Should I select chemistry for YR11??? (1 Viewer)

[slix_88]

Ok, i think i've hit rock bottom now. I'm having huge difficulties over my subject choices. The subjects i've so far chosen are:

English (Advance)
English Extension 1
Maths
Maths Extension 1
Physics
Chemistry
Economics

I am 100% sure with everything apart from chemistry. That's why i thought of posting such a thread in this part of the forum. I know you guys have had heaps of experience, but my only question is, is it worth doing??? At the moment, i know nothing but the standards of chemstry. When i glanced at the guides for chemistry, i went, "What the???". Is that how you guys reacted at first. Anyways, I've only just completed the SCT, and all we've learnt are the basics of chemistry (elements, aqeous solutions, valencies). I'm one of the top students for science in my class (got 93 for yearly examination and a very disappointing 89 for SCT). Is it that hard??? Should I do it??? Or should I do something else???

PS: Can you change your mind for the courses, on the first week of attending the class??? I.E. can you give it a go, and if u don't like it, can you change the subject if not too late???

Thanx heaps!!!!

 

[Scanorama]

Chemistry is a great course. Year 11 might be a bit dull though, the fun bit is in Year 12. Don't worry about the syllabus, the BOS obviously don't expect you know what exactly those chemical terms mean for now, as you have just finished Year 10. Once you get on with the course, you will get better and better. As for the SCT test, it doesnt matter what mark you get. The mark doesnt reflect your potential in this course.

You can change your subject before the end of Feburary/beginning of March (for my school anyway). So give it a go

 

[Slidey]

YES!!! Take chemistry.

I took chem and phys and dropped physics for year 12.

But to be honest, for chemistry, physics and even biology, year 11 is dull, boring and crappy compared to year 12.

Of all the sciences, though, chemistry is the most fun: both for year 11 and year 12.

For science I got 84 in the school certificate, but am doing really well at chemistry now. Just ignore the SC.

 

[doingHSC]

yeap do it, its great.

 

[Dreamerish*~]

i didn't think yr11 was dull
chem is great, but then again, i don't have any other science subjects to compare it to.
i found chem pretty easy throughout yr11 and it's still easy for me to get through now, as long as i concentrate in class and read my notes.
there are always hard and boring stuff - just like every other subject. and things you don't understand, but you just gotta ask it's simple ^^
to me, chem sometimes branches out into other subjects which can be a bit annoying. nuclear chem is a little physics-ish, and photosynthesis, fermentation etc a little bio-ish. but the most annoying thing in chem that i've come across has to be validity and reliability.
for assessments we were just given articles to read, then write a few hundred (exaggerating!) pages about how valid and reliable the articles are.
but don't let that dampen your spirits
chem is a lot of fun, and very useful too.
these days whatever i see i see it in chem version. when i see ice cubes in my drink i think... ice cubes are less dense than water, and they have continuous lattice structures like diamond...

but yeah, it's up to you, whether you feel it's right for you or not.

 

[Casmira]

im doing it and have no regrets, but you gotta keep on top of your work

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

If you handled the Chemistry topic in Yr 10 Science well, you'll handle Yr 11 Chemistry well. The first topic is basically a revision of Yr 10 content. Once you've got that under control, you'll be fine. It's always daunting looking at the syllabus for the first time. Don't worry about it. Come Term 3, you'll be glad you did it. And you only have 12 units anyway - give it a shot.

 

[jamesy_1988]

it depends on what typ of career you want. but chem is fun although yr 11 can be a bit boring in some places.
but chem in yr 12 is pretty good

Jamesy

 

[Sphyx]

i will join the crowd and say take up chem. in year 11, chemistry for me was so much more fun that physics, mainly because physics bored me to tears, it was very easy. chemistry was definetely more of a challenge, and it was a challenge that i enjoyed. i also got 89 in science in my SC, its not really an indicator, since most people dont care about the SC, and dont study. you obviously tried harder in your yearly exam, which was reflected in you good mark, and it will be the same for the HSC, which matters far more than the SC.

so yeh, take it up. its heaps of fun. you finally get to play with chemicals you werent allowed to in the junior yrs, and if you have a good class you will have a tonne of fun.
the scaling is also very good. i believe apart from the extension languages, it is the 5th scaling subject.

