Should I do 7 subjects?

[minerva]

Hi,

I am currently in Yr 10 and I will be choosing my subjects for Yr 11 soon.
My plan right now for next year is:

Further Mathematics 3&4
Psychology 3&4
English or Literature 1&2
Mathematical Methods 1&2
Biology 1&2
Chemistry 1&2

ATAR Aim: 95+ for Biomedical Science at either Melb Uni or Monash
May be irrelevant but my school is under-rep, ranked around Top 290 in Vic.

I've accelerated in two subjects and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to do a 7th subject (so that would be 5 in Yr 12) just to be safe.
There are a few things holding me back from doing 7. It would be one of the following:
- English or Literature (Is one English subject enough??)
- Chinese (which I do not enjoy and find very difficult)
- Global Politics (I'm a sciencey person and not sure how I would do in a Hums subject)
- Music (requires a lot of practise and I am not fond of the theory but I am completing AMEB Grade 6 this year)

I would appreciate any help/subject recommendations

[iNT]

If you are good at English id suggest Literature
If you are good at Further Maths then id suggest do Methods

Doing a 7th subject gives you a chance to have a better 10% increment.. since you are aiming for 95+, that subject can justifiably be taken in order to get an extra edge

[keltingmeith]

I'll put in here my usual reminder of if you can do methods well, you should certainly consider doing specialist. As for the options you've suggested... It doesn't sound like you really want to do any of them at all, and rather you're just looking for the lesser of those evils. Do *not* pick up an extra VCE subject just for the sake of extra score, actually pick up one you think you can enjoy and do well in.

In terms of music, which music? If it's music investigation, your dislike of theory may or may not be an issue, because all theory you study will be theory that defines the music you're playing, and you might actually find it enjoyable. If it's music performance, then the theory you'll be doing in VCE is nothing next to AMEB grade 6 theory. If it's styles, then... I can't really comment, sorry. For the performance aspect in investigation/performance, you might struggle - unfortunately, there's no real mix between AMEB and VCE for the practical aspect, and I've seen high scoring AMEB students get study scores under 30. This can depend on the instrument you choose to perform with, so be wary if you do pick music.

[sjayne]

Who are you, person that goes to my old school?

If you do 6 subjects, you get more time to focus on them. If you do 7 then you have more freedom in one subject and you also get to learn more but it means extra work. I was encouraged to do 7 by a few staff members but despite what they may say, people are allowed to do less.

If you want to pick up an extra subject then make sure it's one you enjoy. I picked up one subject that I didn't really 'get' and so then I put in less work and assumed it wouldn't count for me. But it did. My 7th subject ended up being a different one, so you have to ensure that you can put in consistent work in all of your subjects (and not just have one which you plan to not count in your ATAR).

Which subject? Whichever one excites you the most. Languages are good because of the scaling but if you don't enjoy it now it will only get more difficult. Literature and politics are subjects that you should try and find out more about first.  You should also take into account what is easy to pick up without 1/2 so that you can just pick one up in yr 12 because doing 7 in yr 11 sounds like a lot of work.

[Joseph41]

The replies above this one are good, but I just want to emphasise that if you feel this:

- Chinese (which I do not enjoy and find very difficult)

Then I do not see why you would do - or should even consider - doing Chinese (if we're talking merely in terms of score maximisation).

[minerva]

Who are you, person that goes to my old school?

I would rather not say, HAHA. I'm glad to hear from a former TLSC student though.

My 7th subject ended up being a different one.

Just out of curiousity, what was that 7th subject? Did you ever imagine it being your lowest scoring subject?

[minerva]

I just want to emphasise that if you feel this:

Then I do not see why you would do - or should even consider - doing Chinese (if we're talking merely in terms of score maximisation).

I agree that it would be rather futile for me to study a difficult language purely for this reason, but I do see studying Chinese beneficial not just for the scaling but also because it will be useful later in life, especially with the increase in Mandarin speakers in Aus. Also, I do speak another dialect of Chinese at home so the language is not completely foreign to me and I have been learning Mandarin since I was 6 so my parents do encourage it. Although I find it tedious, I do think it would be quite useful for me to go on with Chinese but it was just a thought. If I were to do a 7th subject, it would most likely be English or Literature c:

[sjayne]

Just out of curiousity, what was that 7th subject? Did you ever imagine it being your lowest scoring subject?

