Should I repeat Year 12? (1 Viewer)

[-may-cat-]

So as a safety net would it be better off for me to take all of the units in my first year, just in case I don't get high enough marks? I personally believe I can maintain a decent marks, but both my parents believe otherwise and I don't want to take the chance.

Your parents don't sound like they know anything about how university actually works, i would ignore their advice on this. It really isn't that difficult to maintain the sort of marks required to transfer - my friend had no trouble and was a credit average student. Why waste time and money on units that you do not want to do? Just be smart about which course you start off in (ie. maybe don't do a Media Arts/Comp Sci if you hate media) and throw everything you have into it.

 

[LoveHateSchool]

Please don't repeat, it's a backwards step when you can be moving forward in uni.

Maintain decent GPA and internal transfers are not too uncommon, I know at UNSW a girl who started in straight arts, transferred to arts/law after first year. These's always wriggle room at university.

 

[-may-cat-]

Internal transfer program in general:
https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/academiclife/program_transfer/InternalProgramTransfer.html

Scroll down for specific requirements to transfer to Comp. Sci:
https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/academiclife/program_transfer/program_trans_Eng.html

Minimum WAM: 65
Minimum Units of credit completed: 36

I have no idea about the WAM system, perhaps UNSW students could shed light on how difficult it may or may not be to meet these requirements?

 

[brent012]

So as a safety net would it be better off for me to take all of the units in my first year, just in case I don't get high enough marks? I personally believe I can maintain a decent marks, but both my parents believe otherwise and I don't want to take the chance.

Nah i wouldn't reccomend that it's just worst case scenario kind of deal and you asked if there was anything bad that could happen.

But if you are worried and after first year you have not been able to transfer just don't get in the mentality that you'd eventually be able to transfer and start on the Media Arts subjects then! Besides in that circumstance, first semester subjects are easier than second year subjects and i'd assume Media Arts would not be as difficult as Comp Sci so it's quite possible that your WAM would be boosted up by the Media Arts subjects and then you would be able to transfer lol.

But seriously, this is pretty much a non existant issue. Even though it looks like you aren't considering it anymore whatever you do DONT REPEAT. Plus school or HSC marks are not indicators of how you will perform at uni in any way.

I have no idea about the WAM system, perhaps UNSW students could shed light on how difficult it may or may not be to meet these requirements?

Not a UNSW student, but that's just credit average...

 

[Drongoski]

Your parents don't sound like they know anything about how university actually works, i would ignore their advice on this. It really isn't that difficult to maintain the sort of marks required to transfer - my friend had no trouble and was a credit average student. Why waste time and money on units that you do not want to do? Just be smart about which course you start off in (ie. maybe don't do a Media Arts/Comp Sci if you hate media) and throw everything you have into it.

Good point. But don't "ignore their advice". Maybe your parents are Asian - and unfortunately for you, your dad is very disappointed as you yourself must be. Let him calm down 1st. Tell him you are sorry you disappointed him. After a couple of days, have a sit down with him & your mum and explain to him the impracticality of repeating year 12. Ask for his advice as to what you should do under the circumstances. If he is not familiar with the local tertiary system, try to fill him in on it. If you yourself are not very clear about it, say so. Don't offer him any false assurances; because, if you do, at this point in time, he will be angrier with you. But do assure him you will work hard and make amends.

Also, may I suggest, in the meantime, in the lead-up to UTS course you wish to pursue, strenghten your foundation in the relevant areas. If necessary get help from friends. Find out before hand subjects you will be doing before hand and do a bit of preliminary reading up. I'm sure there are many on BoS already in Uni who may be able to provide advice once you have firmed up on your choice of the course you will be doing.

I can understand the distress you must be feeling now. Things will get better. Good luck.

 

[-may-cat-]

Good point. But don't "ignore their advice".

'My dad thinks i should repeat year 12 because he doesn't think i'm capable of doing well at uni.'

"I would ignore their advice on this"

 

[Drongoski]

'My dad thinks i should repeat year 12 because he doesn't think i'm capable of doing well at uni.'

"I would ignore their advice on this"

What I meant was to not follow his advice to repeat - but to do so tactfully. Explain the situation and explain the alternatives. I'm proposing the Asian approach instead of a "confrontational" one. I'm aware most people on BoS have different thinking from mine.

