Vce subject choice 2018

[Unknown107447]

Hi  I was thinking of doing these subjects but most of them scales down, is it a good or bad idea? I have no interest in anything at all
Thanks

1. English
2.further maths
3. Health and human development
4. Chemistry
5. French
6. Sociology

[Shadowxo]

You should choose the subjects you like regardless of scaling. If you plan on going to uni, look into what the prerequisites are to get into that course. Common prerequisites are an English, methods, and a science (chemistry is usually a popular choice), but science prereqs are less common than methods. If it looks like you need to do any of those subjects, pick them up. Apart from that, just choose the subjects you're interested in / good at or will help you later eg in Uni. Scaling is usually there to make subjects equal - eg if you do a subject that scales up, you'll often do worse than in a subject than scales down, and after scaling you should ideally have the same mark for each (given equal talent and effort in each subject).
Good luck in your choices and don't worry about the scaling!

[K888]

+1 to Shadowxo!


It's really important that you try to pick subjects that you enjoy. You said that you don't have much interest in any subjects - maybe over the coming few weeks, pay close attention to how much you enjoy going to the classes for the subjects you do currently. Think about what you like, and what you dislike about the subjects.
I'd also suggest having a chat to some of the teachers of the subjects you're considering picking up, to see if they can give you an insight into the subject and whether you'd be the right fit for it. Perhaps also have a chat with your school's careers counsellor, if you have one.

You've probably heard plenty of teachers say before - don't pick subjects based on scaling! It's most important to pick the subjects you enjoy, as I said earlier, because you'll be more motivated to work in them, and thus be more likely to succeed. Also, if you score high enough in subjects, they don't tend to scale much, so it sort of becomes a non-issue You can absolutely achieve an amazing score with subjects that scale down - all that scoring well takes is some hard work and motivation, no matter what subjects you do!

From this list of subjects, you seem like you lean more towards the humanities side of things - do you find that these are the subjects that you like the most and/or are where you've been strongest in the past?


Personally, I did English, Chemistry and French, and I thought they were pretty good subjects. I'll tell you a bit about my experience with them.
Chem can be a bit tricky (mostly in 3/4), but if you work hard, and if you're not afraid to get help from your teacher, it makes it so much easier. 1/2 lays the foundations nicely, and whilst it can get a bit fast at times, is pretty manageable.
English is great if you think you're a bit of an all-rounder in English, or if you're not sure that you enjoy the specific parts of English that Language and Literature offer. I personally chose to do English as I enjoyed writing both text response and language analysis, and didn't want to focus purely on one aspect, and it was probably one of the subjects I enjoyed the most in year 11 and year 12.
French - amazing subject to have. The ability to speak another language is awesome, and provided you think you like it enough to continue, and you're reasonably strong at it, I couldn't recommend it more strongly! I felt like doing French even helped my performance in other subjects (particularly with little nuances in English grammar - learning about French grammar was super helpful for this), and it was so nice to do a subject that was different to everything else. If you feel worried that you can't speak fluently enough, etc. don't stress, because your ability to speak will only get stronger as you continue with the language. I personally only became confident to hold a proper conversation in year 12, and was amazed at how much I developed over the course of one year.

Sorry, that ended up as a bit of a ramble

I hope this has helped a bit, and please don't hesitate to ask any further questions!