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Biology VS Physics (2 Viewers)

kbsb

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Any one doing either of these courses ..jus need your advice on something!
just a couple of questions..
Which one would be better to do?
I'm a kind of person who likes maths and science. biology kinda seems a bit easier than physics and its good cause I'm considering something along the lines of medicine/pharmacy. On the other hand, i want to have physics as a backup so i can maybe do engineering. Which is better in terms of workload in HSC etc. Other subjects I'm doing next year are chemistry, extension 1 Maths, extension 1 English, geography, physics/bio.
thanx
 

nick3157

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sorry i dont do bio. but physics isnt as hard as its made out to be. theres a fair bit of (easy) maths but the workload isnt huge by any means. theres a medical physics elective as well if thats useful.
i wouldnt let the medicine/pharmacy thing get in the way of picking physics (id be doing pdhpe rather than bio if i were you) and it would be very useful for most engineering courses.
basically all that i can say (because i dont do bio) is that physics wouldnt be a bad choice, the workload isnt huge, the work isnt too hard and if you like maths then youll probably enjoy some parts of the course.
 

tommykins

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physics is pretty simple. the maths is ridiculously easy.

the only problem for me is learning the content, but it's one of thsoe subejcts where if you understand the main concept, EVERYTHING falls into place.

but understanding the concept first is the hard bit.

although i kind of regret doing it, physics is by far the most interesting subject.

i reccomend it if you're a very curious person willing to put in the effort.
 

lyounamu

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I do Biology. I chose Physics initially but I changed it to Biology. I do not regret the choice I made. Biology is an aswesome subject which gets more intersting as the time goes by. However, the amount of contents you need to cover for this subject is astronomical. If you want to master the subject, you will have to memorise everything by scratch. As long as you have the motivation to memorise, consistently read and study, you will easily ace Biology. If you are not that type of person who wants some challenging course, choose Physics.
 

Just.Snaz

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Biology isn't as hard as you say Iyounamu.

I do biology.. Year 11 was a bore but you didn't even need to attend the classes cause it has NOTHING to do with year 12.. I absolutely love year 12 biology and for me, it is quite easy.. Biology and chemistry will help for medicine/pharmacy - I wanna do pharmacy too so I've looked into it..

In terms of workload it isn't hard, there is obviously alot of memorising but I find that if I understand it, then the knowledge sticks there anyway so it's not too bad. But pretty much, if you find it interesting to study, then you'll ace it. Maybe try look at the biology forum and see what kind of stuff you'd be learning?

However, generally speaking, I THINK it's harder to get band 6 in biology than it is for physics.. But I'm not very sure, and it obviously depends greater on your individual ability.

And anyways, I absolutely hate physics so that's why I didn't do it..
 

kooltrainer

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ALL science subjects like phy, chem, bio are easy .. thats a theorm ..i've tried all of them and i find that level of difficulty ranks like this bio<chem<phy ..

I think physics is better because first of all, it scales higher .. secondly, it is more logical.. you start with one idea like space flights and it'll logcally lead to another idea like slingshot effects, potential energy, safe re-entry.. it all fit together easily .
So that means, you only need to revise one idea and it'll automatically lead to everything else.. as for biology, i find that there's a lot of memorising with the terms and everything .. like the names of your intestines and the organisms that help them do their work and the name of things in the organisms and the name of the process for which the organisms do their work.. u see, theres too many names.. Its not very logical (there are sum logical parts) and you have to accept the fact that it is there.. like, this is how your stomach works and just accept it.. it uses HCL to break down ur food.. how does it do it? well, it splits into H+ and CL-
and so on...

U dun really need to memorise the theories in physics because u encounter them in everyday life.. What happens when u hit a ball, it'll move! and u jus need to explain it in terms of newtons law etc.. its quit obvious.. Although not all is that obvious like quanta quarks etc..

