Introduction I studied Health & Human Development in 2012, but I almost didn’t; HHD was my last-picked subject. It was also the subject about which I was most concerned, and the subject that gave me the most anxiety over the 2011/2012 break. But I am so very glad that I chose HHD, for it ended up being my favourite (and best) subject. In this thread, I will be aiming to give an account of not only why you should consider Health, but how you can succeed in it.
I graduated at the end of 2012 with an ATAR of 99.65, and a 50 in Health (incidentally, you can find my tips on how to succeed in VCE
here). I am currently studying (in a very liberal use of the word, considering that I am procrastinating from revision by writing this) at Monash University, double majoring in Linguistics and International Studies. Had I not done Health, I don’t think I would be doing as such. This year, I have been fortunate enough to tutor 3/4 Health, so my passion for the subject has continued to be fed.
In this thread, I offer my services to answer any questions you may have in regard to HHD (or anything else, for that matter). But before that, let me present my very biased opinion on Health & Human Development as a Year 12 subject.
Why you should consider studying HHD as a VCE subject Below, I have listed some of the main reasons to consider studying HHD:
1.
Applicability:There is little doubt in my mind that Health is one of the most applicable of the very many subjects available at VCE level. In the section below (‘Course overview’), I have given a brief description of each Area of Study (essentially taken from VCAA’s study design, found
here). As you will see, the topics covered in Health & Human Development have obvious ‘real-word’ applications. Even very minor things may have an impact on your own life and the way that you live it; for example, learning about nutrition prompted me to make slight alterations to my diet (such increasing my consumption of fish). Further, the course is constantly updating to correspond with ‘actual’ changes. For example, a significant part of the course – AusAID – was replaced with DFAT as late as February this year, after the Abbott Government made the decision to abolish the former. Keep in mind that changes like this can occur when preparing for studies in HHD for next year and beyond.
2.
Careers:Due to the wide range of applicability outlined in point 1, HHD can be a great source of knowledge for many careers. I know people (or know
of, at least – I don’t know that many people!) who have undertaken Health, and are now studying Medicine, Law, Arts, Economics, Health Sciences, Accounting, Education, Design, and a range of other subjects in tertiary education. But in particular, I think HHD is a great stepping stone toward courses in Health Sciences, Human Rights Law, Medicine, Politics, Education and Global Governance. This point leads me to my next:
3.
Global importance:A lot of the content covered in HHD is important for
everybody to know, no matter who you are or what you do. A grasp of basic information regarding health and sustainability is imperative should we wish to move forward as a population. So if you’re interested in making a difference by educating people in regard to global health, this is a great opportunity to start your journey. Perhaps I was simply more ignorant than most, but before I studied HHD, I had no idea that goals for global development (the UN’s Millennium Development Goals), for example, even existed.
4.
A coherent structure:Don’t like Maths? Great – HHD has no complex equations or formulas. Don’t like English? Good news here, too – HHD is not packed to the brim with essays or language analyses. Whilst it is a humanities subject, and whilst there are some longer questions (~6-8 marks, at most), the very nature of Health is very nicely structured. This applies to both organisation of content, which is learned in a logical progression of topics; and assessment questions, which can generally be answered in very similar ways. And don’t fret – as I’m sure the Class of 2014 would tell you, the way in which questions need to be answered will come with practice.
5.
Health 3/4 in Year 11:If any students in Year 10 or below are presently reading this, I can only encourage you to consider Health as a 3/4 subject in Year 11. I don’t have experience in this, because I (regrettably) chose Business Management instead, but my advice is more general than that: subjects like HHD (and BusMan, if you’re that way inclined) are a great start to your Year 12 life. As I will touch on in a moment, none of the content in either of these subjects is particularly difficult to grasp, so it shouldn’t be
too stressful an introduction.
Course overviewUnit 3: Australia’s healthAOS 1: Understanding Australia’s healthAOS 1 includes health, and why it is important; the health of Australians compared to other nations; variations in health within Australia, and reasons for those variations; the National Health Priority Areas; and nutrition as a factor that influences health.
AOS 2: Promoting health in AustraliaAOS 2 includes different models of health, including models that the Australian Government has used (and uses) to guide its health policies; the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion; the role of VicHealth; Australia’s health system, including Medicare; the role of the Australian Government in promoting good health; and the role of non-government agencies in doing likewise.
