my experience doing 5 major works (1 Viewer)

tangerines

Active Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2023
Messages
53
Gender
Female
HSC
2023
hi all, now that my hsc is done and dusted i wanted to come on here to share my experience doing more major works than anyone ever should, and give some advice/insight for anyone doing or thinking of doing subjects with a major work, whether that's one or more than one. last year, someone on this site made a great post with her experience doing multiple major works that is worth the read too, so i will mostly be revisiting and adding on to some of the points she made.

here are the subjects i took in my hsc (12 units total):
- English Advanced
- English Extension 1
- English Extension 2 (MW)
- Dance (MW)
- Drama (MW)
- Music 1 (MW)
- Visual Arts (MW)

firstly, why did i do five majors?? it seems like self sabotage not only doing as many major works as i did but also keeping an extra 2 units i didn't need for my atar. well, while i always had ambitions of getting a good enough atar to get into my first choice uni, there's a few reasons as to why i chose almost every subject to be one with a major work.

1. to be completely honest, i did not know what the concept of a major work was or that it even existed prior to starting year 11. this is because i am an international student who moved to sydney at the start of year 11 from overseas where we did the IB, I had never even heard of the HSC before. in my subject selection i literally just picked subjects that i was interested in and believed i could do well in. it took me the whole first year to properly understand what i had in store for me in terms of major works and by then obviously it was too late to go back. it just so happened that most of my subjects happened to include major works. at our school everyone did at least 1 major work, with the average being 2-3 and some doing as many as 4. i'm aware most schools don't even let kids do more than 1-2. if i had known about the workload i would definitely had not picked to do as many works as i did, but in hindsight have no regrets!

2. the way major works are designed fit my learning style very well. this may be because of my ADHD, which made doing purely academic subjects like biology or economics more challenging for me rather than something creative and performance-based more enjoyable and easier to understand content. of course with ADHD came difficulties with time management and organisation, which are vital to finishing a good major work, but i was able to do my best since my subjects were very interesting and rewarding to me, giving me the motivation to work hard and often. but major works are a challenge for anyone, i believe even doing one is an incredible feat. i'm awful at maths and sciences and if i had done those subjects i would've struggled immensely.

now, onto the experience and some advice based around that. i did not have a job or any extracurriulars outside of being school vice captain in year 12 and occasional dance training outside of school. i was only able to complete all these major works and present something i can be proud of because i had lots of time in and out of school to work on my projects, but even with a busy schedule it is possible to do many major works. my best friend did 4 majors and he had a job and took up acting gigs + did a uni course for the second half of year 12. he got nominations for both OnSTAGE and Callback, so it is possible to do well despite being busy.

since i did five majors, i tried my best to be consistent with a schedule where i would work on one subject per day of the week. for instance, mondays were drama days, tuesdays were dance days, etc. every creative subject has a compulsory academic/writing component, which i balanced with the kind of spaces i had access to throughout the day. for example, if tuesdays are dance days, then i would spend my study periods at school in the dance studio working on my dances, and then go to the library to study theory. this system worked out very well for me since i was able to consistently balance all components of each subject while making progress on my major works. at some point, i left my body of work for visual arts at school so that i would force myself to work on that at school and then go home and do theory rather than succumbing to the arguably more fun activity of painting all the time. here are some of the biggest advice points i have to give:

1. balance is vital.
not only in terms of balancing an academic + social + work life, but also in making progress on all components of a course. 4u english is the only major work i had that didn't involve more than one exam/submission. all of my other majors included both theory and practical exams: art had 2, music and drama had 3, dance had 4. like i said earlier, finding a routine where you can cover all bases will be helpful in making sure you are making steady progress on everything. getting high HSC marks will be very difficult if you are not at least decent in every component.

