Need Subject Advice (current yr 12s??) (1 Viewer)

[sleepplease]

Hey All,

I'm considering doing a last minute change to my subjects because I'm not great at maths and I'm much much stronger in english/humanities/essay writing subjects.

At the moment I'm doing

English (3)
Maths (3)
Physics (2)
French (2)
Mod History (2)

I have been advised that to do 2 unit maths would be pointless. My marks show I can handle three unit maths and I know I wont do BADLY but I think I would do BETTER in an essay writing subject like Legal Studies or SOC.

My question is though - is it stupid to take Physics and not maths? How large a component of Physics is maths or maths based? What level of maths is required?

And, if I DID decide to get rid of maths and perhaps physics too, are there any probs you can anticipate due to too many essay based subjects??

Thanks so much for you help, I'm feeling really stressed!!

Soph

 

[Kujah]

Hey All,
My question is though - is it stupid to take Physics and not maths? How large a component of Physics is maths or maths based? What level of maths is required?

And, if I DID decide to get rid of maths and perhaps physics too, are there any probs you can anticipate due to too many essay based subjects??

It's not stupid to take Physics and not Maths (your personal choice), but I definitely do it. Some components (formulas etc) of Physics use Maths, and doing Maths would have alot of advantages. I'm sure you'd be alright if you did Physics and 2U Maths.

There werent be many problems you could anticpate with too many essay-based subjects. They interconnect (in writing), and I know many people who are doing 3u english, ancient and modern history, and society and culture in year 11.

 

[pritnep]

As said some people that do Physics only do General Maths or no Maths at all so it is possible.

More important when deciding your subjects is to choose them based on what you want to do after you finish school not for scaling (as it seems you might be).

 

[sleepplease]

No no no, havent considered scaling at all

I just love physics but hate maths

I dont know what I want to do when I leave school, so it's hard. I'm thinking int studies/law maybe... But... maybe science law :S

 

[pritnep]

Ah I see. Well there is a lot of maths in physics from what I have been told, so maybe it isn't for you. Although you can always chop and change the first few weeks of year 11.

 

[cs01001]

Ah I see. Well there is a lot of maths in physics from what I have been told, so maybe it isn't for you. Although you can always chop and change the first few weeks of year 11.

From what I've seen, Physics seem to involve a lot of Trigonometery etc. Anything else?

 

[-pari-]

oooh i was in that saamme situation!


i was fairing quite well in 3u maths and had the capability to pull through, but i'd missed out on a fair bit of yr 11, and blah blah so dropped i 4 yr 12
anyway so i also felt better at humanities subjects.

i personally feel that you shouldn't take legal/SOC if you're just trying to replace them with maths related subjects on the advice of other ppl.


if you find maths to be your weak point, then maybe reconsider say physics [ i was gnna do physics too but backed out for same reason as you...i was advised it might overload my maths content] and ii'm happy i took the step not to take phys.

however, i would personally suggest keep 3u maths for year 11! you sound as though you feel you could cope with 3u maths if you put in the effort, so i 'd suggest trying it.
but just to keep on the safe side, you might want to opt for something a little less mathsy than physics - so at the end of yr 11, if you really want to drop maths ext to maths adv, you can do so with ease, without having to weigh dropping maths ext with physics.


also other pointers that i experienced
- what u think today is ur weakest subject may not turn out to be so at the end of yr 11. eg i thought modern wud be crap, turned out i dropped ext maths instead,
so try not to choose a subject you think you'll "definately" drop...that could get u into a mess

-also, i currently do kinda regret having a few too many literature based subjects...so might wanna way that up too

good luck!

 

[Smithereens]

Try both of them out first, then decide on what you're gonna do in the first few weeks of Term 1. There's no use worrying on what you're gonna drop, as you havent experienced these subjects yet. Experience them first, then decide

 

[redom]

hmm if your capable of doing 3u maths you should be able to succeed in physics. Generally speaking, well from my yr 11 class, the people that did general or no maths at all were at the bottom end of the class and those that did 3unit maths were at the top of the class. I would say that physics is less mathematical then before, but i wouldnt recommend taking it up unless your capable of doing at least well in 2unit maths. Some topics in physics are simply easier to understand if you do good at maths and there are many calculations involved. It also helps making maths easier, with the motion topics for maths, so they do tend to complement each other.

Another issue you'll have to deal with is whether you'd be motivated enough to do well in 3unit maths. Its a good scalor, and it is an intersting course. Physics is to, whilst the humanities isnt quite as good. I personally dropped physics in yr 12, after enjoying and doing well in the course, simply because of its heavy workload. Getting top marks in humanities is much easier then getting those marks in the more difficult subjects...well at least for me.

Good Luck with your decision, hope that helped

 

[~shinigami~]

I haven't read the rest of this thread so i don;t know if anyone's mentioned this but doing HSC Physics without any maths is VERY possible as long as you have some basic grasp of math.

Seriously, ever since the syllabus change HSC Physics has been a joke. There is little to no math involved. There are many Plug-an-Play math type questions where you just chuck numbers into a formula which is on the freakin formula sheet.

I remember the only "difficult" (and I use this term loosely) math type questions in my preliminary was worth a grand total of three marks while the rest of the test comprised of history and social study type questions along with a few knowledge regurgitation questions.

 

[Harkaraj]

If your going to do Physics I would recommend for you to do maths aswell, because in the motion topic some questions require you to find the area under the curve(a motion graph), which can be made alot easier if you have studied Integration, the good thing is that Integration is also tought in HSC 2U Mathematics, so you could cope well in physics by doing 2U maths.