Unit 4: Global health and human developmentAOS 1: Introducing global health and human developmentAOS 1 includes the distinction between developed and developing countries; sustainability and human development, and why they are important; factors that influence the discrepancy in health between Australia and other nations; the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.
AOS 2: Promoting global health and human developmentAOS 2 includes the interrelationship between health, human development and sustainability; types of aid, and how and when they are used; the United Nations and its role in global health; the World Health Organisation; priorities of the Australian Government; programs focusing on literacy, food security, HIV/AIDS and malaria, immunisation, safe water and sanitation.
Frequently asked questions In the following section, I would like to take the opportunity to respond to several ‘myths’ that seem to float around in regard to HHD. Every year, these concerns are raised, and I would hate for prospective students to
not chose Health because of them.
1.
Is it possible to do well in Health 3/4 without the knowledge of Health 1/2?Absolutely, it is! I like to think that my study score of 50 shows that. At the very beginning of this post, I mentioned that I was apprehensive about choosing Health. A large portion of that was due to the fact that I hadn’t done it in Year 11; nor had I even considered it. But whilst knowledge from Units 1 and 2 would by no means harm your chances of doing well in Units 3 and 4, that knowledge is certainly not critical. The only area in which I felt slightly – and I emphasise that this was
very slight – behind was definitions that carried over from the Year 11 equivalent. I will address this issue further in the ‘How to prepare for 2015’ section below.
2.
Is HHD is an easy subject?I have said that none of the content is particularly difficult to grasp, and I stand by that. However, I hate the idea that there are such things as ‘hard’ and ‘easy’ subjects; naturally, this will be contingent on each individual’s tastes and how they function. The ‘ease’ (again, this is subjective) of content understanding is more than made up for by the sheer quantity of content in the course. There is no doubt that HHD is a content-heavy subject – sometimes, even remembering all of the mnemonics for the content is difficult – and then you need to be able to apply that information to questions and case studies. So, even though each topic
in isolation is not particularly taxing, the quantity of topics in the course renders HHD difficult in its own right.
3.
Health scales down a lot. Considering that factor, is it still worth doing?In regard to scaling, my position is as follows. Do subjects that you like or think you may be interested in. In doing so, I think you are giving yourself a much greater chance of success. Good reasons to choose particular subjects in VCE do not include: what your friends are doing; what you think you
ought to do; what other people want to do; and, most saliently, how it scales. Every single one of my subjects (bar English Language, which scaled up by one) scaled down, and some of them significantly. But if you do well enough in any subject, scaling is rendered entirely irrelevant. Had I taken Chemistry, for example, my study score would have scaled up, but by virtue of me not liking Chem, I am sure that my study score (even after scaling) would have been much lower. More importantly, doing what you like is important for your mental health in what is often a tough year, and that is by far the most important thing to consider.
What to expectYour study score for Health will be comprised in the following fashion:
- Unit 3 SACs: 25%
- Unit 4 SACs: 25%
- End of year exams: 50%
SACs – School Assessed Coursework – are determined by each individual school, so they can be presented in a variety of ways. However, they will generally be in the form of short-answer response tests. Questions might include definitions, data analysis, application of concepts to case studies, short answer (explain or outline) questions, or ‘longer’ (discuss or show) questions (typically on human development, sustainability, or a combination of the two (sustainable human development)).
The exam* is very similar to the SACs. Section A (essentially Unit 3) and Section B (essentially Unit 4) combine to form an exam of roughly 100 marks.** In general, Section B is slightly longer than Section A. This is unsurprising, because most of the longer questions tend to be in relation to concepts covered in Unit 4.
*This is possibly poorly timed; apologies and good luck to any present students about to tackle the exam!
** There is a new study design for 2014, so I’m not sure if this will remain the same. From what I gather, the study design only changed minimally, so I expect that the structure of the exam will be, at least primarily, consistent with what it has been in the past.
How to prepare for 2015 On the assumption that you are planning on studying Health 3/4 next year, here are some things to consider doing over the upcoming holiday period.
1.
Health status indicators definitionsThe definitions of various health status indicators – life expectancy, incidence, prevalence, morbidity, mortality, disability-adjusted life years and burden of disease – were, really, the only advantage that my cohort had over me from completing Units 1/2. And considering that I learned these in the holidays, they didn’t have much of an advantage at all. Health status indicators are a really good thing to learn before the year starts, I think, because they apply to every Outcome of every Area of Study of every Unit. And considering that HHD is content-heavy, it’s probably best to get them out of the way early.