2. pick subjects you both find engaging and also think you'll succeed in.
it will be way too taxing to work on a project that you either don't care much about or struggle to do well in. i almost dropped some of my subjects many times throughout the year purely because the workload was too demanding for something i wasn't interested enough to stick with. if you care about getting a high atar, most people stay away from the creative subjects in particular because they scale pretty harshly if you don't get a band 6. this is because the people that pick these subjects are generally very good, and you'll see future USYD con students doing music as opposed to people that just think music is mildly interesting but have no performance/composition/theory skills. but if you excel in these subjects, scaling is no problem. if you're like most kids from my school who don't need an atar but want to finish high school, doing only interesting subjects is no problem. but make sure that you pick subjects that will provide experiences or skills that will be worth your time.

3. consistently get feedback and help from teachers and peers.
this is incredibly vital for making sure you stay on the right track. as someone who tends to misinterpret even basic instructions often, checking in and making sure not only are you meeting the course requirements correctly but also doing it well will make sure you get the results you expect. i made the mistake of not doing this for my drama IP, and the consequence was barely passing trials. luckily i realised this and made improvements good enough by the HSC and even ended up getting an OnSTAGE nomination, but i could've gotten a band 4 or lower had i not fixed my mistake. teachers and peers are there to inspire and motivate and support you, so don't shy away from asking for feedback and help. they can also let you know if your project is too ambitious or even the opposite. if the people at school are not helpful, you can always ask the people on BoS.

4. always be searching for resources and exemplary works.
some schools provide a plethora of resources, some don't. some subjects it's impossible to find comparable works to your's and it's hard to know if you're really exemplary or entirely missing the mark. but there are always people that do well in these subjects, so find people from your school, other schools, graduates, etc. online or in person and see what they did. take inspiration from as many works as you can, without plagiarising of course. NESA provides multiple examples of works in all subjects for all components on their site, so identify what things were successful and what wasn't. i was on the hunt for resources at every stage of my prelim and hsc years, all the way up to the submission week. look at not only exemplary works but also at mediocre ones.

i know this was a long read, but hopefully it can help any current and future students with deciding whether or not to start/keep a major work subject and how to manage it. it is possible to do this many majors and do well in the HSC; i got into my dream course at USYD and UniMelb and got the highest ATAR in my cohort despite having a crazy workload, doing mostly poorly scaling subjects and coming from a low ranking school.

good luck to all, i hope this was at least somewhat helpful and i am happy to answer questions or elaborate on any of my points!!
 

Cute-Duckie

Arbitrarily Active Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2023
Messages
251
Gender
Female
HSC
2025
hi all, now that my hsc is done and dusted i wanted to come on here to share my experience doing more major works than anyone ever should, and give some advice/insight for anyone doing or thinking of doing subjects with a major work, whether that's one or more than one. last year, someone on this site made a great post with her experience doing multiple major works that is worth the read too, so i will mostly be revisiting and adding on to some of the points she made.

here are the subjects i took in my hsc (12 units total):
- English Advanced
- English Extension 1
- English Extension 2 (MW)
- Dance (MW)
- Drama (MW)
- Music 1 (MW)
- Visual Arts (MW)

firstly, why did i do five majors?? it seems like self sabotage not only doing as many major works as i did but also keeping an extra 2 units i didn't need for my atar. well, while i always had ambitions of getting a good enough atar to get into my first choice uni, there's a few reasons as to why i chose almost every subject to be one with a major work.

1. to be completely honest, i did not know what the concept of a major work was or that it even existed prior to starting year 11. this is because i am an international student who moved to sydney at the start of year 11 from overseas where we did the IB, I had never even heard of the HSC before. in my subject selection i literally just picked subjects that i was interested in and believed i could do well in. it took me the whole first year to properly understand what i had in store for me in terms of major works and by then obviously it was too late to go back. it just so happened that most of my subjects happened to include major works. at our school everyone did at least 1 major work, with the average being 2-3 and some doing as many as 4. i'm aware most schools don't even let kids do more than 1-2. if i had known about the workload i would definitely had not picked to do as many works as i did, but in hindsight have no regrets!

