Choosing Subjects for Year 11 & 12 (1 Viewer)

enoilgam

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Anyone wanting to do Engineering should at least be doing 2U in HS - if it were me, I'd be doing 3U as well and probably 4U to prepare. Engineering is one of those courses where doing higher level maths in HS is a necessity. Maths is also very important for other degrees like Commerce (especially for economics/finance/accounting majors), any degree involving stats and Medicine (I think it is assumed knowledge). Beyond that though, there is very little crossover between Uni degrees and HSC courses. For example, Legal Studies isnt very helpful for Law, Business Studies/Economics arent that helpful for Commerce and to a lesser extent, Chemistry, Physics and Biology dont have much crossover with similar Uni courses

How are you thankful for not choosing the subjects you like? You haven't even started year 11 yet hahah :p but the teachers say pick the subjects you like because you can will enjoy school a lot more and end up doing a lot better if you picked subjects you didn't like.

I know people who chose subjects they thought they were good at (and didn't have a true passion for it as well) and want to drop it because they were actually doing poorly in it and lacked interest in the subject, but can't because they would be stuck on 9 units, and you're obviously not eligible for an ATAR if you're on 9 units.
This pretty much - the best philosophy for picking HSC subjects is to do what you like/think you will be good at whilst ensuring that you pick subjects needed for your desired uni course. I agree with Drongoski in principle that people should align subjects with what they want to do in uni, but the lack of crossover between HSC and Uni courses makes this a moot point. Also, very few people know what they want to do at Uni in Year 10 and they changed their mind significantly in Years 11/12 and in Uni as well. So, it's kind of useless to try and align your HSC subjects towards your Uni goals in year 10 because they may change in Years 11/12.
 

IcyRain

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I was in your situation and I picked 2U and 3U maths. Change to 2U Maths. I can guarantee if you work hard, you'll be rewarded.
I believe it is too late to change our subjects, and I also can't move up. So I guess I'll just have to try and ace General Maths. I don't think i'll need a solid maths foundation for the degrees I am contemplating between anyway.... I hope.
 

hawkrider

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I believe it is too late to change our subjects, and I also can't move up. So I guess I'll just have to try and ace General Maths. I don't think i'll need a solid maths foundation for the degrees I am contemplating between anyway.... I hope.
Don't they allow you to change your subjects in the first four weeks of first term?
 

IcyRain

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Don't they allow you to change your subjects in the first four weeks of first term?
Actually they might allow us, The year coordinator didn't really make himself clear about our subjects next year. The only thing that might not allow it is that they said if you are in General Maths and/or Standard English you cannot move up to 2U and/or Advanced.
 

hawkrider

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Actually they might allow us, The year coordinator didn't really make himself clear about our subjects next year. The only thing that might not allow it is that they said if you are in General Maths and/or Standard English you cannot move up to 2U and/or Advanced.
Talk them anyway. I'm sure they'll reconsider. Like I said, I know people who did 5.2 and did 2 unit maths - they did really well.
 

Drongoski

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And what would your philosophy be then?
My philosophy is simple. But I'm not saying it's for everyone. What yours is is up to you.

Mine says: at the end of the day, you need to put food on the table. Do whatever you can to help you get a decent job. This may mean your pursuing a course that is in demand, jobwise, not necessarily the course you love. If you are passionate about questions of religion, you can always pursue that later. So mine is basically a utilitarian way of seeing things.
 
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Drongoski

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I believe it is too late to change our subjects, and I also can't move up. So I guess I'll just have to try and ace General Maths. I don't think i'll need a solid maths foundation for the degrees I am contemplating between anyway.... I hope.
If you are certain you will not need to pursue a course requiring maths, then not doing 2U or higher maths is perfectly OK.
 

IcyRain

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If you are certain you will not need to pursue a course requiring maths, then not doing 2U or higher maths is perfectly OK.
Ok. Well I am already certain that I do NOT want to pursue Engineering, Maths, or anything that involves Physics.
 

laura-jayne14

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I'd recommend at least 2 unit maths for any engineering, science or math based courses & possibly Extension 1.
 

turnerloos

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the subject mathematics in general opens up many career pathways. Hate it how its not compulsory anymore...
 

Soulful

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if I do 4U maths and want to do engineering, does it really matter if I don't do physics?
 

iJimmy

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Physics chemistry and math Ex 1 are assume knowledge for all engineering courses no matter If it is civil or computer. Try to always do atleast adv math and one of either physics or chemistry
 

panda15

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if I do 4U maths and want to do engineering, does it really matter if I don't do physics?
4U maths teaches more physics than physics does, but physics is assumed knowledge for engineering courses. Try to take it if you can, but I doubt you would be at a disadvantage if you didn't.
 

iJimmy

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Physics is an enjoyable subject none the less.
 

rumbleroar

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if I do 4U maths and want to do engineering, does it really matter if I don't do physics?
Depends on what kind of engineering you're doing, but 4U is often enough because it has more actual physics content than HSC physics itself. You can probably do prelim physics and drop it in year 12 to do 4U, depending on what discipline of engineering you're looking at doing.
 

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