Revs - difficulty? workload?

[quinn_03]

As Year 11 subject selection dawns upon us, I have found myself reconsidering my original plan to study Revs 3/4 in Year 11. My main concern is the workload - I intend on also taking Bio 3/4 in Year 11, and as both subjects have a ridiculous amount of content, I feel like I'll be in for a rote-memorisation-fest??? I know that I have an excellent work ethic. But at the same time I would like a score of about 45 in both - is this somewhat feasible, especially if I am also trying to balance with 4 1/2s?
What is Revs in general like? How difficult is it to break a SS of 45? Is the workload very intense? Am I better off leaving Bio until Year 12, or not taking Revs at all?
Any and all opinions much appreciated

[natothegreat]

My brother did 3/4 Bio in year 11 and I did 3/4 Revs in year 11. From what I could tell from his class it was just as much content heavy as it is for History. Only difference is the type of content you memorise. You memorise dates, people, events, groups etc. in History but Bio is about learning the processes, how they work, and applying it to questions. I'd suggest picking one as that way you can devote more time to the one you pick giving you the best results possible. With that said, pick the subject you are most confident in. If English is your thing, History would be pretty good because it follows a similar essay structure for SACs. If you're a science nerd (like myself) pick Bio especially if you're doing well at it.

TL;DR They're both as hard as eachother, it just depends on what you're better at, Writing-tasks or more science-based tasks.

[lleeea]

As Year 11 subject selection dawns upon us, I have found myself reconsidering my original plan to study Revs 3/4 in Year 11. My main concern is the workload - I intend on also taking Bio 3/4 in Year 11, and as both subjects have a ridiculous amount of content, I feel like I'll be in for a rote-memorisation-fest??? I know that I have an excellent work ethic. But at the same time I would like a score of about 45 in both - is this somewhat feasible, especially if I am also trying to balance with 4 1/2s?
What is Revs in general like? How difficult is it to break a SS of 45? Is the workload very intense? Am I better off leaving Bio until Year 12, or not taking Revs at all?
Any and all opinions much appreciated

heys. i dont recommend history at all unless you are a passionate history freak, wanna boost your atar (coz history scales up due to its difficulty) or just wanna challenge yourself. i regret doing history 1 and 2 this year, and believe me, its very challenging, u have to write multitudes of essays to get that a plus. historys not just about memorising key dates, events, all that on top off your head, its all about ESSAYS, ESSAYS AND ESSAYS. ESSAYS WILL HAUNT YOU IF YOU DO HISTORY (AS WELL AS ENGLISH OFF COURSE). english has too be super sophisticated and you have to be very knowledgeable in the subject overall. or it might be too hard otherwise. this is just my opinion tho! I suggest you do what you like and follow your instincts! one piece of advice i'd like to offer you is that dont do a subject just because ur friends are doing it or you will appear more knowledgeable and smart to others, take into mind these three things-do you enjoy it, is it necessary, will you need it to get into ur preferred uni degree, etc.

[Jlucas1634]

Hey mate,
I'm a Year 11 student doing History: Revolutions without Units 1&2.

What is Revs in general like?
Revs is a very content heavy subject, it will require you to work very hard to achieve the marks you'd like. The content depending on the revolution is quite interesting but you're expected to know all dates, events, people, movements, ideas, catalysts etc etc about the revolution. Think of it as English that requires that you have 10 times the amount of knowledge from your book.

How difficult is it to break a SS of 45?
I'd say extremely difficult. Unless you're an English God and you pick up knowledge really really easily or you intend to devote a lot of time to Revolutions, I would say it's achievable but it's not going to be easy.

Is the workload very intense? Am I better off leaving Bio until Year 12, or not taking Revs at all?
Workload is fairly intense if you'd want to do well. Other subjects in Y11 are a bludge but Revs you'll be working the whole set amount of time, constantly writing notes, reading or discussing the topic. There's lots of study you have to do for the subject if you'd like to achieve high results in it, this subject heavily reflects the time you put into it. You can't bull**** your way out of it haha.

I wouldn't take those two Year 12 subjects together, I have another Y12 subject but it's not as hard as compared to something like Bio. I would hold off on Bio and just focus on Revs.

[quinn_03]

Hey mate,
I'm a Year 11 student doing History: Revolutions without Units 1&2.

What is Revs in general like?
Revs is a very content heavy subject, it will require you to work very hard to achieve the marks you'd like. The content depending on the revolution is quite interesting but you're expected to know all dates, events, people, movements, ideas, catalysts etc etc about the revolution. Think of it as English that requires that you have 10 times the amount of knowledge from your book.

