Phys or Bio (pls help) (1 Viewer)

[contro3ler]

Aight this is too much. I know I shouldn't be, but I've been tearing myself up over choosing either Bio or Phys for next year. I'm in Year 10 rn, and doing Accelerated Chemistry. Chem is my favourite subject, and I'm also coming first in it (year 11 included ). I've looked through the syllabus for both Bio and Phys, and spent a considerable amount of time looking through some preliminary and HSC notes for both, and for sure, not every aspect of both really interests me, but I'd say that phys seems marginally more interesting to me, in a large part due to how boring the prelim bio syllabus is.

Looking at my prior results in chemistry, I seem to be much better at the memorization aspect of things, and in this regard, I think that I could perform better in Bio, because even looking at notes for both the subjects, I can tell that Bio seems to have a considerably large amount of memorization involved compared to Physics. Conversely, unless I know for a fact that I'm gonna top bio too, scaling will play a role, and historically, bio scales like booty compared to phys (I don't think that there's gonna be a big difference in that coming up to 2024). Also, all the nose-to-the-grindstone tryhards from accel chem are doing phys (these guys will mess you up), compared to the more laid back all- rounders doing Bio so that will play a role in my school rank (i like to consider myself in the latter camp)(im coping hard).

If you are in yr11/12/graduated, how was your experience with the phys/bio courses? If you did both, what did you enjoy more? If you're in year 10 what subjects are you doing next year?

 

[Vall]

I also did accel chem and doing phys this year (which I love) so little biased but I’d say do phys. As you mentioned bio is plenty of memorisation (which is what I’ve heard from peers doing it) and depending on your other subjects this can be a bigger factor (I don’t know about you, but I’d hate to be doing a ton of memorisation subjects). Also, there is a decent amount of overlap between chem and phys (specifically module 8 phys) so doing accel chem puts you at an advantage. But you could also do phys and bio? Unless you’ll have too many units then

 

[carrotsss]

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[contro3ler]

Thanks you so much for your replies!

But you could also do phys and bio?

Probably not, to my knowledge, the sci dept at my school is pre good, and they specifically said not to do all three.

I’ll put it this way: almost everyone I know who does bio wants to drop it/hates it

Is it really that bad? I've heard not so great things about bio, primarily the memorisation required (don't really have an issue with that) but the boring content covered.

For reference, the other subjects that I'm doing are chem (accel as mentioned), 3u maths, economics, adv eng and jap continuers (dropping either jap or eco in yr 12, depending on performance+liking)

If I put in the effort into bio, I can definitely rank well- cos as I mentioned, looking at other students doing bio, they don't seem as tough competition as the people doing phys (everyone from my accel chem class + a lot of others) are doing phys, and there will probably be 2+ phys classes as opposed to just one for bio. My school is usually pretty highly ranked, so I guess the question is, should I go for the subject that I like a little bit less, but know I can rank in, or the subject that I like more, but will be harder to get a good rank?

(edit: I'm not great at maths. I've been ranking ~35/120, but I am taking Adv+Ext next year.)

 

[Masaken]

Is it really that bad? I've heard not so great things about bio, primarily the memorisation required (don't really have an issue with that) but the boring content covered.

I've been reading through some of the Year 12 content and honestly it way much more fun and interesting than Year 11 -- half of the content is genetics and the other half is about diseases, and I find this really interesting. As someone who's planning to keep Bio for the following year for year 12, I don't think the memorisation is too bad but I genuinely hated the latter half of the preliminary content. Module 1 is exploring life on a cellular level, Module 2 exploring how these cells are organised eg. looking at different systems of the body -- I enjoyed these a lot, apart from some bits in Module 2 about plants, but it was tolerable. It was Module 3 and 4 that was pretty annoying to me -- Modules 3 and 4 are more ecology based, focusing on ecosystems and the theory of evolution, I thought it was so boring, hated it sm and I equally hate studying these parts for the prelims </3. My teacher told my class that none of this is covered again in Year 12 though, so it's all good

It all depends on what you're interested in -- if the content in bio interests you, then it would definitely be worth picking it. I know some people are planning to drop in my school because the Year 11 content drained them.