It was methods.  I just messed up one exam really badly so I was lucky that it didn't count. I thought my lowest would be biology, so I didn't try as hard in it throughout the year, but I ended up doing alright. What saved me was the fact that I had two pretty good scores before I even started year 12.

[minerva]

It was methods. What saved me was the fact that I had two pretty good scores before I even started year 12.

The thought of Methods does scare me a little, haha. Did you have a tutor for maths? Would you recommend that I get one for Methods in Yr 12? (It's a pre-requisite for Biomed so I hope I do well!!)

I do often hear that the subjects people accelerate in are their highest-scoring and I honesly think Psych will be my best subject. How did you find Yr 12 Psych? If you don't mind me asking, which Psych teacher did you have?

[Peanut Butter]

I'll put in here my usual reminder of if you can do methods well, you should certainly consider doing specialist.

Just out of curiosity, why do you recommend specialist?

I'm currently doing really well in methods and really enjoy maths, would you recommend completing specialist?

[keltingmeith]

Just out of curiosity, why do you recommend specialist?

I'm currently doing really well in methods and really enjoy maths, would you recommend completing specialist?

See bold.

I just recommend it every chance I get because most people don't seem to think of it as an option - but, it is an option, and so you should consider it. It's just another maths unit - it's not crazy hard like the rumours say, it's just different. Kind of like doing lit as opposed to doing English, but with maths subjects.

[Kalopsic]

Another TLSC on AN. Very rare!

I would say that if you do really well in your 3/4 subjects, then I would recommend you do 6 subjects in total so you can focus on your subjects that you have in Year 12. This will be important if you decide to do Chemistry and Methods 3/4 because if the teachers are the same as in 2014, you will need to study extra hard especially in Chemistry.

I would recommend you keep doing Chinese even if you don't end up choosing to do 7 subjects because you've said that you've learnt how to speak Mandarin since you were 6 and you can get pretty good marks just acing the oral part which doesn't take much preparation and have that scaled pretty high. I did less than bare minimum and only wrote up my oral the night before my exam and it ended up being in my top 4 subjects (I suspect because of my oral component). Point is that having Chinese doesn't hurt unless you really want to do a 7th subject because all you need to do is pass your SAC's and exam and your score will still be in the high 30's after scaling.

As for music, since you're already grade 6, your music theory knowledge is already no problem. All you need to do is just practice the practical side of things i.e your songs. I might mention that you are also able to do your practicals as a group if you happen to have a group of friends who do music or have people in your music class that you have really good chemistry with.

Edit: I should mention that for Chinese, this is assuming that they keep the good ol' Chinese (FL) and Chinese (SL) system

[sjayne]

The thought of Methods does scare me a little, haha. Did you have a tutor for maths? Would you recommend that I get one for Methods in Yr 12? (It's a pre-requisite for Biomed so I hope I do well!!)

I do often hear that the subjects people accelerate in are their highest-scoring and I honesly think Psych will be my best subject. How did you find Yr 12 Psych? If you don't mind me asking, which Psych teacher did you have?

I didn't have a tutor but I probably could have benefited from one. If you start to struggle and end up spending hours on your methods hw but still have problems keeping your marks up-that's when you should think about it. Most teachers will be willing to help though and you should try and ask them as many qs as you can.
Psych was my best subject even without doing 1/2, and you can inbox me if you want (edit: never-mind the messaging sys is down) but her name started with a C.

Another TLSC on AN. Very rare!

This is turning into a reunion.

[minerva]

Psych was my best subject even without doing 1/2, and you can inbox me if you want but her name started with a C.

AWESOME! That's okay, I know which teacher it is hehe. By the way, I think I've figured out who this is.

[sjayne]

By the way, I think I've figured out who this is.

shhh  Just don't tell anyone.