2. the way major works are designed fit my learning style very well. this may be because of my ADHD, which made doing purely academic subjects like biology or economics more challenging for me rather than something creative and performance-based more enjoyable and easier to understand content. of course with ADHD came difficulties with time management and organisation, which are vital to finishing a good major work, but i was able to do my best since my subjects were very interesting and rewarding to me, giving me the motivation to work hard and often. but major works are a challenge for anyone, i believe even doing one is an incredible feat. i'm awful at maths and sciences and if i had done those subjects i would've struggled immensely.

now, onto the experience and some advice based around that. i did not have a job or any extracurriulars outside of being school vice captain in year 12 and occasional dance training outside of school. i was only able to complete all these major works and present something i can be proud of because i had lots of time in and out of school to work on my projects, but even with a busy schedule it is possible to do many major works. my best friend did 4 majors and he had a job and took up acting gigs + did a uni course for the second half of year 12. he got nominations for both OnSTAGE and Callback, so it is possible to do well despite being busy.

since i did five majors, i tried my best to be consistent with a schedule where i would work on one subject per day of the week. for instance, mondays were drama days, tuesdays were dance days, etc. every creative subject has a compulsory academic/writing component, which i balanced with the kind of spaces i had access to throughout the day. for example, if tuesdays are dance days, then i would spend my study periods at school in the dance studio working on my dances, and then go to the library to study theory. this system worked out very well for me since i was able to consistently balance all components of each subject while making progress on my major works. at some point, i left my body of work for visual arts at school so that i would force myself to work on that at school and then go home and do theory rather than succumbing to the arguably more fun activity of painting all the time. here are some of the biggest advice points i have to give:

1. balance is vital.
not only in terms of balancing an academic + social + work life, but also in making progress on all components of a course. 4u english is the only major work i had that didn't involve more than one exam/submission. all of my other majors included both theory and practical exams: art had 2, music and drama had 3, dance had 4. like i said earlier, finding a routine where you can cover all bases will be helpful in making sure you are making steady progress on everything. getting high HSC marks will be very difficult if you are not at least decent in every component.

2. pick subjects you both find engaging and also think you'll succeed in.
it will be way too taxing to work on a project that you either don't care much about or struggle to do well in. i almost dropped some of my subjects many times throughout the year purely because the workload was too demanding for something i wasn't interested enough to stick with. if you care about getting a high atar, most people stay away from the creative subjects in particular because they scale pretty harshly if you don't get a band 6. this is because the people that pick these subjects are generally very good, and you'll see future USYD con students doing music as opposed to people that just think music is mildly interesting but have no performance/composition/theory skills. but if you excel in these subjects, scaling is no problem. if you're like most kids from my school who don't need an atar but want to finish high school, doing only interesting subjects is no problem. but make sure that you pick subjects that will provide experiences or skills that will be worth your time.

3. consistently get feedback and help from teachers and peers.
this is incredibly vital for making sure you stay on the right track. as someone who tends to misinterpret even basic instructions often, checking in and making sure not only are you meeting the course requirements correctly but also doing it well will make sure you get the results you expect. i made the mistake of not doing this for my drama IP, and the consequence was barely passing trials. luckily i realised this and made improvements good enough by the HSC and even ended up getting an OnSTAGE nomination, but i could've gotten a band 4 or lower had i not fixed my mistake. teachers and peers are there to inspire and motivate and support you, so don't shy away from asking for feedback and help. they can also let you know if your project is too ambitious or even the opposite. if the people at school are not helpful, you can always ask the people on BoS.

