Subjects - many many questions (1 Viewer)

[bugra]

Ok so I have some questions that would really help me decide what I need to put down on a survey about subjects
1. Should I do legal studies if I am contemplating law?
2. Should I do maths (advanced) or drama? Drama looks so much more interesting and a lot of fun but maths is one of the only subjects that my school does really well in. I am the top of 5.3 but am not interested in the subject even though I know I would do well. Btw I would be doing no maths
3. Is it okay to do science subjects like chemistry and biology without doing maths?
4. Biology or PDHPE (no idea really)?

Thanks for any replies

 

[jojosiwa123]

Q1: Only do it if the subject itself interests you. I've talked to someone at ANU law and they said everything you do in those two years of legal studies you cover in a few weeks of uni. It's more important for you to have critical thinking skills so I'd recommend modern history and extension english.

2) I would pick maths. Your school being good at it is generally something which applies more to arts subjects, extension subjects etc. Maths is way more individual. Drama doesn't scale too well (although that doesn't matter if you're really good at it).

3) Bio you can definitely do without maths. Chemistry in senior years is completely different to what you will have experienced thus far. Chem is heavily maths related and it helps A LOT to have maths skills in the course, honestly would not recommend chem for someone doing standard maths. You do need to consider though that some unis have prerequisites (eg USyd needs advanced maths for most courses, others need chemistry for medicine for example).

4) Do which ever one interests you most. Bio of year 11 is pretty content heavy (don't know about PDHPE sorry). Year 12 bio is much better although there's only 1 lab practical for the year. It's fairly straight forward, you just have a lot to memorise. Personally my friends who do both seem to like pdhpe better but I think this is one of those things where it's each to their own as the two subjects have some overlap.

 

[Carl10101]

If you have completed 5.3 maths then you can do chem easily without HSC mathematics skills. It is mostly just addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with some index powers like 3 squared 9 cubed or 10 to the power of a number

 

[bugra]

Thank you everyone for replying, very helpful - still unsure however aha any more answers would be much appreciated

 

[Carl10101]

Maybe think like: "If I could have a lesson tomorrow on any of these subjects, which would I choose?" or something

Try to choose whichever you think would be the most fun, I think entertainment is one of the most important aspects to consider

Also maybe look into the actual course content that is on the syllabus, deciding which subject has the most interesting topics

 

[dasfas]

Ok so I have some questions that would really help me decide what I need to put down on a survey about subjects
1. Should I do legal studies if I am contemplating law?
2. Should I do maths (advanced) or drama? Drama looks so much more interesting and a lot of fun but maths is one of the only subjects that my school does really well in. I am the top of 5.3 but am not interested in the subject even though I know I would do well. Btw I would be doing no maths
3. Is it okay to do science subjects like chemistry and biology without doing maths?
4. Biology or PDHPE (no idea really)?

Thanks for any replies

1. If you're uncertain of doing law, then sure, might as well give it a shot and see if you'll enjoy it

2. Maths is pretty damm important

3. Biology maybe, Chemistry not really.

4. Biology. The immune system module is amazing

 

[bugra]

Thanks all for replies, I understand what you say about the importance of maths despite not enjoying it a lot. Does anyone know what drama is like?

 

[Kyufruit]

Thanks all for replies, I understand what you say about the importance of maths despite not enjoying it a lot. Does anyone know what drama is like?

@Etho_x
tell him your experience mr Drama student

 

[Etho_x]

Thanks all for replies, I understand what you say about the importance of maths despite not enjoying it a lot. Does anyone know what drama is like?

Hello, I’m currently taking the preliminary drama course so I’ll do my best to give you a brief rundown of the prelim course and the structure of a typical drama class.
Your average drama classes will usually consist of workshops where you further explore your acting skills/improvisation and theory lessons where you learn about different techniques or whatnot. The logbook is also essential for all assessment tasks in Prelim and HSC as they count always for a small portion of your overall assessment mark. So usually you’re logging every lesson or couple of lessons and the expectations of critical analysis of lessons in your logbook are higher. I think the workshops you do in drama is good because it allows you to work with both people who you work well with, but also stepping beyond and working with others who you may have not worked with before.
Now onto the course:
In your first term you’ll look at an introduction to drama and improvisation, making offers etc. and study a wide range of practitioners which made significant impacts on the world of drama through the introduction of their dramatic techniques (e.g. Stanislavsky, Brecht, Grotowski). You’ll most likely be doing a monologue for the assessment. Then it depends on how you cover the syllabus, but you’ll be studying a particular play and different roles of people in drama like set design, character design etc. (I studied Ruby Moon) and you’ll be given a chance to create a poster/promotion or character design for example for the task. Finally you’ll learn more techniques and eventually do a group performance, and then you’ll have your yearlies. Not too bad but drama can be slightly boring at times, it’s certainly not my cup of tea and I like the subject but I’m probably going to drop it tho hahaha. Nevertheless, I think it’s a good course and if you want to pick up Drama, I’d say it’s a good grab.