 

[Eduard_Khil]

Since everyones said stuff about it's a bad idea, to repeat I may as well balance this argument by encouraging you to repeat by listing advantages.
It's likely you will get a higher mark than you did this year if you plan to re-take the same subjects, furthermore this extra time might help like a one year revision course, really helping you to patch up all the problems you need. Even if you did get in a course at university, with the intention of transferring it isn't 100% guaranteed.
Whereas if you do repeat your goal may be possible within your grasp within one years time, the main problem as previously mentioned was the fact that the same problems may plague you, now that really is a personality trait that varies from person to person, and clearly you're the only one who'd really know. Think about your move, are you really going to procrastinate as much as this year? what you want to avoid is procrastinating again. Although even with a bit of procrastination it's highly likely your marks will still be higher.

Also you can think of it like this, other courses that help you transfer take time as well, perhaps over a year. What if you can get a high enough mark the next year and just get directly into the course you want? Saves a step. Of course it is a gamble as you may already know. But life is a gamble and is unpredictable where is life without the risk.
Hope this unorthadox comment compared to the others helped

 

[DAFUQ]

Why does every boy and his dog want to do medicine these day? Tell me why you want to do med and whats good about it?

Don't repeat. Starting uni and applying for a change in degree is wayyyy easier.

Your parents inner rage will lessen over time. dont worry too much. I've seen this many times.

 

[Magical Kebab]

Good point. But don't "ignore their advice". Maybe your parents are Asian - and unfortunately for you, your dad is very disappointed as you yourself must be. Let him calm down 1st. Tell him you are sorry you disappointed him. After a couple of days, have a sit down with him & your mum and explain to him the impracticality of repeating year 12. Ask for his advice as to what you should do under the circumstances. If he is not familiar with the local tertiary system, try to fill him in on it. If you yourself are not very clear about it, say so. Don't offer him any false assurances; because, if you do, at this point in time, he will be angrier with you. But do assure him you will work hard and make amends.

Also, may I suggest, in the meantime, in the lead-up to UTS course you wish to pursue, strenghten your foundation in the relevant areas. If necessary get help from friends. Find out before hand subjects you will be doing before hand and do a bit of preliminary reading up. I'm sure there are many on BoS already in Uni who may be able to provide advice once you have firmed up on your choice of the course you will be doing.

I can understand the distress you must be feeling now. Things will get better. Good luck.

This is good advice.
Calm down and think clearly. Don't repeat, read the above comments and have a think and discuss the issue with ur parents.

Ur plan sounds good to me, better than repeating.

 

[-may-cat-]

This is bad advice.

Since everyones said stuff about it's a bad idea, to repeat I may as well balance this argument by encouraging you to repeat by listing advantages.
It's likely you will get a higher mark than you did this year if you plan to re-take the same subjects, furthermore this extra time might help like a one year revision course, really helping you to patch up all the problems you need. Even if you did get in a course at university, with the intention of transferring it isn't 100% guaranteed.

Repeating year 12 does not guarantee you a better mark. You will likely find the material boring as hell and your morale and attitude will be terrible. Have a search on this site of others who have done this, most found it an awful experience and finished with only marginally better marks.

Whereas if you do repeat your goal may be possible within your grasp within one years time, the main problem as previously mentioned was the fact that the same problems may plague you, now that really is a personality trait that varies from person to person, and clearly you're the only one who'd really know. Think about your move, are you really going to procrastinate as much as this year? what you want to avoid is procrastinating again. Although even with a bit of procrastination it's highly likely your marks will still be higher.

People at uni still procrastinate and transfer. I procrastinate and am an HD average student. This is ridiculous.

If your first semester at uni isn't enough to kick your shit into gear, no amount of repeating the HSC ever will be.

Also you can think of it like this, other courses that help you transfer take time as well, perhaps over a year. What if you can get a high enough mark the next year and just get directly into the course you want? Saves a step. Of course it is a gamble as you may already know. But life is a gamble and is unpredictable where is life without the risk.

This implies total misunderstanding of how transferring works. It is not wasting a year on 'an extra step', if you are smart about it you would enter into your desired course with first year having already been completed.

I could maybe understand if you flat out failed the HSC, but the OP is expecting high 70's - low 80's, more than enough to get into many uni programs. Once you are in the uni system there is so much flexibility and support available!

 

[nifkeh]

don't repeat year 12 - waste of time and easily to lose hope in, like "why am I doing this again" or "why am I still bad". repeating a course is easy to get tired in (as it's nothing new) so it's best to do an internal transfer instead, as others have said

hope you are okay, parents can be very stressful at times when they find out something bad, it's overwhelming but after a week I think they will accept it and won't be like 'you failed' or as bad as when your results came out. Just say you talked to a couple of uni students, and they said it's better to do a internal uni transfer rather than repeat year 12 because it is tiring and not interesting anymore. hope everything goes well

 

[Galapagos]

This is bad advice.
Repeating year 12 does not guarantee you a better mark.