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

Well from 2001-2003 Chemistry scaled higher than Physics (despite what people believe), although scaling should not be a deciding factor in choosing whether or not to study Chemistry.

In contrast to what Sphyx said, many of the guys in my grade dropped Physics because it was too difficult and kept Chemistry coz it was much more enjoyable - I didn't do Physics, so I can't really make any judgements on that. But I can say that Chemistry is a fun subject

 

[velox]

I can say i find chem harder than physics. However im doing pretty well in both. Choose it and see how it goes for the 1st few weeks. Drop if neccessary.

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

I can say i find chem harder than physics. However im doing pretty well in both. Choose it and see how it goes for the 1st few weeks. Drop if neccessary.

Makes me think I should've done Physics, but then I'd have 16 units

 

[nick1048]

Chemistry is evil. Absolutely worst course I ever did, dropped it as soon as I got the chance at the end of prelim... such a slowwwwww course, mole this mole that omg go kill urself.

 

[tennille]

Ok, i think i've hit rock bottom now. I'm having huge difficulties over my subject choices. The subjects i've so far chosen are:

English (Advance)
English Extension 1
Maths
Maths Extension 1
Physics
Chemistry
Economics

I am 100% sure with everything apart from chemistry. That's why i thought of posting such a thread in this part of the forum. I know you guys have had heaps of experience, but my only question is, is it worth doing??? At the moment, i know nothing but the standards of chemstry. When i glanced at the guides for chemistry, i went, "What the???". Is that how you guys reacted at first. Anyways, I've only just completed the SCT, and all we've learnt are the basics of chemistry (elements, aqeous solutions, valencies). I'm one of the top students for science in my class (got 93 for yearly examination and a very disappointing 89 for SCT). Is it that hard??? Should I do it??? Or should I do something else???

PS: Can you change your mind for the courses, on the first week of attending the class??? I.E. can you give it a go, and if u don't like it, can you change the subject if not too late???

Thanx heaps!!!!

I did exactly the same subjects as you except economics. I did food tech (big mistake).

Chemistry is harder than physics, but some of the stuff was quite enjoyable, except Chemical monitoring and Management in year 12. Year 12 is better than year 11. Chemistry scales you pretty well, too. You have good selections for subjects as most of them scale you up (i don't know about economics).

 

[nick1048]

eco scales higher than chem by .5 and is harder than chem, there is alot of theory involved but it is way more enjoyable than chem... it's up to personal preference really, I enjoy english over mathematics

 

[tennille]

Then slix_88 is laughing. Everything basically scales him up.

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

eco scales higher than chem by .5 and is harder than chem, there is alot of theory involved but it is way more enjoyable than chem... it's up to personal preference really, I enjoy english over mathematics

I'd say economics is easier than chemistry...Eco is basically reading, memorising/understanding (at the same time), and writing essays. That goes for just about every humanities subject except for English where you actually need to adapt to different text types..

Btw. if you enjoy english over maths, why do you find Eco harder than Chem? (or are you just generalising?)

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

Then slix_88 is laughing. Everything basically scales him up.

If slix does well in them. Scaling does basically nothing unless you're in the higher percentiles. If you get 30% in Eco, you won't get scaled to 50. In fact you'll most likely get scaled down.

 

[Sphyx]

if you get in the top percentile of any subject you will get scaled up.
if you get in the bottom percentiles of any subject you will get scaled down. exception ext2 maths.

its weird logic, but its true.

 

[Slidey]

eco scales higher than chem by .5 and is harder than chem, there is alot of theory involved but it is way more enjoyable than chem... it's up to personal preference really, I enjoy english over mathematics

Other way around. Chem scales higher than eco by 0.5.

And if you dropped chem based on prelim year, I don't think your advice on this matter is worth anything, because you don't have any advice on HSC chemistry to give.

The mole stuff in prelim was dodgy. You relearn the basics of it in HSC, but it is just that: very basic.

Sphyx: But would a poor mark in ME2 align positively or negatively? Oh, and it's not just ME2, ME1 is the same. Presumably all the high scalers are.

Rench: Same. HSC physics doesn't seem too bad, compared to prelim. I'd have liked to have done 6 units science + 4 units maths, actually.