4. always be searching for resources and exemplary works.
some schools provide a plethora of resources, some don't. some subjects it's impossible to find comparable works to your's and it's hard to know if you're really exemplary or entirely missing the mark. but there are always people that do well in these subjects, so find people from your school, other schools, graduates, etc. online or in person and see what they did. take inspiration from as many works as you can, without plagiarising of course. NESA provides multiple examples of works in all subjects for all components on their site, so identify what things were successful and what wasn't. i was on the hunt for resources at every stage of my prelim and hsc years, all the way up to the submission week. look at not only exemplary works but also at mediocre ones.

i know this was a long read, but hopefully it can help any current and future students with deciding whether or not to start/keep a major work subject and how to manage it. it is possible to do this many majors and do well in the HSC; i got into my dream course at USYD and UniMelb and got the highest ATAR in my cohort despite having a crazy workload, doing mostly poorly scaling subjects and coming from a low ranking school.

good luck to all, i hope this was at least somewhat helpful and i am happy to answer questions or elaborate on any of my points!!
WOAH that's insane dude, congratulations. I'm doing 2, possibly 3 major works and I'm scared enough lmao (being Drama, Music 2 and possibly English ext 2)
 

Mood_124

New Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2024
Messages
3
Gender
Female
HSC
2025
thank u on your insight for major works, and congratulations for finishing all 5! i am currently doing 3 major works (english ext 2, history ext and sac) and your tips above are really helpful. i already kinda decided i want to keep all 3 however i'm experiencing dilemma of keeping 3 meaning no maths ans spanish which i dont want to keep, my school careers advisor AND hsc coordinator suggest i shouldnt keep them but my mother is making me. my biggest argument is that im good at the subjects i am doing major works in and i enjoy them, and want a one unit buffer (11 units) which also means come next year i can drop an extension/mw if my workload isnt coping, so far these arguments and the advice from school hasnt swayed mum. but with ur insight i feel like i can so thank u.

i myself go to an ib/myp school (therefore our hsc doesnt do as well as it could with most smart kids in ib and we get a range of top 70-100) and i did ib for a few terms but switched as yr11 rlly made me realize i wasnt an all-arounded like mum and i originally thought. so i changed to hsc and was able to focus on english and humanities (and bio), which (except for bio) i plan to do in uni and later life.
 

finwand

Active Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2022
Messages
114
Gender
Female
HSC
2024
thank u on your insight for major works, and congratulations for finishing all 5! i am currently doing 3 major works (english ext 2, history ext and sac) and your tips above are really helpful. i already kinda decided i want to keep all 3 however i'm experiencing dilemma of keeping 3 meaning no maths ans spanish which i dont want to keep, my school careers advisor AND hsc coordinator suggest i shouldnt keep them but my mother is making me. my biggest argument is that im good at the subjects i am doing major works in and i enjoy them, and want a one unit buffer (11 units) which also means come next year i can drop an extension/mw if my workload isnt coping, so far these arguments and the advice from school hasnt swayed mum. but with ur insight i feel like i can so thank u.

i myself go to an ib/myp school (therefore our hsc doesnt do as well as it could with most smart kids in ib and we get a range of top 70-100) and i did ib for a few terms but switched as yr11 rlly made me realize i wasnt an all-arounded like mum and i originally thought. so i changed to hsc and was able to focus on english and humanities (and bio), which (except for bio) i plan to do in uni and later life.
Hey, I did SAC and Ex2 English. Don't listen to your mother- difference between forcing yourself through a subject and using that time on ur majors instead is massive. You really need to drop and have a serious conversation with her. The PIP is massive (if you want to do well) and extension 2 is its own subject.
 

tangerines

Active Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2023
Messages
53
Gender
Female
HSC
2023
dance is literally not a subject .
coming back to this site after a year to see a comment like this is so sad. i was only trying to share my experiences doing multiple major works with one of them happening to be dance, but with the recent discussions around curriculum changes for creative arts subjects to make them more "academic," i think the "validity" of performance/creative subjects are a relevant thing to talk about.

to each their own, if you don't see dance as a real subject, then don't do dance. but as someone that did dance in their hsc, subjects like dance being available for kids to study is so important. in the same way subjects like maths and biology are helpful for students wanting to pursue medicine, or english being helpful for students wanting to become writers, or IPT being helpful for students wanting to go into tech, dance is helpful for students wanting to get into creative industries post-high school. especially for neurodivergent students who struggle in purely academic subjects with the only form of exam being paper and pen exams, being able to take a subject that has different (practical) exam styles is incredibly helpful for us. i did all of these major works and now study psychology at uni, and understanding that different people have different learning styles that are most beneficial to them is huge in validating dance as an hsc subject.