Very true: I know of a girl that wanted to get into med but missed the cut-off by a minuscule amount...so she repeated yr 12 and actually did worse than before lol.

 

[oasfree]

100% of kids at your age will say that their parents are stupid and need to grow up. 25 years down the track the grand kids will say exactly the same thing to parents and so on. C'est la vie!

You are lucky to have parents who tell you the right thing and prepare to support you. Other parents will just let you screw yourself. Most students who just go to Uni do what they don't like and hope for transfer and will NOT get a transfer. Why? They will perform so badly in Uni when they do what they don't like and barely manage to pass anyway. Uni is 2x times as hard in first year when students are not familiar with working without help, higher workload, too much freedom, social clubs and sex drive ... They end up spending more time at the many bars at Uni drinking beer, trying some recreational drugs and find a girl/guy to get laid. At the end of the year many consider they are lucky not to fail everything and get kicked out. This is why drop-out rates at Unis are terrible for first year.

The rule of reality is simple: bad quality input => worse quality output

Any positive variation from the above rule is just rare exceptions and dreams.

Think carefully and listen to yourself first then listen to your parents. Only your parents really care if you will screw yourself up or do something right. Others will tell you what you like to hear, screw yourself and so they will be riding on your heads. Why? They don't care.

I have been to Uni and worked at Unis for a long time. I have seen many lives got thrown away at these places.

 

[oasfree]

This is bad advice.
Repeating year 12 does not guarantee you a better mark. You will likely find the material boring as hell and your morale and attitude will be terrible. Have a search on this site of others who have done this, most found it an awful experience and finished with only marginally better marks.

While this may be true for most students because they should not have gone to school in the first place. It would be better if they dropped out at year 10 and learn to become mechanics or plumbers. Most of them don't have the basics. It is all about attitude, values and what you want to do. If you really care for academic values you would go back to whatever year where you lost your basics (8, 9 or 10) and start from that point. Of course this is impractical and they would not allow you to do so. It is all about work ethics. If you adopt Kumon philosophy then it is simple. They don't care about age or grade. But they care that if you get 90% at one level you move up to the next. By repeating year 12 (with good work ethics and the right attitude to do well), a good student would try to use the advantage of knowing the work to get 90% or better then keep that up to get over 90% at all times. And this guarantees a great result at the end. Often students with poor results lost the basics at year 7. This means the student must do a little from year 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 along side with year 12 work to make sure the repeat will be successful.

Hey, I have 2 Uni degrees and I still read year 5-6 books sometimes! What's wrong with that? I just get to understand deeper and get updated with new developments and ideas that come along in the continuum of 6000 years of human academic development. The new Australian curriculum is now based on the idea that year K-12 is a continuum of learning.

At the end of the day, you are only truly successful if you commit, do what you need to do and be responsible for your success.

I think the original poster should just mull over the issue, draw up a mind map with the word SUCCESS at the centre and start to identify what needed for him/her to do well. Then connect the boxes. It cannot be wrong when one works out the elements and commits to carry out what needed. Just keep in mind of Uni is a new world full of undeserved freedoms, temptations, drugs, indifference, distractions, ... It is not a world where kids are protected like HS where one can focus on learning. Once you are at Uni, you are on your own facing harsh realities of life after HS. From now on, a decision you make will shape your life more permanently with so little chance to come back to correct your mistake.

 

[Trans4M]

I would advise not to repeat.

My sister did her HSC back in 2001 and had a friend she knew from the grade above. She wanted to study Pharmacy(or some other science related degree) but her parents wanted her to do medicine (typical asian parents). When she did the HSC in 2000, I think she got like a UAI of 91 and that was enough for her to study the course she wanted. Her parents however told her to repeat. She listend to them and her UAI only went up to like 91.5 or 92. They told her to repeat again as she did not get into med again. The 2nd time she repeated (last time) she still only got like 92. By this time she was so bored of it that she gave up. The cut off for her course is now higher than the UAI she got so she couldn't study it. She got so fed up with the HSC that she did not go to uni and is now working at her parent's shop.

 

[asadass]

I would advise not to repeat.

