Subject Selection Dilemma

[shadows]

Hi guys! So the start of this year didn't go so well. Probably the worst start to the school year for as long as I can remember. I have been thinking a lot since tomorrow is the start of Term 2.

I'm in Year 11
Subjects I am currently enrolled in are:

English
Math Methods (3/4)
Biology 
Chemistry
Psychology
French

The thing I'm worried about is French. I've been doing French since Year 7, and never really took it seriously until the end of last year... And Now that it's VCE, I find that I'm often lost, Grammar and Vocabularly is extremely tedious, and I just don't have enough exposure to the language to do a good job of it. Sometimes I really don't know why I wanted to do it.
It was cause I tought it would be really cool to learn the language and the scaling really appealed to me.  But I have soon learnt that French takes a lot of effort, and getting a 35+ raw in the subject is really really hard because the top quartile of the subject cohort is extremely strong.

I've been telling myself that I just study super hard this year, and I'll be fine next year. But that hasn't been going well, and I'm starting to find going to each French class daunting as teacher would ask us to read a passage, answer his questions, give our opinions in French. (Our teacher mostly speaks French and I sometimes find it hard to understand him) I am really quiet and pretty embarrassed because everyone else in my class is pretty good. Out of a class of 13ish.. I'm probably amongst the bottom 5 D:.  I've spoken to my French teacher, and he says I'm doing fine, and just work hard this year and I'll be fine... Really? Honestly?


I have been considering doing specialist math, but didn't want to do it, because I was disappointed at my 1/2 scores (didn't really try, and did really bad compared to everyone else),  and convinced myself I was really bad at math. All throughout highschool I didn't really think Math was my strength, but I was placed in acceleration since yr 7.

I received my SAC scores, and my teacher said that I did really well, and scored at the upper end (of a strong cohort). Funny enough I found 3/4 Math somewhat easier because I actually tried and did heaps of work.

The thing about math is that the only downfall is that I make heaps of mistakes. I'm just so careless! But with mathematical concepts, I find that I am good and understand the steps as to what to do, and specialist is more forgiving when it comes to silly errors.

But I've heard specialist is way way harder than methods (which I find OK, not hard, not easy..) and the concepts are more abstract.

I need your guys help! Should I change subjects? I saying about 60-75% of everyone at my school is doing specialist...,and I'm the only one i know accelerating in methods and not doing specialist.
Is Specialist that time consuming? Because I need to spend time in English as I'm not particularly strong on that as well.
If I do move, I will start GMA at the start of unit 2, will I be disadvantaged? Are all concepts taught in GMA needed for Specialist?

Or should I just stick with French, and prepare really hard this year. You think I can reach into the 35+ in French next year?

A lot of my teachers say that I don't have self confidence, and that I had heaps of potential. On parent teacher interviews, my methods teacher said that she thought that me getting into the 40s in methods was actually pretty reasonable if I tried. (WTF is that even possible?)

Wow, I'm so indesicive and I can't believe I am only thinking about dropping French now. Advice needed!

Thanks You! You guys are seriously amazing!

[Professor Polonsky]

I don't really have much of an experience with French (did it for two years), so I'll stick to Spesh advice.

Spesh really is not that much work, especially if you have already done Methods 3/4. Really. The Spesh workload is lower than the Methods one, and already having the Methods background, many topics (particularly calculus) should already be familiar to you.

The way my school taught it, basically nothing in Semester 1 GMA was necessary for Specialist. Many GMA topics are useful in Spesh, but hardly necessary. Some will give you a good background, and some are certainly extremely helpful (say doing complex numbers in Year 11), but just like Methods, they will all be taught again in Spesh. Especially since you've only missed out on term 1 of GMA, it's certainly not too late at all to switch. You will not have missed out on too much at all.

If you're good with the conceptual stuff, then Spesh should work great for you. You still need to be careful, just like when doing any subject, but you will be much more rewarded for conceptual understanding.

[shadows]

The work load is less than methods o.o? Every says its way more...

I've see you've done Methods 3/4 before.. How hard do you think Specialist is, compared to Methods?

[deleted]

First off.
It's year 11. VCE is way harder compared to your middle school days. Although you shouldn't be expecting your worst, don't be surprised when it gets bad.