How difficult is it to break a SS of 45?
I'd say extremely difficult. Unless you're an English God and you pick up knowledge really really easily or you intend to devote a lot of time to Revolutions, I would say it's achievable but it's not going to be easy.

Is the workload very intense? Am I better off leaving Bio until Year 12, or not taking Revs at all?
Workload is fairly intense if you'd want to do well. Other subjects in Y11 are a bludge but Revs you'll be working the whole set amount of time, constantly writing notes, reading or discussing the topic. There's lots of study you have to do for the subject if you'd like to achieve high results in it, this subject heavily reflects the time you put into it. You can't bull**** your way out of it haha.

I wouldn't take those two Year 12 subjects together, I have another Y12 subject but it's not as hard as compared to something like Bio. I would hold off on Bio and just focus on Revs.

thank you so much for the helpful and informative reply, I really appreciate it!!

[natothegreat]

I'm doing Revs at the moment, doing fairly well but if I were you I'd go with Bio. History is easy to do well if you put in the time like myself, probably looking at 35+ study score at the moment but it is very difficult to get 45+. To get very high marks you need to memorise many quotes, stats and loads of information. It's basically an English on drugs if I'm honest. My brother is doing Bio and he's is one of the best in the class even though he is a Year 11 so I would do Bio if I were you. Honestly not that interested in Bio so I picked history and I don't really regret it actually. Revs has given me a new insight in the world and I'm a history nerd so I really enjoy it. Having said that, just go with what you're more interested in. If you invest all your time into either one of these subjects you're bound to get 45+. 

[ellellen]

As Year 11 subject selection dawns upon us, I have found myself reconsidering my original plan to study Revs 3/4 in Year 11. My main concern is the workload - I intend on also taking Bio 3/4 in Year 11, and as both subjects have a ridiculous amount of content, I feel like I'll be in for a rote-memorisation-fest??? I know that I have an excellent work ethic. But at the same time I would like a score of about 45 in both - is this somewhat feasible, especially if I am also trying to balance with 4 1/2s?
What is Revs in general like? How difficult is it to break a SS of 45? Is the workload very intense? Am I better off leaving Bio until Year 12, or not taking Revs at all?
Any and all opinions much appreciated

Hey! I know this was posted aaaages ago but i just came across it and i think i'm the perfect person to answer this, so might as well!

In year 11 I did history 3/4 and bio 3/4 alongside four unit 1/2 subjects! (english, methods, media, and theatre studies).

In terms of workload, it wasn't too difficult to balance history and bio! they were both super interesting and very different from each other so studying for one was a good break from the other. Both did involve a lot of memorisation, but I was good at memorisation, so that didn't bother me. The only difficulty was time management. It was hard to balance alongside all my 1/2 subjects. I thought I would be able to handle it since theatre was a bit of a bludge, and I was repeating methods 1/2 so I already knew all of that content. But it was just really hard to have good time management with all of that going on.

I ended up with a 38 in bio and 40 for revs. I was super happy with that, but I know that I could have done so much better in both if I had only been doing three 1/2 subjects! Just having that one less subject, and therefore actual free study periods at school would have made SO much of a difference.

History is super difficult to get a 45. I think history is an absolutely great subject for anyone to undertake (I just finished my third year of my history major at uni), but to get 45+ you need to not only have an interest in history, but be super passionate about history, willing to do extra readings, and go above and beyond what your teacher asks of you. A 45 is achievable, but you reallllyyyy need to work for it. I would say the same for bio; if you're super passionate and dedicated, a 45 is definitely within reach.

That being said, in my opinion, both of those subjects are really worthwhile doing, regardless of whatever study score you think you will get for it. Both teach you super interesting content about the world, and both help you develop really different skills. I would reaaaallllyyy advise you to choose subjects pretty much purely based on your interests and not on their potential to be ATAR boosters.

tl;dr: i think doing 3/4 history and bio is manageable and fun, as long as you're only doing three 1/2 subjects max !!!!!

[spectroscopy]

Revs was probably the hardest vce subject I did. It's definitely the specialist maths of the humanities. It is super competitive at the top end once you go >40. ROTE learning will only get you to the mid 30's but to get super good grades you can't just memorise facts and dates. You have to understand the whole story of the revolution, how all the different parties came together and all different events happened and lead to one another and culminated in a big revolution and the effects of that revolution with some sprinklings of different historians opinions used to mediate your own contention