Dilemma: Subject selection (The waste of years of hard work for a new start)

[Guest]

I'm in the midst of choosing my subjects for next year and really struggling to choose between French or Economics (cannot choose both).

The background: I enrolled in French this year and study it once a week at school for 2.5 hours. I complete all set assignments mostly in time with the aid of the Internet. My overall average for French is Credit (the lowest mark on my report us far). My report also indicates that my written expression in French is "unsatisfactory"

My opinion on French: I have no doubt that French is my worst subject. I am also equally sure that I am the worst, or among the worst students in my French class. I cannot compare to my peers. I have been studying it since year 3 and everyday it's like I go back to square one. I have no memory of learning the language. I guess this is an interest thing, as since I lack interest, I am less motivated to commit things I've learnt to memory. I have seriously considered that I have a mental condition when it comes to learning new languages, but have now ruled it out. Many people think my excuses are "silly" but the truth is that I truly try hard in French but find it hard to cope with the pressures of other subjects, especially with the bs at JMSS (at least for this year).

The bad side: If I stop French, I feel as though I have wasted my parents money to pay for tuition and my time and effort this year at school. I could've committed to many other alternative electives and still achieved something greater than what I have now. The list of "could have..." Goes on but is still incomparable in magnitude to the list of "what ifs" that confront me now.

The bright side: Since I do French outside of school, my skill in the language is improving very slowly, but surely. It is definitely not comparable to the things we learn in school. What I learn outside of school is more or less what I've already learnt at the start of the year. In this sense, French tuition isn't helping for school work but is definitely helping me in learning French by myself, individually.

Fun fact: My current French teacher is also the Economics teacher. He will be switching over to teach either Economics or some other subject next year. He constantly asks me whether I will be choosing to do French next year after handing me back my tests and assessments. My reply is always a stammering "yes", influenced almost entirely by the stern look on his eyes as he imbues me with the feeling to continue on. He once asked me about my occupation and since I said that I wanted to be an Actuary, he suggested to focus on French as it will promote careers in European countries (i.e France), where in his opinion, demand, pay and work conditions for Actuaries are considerably better compared to elsewhere in the world.

School requirements: Students must undertake a maximum of 6 subjects for VCE including a humanities or LOTE. In our school, accounting is not a humanities subject but included in the "other" category. Teachers say this is because there is often lack of interest for economics when accounting is also labelled a humanities subject.

I have an interest in the mathematical side of finance (probability, stats) but not as much in theory based humanities subjects. However I do believe that I will be able to tackle Economics with the right mindset, unlike French where I struggle in every way.

I do know that Economics doesn't scale up as much as French but aren't marks.....marks?
I might be able to get a high score in economics or a low score in French but scaled up. Problem is: I don't know how good I will be at economics for certain, or how my performance in French will be next year. Hence, why I can't rely on ATAR calc or other advice at this time. What I need is YOUR advice. All I've got from family and friends have been entirely contradictory. I am clueless on what to choose. All I know are my feelings and I find it hard to predict the future with only...feelings....

Really appreciate it if someone could share their experiences on here. Whether it be a sentence or so, I will benefit greatly from your honest advice.

[brenden]

Sounds like you really don't want to be in French. If that's true, don't do it.
Think of it this way: if you take French, and you think halfway through year 12 "man. I fucked up. This sucks. I hate this. I'm here because of my parents, my teacher, because in listened to other people"
If you choose Eco, at least you can think "this sucks. I hate this. At least I put myself here, and no one else".

Worst case scenario in both: I'd much rather be stuck in a shit situation because I listened to me rather than other people.

I don't think you should let the "what ifs" turn into an even bigger list of "could have".

[WonderBunny]

If you're worried about wasting your time and effort in French, you could pick it up at university. You could do it as an elective or as a diploma of languages. However, if the thought of picking up French as a uni subject fills you with horror, then that could be an indication that maybe the subject isn't for you. 

Also, what he said. ^^^ The mistakes you make yourself are always better than the mistakes other people make for you.

[sheepgomoo]

I was in a similar situation for doing Chinese;
I ended up hating it, studying half-assedly and getting a score that was pretty mediocre. Especially for languages, if you dont think you have the patience or feel like you wont put effort in, stay away from it. Languages are intense in that your memorisation skills and study skills are put to the test; and more than that - a lot of time is needed. Its great that you're slowly learning it, but the pressure of vce will put you off the track. Heck, it might even make you hate it !
I really support what WonderBunny has said about picking it up at university ^ Everything stems from interest, imho.

[LazyZombie]

I was in a similar situation for doing Chinese;
I ended up hating it, studying half-assedly and getting a score that was pretty mediocre. Especially for languages, if you dont think you have the patience or feel like you wont put effort in, stay away from it. Languages are intense in that your memorisation skills and study skills are put to the test; and more than that - a lot of time is needed. Its great that you're slowly learning it, but the pressure of vce will put you off the track. Heck, it might even make you hate it !
I really support what WonderBunny has said about picking it up at university ^ Everything stems from interest, imho.

wow I feel so much better about dropping chinese

economics is the best, do it.

Considering how dedicated etc you are, I don't know if it would make a huge difference to your VCE score, especially considering the scaling for french. Which one do you /want/ to do? It's up to you. Do you have any interest in economics? Do you like french, grades aside?

EDIT (again) If you like economics and your teacher isn't terrible, you'll be able to do well in it

[Scooby]

if you don't want to do a humanities subject they won't force you to (well they might initially, but if you just change subjects after course counselling they're fine with it). plenty of people in my year level got away with not doing one in year 11

[Shenz0r]

In 2010 I chose French for VCE thinking that

1) It would be easier to do well in than Chinese
2) My Year 10 French results were a good indicator that I'd do well in VCE (rofl)
3) I thought I had a genuine interest in the language

...Never again. Unless you really want to like go to France and stay there and speak French extremely fluently, you''re going to suffer. In the end I just put the least amount of work into French because it was the subject which I couldn't really improve in no matter what I did, and consequently I only got 32. It's more than perfecting your grammar; listening is a pain in the ass especially when you're not a native speaker, speaking is one of the hardest skills to develop, and writing perfectly almost never happens.  Half of our class did get under 30, from what I was told. It's a pretty competitive subject as well. I continually regret picking French rather than Specialist Maths for VCE...

The scaling is good though, my score bumped up from 32 to 43.

[Guest]

I have been given the choice to do accounting. Should I do it provided I want to be an actuary and want to get as much Maths done in VCE??

[chasej]

I have been given the choice to do accounting. Should I do it provided I want to be an actuary and want to get as much Maths done in VCE??

Accounting isn't really that stimulating if you do it just for maths. The maths you use in accounting is pretty much year 7 level addition/multiplication/subtraction and sometimes if you need to division (and you use a calculator for it all). And pretty much anything is determined by very simple formulas like: n/11=GST payable, where n is the sale price of a good or service including GST.

I don't think accounting is that helpful for actuaries, but if you're interested in commerce (specifically businesses/tax etc.) than you may find accounting interesting.

I only started accounting a few months ago so more experienced members would probably be able to tell you more. Maybe even try speaking to the accounting teacher at your school?

[Fyrefly]

This doesn't *always* work, but it's worth a try given your thoughts are so tangled:

Flip a coin.

Heads: French
Tails: Economics

Before the coin even lands, while it's in the air you'll find yourself subconsciously wishing for a particular result, and then you'll have your answer.

[Guest]

If I choose to do French next year, I can drop it at before starting 3/4 French, if I cannot cope with it. I can also do unit 3/4 accounting of I drop it before Year 12. Is it too late to start economics at 2015, especially at the 3/4 level?