Four subjects for year 12?

[miaow]

Hi guys,

I'm in the process of selecting my subjects for next year, and the dilemma I have is that I fast tracked two 3/4 subjects this year, and only have four subjects I really want to do next year. This would be fine, as only six can count towards the ATAR anyway, but my school heavily discourages the four subject only program for year 12, because apparently it will lead to having too much time on our hands, laziness and complacency. Which might be true, I don't know. My issue is that as one of my subjects is by corrospondence anyway, I'm a bit stressed by the idea of having only 3 subjects in class next year, and sitting in a silent study room 15 lessons a week. Everyone tells me that'd be kinda depressing and so self-driven that it's easy to get lost and drift off into doing nothing.. I don't really know what to do. An alternative could be picking up 3/4 Psychology, which I haven't done 1/2 of and don't really know much about to be perfectly honest, because it would fill up an empty block. That's 7 subjects total - one won't count - and I don't know if picking up something I know nothing about would just add even more stress than only doing the four I know I like? Sorry for a long winded kind of question but could anyone, maybe someone who did 4 subjects in year 12, shed insight on this because I'm just really lost!

[simba]

Hi guys,

I'm in the process of selecting my subjects for next year, and the dilemma I have is that I fast tracked two 3/4 subjects this year, and only have four subjects I really want to do next year. This would be fine, as only six can count towards the ATAR anyway, but my school heavily discourages the four subject only program for year 12, because apparently it will lead to having too much time on our hands, laziness and complacency. Which might be true, I don't know. My issue is that as one of my subjects is by corrospondence anyway, I'm a bit stressed by the idea of having only 3 subjects in class next year, and sitting in a silent study room 15 lessons a week. Everyone tells me that'd be kinda depressing and so self-driven that it's easy to get lost and drift off into doing nothing.. I don't really know what to do. An alternative could be picking up 3/4 Psychology, which I haven't done 1/2 of and don't really know much about to be perfectly honest, because it would fill up an empty block. That's 7 subjects total - one won't count - and I don't know if picking up something I know nothing about would just add even more stress than only doing the four I know I like? Sorry for a long winded kind of question but could anyone, maybe someone who did 4 subjects in year 12, shed insight on this because I'm just really lost!

Hey,
I was in the exact same position in year 12, doing 4 subjects with one of them being by distance. Honestly, I think it's kind of bs to say that you would become complacent, it just gives you time to go into more depth for the subjects you're doing and have a deeper comprehension of the content. As for the amount of spares, I never found them an issue. Personally, I'm a very independent learner and would power through a tonne of work in all my spares! If you have the willpower to sit away from distractions then spares can be the best quality learning/revision time (plus less homework!) I would HEAVILY recommend not doing a fifth subject. It will just add unnecessary stress and probably decrease your performance in all your other subjects.

[miaow]

Hey,
I was in the exact same position in year 12, doing 4 subjects with one of them being by distance. Honestly, I think it's kind of bs to say that you would become complacent, it just gives you time to go into more depth for the subjects you're doing and have a deeper comprehension of the content. As for the amount of spares, I never found them an issue. Personally, I'm a very independent learner and would power through a tonne of work in all my spares! If you have the willpower to sit away from distractions then spares can be the best quality learning/revision time (plus less homework!) I would HEAVILY recommend not doing a fifth subject. It will just add unnecessary stress and probably decrease your performance in all your other subjects.

Thanks heaps for that! I can't believe how many teachers/friends/family are telling me it's a horrid idea so it helps to know that its definitely doable