 

[PikaAnime123]

Hello, I’m currently taking the preliminary drama course so I’ll do my best to give you a brief rundown of the prelim course and the structure of a typical drama class.
Your average drama classes will usually consist of workshops where you further explore your acting skills/improvisation and theory lessons where you learn about different techniques or whatnot. The logbook is also essential for all assessment tasks in Prelim and HSC as they count always for a small portion of your overall assessment mark. So usually you’re logging every lesson or couple of lessons and the expectations of critical analysis of lessons in your logbook are higher. I think the workshops you do in drama is good because it allows you to work with both people who you work well with, but also stepping beyond and working with others who you may have not worked with before.
Now onto the course:
In your first term you’ll look at an introduction to drama and improvisation, making offers etc. and study a wide range of practitioners which made significant impacts on the world of drama through the introduction of their dramatic techniques (e.g. Stanislavsky, Brecht, Grotowski). You’ll most likely be doing a monologue for the assessment. Then it depends on how you cover the syllabus, but you’ll be studying a particular play and different roles of people in drama like set design, character design etc. (I studied Ruby Moon) and you’ll be given a chance to create a poster/promotion or character design for example for the task. Finally you’ll learn more techniques and eventually do a group performance, and then you’ll have your yearlies. Not too bad but drama can be slightly boring at times, it’s certainly not my cup of tea and I like the subject but I’m probably going to drop it tho hahaha. Nevertheless, I think it’s a good course and if you want to pick up Drama, I’d say it’s a good grab.

Basically all this. But should you decide to continue with Drama until you graduate, you should also be prepared in having to write Drama essays where your class will be assigned plays that you have to read and analyse the context, themes, issues... and so on about the plays. The essays make up the theory component of Drama especially in year 12, and Drama essays are nothing like English essays IMO.

Also, if corona virus keeps getting worse within the following years, there's a high chance of the Group Performance getting cancelled the year you do your HSC. In this case, the Individual Project (Where you do things like costume design or video making) will be worth equal percentage as the theory component of essay-writing because of Group Performance being cancelled. So be warned, you can't really be lenient with just passing one component of Drama since both have equal percentage weightings should Group Performance becomes cancelled...

 

[bugra]

Thanks everyone a lot. Do you think that it is likely the group thingo will be cancelled?

 

[PikaAnime123]

Thanks everyone a lot. Do you think that it is likely the group thingo will be cancelled?

Considering it got cancelled this year, there's a pretty good chance it'll stay cancelled for years to come until said otherwise. But really all depends whether Corona Virus will continue to get worse as years pass, so a little hard to tell now QwQ

 

[bugra]

Oh ok thank you. Honestly maths is a draggggg and I've been doing the lights for the drama performances this year and the classes look amazing. Never thought I'd consider no maths but hey :/

 

[PikaAnime123]

Yeah drama performances are usually really amazing to view since the performers put so much effort into their preparations So much memorization and essay drafts to be done though... Are you considering choosing drama over maths? Drama may scale lower than maths, but it's better than doing a subject that you have interest in than doing one you consider to be a drag. There's no way anyone will be as motivated on a subject they hate even if it scales well.

 

[bugra]

Well like yeah I have to put down a survey because my school does compressed curriculum and so advance maths and drama are on the same and I'm definitely not choosing just normal maths so yeah even tho I come first in maths but rn its easy stuff.

 

[PikaAnime123]

That's impressive coming first in maths, congratulations! So you only find it a drag because you consider it too easy for you? Well I don't think drama is any harder than maths, so you might end up not finding it worthwhile... But definitely go for it if that's what interests you!

 

[bugra]

No its not that its too easy there are some difficult parts (I was just saying that to downplay my results cause our unit was quite easy - trig, area, volume) its that the actual content and way that I have to think with numbers is just a bit boring, I don't enjoy studying it or find it interesting at all but am worried that the stereotype of 'maths is so important' will keep me back.

 

[ultra908]

I'm probably biased because I do maths, but I'd say always do at least some maths. It just leaves so many opportunities open- if at the end of year twelve you have a change of heart and suddenly want to do something science/tech/maths related, those 2 units of maths will be very helpful. Plus if you are excelling in maths 5.3 rn, you should find advanced maths no problem at all.

In relation to chem and bio, bio is fine without maths, for chem maths is helpful but not necessary. I'd say do bio over pdhpe.

Sorry don't really have much experience with drama or legal.

 

[bugra]

Thanks for that - I totally understand what you have to say about a change of heart.