 99.

I know my friend who did all humanities subjects managed to get 99 (a low one though) and all he did was get mid 40s in all his subjects. Think it was like 43 EL, 42 Politics, 47 Eco, 42 Legal and 45 Accounting or something like that. Methods was in his bottom.

As for advice just go in with a positive mind set you should be fine. English is KEY though.

[b^3]

It is hard, but not impossible. I remember a user from a few years ago. Think this is who I'm thinking of. Greggaz

Although that includes languages....

[mark_alec]

In 2008 at Macrob, 4 out of the 5 99.95s were humanities people. It is definitely possible to get >=99 without sciences.

[HossRyams]

Thanks for all your replies.
I'm wondering though how I'll handle this since the way most of these science-y people did probably won't be applicable to me in regards to the specifics. It's making me think that I'll have to write essays for ALL of my subjects - while that may be fine considering I like writing a hell of a lot, won't I be so sick of it?!
I know in Psychology (ha ha) I learnt it's helpful to study dissimilar subjects simultaneously, but I totally went against that, LOL.
I think developing my writing will be a necessity for all my subjects without a doubt, but yes, English...

I should probably just stop figuring how to do it and just get on with my work but I like having some tactics, I don't know, I'm silly bahahah

[Professor Polonsky]

Scaling is not a measure of how difficult a subject is. Rather, it's a measure of the strength of the cohort. If a subject is not scaled as much as another, it means that it is easier to get the same score in it.

I wouldn't worry about doing four humanities next year - if those are the subjects which you enjoy, just give it your best shot and I'm sure you'll do well Your Year 11 scores suggest that you certainly have the abilities to.

[HossRyams]

Scaling is not a measure of how difficult a subject is. Rather, it's a measure of the strength of the cohort. If a subject is not scaled as much as another, it means that it is easier to get the same score in it.

I wouldn't worry about doing four humanities next year - if those are the subjects which you enjoy, just give it your best shot and I'm sure you'll do well Your Year 11 scores suggest that you certainly have the abilities to.

Aw thank you :') Congratulations on your scores! Looks like we matched for methods hehehe

It's frightening though, from what I've gathered, the cohorts for Politics and Philosophy are tiny (I think around ~1k each, compared to the ~15k in Psych/Methods)... Wouldn't only the people genuinely interested take those subjects, thus make it harder to compete with them? D:

[Will T]

Some dude at my school got 99.95 last year with all humanities + 1 LOTE. He did: English; Literature; Classics; Latin; Australian history, Revolutions and I think Philosophy, but definitely the first 6.
And also, considering Philosophy scaled down this year I guess the Philosophy cohort isn't as competitive as the subject is challenging.

[pi]

The dux and school captain of MGS a few years back got 99.95 with hums subjects

[HossRyams]

Some dude at my school got 99.95 last year with all humanities + 1 LOTE. He did: English; Literature; Classics; Latin; Australian history, Revolutions and I think Philosophy, but definitely the first 6.
And also, considering Philosophy scaled down this year I guess the Philosophy cohort isn't as competitive as the subject is challenging.

By any chance is that guy, this guy mentioned by b^3:

It is hard, but not impossible. I remember a user from a few years ago. Think this is who I'm thinking of. Greggaz

Although that includes languages....

HAHA! Perhaps I should creepily message him. <_>

[EvangelionZeta]

Didn't EZ do mostly humanities/literature subjects and got 99.85???

I did Specialist and Methods as well, but my best scores were all humanities.  99+ with humanities is definitely possible.

[Lolly]

*crosses fingers*

[Bad Student]

By any chance is that guy, this guy mentioned by b^3:

HAHA! Perhaps I should creepily message him. <_>

Nope, they're different people.

[FlorianK]

You should be fine, 48 for Psych is heaps good, I'm sure you'd be able to score near that in your other subjects. And you don't even need another 48 for a 99.

English 45
Psych 48
Philosophy 45
Global 43
Methods 40
UMEP 4.0

Will 'already' net you a 99


For the 45+ in English just post some essays on the forum:)