not to mention that dance in the hsc is more intricate than it might seem. it's nothing like basic tiktok dances or just moving your body around. we had to learn a lot of history, science (anatomy and the interaction between body systems, very similar to what's taught in PDHPE), and even maths (as a core part of performing and choreographing dances rely on counts, angles, timing, etc). even in practical exams, there's always an interview segment before and/or after a dance is performed to explain scientifically how the body prepares for certain movements in a way that won't injure you, and how the body is able to perform certain movements with its capabilities and limitations. a mandatory part of the subject is doing a standard hsc final exam where you write essay responses to questions based on dances studied as prescribed by the syllabus. in order to do well in dance, you can't just be a skilled mover, you have to be able to analyse and comprehensively communicate theory.

saying that dance is not a subject is also insensitive to pretty much every culture that has ever existed. dance and other art forms are central to many cultures and their traditions. any time you watch a concert with dancers, music videos with dancers, musicals, etc. there are countless hours of effort and dedication that take place behind the scenes. many dancers are also actors, musicians, writers, directors, creative visionaries, producers, designers, and more that contribute to the media that we enjoy and consume. i could go on and on about this, but all this being said, i wanted to put it out there for anybody that looks down on creative subjects like dance to consider that nesa designed hsc dance to be challenging for a reason. there's a reason why people who just want a good atar can't just decide to do dance and expect to do amazingly with no experience besides club dancing.

anyways, me writing this isn't meant to be an argument against the person who posted that comment specifically, but seeing it made me want to share my opinion on why dance IS a subject and deserves to be treated as such. my goal is not to change your mind on this, but to give perspective you maybe haven't seen before.
 

tangerines

Active Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2023
Messages
53
Gender
Female
HSC
2023
WOAH that's insane dude, congratulations. I'm doing 2, possibly 3 major works and I'm scared enough lmao (being Drama, Music 2 and possibly English ext 2)
thank you!! i can see you went through with picking up three major works and i wish you all the best!! i hope you enjoy doing those subjects and get the results you're hoping for <33
 

tangerines

Active Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2023
Messages
53
Gender
Female
HSC
2023
thank u on your insight for major works, and congratulations for finishing all 5! i am currently doing 3 major works (english ext 2, history ext and sac) and your tips above are really helpful. i already kinda decided i want to keep all 3 however i'm experiencing dilemma of keeping 3 meaning no maths ans spanish which i dont want to keep, my school careers advisor AND hsc coordinator suggest i shouldnt keep them but my mother is making me. my biggest argument is that im good at the subjects i am doing major works in and i enjoy them, and want a one unit buffer (11 units) which also means come next year i can drop an extension/mw if my workload isnt coping, so far these arguments and the advice from school hasnt swayed mum. but with ur insight i feel like i can so thank u.

i myself go to an ib/myp school (therefore our hsc doesnt do as well as it could with most smart kids in ib and we get a range of top 70-100) and i did ib for a few terms but switched as yr11 rlly made me realize i wasnt an all-arounded like mum and i originally thought. so i changed to hsc and was able to focus on english and humanities (and bio), which (except for bio) i plan to do in uni and later life.
i'm glad you found this post helpful!! i totally understand the ib/myp dilemma, and i myself actually left the ib system because i knew i wasn't going to do well in subjects i didn't like (i was not in fact an all-rounder like the ib wants you to be). i went through a somewhat similar experience where my parents made me do at least standard maths in year 11, and i hated every second of it. i decided to drop it term 2 of year 12 after giving it a shot term 1 and luckily my parents were understanding that doing maths would be a burden on all of my other subjects as i was not doing well and hated it. plus i had the support from the school who was hesitant about me doing five major works but saw that sacrificing one of them for maths would only be a detriment to my overall hsc. the good news is that maths can be taken later in life or outside of school, but i'd say (and you probably agree) that it's not worth getting assessed on for the hsc and subjecting yourself to a subject you dislike. if your mom is super adamant about keeping maths, i hope you can reach a compromise with her where you can either try it out for a term or two like i did and drop it if it's bringing you down, or agree to study maths outside of the hsc whether that's now or post-high school. same with spanish, there are many (free!) courses that you can take during or after your hsc so you're still learning but don't have the pressure and restrictions the hsc has.