2.
Peruse main conceptsApart from the health status indicators, there is really no need to ‘study ahead’ of your class, in my opinion. If you want to prepare, then consider browsing some textbooks, Checkpoints, the study design, previous exams or other resources to gain an understanding of some of the main concepts in the course. Key concepts that are covered relatively early include the National Health Priority Areas and nutrition.
3.
Be organisedAside from coming back after the break fresh and enthusiastic, make sure you have everything you need ready. In terms of books, I used (I think) Cambridge, but I’m sure that all textbooks are adequate. I didn’t buy Checkpoints, but I was fortunate enough to have my teacher offer me hers for the year. If I were doing Health again, I would definitely buy myself a copy to use for SAC and exam preparation. Something else to consider is using two notebooks – one for notes in class, and another for SAC revision; the latter can then be used to prepare for the exam.
4.
But most importantly:Don’t burn out before the year even begins. Between Year 11 and Year 12, I backpacked through Asia, and missed most of the holidays. This is a matter of personal preference, but I preferred to treat my holidays as just that – a holiday. Here comes the old cliché: VCE is a marathon, not a sprint. You’ll need your holidays during the year for revision, so you might as well make the most of the Summer holiday period!
How to succeed1.
TheoryWe have established that Health is, at least from my experience, fairly content-heavy. As such, taking good notes is important. I didn’t have any close friends in my class, and I was thankful for that – it gave me an opportunity to really focus. Taking clear notes during class will save you a bundle of time later on, meaning that a) you don’t need to catch up on content before the exam; b) you don’t need to re-write your notes to make them legible; and c) you can focus on the jewel of all study techniques – practice exams.
2.
General revisionIdeally, by this point, you would have some kind of idea as to how you most effectively learn. However, if you don’t, perhaps it’s time to start trying a few things (especially if you’re not going into Year 12 next year – the earlier you get that understanding, the easier you will learn in the future). I used a nimiety of study techniques during VCE, and I think this kept me from losing motivation. For example, I: did practice questions, both writing and speaking my responses; used rote learning for definitions; colour co-ordinated my notes; summarised paragraphs from the textbook into single sentences; turned content into songs and poems; related as much of the content as I could to other passions (primarily sport); taught family members (or, if unavailable, pets); made posters; used drawings to represent major concepts; and so on. There is no limit on creative ways in which you can study.
3.
DefinitionsMore specifically, Health encompasses quite a few definitions. By the end of the year, there are certainly many that you will need to know (ideally) for the exam. Another modified cliché may be relevant here: a definition a day keeps the big, bad assessors away. By focusing on one or two definitions each day during the year, you will build your repertoire to the point that the overwhelming number of definitions needed is no longer overwhelming.
4.
SACs/examGeneral techniques for SACs and exams apply to Health as much as any other subject. Imagine that you are marking your own exam. You don’t want to have to trawl through responses to find the key points. As such, try to make it easy for whoever it is marking your exam to give you marks. Underline what you are defining, highlight key points, use names and statistics given in case studies in your responses, and do whatever else you can to show that you are directly answering each question.
5.
Use your resourcesAs I briefly mentioned earlier, Checkpoints is a great resource for SAC and exam revision; it has quality practice questions for each Area of Study and (I think) comes with sample responses, too. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or clarify concepts in class. When exam time came around, I liked to use the study design for each of my subjects. My taking each dot point, and trying to write as much as I could about that point, I a) revised content, practising how to explain concepts concisely and well; or b) worked out what I needed to study further.
6.
Look after yourselfMy last piece of advice also happens to be the most important. If you’re struggling with anything at any time, please do yourself and your loved ones a favour, and reach out for help.
BeyondBlue (P: 1300 22 4636) and
Headspace (P: 03 9027 0100) are just two of the many organisations that specialise in the wellbeing of young people.
Conclusion I truly believe that Health & Human Development is a fantastic VCE subject, relevant to everybody, and a great stepping stone to further studies in a huge range of areas. But keep in mind that this thread is full of opinions of only one person and, whilst I encourage you to consider HHD as a subject, I don’t want to influence you too heavily. After all, VCE is your own journey.
I wish you all the best of luck, whether you are just about to finish your studies in HHD, plan on studying Health in the future, or otherwise. As per the ‘Introduction’ section, I am more than happy to do my best to respond to any questions that you may have either in the lead-up to or during 2015.
Kind regards,
Nick.
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