Subject selection + How to prepare for future studies (1 Viewer)

[JPeters11]

Greetings to all, I am not familiar to what category to post this in but I feel as if subject selection (year 10) affiliates itself with years 9 & 10. I am here to seek advice for how I can maximise my academic performance in years 11 & 12. I am currently in year 10 (term 3) and I have been planning how to approach content, etc.

My subjects are the following

• Advanced Mathematics (2 unit)
• Advanced English (2 unit)
• Chemistry (2 unit)
• Biology (2 unit)
• Modern History (2 unit)
• PDH/PE (2 unit)

I was considering extension but my mum said no

my main focus in preparation of the content is the science subjects as I am refining my exam techniques. The reason why I am asking this is because I hear that senior studies is reputed to be really immense and I am doing subjects that are characterised as hard. Currently in year 10 I have gotten incredible results for English, Math, Science, History and PDHPE. I dislike geography tho. I have a tendency to stress a lot and hearing teachers say that senior studies will be intense I want to prepare and maximise myself to my best ability.

kindest regards

Joshua

 

[Ksalu]

hey mate! Why did your mum say no to extensions? You are getting great results for english and math, why not give it a go? You could always just drop the extension if you don't like it or feel like it is too much work. Maths ext might also be beneficial depending on what career or degree you want.

 

[Anaya R]

Greetings to all, I am not familiar to what category to post this in but I feel as if subject selection (year 10) affiliates itself with years 9 & 10. I am here to seek advice for how I can maximise my academic performance in years 11 & 12. I am currently in year 10 (term 3) and I have been planning how to approach content, etc.

My subjects are the following

• Advanced Mathematics (2 unit)
• Advanced English (2 unit)
• Chemistry (2 unit)
• Biology (2 unit)
• Modern History (2 unit)
• PDH/PE (2 unit)

I was considering extension but my mum said no

my main focus in preparation of the content is the science subjects as I am refining my exam techniques. The reason why I am asking this is because I hear that senior studies is reputed to be really immense and I am doing subjects that are characterised as hard. Currently in year 10 I have gotten incredible results for English, Math, Science, History and PDHPE. I dislike geography tho. I have a tendency to stress a lot and hearing teachers say that senior studies will be intense I want to prepare and maximise myself to my best ability.

kindest regards

Joshua

With your subjects, I'd recommend getting ahead with preparation for revision and practice. It's sometimes hard since you have assessments and tests and life throwing curveballs, but if you can do that, then you'd be fine.
With English in particular, read the texts before it is studied (whether that be in breaks or the summer holidays). If you're familiar with what happens, you'll pick up sooo much more in class discussions.
Maths - practice practice practice
Modern History - make sure you are aware of the many resources that can be available to you. Also I'd recommend getting familiar with the State Library since they have great resources for your many assessments as well as for quotes from historians in essays in and out of the exam.
(can't say much for the other subjects since i didn't study them )
Finally, if you need help, don't be afraid to ask for it. Whether that's here in the BoS forum or from your teachers/peers.
Best of luck for Year 11!

 

[Nacseo]

Greetings to all, I am not familiar to what category to post this in but I feel as if subject selection (year 10) affiliates itself with years 9 & 10. I am here to seek advice for how I can maximise my academic performance in years 11 & 12. I am currently in year 10 (term 3) and I have been planning how to approach content, etc.

My subjects are the following

• Advanced Mathematics (2 unit)
• Advanced English (2 unit)
• Chemistry (2 unit)
• Biology (2 unit)
• Modern History (2 unit)
• PDH/PE (2 unit)

I was considering extension but my mum said no

my main focus in preparation of the content is the science subjects as I am refining my exam techniques. The reason why I am asking this is because I hear that senior studies is reputed to be really immense and I am doing subjects that are characterised as hard. Currently in year 10 I have gotten incredible results for English, Math, Science, History and PDHPE. I dislike geography tho. I have a tendency to stress a lot and hearing teachers say that senior studies will be intense I want to prepare and maximise myself to my best ability.

kindest regards

Joshua

In my opinion, math extension 1 is way better than maths adv in my opinion. Rather because the questions are more straight forward with the equations, whereas adv has some wordy questions. But its ultimately your choice to do extension, you're living your life not theirs. But anyways, here are the ways I would prepare for the following subs since I had finished my prelims a week ago.

Maths & Chem - Expose yourself to an array of questions by practicing. This could be from past papers, class notes and the textbook. I found that for chem by attempting past paper qs, I could get a feel for what the common qs are for the exam, and its kind of same for maths. For maths especially, make sure you have another textbook to advance your understanding. Say you got maths in focus, it'll help you set the foundations, but if you have Cambridge, you can amp up the difficulty and challenge yourself on certain topics.

Bio and PDH - Mainly just flash cards and recalling key contents. In addition to past paper questions and applications. They both have overlapping components like the circulatory system or what not. Try to make concise notes that are able for you to understand yet be effective for an exam response.

Eng Adv - I despise this sub the most, but its mandatory so fck it. You really gotta increase your writing speed when it comes to exam. You can do this by attaching batteries onto your pen by forcing yourself to write faster and you can take em off in the exam, and you will go swooooosh over the exam page(I haven't done this much, but the people that did it often really could finish their essays faster than anyone). Also before any exam or even before u get the notification, make a draft as soon as possible cause if you got a essay and write that in an exam, you're gonna get marks. English is also very subjective so you gotta really know what structure your teacher really wants. Also something extra that would help, when u analysing look for the conceptual meaning of a quote, not the literal meaning.

Hope this helps

 

[sp0ngeb0b]

hey! i know this is relatively late but as someone who took two extensions in year 11 it is a lot and a lot of work. If you really are looking to do ext math, be prepared to be sitting at your desk doing math everyday for at least 2-3 hours.

in relation to maximising academic performance, it is really about completing all your homework and assignments. Taking the initiative to ask your teachers for feedback and APPLYING IT (especially for Eng adv)! with maths advanced its very much about practice

 

[carrotsss]

be prepared to be sitting at your desk doing math everyday for at least 2-3 hours.

I’m sorry but if you need to do this much maths you’re doing it wrong, I’ve been doing 30 minutes at most (often less) of maths per day outside of school this year and ranking first in ext by a wide margin, quality of study > quantity of study.

Important thing to remember if you’re doing extensions: it’s only one extra unit, don’t neglect your other subjects!