 

[Vall]

not a single person in my physics class is dropping to my knowledge. Could just be the science department at my school but

People have dropped physics at my school but because they were ranked badly / it was too hard.

 

[Nacseo]

Thanks you so much for your replies!
Probably not, to my knowledge, the sci dept at my school is pre good, and they specifically said not to do all three.
Is it really that bad? I've heard not so great things about bio, primarily the memorisation required (don't really have an issue with that) but the boring content covered.

For reference, the other subjects that I'm doing are chem (accel as mentioned), 3u maths, economics, adv eng and jap continuers (dropping either jap or eco in yr 12, depending on performance+liking)

If I put in the effort into bio, I can definitely rank well- cos as I mentioned, looking at other students doing bio, they don't seem as tough competition as the people doing phys (everyone from my accel chem class + a lot of others) are doing phys, and there will probably be 2+ phys classes as opposed to just one for bio. My school is usually pretty highly ranked, so I guess the question is, should I go for the subject that I like a little bit less, but know I can rank in, or the subject that I like more, but will be harder to get a good rank?

(edit: I'm not great at maths. I've been ranking ~35/120, but I am taking Adv+Ext next year.)

For my cohort, it is the opposite. Everyone exceeds really well in bio and love it, especially me. But there is a lot of competition in physics, making more people drop it. I only do bio so i might be a bit biased, but if u are doing extension, there are some topics of physics that align with the math adv+ext course from my understanding. And from my experience, bio is mainly content based so u gotta memorise a lot + you have to expose yourself to exam style qs in order to get a grasp of what questions gonna be tested on.

 

[4321suomynona]

bro do phys. Lolz Phys.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.bio

 

[username_2]

Aight this is too much. I know I shouldn't be, but I've been tearing myself up over choosing either Bio or Phys for next year. I'm in Year 10 rn, and doing Accelerated Chemistry. Chem is my favourite subject, and I'm also coming first in it (year 11 included ). I've looked through the syllabus for both Bio and Phys, and spent a considerable amount of time looking through some preliminary and HSC notes for both, and for sure, not every aspect of both really interests me, but I'd say that phys seems marginally more interesting to me, in a large part due to how boring the prelim bio syllabus is.

Looking at my prior results in chemistry, I seem to be much better at the memorization aspect of things, and in this regard, I think that I could perform better in Bio, because even looking at notes for both the subjects, I can tell that Bio seems to have a considerably large amount of memorization involved compared to Physics. Conversely, unless I know for a fact that I'm gonna top bio too, scaling will play a role, and historically, bio scales like booty compared to phys (I don't think that there's gonna be a big difference in that coming up to 2024). Also, all the nose-to-the-grindstone tryhards from accel chem are doing phys (these guys will mess you up), compared to the more laid back all- rounders doing Bio so that will play a role in my school rank (i like to consider myself in the latter camp)(im coping hard).

If you are in yr11/12/graduated, how was your experience with the phys/bio courses? If you did both, what did you enjoy more? If you're in year 10 what subjects are you doing next year?

I also do think that if you are enjoying chemistry, bio would not be too bad. Yes the content is a lot but it is not mentally taxing to understanding whereas for physics it is competitive if you are in a good school, so bio might be a better fit. Normally i would stan physics but i guess bio seems a better fit. Yr 11 is not bad if you have good teacher but can be boring or excessive otherwise but gets much better for yr 12 so ye.

 

[Life'sHard]

I have a bias towards physics lol. I’d say it helps your understanding and explanations with some of the chemistry stuff and vice versa more than bio. You can ask @Hivaclibtibcharkwa about bio lol.