i sincerely hope that you're able to continue the hsc doing subjects YOU want to do and YOU think will be beneficial to you, no matter what your mom thinks. i'm happy this post was able to give you some insight, and if you ever need more advice or help i'd love to!! wishing you all the best
 
Joined
Jul 13, 2024
Messages
58
Location
listening to orla gartland
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Undisclosed
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2025
hi all, now that my hsc is done and dusted i wanted to come on here to share my experience doing more major works than anyone ever should, and give some advice/insight for anyone doing or thinking of doing subjects with a major work, whether that's one or more than one. last year, someone on this site made a great post with her experience doing multiple major works that is worth the read too, so i will mostly be revisiting and adding on to some of the points she made.

here are the subjects i took in my hsc (12 units total):
- English Advanced
- English Extension 1
- English Extension 2 (MW)
- Dance (MW)
- Drama (MW)
- Music 1 (MW)
- Visual Arts (MW)

firstly, why did i do five majors?? it seems like self sabotage not only doing as many major works as i did but also keeping an extra 2 units i didn't need for my atar. well, while i always had ambitions of getting a good enough atar to get into my first choice uni, there's a few reasons as to why i chose almost every subject to be one with a major work.

1. to be completely honest, i did not know what the concept of a major work was or that it even existed prior to starting year 11. this is because i am an international student who moved to sydney at the start of year 11 from overseas where we did the IB, I had never even heard of the HSC before. in my subject selection i literally just picked subjects that i was interested in and believed i could do well in. it took me the whole first year to properly understand what i had in store for me in terms of major works and by then obviously it was too late to go back. it just so happened that most of my subjects happened to include major works. at our school everyone did at least 1 major work, with the average being 2-3 and some doing as many as 4. i'm aware most schools don't even let kids do more than 1-2. if i had known about the workload i would definitely had not picked to do as many works as i did, but in hindsight have no regrets!

2. the way major works are designed fit my learning style very well. this may be because of my ADHD, which made doing purely academic subjects like biology or economics more challenging for me rather than something creative and performance-based more enjoyable and easier to understand content. of course with ADHD came difficulties with time management and organisation, which are vital to finishing a good major work, but i was able to do my best since my subjects were very interesting and rewarding to me, giving me the motivation to work hard and often. but major works are a challenge for anyone, i believe even doing one is an incredible feat. i'm awful at maths and sciences and if i had done those subjects i would've struggled immensely.

now, onto the experience and some advice based around that. i did not have a job or any extracurriulars outside of being school vice captain in year 12 and occasional dance training outside of school. i was only able to complete all these major works and present something i can be proud of because i had lots of time in and out of school to work on my projects, but even with a busy schedule it is possible to do many major works. my best friend did 4 majors and he had a job and took up acting gigs + did a uni course for the second half of year 12. he got nominations for both OnSTAGE and Callback, so it is possible to do well despite being busy.

since i did five majors, i tried my best to be consistent with a schedule where i would work on one subject per day of the week. for instance, mondays were drama days, tuesdays were dance days, etc. every creative subject has a compulsory academic/writing component, which i balanced with the kind of spaces i had access to throughout the day. for example, if tuesdays are dance days, then i would spend my study periods at school in the dance studio working on my dances, and then go to the library to study theory. this system worked out very well for me since i was able to consistently balance all components of each subject while making progress on my major works. at some point, i left my body of work for visual arts at school so that i would force myself to work on that at school and then go home and do theory rather than succumbing to the arguably more fun activity of painting all the time. here are some of the biggest advice points i have to give:

