Unfeasible for 6 subjects in year 12?

[vexx]

There's a reason most schools encourage you to do five 3/4s in year 12 - because unless you were exceptionally smart, good at time management or prepared to give up most extra-curricular life, you would only have time to do well in 5 subjects.

Distance education requires a higher level of self-discipline and commitment than doing a subject inside school. I have heard it can be more stressful. You have to be motivated to do work and study on your own.

Doing two subjects by distance would be difficult on its own; doing it as part of a 6-subject year 12 would be extremely tough. I wouldn't recommend it, but only you know what you are capable of.

Also if you're not good at English I would advise against doing literature and instead do English and English Language (if you must do two). Literature is (apparently) the most challenging English subject. At my school at least, they only allowed A and A+ students to do it in year 12.

well it's one class a week for both my outside school subjects, so i don't think it'll be too hard.
the thing is, next year i am only going to really try on three of my subjects (an english, and bio/chem) as i am hoping psych to be my top 4. so i wont be spending too much time on my other subjects (just doing the basic homework that needs to be done, ect).

i've heard that literature is the most challenging from some and others tell me it's easier. it depends what you are good at i guess. i really don't want to be doing context or language analysis next year as i've had a taste so far this year and really don't like them.
i actually much prefer to exam for literature as it is two passages to analyse, rather than three essays (which i will most likely struggle with).



thanks for the replies btw(:

[ninwa]

well it's one class a week for both my outside school subjects, so i don't think it'll be too hard.

Think about it this way. Your other subjects get maybe 4 hours of class time a week? Whereas the distance subjects only get one class. Therefore that class is a lot more concentrated in terms of content. Also, you'll have a lot more to do at home on your own. This requires a lot of self-discipline and motivation.
Like I said, only you know whether you're capable, but just understand what you're getting yourself into if you do 2 by distance.

[vexx]

I'm confused - you hate English yet you want to pick up another English subject as your 6th in year 12?

IMO you would be much better off choosing the one English that suits you best (English, English Language or Literature) and spending more time on it, rather than doing two English subjects and having to split your study time between them.

yes i hate english, but from what i've heard of EL it doesn't really sound like the other englishes, so i don't think i'll mind it.
its just that choosing EL and Lit will give me security so that if it appears that i'm doing better at one, i can focus on that one. rather than jumping into yr12 with a guess that i'm gonna do better at that.

and i don't know which english will suit me, i really dislike english this year, i did lit last year, i liked it better (regardless that my teacher was horrid and i didn't read two of the books hehe, i only did unit 1). but i know that i will have a good techer for lit next year as i've already found out who it is (only one lit class).

[vexx]

Think about it this way. Your other subjects get maybe 4 hours of class time a week? Whereas the distance subjects only get one class. Therefore that class is a lot more concentrated in terms of content. Also, you'll have a lot more to do at home on your own. This requires a lot of self-discipline and motivation.
Like I said, only you know whether you're capable, but just understand what you're getting yourself into if you do 2 by distance.

hmmm, i see.. i guess it would be more difficult that way but since one is a uni subject, it's a bit different as i'm not aiming to get super high grades, i'm doing it moreso for fun/interest, and i'll aim for a 5.0 anyways. but.. yeah i suppose doing two could be a bit much..
i don't think it would be too intense if i was only doing three subjects at school (if i did EL and not Lit), as i could spend a lot of my spares focusing on the coursework for my distance subjects.

[chem-nerd]

mao would be a good person to get advice from on this, given that he did 6 subjects in year 12, including uni maths, English and EL.

[vexx]

mao would be a good person to get advice from on this, given that he did 6 subjects in year 12, including uni maths, English and EL.

ohh maybe i will, hopefully he sees this thread, but i don't think i can be compared to him. as there's no chance i'll be getting 99+ hehe unlike him!!

so basically, it's suggested if i must do another english subject with EL, it should be english, i don't really know why i've been suggested to do english so much when i'm struggling as it is in grade 11 >_>

[EvangelionZeta]

Everyone is suggesting you keep to English because Lit is actually more challenging, especially for somebody jumping straight into it at 3/4 level.  Given that most of the people who choose it in the first place are stronger English students, you'll have a harder time getting a high study score in it.  The "two passages to analyse" is also deceptive; the Argued Readings you'll be writing in the Lit exam are in a league of their own difficulty-wise, and whereas high marks in English can be obtained with 800-1000 words, with Lit you really need 1000+. 