 

[Kryptk]

Thanks you so much for your replies!
Probably not, to my knowledge, the sci dept at my school is pre good, and they specifically said not to do all three.
Is it really that bad? I've heard not so great things about bio, primarily the memorisation required (don't really have an issue with that) but the boring content covered.

For reference, the other subjects that I'm doing are chem (accel as mentioned), 3u maths, economics, adv eng and jap continuers (dropping either jap or eco in yr 12, depending on performance+liking)

If I put in the effort into bio, I can definitely rank well- cos as I mentioned, looking at other students doing bio, they don't seem as tough competition as the people doing phys (everyone from my accel chem class + a lot of others) are doing phys, and there will probably be 2+ phys classes as opposed to just one for bio. My school is usually pretty highly ranked, so I guess the question is, should I go for the subject that I like a little bit less, but know I can rank in, or the subject that I like more, but will be harder to get a good rank?

(edit: I'm not great at maths. I've been ranking ~35/120, but I am taking Adv+Ext next year.)

wait do you go to normo?

 

[Kryptk]

I reckon phys esp if you are considering engineering in uni it keeps your options open. Both Phys and Bio align nicely with chem but if you plan on doing 4u maths phys def has a lot in common with that. It really just comes down to your interest and what you are aiming to do in the future. Just study hard bro!

 

[pikachu975]

Aight this is too much. I know I shouldn't be, but I've been tearing myself up over choosing either Bio or Phys for next year. I'm in Year 10 rn, and doing Accelerated Chemistry. Chem is my favourite subject, and I'm also coming first in it (year 11 included ). I've looked through the syllabus for both Bio and Phys, and spent a considerable amount of time looking through some preliminary and HSC notes for both, and for sure, not every aspect of both really interests me, but I'd say that phys seems marginally more interesting to me, in a large part due to how boring the prelim bio syllabus is.

Looking at my prior results in chemistry, I seem to be much better at the memorization aspect of things, and in this regard, I think that I could perform better in Bio, because even looking at notes for both the subjects, I can tell that Bio seems to have a considerably large amount of memorization involved compared to Physics. Conversely, unless I know for a fact that I'm gonna top bio too, scaling will play a role, and historically, bio scales like booty compared to phys (I don't think that there's gonna be a big difference in that coming up to 2024). Also, all the nose-to-the-grindstone tryhards from accel chem are doing phys (these guys will mess you up), compared to the more laid back all- rounders doing Bio so that will play a role in my school rank (i like to consider myself in the latter camp)(im coping hard).

If you are in yr11/12/graduated, how was your experience with the phys/bio courses? If you did both, what did you enjoy more? If you're in year 10 what subjects are you doing next year?

I did both - you're right that year 11 bio is boring, but year 12 bio was a lot more fun.

Imo physics had more memorisation than bio as bio felt more like understanding than memorising. As we had 3 sets of trials, I only really had to memorise the bio content once and most of it stuck in my head the whole sem through to the HSC whereas for physics I had to memorise every time. For example one piece of content I remember is alligators basking in the sun as a response to coldness as an ectotherm. This isn't something that needs to be memorised every time, same as a kangaroo having fur for cold weather.

The alignment/scaling for physics is higher for sure, as I did worse in my physics HSC yet the aligned mark was only 1 lower than bio.

But in saying that, biology is easier, e.g. there's more trick questions that can be asked in physics (which I felt like I experienced in the HSC).

Personally biology was way more fun than physics in terms of content.

 

[fourteenninetwo]

i did phys for year 11 and I dropped it mainly because of teacher, but theres is a lot of calculations involved. plus bio and chem have some overlaps which arent game changing, but its really interesting as they both build on your knowledge of either subject. my friend does both bio and chem and he enjoyed it a lot because of the depth chem provided for bio in understanding a lot of the content. if you are better at content knowledge, like everyone in this forum is saying, do bio, if not phys. but yea i feel like chem is a very well rounded subject in the sense that you do both calculations and content so its good your doing it as an accel subject.