VCE Stuff > VCE History: Revolutions

Revs - difficulty? workload?

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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:

--- Quote from: quinn_03 on July 31, 2018, 10:09:07 pm ---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 :)

--- End quote ---

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

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