The only reason Lit would be easier is if you have a very dense, eloquent writing style (which is what Lit examiners prefer) - in English the markers want clarity rather than flamboyancy.

[vexx]

Everyone is suggesting you keep to English because Lit is actually more challenging, especially for somebody jumping straight into it at 3/4 level.  Given that most of the people who choose it in the first place are stronger English students, you'll have a harder time getting a high study score in it.  The "two passages to analyse" is also deceptive; the Argued Readings you'll be writing in the Lit exam are in a league of their own difficulty-wise, and whereas high marks in English can be obtained with 800-1000 words, with Lit you really need 1000+. 

The only reason Lit would be easier is if you have a very dense, eloquent writing style (which is what Lit examiners prefer) - in English the markers want clarity rather than flamboyancy.

well i did unit one last year as i said before, so it's not jumping straight in so much.
oh really 1000+ words!? why does it say 400~1000 on the VCAA site? i'd be surprised if over 1000 words is needed to do well if you do say 600~800 and it's pretty good. i'm not aiming for mid 40's or anything, that's definitely not possible. even getting high 30's i'd be ecstatic with!!

hmm i'm sure it would be difficult, but i will find english equally as difficult (imo).. i also am really bad at essay structure, as in i get marks deducted for poor topic sentences and introduction and so on, and don't do too bad on the actual content. so i'd enjoy doing lit for the more content focus rather than structure..

it just comes down to what's more interesting, so i'd prefer to do literature...

this is why i want to do EL as well, as it's different to english and even if i'm doing poor at normal english/lit then i can always just try hard at EL to use that instead....

[EvangelionZeta]

I guess that chances things a little bit - the 1000+ was directed mostly at the 40+ scores.  Still, if I were you I'd probably just ditch Lit and English altogether and just focus on Language - it sounds like you'd do a lot better by just focusing on it alone.

[vexx]

I guess that chances things a little bit - the 1000+ was directed mostly at the 40+ scores.  Still, if I were you I'd probably just ditch Lit and English altogether and just focus on Language - it sounds like you'd do a lot better by just focusing on it alone.

hmm ok thanks.yeah i wont be aiming for any sort of 40+ if i did lit hehe.
i'll start off doing either lit or english as well as EL, just incase i change my mind.
gah so stressful haha.

so it's better to do EL + MUEP (outside school), & 3 subjects in school, then doing either lit/english+3 in school & MUEP out?
or should i figure it out myself start of next year? hmmm..

[vexx]

oh && also,

is it a bad idea to do a sixth subject just for fun, not even to be put to your ENTER, like to do just because it's interesting/fun and you know it won't be even in your top 6? (for example, an art/drama/philosphy,ect), this would be done outside of school once a week, or is it better to save the fun subjects for uni??

[EvangelionZeta]

Well, that's basically what I'm doing with Philosophy/Uni Philosophy, but it depends on how much you value your actual ENTER score.

[appianway]

If you're interested in the subject and have enough time to complete the set homework, go for it. VCE shouldn't be all about the final mark, although be wary of placing yourself under excess stress.

[mystikal]

to be honest the uni subjects are only most effective for 96+ enter scores where 1 point increases the enter signicantly but if you think about it MUEP chem gives you at max 5.5 which in reality is an extra 2-3 points only, considering it replaces a subject which was  20-30 study score but judging from here i doubt you will get that low of a score anyways  . If i were you, doing double english is awesome.

-You got 2 chances to get a good score since either english can be put it in.
-Back up subject for top 4
-MUEP chem probably only 55% of it is related to the current VCE study design, (70% related to old study design)

[vexx]

ooh, thanks for replies. yeah i guess i'll have to see - good thing about uni subjects is it's very easy to drop them!
(wouldn't want to think i'd have to, but just in case the work becomes too much)

mystikal- yeah the backup english would be good.. because i'm sure i'll be able to do better at englang than the other englishes, and if i find out i'm wrong then i still have the other english (i don't know if i'll be doing this though)
& yep, i spoke to the chemistry co-oridinator at monash who said there is many overlaps between uni chem & normal chem; which he said will "make vce chemistry look easy." haha.