I'm Not Sure What Subject to Choose Next Year

[Genshai]

Hi history daddies  ,

My subject selection for next year (year 12) is due on Friday (big ooft, i know). I was originally going to choose History Revolutions, because i was really interested in doing the French and/or American revolution. However, i recently found out the revolutions we will be studying are the Chinese and Russian. I have no interest in doing either of those subjects, so know i dont know if i want to choose History Revs next year.

My second choice is Philosophy (by distance), which im interested in, but im not sure about it.

So, i would really appreciate if you could give me your opinions! Did you enjoy Revs? Should I do it if im not interested? Would Philosophy be a 'better' choice?

Thank you in advance hehe

[ellellen]

Hey!

I did revs in high school and now major in history at uni, so I am pretty biased in favour of history haha, but for what it's worth, here's some of my thoughts:

When I did revs, I studied France and Russia. Both were super interesting, but Russia was definitely my favourite. When i started revs I didn't know anything about either revolution. So even if you don't think you'd be interested in Russia or China, you never know! Now in uni I continue learning more and more about the Russian rev and I find it all just so interesting. I'm not sure why I like the russian revolution so much, but maybe because it happened in the 20th century so it feels more real/ the impact of the russian rev is still like very relevant today.
The Chinese revolution also happened in the 20th century, so if you think you prefer modern history, then you should enjoy the unit!

Meanwhile, the French and American revolutions both happened in the 18th century. I still really liked learning about the French revolution, but personally, i found it a bit difficult to visualise the events actually happening. There's nothing wrong with that, just saying that's possibly why I personally didn't enjoy it to the same extent as I did Russia. However, if you think you prefer more distant history like this, then maybe you won't enjoy doing Russia and China.

I never studied philosophy in high school, so unfortunately I can't give any insight into the merits of doing philosophy

Revs is definitely the best subject I did at high school. In fact, it's the entire reason I ended up going on to do an arts degree and major in history. It's difficult (i've especially heard that the Chinese revolution is really tricky), but it was so beneficial to do, you learn sooo much about each revolution. If you're thinking of doing an arts degree, revs is structured very similarly to how history is taught at uni, in terms of the types of assessments you do and the workload. In fact, revs is probably the same level of difficulty as a uni subject. If you want a challenge (that's also super interesting!) then I can't recommend revs more. If you're looking for easy marks, or a light workload, then you probably shouldn't do revs (I guess it depends on what other subjects you're doing, because revs really requires a lot of time). However, in saying that, I'm not sure how much of a time commitment philosophy would be!

Ask yourself: why is it exactly that you would be more interested in doing France/America rather than China/Russia? The answer might help guide you towards one subject more than the other. Maybe write out a list of the pros and cons associated with doing Revs and Philosophy and see which one seems like the best choice for you. I know it's a cop-out but ultimately only you can decide which unit to do.

I'm happy to answer any qs about Revs 

[Genshai]

Hey!

I did revs in high school and now major in history at uni, so I am pretty biased in favour of history haha, but for what it's worth, here's some of my thoughts:

When I did revs, I studied France and Russia. Both were super interesting, but Russia was definitely my favourite. When i started revs I didn't know anything about either revolution. So even if you don't think you'd be interested in Russia or China, you never know! Now in uni I continue learning more and more about the Russian rev and I find it all just so interesting. I'm not sure why I like the russian revolution so much, but maybe because it happened in the 20th century so it feels more real/ the impact of the russian rev is still like very relevant today.
The Chinese revolution also happened in the 20th century, so if you think you prefer modern history, then you should enjoy the unit!

Meanwhile, the French and American revolutions both happened in the 18th century. I still really liked learning about the French revolution, but personally, i found it a bit difficult to visualise the events actually happening. There's nothing wrong with that, just saying that's possibly why I personally didn't enjoy it to the same extent as I did Russia. However, if you think you prefer more distant history like this, then maybe you won't enjoy doing Russia and China.

