Should I drop Modern or Legal (2 Viewers)

[ronny thamer]

Hello BOS users,

I have said this many times on this forum, but I am VERY indecisive as to what to drop within my HSC year, and it is a contender between two subjects: Modern History and Legal Studies.

For reference I do 4U Maths, Physics, Chemistry, and English Advanced as well.

Modern
Pros of dropping
- It is a VERY content heavy subject and I don't think I will be able to cope as well as 4U maths.
- I know this isn't really a valid excuse, but my teacher is really bad with minimal experience as a history teacher, having not taught the HSC course in my school at all.
- My rank (idk it right now) isn't too good I think, because I switched to it after the 1st assessment
- My strength doesn't necessarily rely on essay writing, more on STEM subjects, and generally have trouble with coming up with sophisticated arguments

Pros of keeping
- I did really well in the prelim exam, and have performed well in past assessments
- I love the content (at most times)
- It will give me a nice balance between maths and numbers in general

Legal
Pros of keeping
- I am coming second in legal, with my 2nd assessment task bringing me down due to mental issues, but overall, first in the other exams.
- The content seems relatively interesting in Year 12 compared to year 11 (I HATED year 11 content)
- It is much less content than modern and I believe I can do better in it than modern
- Again, I did really well in the prelim exam, coming first.

Pros of dropping
- my cohort is really bad (other than some people) and they just don't care to do any work, which I fear is going to bring down my results
- Again, I don't necessarily like essay writing as I am naturally a number-oriented person.
- The content can become so bleak, and I just lose all motivation at some times
- My teacher again is okay, and she sets a ton of homework, which detracts time away from my studying.

If i can think of any other pros and cons, I will comment them on this thread

This may be too long to read, I'm so sorry.

Also, I additionally thought of the idea to just drop 2 subjects and stick to 10 units rather than 12, however, I risk not wanting to pursue extension 2 maths further and being locked into it, as well as I fear 10 units will affect my atar rather than 12 and It may be too risky.

If anyone has any comments even if minimal, please say it.

 

[HotFry]

i do history but since u find the content for history somewhat fun (for legal u said otherwise) ill recommend u to keep history. u can treat it as a break amidst ur other sweaty subjects ie u just bashed 4u for 2 hrs take a break by looking at stalin or smth. Honestly i would hold both subjects and drop later depending on how ur subjects go. if u have solid marks u can prolly get away with dropping both history and legal.

 

[wait...what?]

im assuming that you just started y12, so my best advice is just to see how both subjects go for the first few weeks and then make your decision. see if u12 legal is a good as u think. i was in a similar position (debeating between sci ext and physics) to u at the start of y12 and if it didn't wait i would've kept science ext and failed.

i do 3u math, physics, chem, eng adv so our study pattern are kinda similar, and i can say that if u don't put to effort in those subjects then u wont do well (thats not to scare u tho phsyics and chem are def more fun in y12 but i did come out of eng paper 2 and let me just say that y12 eng is just so hard). so if u think that the amount of legal hw or modern content if going to drag ur other subject, then consider that

tbh from what u described i would be leaning towards keeping legal and dropping modern. if u are top in ur class then i dont think the fact that ur cohrot is bad will bring u down, since ur rank will be good and that what matters for ur hsc mark. both legal and modern are essay subjects they'll both give u the balance between humanities and stem. a bad teacher can bring ur mark down so if u are going to keep modern u would have to do more self-study, but there is usually so much resources for y12 courses online so its do-able, just need more time commitment. as a more stem person myself, u will thank yourself for choosing a subject with less essays, since english itself is just a lot of writing and that itself just tire me so much (so glad its over for me)

but then again, ur decision and the boring content can just drag u, especially during trials + hsc. but ye, wait a few weeks and see