And lastly, choose subject that u think u'll ace in.. dun do it because it'll help u in uni .. what u need is a good UAI, worry stuff in UNI later.. If u wana do engineering, they cant assume every body's done physics and not biology
 

The Kaiser

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kbsb said:
Any one doing either of these courses ..jus need your advice on something!
just a couple of questions..
Which one would be better to do?
I'm a kind of person who likes maths and science. biology kinda seems a bit easier than physics and its good cause I'm considering something along the lines of medicine/pharmacy. On the other hand, i want to have physics as a backup so i can maybe do engineering. Which is better in terms of workload in HSC etc. Other subjects I'm doing next year are chemistry, extension 1 Maths, extension 1 English, geography, physics/bio.
thanx
Biology > Physics (But I am Baised)

Biology, is basically memorising and recalling information (For practicals it will be analysing Ecosystems, cells through Light Microscopes and so on). . It is the broadest science topic, and the practicals are dead easy. But only do it if you interested in the aspects of the course.

Physics, however is relatively boring IMO, it does involve mathematics, but only to a very basic level (mainly, formulae and variable substitutions) and that not very interesting. But it is slightly easier, because the theoretical content isn't as hard to understand or to remember.

I quite enjoy Biology and doing quite (Ranked 2-4th/36) , but i would only recommend it if your interested in the topic.
 

hollyy.

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i did bio for two terms in yr 11 and absolutely hated it (i thought it was bound to be my fav subject in yr 10) so i picked up 2u sor so i could drop it early.

as has been said before, the maths in physics is dead simple, but some aspects are harder to grasp. you really need to read and reread to get a thorough picture of what is going on. (talking about the yr 12 course here)

i used to hate it but then i got a tutor and now undeerstand it way better, + it is probably the most interesting subject (bar maths :))

so i would recommend physics over bio any day, but its up to you.
 

lyounamu

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One more thing I need to say here:

When you do Biology, you will have certain concept that comes up regularly. So it's fairly easier to relate each topic. (hence easier for you to study and memorise) For example, the concept of diffusion and osmosis comes up regularly. It comes up when you learn about the respiratory system of frogs and fish. (fish uses the counter-current respiratory system to maintain a large diffusion gradient to make the gas exchange efficient and frogs have two respiratory systems to compensate for inefficient lung syste). It even comes up when you start learning about the ecosystems and the organisms (e.g. roots have its root hairs extend to increase its surface area, and hence speed up the process of osmosis and diffusion of gases).

In Physics, however, it's very hard to relate each topic and you are expected to memorise fair bit of formulas. Good luck to you in choosing.

(I am quite biased as well)
 

hollyy.

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lyounamu said:
One more thing I need to say here:

When you do Biology, you will have certain concept that comes up regularly. So it's fairly easier to relate each topic. (hence easier for you to study and memorise) For example, the concept of diffusion and osmosis comes up regularly. It comes up when you learn about the respiratory system of frogs and fish. (fish uses the counter-current respiratory system to maintain a large diffusion gradient to make the gas exchange efficient and frogs have two respiratory systems to compensate for inefficient lung syste). It even comes up when you start learning about the ecosystems and the organisms (e.g. roots have its root hairs extend to increase its surface area, and hence speed up the process of osmosis and diffusion of gases).

In Physics, however, it's very hard to relate each topic and you are expected to memorise fair bit of formulas. Good luck to you in choosing.

(I am quite biased as well)
ideas to implementation relates pretty good to quanta to quarks. most formulas/constants etc. are on a formula sheet.
 

nick3157

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lyounamu said:
you are expected to memorise fair bit of formulas. Good luck to you in choosing.

(I am quite biased as well)
all of the formulas and data you'll ever need are on the formula sheet which they give to you for every assessment and exam so dont worry about that
 

lyounamu

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nick3157 said:
all of the formulas and data you'll ever need are on the formula sheet which they give to you for every assessment and exam so dont worry about that
You sure? Even the most simplest ones like v = u +at?
 

Aerath

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Yup, they give you ALL formulas.
I'm quite biased, but I would choose Physics. I like the topics (well, most of them, anyway), but, then again, I always bludged in Year 10 whenever we were doing Bio, so yeah).
 

kaz1

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I think Physics has more interesting content than Biology. Bu then again I haven't done senior Biology.
 
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lsam

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I reckon Chemistry pwns them all. But if it is between physics and bio, bio wins.
 

dwarven

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i do both
and year 12 bio for me is an absoulute BORE:burn:

physics is way more interesting than bio
less content to remember and understand in physics
 

dwarven

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Charity F said:
2. Guys, come on. Physics is what made calculus/motion so damn easy in ME1.
i find the maths way easier than the physics way :eek:
 

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