My sister did her HSC back in 2001 and had a friend she knew from the grade above. She wanted to study Pharmacy(or some other science related degree) but her parents wanted her to do medicine (typical asian parents). When she did the HSC in 2000, I think she got like a UAI of 91 and that was enough for her to study the course she wanted. Her parents however told her to repeat. She listend to them and her UAI only went up to like 91.5 or 92. They told her to repeat again as she did not get into med again. The 2nd time she repeated (last time) she still only got like 92. By this time she was so bored of it that she gave up. The cut off for her course is now higher than the UAI she got so she couldn't study it. She got so fed up with the HSC that she did not go to uni and is now working at her parent's shop.

that's rough

 

[eja2000]

Mate, high 80s and low 70s are nothing to be ashamed about. I guess they're not 90's stuff, but they're not awful marks either. You're talking like got got an ATAR of 55 or something. My advice would be NOT to repeat year 12 as it would just be wasting a year, and to rather start uni and then transfer to the uni/course you want.

You'll be fine. Remember, the HSC is just a number. It doesn't define YOU as a person, regardless of what your parents may think.

 

[AsyLum]

At the end of the day, you are only truly successful if you commit, do what you need to do and be responsible for your success.

I think the original poster should just mull over the issue, draw up a mind map with the word SUCCESS at the centre and start to identify what needed for him/her to do well. Then connect the boxes. It cannot be wrong when one works out the elements and commits to carry out what needed. Just keep in mind of Uni is a new world full of undeserved freedoms, temptations, drugs, indifference, distractions, ... It is not a world where kids are protected like HS where one can focus on learning. Once you are at Uni, you are on your own facing harsh realities of life after HS. From now on, a decision you make will shape your life more permanently with so little chance to come back to correct your mistake.

No, no no no no.

This type of 'self-help' motivation bullshit presupposes that everyone understands and learns in the same way, when that is just not the case. This isn't as simple as 'drawing a mind map'.

And please don't tell me that you believe that 'university' is any less sheltered from the real world than high school was. You've 'worked' in uni, great for you. Going to leave anytime soon to pursue the 'real world'?

Technically, every decision you've made since your birth, and heck even the ones your parents made, and their parents made, etc, shapes your life. It's called cause and effect.

 

[Synchronised]

My HSC results this this year are a lot lower than I expected them to be (I /saw/ it coming because I slacked a lot, but seeing it in print sort of seals the deal). I'm devastated, and so are my parents. I wanted to do Comp Sci. at UNSW and then maybe try for Post-Grad Med, but that isn't happening due to my ATAR.

My new plan is to do another Computing course in UTS and then hopefully transfer to UNSW, but both my parents (especially my father) are telling me to repeat year 12. They're both incredibly angry at me and my Dad isn't speaking to me. I don't know what to do. They've lost all faith in me, and think my plan is terrible and they don't think I can do well in Uni.

I'm really confused as to what to do. Is my plan okay? Or should I listen and repeat Year 12?

Repeating year 12 is the worst thing that you can possibly do unless it is something you truly want to do your self, not being forced by your parents. You have to be highly self motivated and determined to do better if you repeat.

My ante and her husband are both doctors, their son was always into computers, he never studied in year 12 because he was always outside with friends playing computer games and working with computers. He achieved a very low UAI so his parents forced him to repeat. The first time he repeated he suffered from depression and he lost desire to eat so his weight dropped to 55 kg. He repeated AGAIN and the same thing happened and he repeated a 3rd time and then he got really angry at his parents and left the house. He then used his initial UAI (85) to do computer engineering and he worked with computers for about 2 years and at the age of 23 his parents decided to send him to another country in Europe to do medicine at a private university (they paid a lot of money), he completed the degree about 2 years ago finally at the age of 29! He is now 31 years old, got married and now is unemployed because he doesn't like medicine.

Why do you want to do medicine? Medicine is really over-rated and people think it is the best... it isn't academically challenging, it is a lot of rote-learning, what is challenging is the years of study and practice. You DO NOT do medicine unless you are passionate about it and btw medicine has a high atar because of the demand not the money so do what you truly like not what your parents tell you. Saying medicine is the "most prestigious degree" and "the best degree" is very ignorant! There are many other professions that are easier to get into (not because they are academically easier) that are just as good in terms of jobs/money and are very highly respected worldwide i.e. engineering, science, commerce etc...
If you repeat year 12 it is kinda too late now because schools already started (you can repeat at tafe if you want).

You have to be very serious and mature about this decision, many people get depressed when they repeat and some of them think they already know everything so they don't study.

If you don't get into med do something else man... go to UTS, do comp science and then transfer to USYD or UNSW to a better degree, not necessarily med, maybe BSc physics and then master in medical physics? it is a nice field and you get to work mostly with treatment with radiation etc...