I never studied philosophy in high school, so unfortunately I can't give any insight into the merits of doing philosophy

Revs is definitely the best subject I did at high school. In fact, it's the entire reason I ended up going on to do an arts degree and major in history. It's difficult (i've especially heard that the Chinese revolution is really tricky), but it was so beneficial to do, you learn sooo much about each revolution. If you're thinking of doing an arts degree, revs is structured very similarly to how history is taught at uni, in terms of the types of assessments you do and the workload. In fact, revs is probably the same level of difficulty as a uni subject. If you want a challenge (that's also super interesting!) then I can't recommend revs more. If you're looking for easy marks, or a light workload, then you probably shouldn't do revs (I guess it depends on what other subjects you're doing, because revs really requires a lot of time). However, in saying that, I'm not sure how much of a time commitment philosophy would be!

Ask yourself: why is it exactly that you would be more interested in doing France/America rather than China/Russia? The answer might help guide you towards one subject more than the other. Maybe write out a list of the pros and cons associated with doing Revs and Philosophy and see which one seems like the best choice for you. I know it's a cop-out but ultimately only you can decide which unit to do.

I'm happy to answer any qs about Revs 

Thank you so much for replying !

I really enjoy history too ! but, personally, i enjoy the more distant history (i did both global emps and 20th cent this year). I found that i struggled finding any interest in the 20th century history, and im hesitant in that aspect. i love the structure and insight of history, but im not sure if ill find it interesting if im not interested in the revolutions?

You mentioned a heavy workload (oh boy), and ive heard that a lot when people talk about revs. I plan to also study methods, chem and art (folio ooft) next year, do you think that would be 'too much' work?

(i think ill definitely do a pros/cons list, thats a great tip, thank you !!)

Im sorry my questions arent very, um, structured? im not really sure myself ahah. But i really appreciate your advice !! Thanks so much !!

[ellellen]

Thank you so much for replying !

I really enjoy history too ! but, personally, i enjoy the more distant history (i did both global emps and 20th cent this year). I found that i struggled finding any interest in the 20th century history, and im hesitant in that aspect. i love the structure and insight of history, but im not sure if ill find it interesting if im not interested in the revolutions?

You mentioned a heavy workload (oh boy), and ive heard that a lot when people talk about revs. I plan to also study methods, chem and art (folio ooft) next year, do you think that would be 'too much' work?

(i think ill definitely do a pros/cons list, thats a great tip, thank you !!)

Im sorry my questions arent very, um, structured? im not really sure myself ahah. But i really appreciate your advice !! Thanks so much !!

I would say it definitely differs from 20th century history, in that 20th century history is a very broad look at a whole bunch of different events over a very long period of time where you learn about each event very briefly, whereas revs is a very detailed focus on a much smaller time period, so you get a really deep level of knowledge in a very small and specific area. But also I loved 20th century history, so if you couldn't find interest in it, then i'm not sure whether you would enjoy revs!

I did revs when i was in year 11, alongside 3/4 biology and four unit 1/2 subjects. i died lol. Bio was really content heavy and so was revs, so it was difficult to kind of fit in study for both of them, as well as keep up with all my year 11 work. Revs was without a doubt the most time consuming of all of my subjects (including media which was a folio subject where i also had to write/shoot/edit a film). Russia doesn't have too much content, but I think China has a loT (i really feel for any schools that did a China/France combo, bc those were the two revs with the most content RIP). But again, ultimately up to you as to how much work you think you could handle. History is time consuming because there's a lot of different things you need to remember, including dates, historian quotes, important events, how certain events/people/movements each contributed to causing a revolution. And you need to spend a lot of time doing extra reading, in order to form your Own Historical Opinion. I enjoyed all of this because I like doing my own research and reading! If that kind of thing isn't for you, then maybe wouldn't go with revs (although I would assume there'd be quite a bit of reading involved for philosophy as well!)

And yess i love doing pros/cons lists, it's how i make all my big decisions! when you see everything written out, it's just so much easier to make a decision about something, rather than just having it all in ur head! I hope it's useful for you

[hums_student]

Hi there, nice to see someone so interested in history I didn't do revs personally, though my friends who have done Russian + Chinese revolutions say they absolutely love it. I'd also say they're both more relevant to the modern world than the French and American revolutions.

I definitely relate to wanting to only study one aspect of history, but it might help to try out some new things. In year 10 I was deadset on doing revs, but my school only had ancient history which I had absolutely zero interest in. But I ended up absolutely loving it in year 12 and now I'm studying it at uni and doing an internship in that exact field.

Tl;dr -- You may not be interested in Russian/Chinese revolutions right now, but maybe you will once you give it a go.