 

[~shinigami~]

If your going to do Physics I would recommend for you to do maths aswell, because in the motion topic some questions require you to find the area under the curve(a motion graph), which can be made alot easier if you have studied Integration, the good thing is that Integration is also tought in HSC 2U Mathematics, so you could cope well in physics by doing 2U maths.

While you could intergrate if you want, it's really impractical. Firstly, you don't have the equation of the line. Secondly, the math involved to find the area under the graph is only as hard as junior maths.

You only need to know these four things to successfully find the area under the graph for motion topic: How to estimate, How to find the area of a rectangle (Base x height), How to find the Area of a triangle (half x base x perpendicular height) and finally addition of the various areas.

 

[dr baby beanie]

Maths in Physic
1. reading graphs
2. finding area of graphs
3. trig and pythagorus for vectors
4. plugging in numbers and manipulating the formula
5. knowing that one formula can be manipulated into another...
That's all I cant remember right now...I'm on holidays!!

At least you get a formula sheet unlike maths (except for the standard integrals)

 

[dion7789]

English (3)
Maths (3)
Physics (2)
French (2)
Mod History (2)

Its not stupid to take physics without maths i wouldnt do it without maths tho coz there is a lot involved...

No problems with too many essay subjects especially if u like them/can copw with them

and u dont really need to drop any subjects u are doing 12 units and i did 12 units which was 7 subjects like you and the reason i did this coz if u do bad in one particular subject it doesnt matter so much i would stick with maths/physics for now until ur 1/2 yrlys at least and if u cant deal with it then then u drop it...technically u can drop a subject day of the shc of course that would be stupid but yeah id stick with the 12 units until the trial to see how u deal...hope this helps

 

[SoulSearcher]

Maths in physics? Not that hard, a good 2 unit maths student should be able to match it up with those doing extension 1 and 2 maths, it's all basic manipulations, substitutions into formulas and so forth. Even a person not doing maths at all can cope with it, as long as they know how to manipulate and substitute into formulas.

If you can cope with the humanities subjects well, and are interested in them, then I see no problem, as long as you get the minimum 12 units necessary to gain the preliminary HSC allowing you to go onto the HSC.

 

[watatank]

maths people generally do better in physics because physics, like maths has a lot to do with logic and understanding everything, its not one of those things you can do by memory. Doing maths gives you a better appreciation for the physics concepts, but it isnt essential. you can do without it most of the time. all it is... its just subing numbers into formulas and interpreting graphs anyway, which you will learn how to do on the way. although if you study astrophysics you will need to know logs and indices, studied in two unit maths. well you dont NEED to know it but you may find it hard to understand if you didn't do it. apart from that if you have a general grasp of maths (which you seem to do, you want to do three unit) you will be ok.

 

[watatank]

Hey All,

I'm considering doing a last minute change to my subjects because I'm not great at maths and I'm much much stronger in english/humanities/essay writing subjects.

At the moment I'm doing

English (3)
Maths (3)
Physics (2)
French (2)
Mod History (2)

What year are you in anyway? Are you going into year 11 or 12? It sounds like you are going to year 11 to be honest, so that is what i am going to assume. You can change subjects at the start, people in my year have done that before, I suppose a lot would depend on whether youd fit into the class and all that. i suggest you do it early if you wana change.

I have been advised that to do 2 unit maths would be pointless. My marks show I can handle three unit maths and I know I wont do BADLY but I think I would do BETTER in an essay writing subject like Legal Studies or SOC.

Who advises you on this? You can't do 3 unit without doing 2 unit....well not as far as im aware anyway...and you dont know youre not going to do badly even if you keep three unit...a fair amount of people in my year dropped out of it thinking they were good enough, and they werent. if you are decent at three unit you should find two unit no problem at all.

why do maths at all...play to your strengths, if you say youre better at those humanties things do them...if its the extra unit you are worrying about, like if youre good at humanities, you could think about doing extension 2 english or extension history or even ext french if youre good enough in year 12 to make up an extra unit or something, after you finish year 11.

My question is though - is it stupid to take Physics and not maths? How large a component of Physics is maths or maths based? What level of maths is required?

It's not stupid to take physics and not maths. it you feel you are good enough to do three unit maths you should have no problem with anything the physics subject throws at you.

And, if I DID decide to get rid of maths and perhaps physics too, are there any probs you can anticipate due to too many essay based subjects??

You will get a sore hand after doing so many of them exams in a row haha. i avoided huge essay writing subjects like the plague...i just couldnt escape english! In all seriousness usually theres a whole lot of content in those humanities based subjects, but if youre more into that its perhaps better to go with them....

 

[sleepplease]

Thanks guys

(Watatank - clearly I'm going into yr 11 which is why I'm posting in the prelim forum )

Most of you seem to be saying that I could take phys without maths but dont seem to see the point in doing that.

And yeah - I get the point about waiting and trying it for the first few weeks .. but that makes me feel really unprepared :S

Alright, thanks again - I shall think and make some sort of decision!

Cheers

SOph

 

[watatank]

(Watatank - clearly I'm going into yr 11 which is why I'm posting in the prelim forum )

I was confused as to how you would consider not doing two unit maths but still do three unit. I didnt think you guys were allowed to take three unit and not do two unit. Well in any case I dont see the logic in it, what would happen if you found three unit too hard? no two unit to fall back on...I could not see how you could just assume you'd be able to handle three unit without doing two unit. thought maybe you had experienced both classes and decided you could handle it....

 

[sleepplease]

nooooooooooooooooo, of course with three unit you do two unit ... I mean, I've been advised not to take just two units of maths because apparently it wouldn't be worth it (with scaling and stuff into consideration I presume...)