I did Chinese since year 7 until the end of last year. I decided to drop it mainly because I didn't like it and as a result, my grades and scores for the subject were below par.

At the moment it's seems that you don't even like French, and you're only doing it cause it scales a lot.
If that's true, don't do that.


Now with maths.
Everyone makes mistakes, it's how we learn.
I see that you're doing methods 3/4 and you're saying you're 'accelerating' so that's good. In my opinion, if you're doing well in methods 3/4 then you should take up spesh.
The things we learn in Unit 1 are covered again in Units 3 and 4, so you're not disadvantaged in any way.
And Polonius has covered everything else pretty well, so I'll leave it at that.


So yeah, I'd drop French and take up GMA if I was in your position.


May I ask how come you're not doing an English subject?

[shadows]

First off.
It's year 11. VCE is way harder compared to your middle school days. Although you shouldn't be expecting your worst, don't be surprised when it gets bad.

I did Chinese since year 7 until the end of last year. I decided to drop it mainly because I didn't like it and as a result, my grades and scores for the subject were below par.

At the moment it's seems that you don't even like French, and you're only doing it cause it scales a lot.
If that's true, don't do that.


Now with maths.
Everyone makes mistakes, it's how we learn.
I see that you're doing methods 3/4 and you're saying you're 'accelerating' so that's good. In my opinion, if you're doing well in methods 3/4 then you should take up spesh.
The things we learn in Unit 1 are covered again in Units 3 and 4, so you're not disadvantaged in any way.
And Polonius has covered everything else pretty well, so I'll leave it at that.


So yeah, I'd drop French and take up GMA if I was in your position.


May I ask how come you're not doing an English subject?

I'm not really good at essay writing so I'll try steer away from subjects involving essay writing.

I also really enjoy/ quite good at science (I thought I really liked physics in Year 9, but took a Physics elective in 10 D: Now i hate physics)

[Jeggz]

The work load is less than methods o.o? Every says its way more...

I've see you've done Methods 3/4 before.. How hard do you think Specialist is, compared to Methods?

I agree with Polonius in that having done Methods 3/4 already you've got a bit of a headstart in a sense. The concepts are a tad-easier to grasp seeing as you have background knowledge on various topics- calculus for instance! I'm not going to lie and say Spesh isn't hard - it's obviously a more demanding subject and this is justified by its scaling and yes it does take a bit more time and patience to grasp some of the concepts and then learn how to apply it in problems, however, I reckon if you're smart enough to be doing MM 3/4 in Year 11 then you shouldn't have a problem tackling Spesh at all 

[deleted]

I'm not really good at essay writing so I'll try steer away from subjects involving essay writing.

I also really enjoy/ quite good at science (I thought I really liked physics in Year 9, but took a Physics elective in 10 D: Now i hate physics)

Oh don't worry, I see that you typed psychology twice in your original post.
In my opinion, all your subjects are fine, but if you truly don't like French and you're only doing it cause it scales, take up spesh cause it's actually a lot more fun than 3/4 methods and you actually seem to enjoy methods.

[shadows]

oops i wrote that post up really  quick...

yeah its only suppose to be one

[shadows]

just wondering... is it hard to get raw low/mid 30s in spesh?

Equivalent of 40+ in methods?

[nspire]

Do Specialist, if you're alright at maths and enjoy it don't worry about the careless mistakes. I studied French for ten years and chose not to do it in VCE, really glad I made that decision. I couldn't even construct sentences that made sense and read aloud passages fluently anymore, but that may be partially due to my loss of interest in the subject....

just wondering... is it hard to get raw low/mid 30s in spesh?

Not if you put the effort in, many of the concepts aren't even that difficult to understand

Equivalent of 40+ in methods?

Yeah maybe

[shadows]

Hmm... I think I going to have to drop French and pick up GMA!

I hope the teachers don't get pissed... and there aren't timetable clashes or anything...

Wish me luck 

* If anyone has done language at Uni tell me about it....  I still find French interesting and I would love to learn it...
just probably not the best time to learn it during VCE... I should be doing subjects I can score well in..

[Jeggz]

Excellent Choice shadows - Maths FTW 
Good luck!