Advice please! (1 Viewer)

[throwaway2318]

Hey guys,
For a bit of context I currently go to a top 20 selective school and am contemplating on whether to drop either physics or biology (currently on 13 units, my one unit is math ext 1). The problem is that I completely failed both tasks (40% for Physics and 55% for Biology). Both tests were a weighting of 20%. The average for both were 58 and 80 respectively. I am generally a student who gets over 90 (i got over 95 for both depth studies last year since I took an interest). I am worried that if I choose physics that it will screw up my atar more... but then people say Physics is higher scaling than Biology... anyways I'm really looking for some advice.

Thank you in advance.

 

[_rakelt]

Honestly, I'm not sure either. Maybe you should keep both subjects for now and complete one more internal assessment and see which one is better off gone.

Also, is there a reason why you didn't do that great for the first task? Was it really hard? I did biology and I didn't go to a top 150 school but managed to pull through with a hsc band 5, so is it because your school is tough or?

 

[throwaway2318]

I went all out for prelims and got burnt out by the time i got to the first term of HSC. I know I could have done better and it annoys me to death, but frankly I know there is no point dwelling over this now.

 

[jazz519]

You need to think about how much percentage the tasks were worth. If it wasn't that much or less than 25% then there is plenty of space for you to gain ranks and improve your marks. Consider thinking also what is your future uni plans. If you are wanting to do engineering then physics is more important than biology. On the other hand if you want to do something biology based then the biology will be more important. Don't let yourself go into a spiral where you let one bad mark, make you depressed or sad and thereby you damage your chances in your future assessments. As difficult as it is try to put it behind you and just use it as a learning curve. Most people in their HSC year have some kind of blip, but many people can recover if they learn from the mistake and correct it. Especially as you have said you scored 90s prior it should be a problem academically speaking for you to improve as you have the capability, but just address whatever other issues were stopping you from doing well.

 

[Time&moretime]

Hey guys,
For a bit of context I currently go to a top 20 selective school and am contemplating on whether to drop either physics or biology (currently on 13 units, my one unit is math ext 1). The problem is that I completely failed both tasks (40% for Physics and 55% for Biology). Both tests were a weighting of 20%. The average for both were 58 and 80 respectively. I am generally a student who gets over 90 (i got over 95 for both depth studies last year since I took an interest). I am worried that if I choose physics that it will screw up my atar more... but then people say Physics is higher scaling than Biology... anyways I'm really looking for some advice.

Thank you in advance.

It depends on the course you intend to apply for at university. I believe if you intend to apply for Engineering, you will probably need Physics. Taking on a Physics bridging course in university can be a chore unless you like the subject. It also depends on the other subjects you have chosen and your ranking in your cohort. These are some of the factors to consider. Funny enough, it depends on your teacher. They control a portion of your marks which affects the overall outcome.
Your concerns are valid because both Physics and Biology are considered ‘heavy duty’ subjects. It needs a fair amount of work so I would be seeking some advice from a careers counsellor or a family member as soon as I can.

 

[throwaway2318]

You need to think about how much percentage the tasks were worth. If it wasn't that much or less than 25% then there is plenty of space for you to gain ranks and improve your marks.

The weighting for this task was 20%, and it was a written test.

It depends on the course you intend to apply for at university. I believe if you intend to apply for Engineering, you will probably need Physics.

Yeah I’m planning to do engineering.

I’m just really scared this will reduce my chances of getting a high band 5-6 for physics. Let’s say if I get a low 90s for trials and prac test (30 and 25 respectively), and in the high 90s for depth study (25 weighting), will I still get a band 5... I’m worrying quite a bit tbh.

 

[jazz519]

The weighting for this task was 20%, and it was a written test.

Yeah I’m planning to do engineering.

I’m just really scared this will reduce my chances of getting a high band 5-6 for physics. Let’s say if I get a low 90s for trials and prac test (30 and 25 respectively), and in the high 90s for depth study (25 weighting), will I still get a band 5... I’m worrying quite a bit tbh.

I think you are forgetting that a band 5 in a subject is not that difficult compared to a band 6 especially if you going a selective school where most people will be getting at least band 5. That's because the raw mark you need for a band 5 is way less than what u need for a band 6, since it isn't a linear thing. For example this year in the HSC a raw mark of 59 in the physics exam got an 85 aligned mark while a 76 got a 90 (so you can see jumping from 85 to 90 aligned mark is hard but just getting a band 5 isn't that difficult). So even though you performed poorly in that one physics test it does not rule you out of getting a band 6 if you improve in future tasks which is possible considering you must be fairly intelligent going to a selective school and scoring well in the past. I would probably just give it a go for one more term and then make a decision after that

 

[throwaway2318]

Thank you to everyone who commented on this thread. Hopefully I can update everyone with good news later this year

 

[jazz519]

Thank you to everyone who commented on this thread. Hopefully I can update everyone with good news later this year

Good luck