1. balance is vital.
not only in terms of balancing an academic + social + work life, but also in making progress on all components of a course. 4u english is the only major work i had that didn't involve more than one exam/submission. all of my other majors included both theory and practical exams: art had 2, music and drama had 3, dance had 4. like i said earlier, finding a routine where you can cover all bases will be helpful in making sure you are making steady progress on everything. getting high HSC marks will be very difficult if you are not at least decent in every component.

2. pick subjects you both find engaging and also think you'll succeed in.
it will be way too taxing to work on a project that you either don't care much about or struggle to do well in. i almost dropped some of my subjects many times throughout the year purely because the workload was too demanding for something i wasn't interested enough to stick with. if you care about getting a high atar, most people stay away from the creative subjects in particular because they scale pretty harshly if you don't get a band 6. this is because the people that pick these subjects are generally very good, and you'll see future USYD con students doing music as opposed to people that just think music is mildly interesting but have no performance/composition/theory skills. but if you excel in these subjects, scaling is no problem. if you're like most kids from my school who don't need an atar but want to finish high school, doing only interesting subjects is no problem. but make sure that you pick subjects that will provide experiences or skills that will be worth your time.

3. consistently get feedback and help from teachers and peers.
this is incredibly vital for making sure you stay on the right track. as someone who tends to misinterpret even basic instructions often, checking in and making sure not only are you meeting the course requirements correctly but also doing it well will make sure you get the results you expect. i made the mistake of not doing this for my drama IP, and the consequence was barely passing trials. luckily i realised this and made improvements good enough by the HSC and even ended up getting an OnSTAGE nomination, but i could've gotten a band 4 or lower had i not fixed my mistake. teachers and peers are there to inspire and motivate and support you, so don't shy away from asking for feedback and help. they can also let you know if your project is too ambitious or even the opposite. if the people at school are not helpful, you can always ask the people on BoS.

4. always be searching for resources and exemplary works.
some schools provide a plethora of resources, some don't. some subjects it's impossible to find comparable works to your's and it's hard to know if you're really exemplary or entirely missing the mark. but there are always people that do well in these subjects, so find people from your school, other schools, graduates, etc. online or in person and see what they did. take inspiration from as many works as you can, without plagiarising of course. NESA provides multiple examples of works in all subjects for all components on their site, so identify what things were successful and what wasn't. i was on the hunt for resources at every stage of my prelim and hsc years, all the way up to the submission week. look at not only exemplary works but also at mediocre ones.

i know this was a long read, but hopefully it can help any current and future students with deciding whether or not to start/keep a major work subject and how to manage it. it is possible to do this many majors and do well in the HSC; i got into my dream course at USYD and UniMelb and got the highest ATAR in my cohort despite having a crazy workload, doing mostly poorly scaling subjects and coming from a low ranking school.

good luck to all, i hope this was at least somewhat helpful and i am happy to answer questions or elaborate on any of my points!!
thank you for your advice!!! i'm doing 3 mw's and feel like i've already fucked myself over HAHAHAHA
 

iloveeggs

future cat lady <3
Joined
Aug 1, 2023
Messages
841
Gender
Female
HSC
2025
coming back to this site after a year to see a comment like this is so sad. i was only trying to share my experiences doing multiple major works with one of them happening to be dance, but with the recent discussions around curriculum changes for creative arts subjects to make them more "academic," i think the "validity" of performance/creative subjects are a relevant thing to talk about.
thanks for this post. a lot of the people that think this kind of thing about humanities, capa and english related subjects are mostly STEM oriented and bad at these subjects and/or under the belief that because these subjects don't scale as well that they are extremely easy. there is not much logic to this mindset but yk whatever helps them sleep at night
 

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