Year 11 subjects (1 Viewer)

[tyguy]

Hey all,
My time to select Year 11 subjects has arrived and I'm in a bit of a dilemma. Here's the list of the subjects I am thinking of selecting:
- Maths Extension 1
- English Advanced or English Extension 1
- Studies of religion (depending on whether I do English extension 1)
- Physics
- Economics
- Geography or Modern history

Now as for English, could anybody tell me the difference between English advanced and English ext1, because the idea of doing both extension English and extension math is a bit daunting, plus I plan on going to math ext2 in year 12.

As for sciences, I love math so picking physics is an obvious but can anyone tell me about chemistry and biology? how are they as subjects and how do they scale? is it bad to do multiple sciences?

I am not sure on whether I should do modern history or geography. I know modern history involves a lot of essay writing and that its important to pick a more relaxed subject to not overload yourself, but how does both geography and modern history scale for the HSC, even though I may end up dropping it in Year 12.

In my school, if you want to do an extension subject you need to do a one unit subject, so for me since I wish to do math ext1 in year 11, I need to pick either English ext1 or studies of religion. what's a better option? I hopefully want to get into medicine for university so I need subjects that scale well and can maximise my ATAR potential.

Any help from current Year 11's or Year 12's as well as previous high schoolers will be appreciated!

 

[Study to success]

Hey all,
My time to select Year 11 subjects has arrived and I'm in a bit of a dilemma. Here's the list of the subjects I am thinking of selecting:
- Maths Extension 1
- English Advanced or English Extension 1
- Studies of religion (depending on whether I do English extension 1)
- Physics
- Economics
- Geography or Modern history

Now as for English, could anybody tell me the difference between English advanced and English ext1, because the idea of doing both extension English and extension math is a bit daunting, plus I plan on going to math ext2 in year 12.

As for sciences, I love math so picking physics is an obvious but can anyone tell me about chemistry and biology? how are they as subjects and how do they scale? is it bad to do multiple sciences?

I am not sure on whether I should do modern history or geography. I know modern history involves a lot of essay writing and that its important to pick a more relaxed subject to not overload yourself, but how does both geography and modern history scale for the HSC, even though I may end up dropping it in Year 12.

In my school, if you want to do an extension subject you need to do a one unit subject, so for me since I wish to do math ext1 in year 11, I need to pick either English ext1 or studies of religion. what's a better option? I hopefully want to get into medicine for university so I need subjects that scale well and can maximise my ATAR potential.

Any help from current Year 11's or Year 12's as well as previous high schoolers will be appreciated!

I think if u want to get into medicine bio and chem would be good. But if u enjoy physics u should still pick it. It’s not bad to choose multiple sciences as many people do this it will just be more work. For modern history vs geo just pick what u like but if u really want to get a 99+ atar for medicine then maybe doing more sciences or other high scaling subjects will be more beneficial to ur atar but even then as long as u enjoy the subject u can do well with any subject combo. From what I’ve heard English ext is just more Eng but it’s much more enjoyable than the adv course so if u are good at writing and u enjoy it that will be a good choice. But if u have good work ethic i think u will be fine doing both ext courses. Also imo if i were good at Eng and i enjoyed i would have def chosen Eng ext over SOR cause it is much more interesting then SOR, for me personally cause SOR is soooo boring especially if u have a bad teacher

 

[Kat.crazi]

I need to pick either English ext1 or studies of religion

I’m biased but definitely English extension 1 if you enjoy writing. Much more interesting than advanced and for me a lot more enjoyable than SOR.

 

[Study to success]

I’m biased but definitely English extension 1 if you enjoy writing. Much more interesting than advanced and for me a lot more enjoyable than SOR.

Preach. But like even tho I hate English I would rather do ext than SOR but I would fail ext so obv I didn’t pick it

 

[killer queen]

As someone who once did both extensions, I have to admit Eng Ext 1 is a whole lot more fun than Eng Adv (I HATE ENGLISH ADVANCED) but lord is it a lot of work

SOR is one of those subjects that isn't terribly difficult to do well in but some people get bored stiff by the content (I've heard wildly different opinions from people who do it including myself)
For me, the SOR workload was less effort to consistently do than Eng Ext
And anyways, you could always drop the 1 unit you choose
English extension is definitely the better one from scaling but it's not that significant (compared to like math) that I wouldn't really consider it when picking subjects

It is not bad to do multiple sciences, but don't do science for the sake of picking science! Also, with physics, I have friends who picked physics for the sake of maths and they hate the short answers, so make sure you have at least some interest in the actual subject
I love chemistry but it can get really difficult/frustrating at times, it scales similar to physics
Bio scales a bit lower but if you're doing well in it that won't affect you really, but honestly if the only reason you're picking it is for medicine then don't bother - out of the two I would recommend chemistry more if medicine is your aim (the knowledge in bio you could pick up more easily in uni than the skills in chem)

Modern scales well for the HSC, idk much about geo but personally I'd pick modern

The last thing to consider between eng ext and SOR is whether you'd want to go up to 4U english, because some people would want to keep their options open

Hope this helps, and tell us what you decide on!

 

[jane1820]

Hey all,
My time to select Year 11 subjects has arrived and I'm in a bit of a dilemma. Here's the list of the subjects I am thinking of selecting:
- Maths Extension 1
- English Advanced or English Extension 1
- Studies of religion (depending on whether I do English extension 1)
- Physics
- Economics
- Geography or Modern history

Now as for English, could anybody tell me the difference between English advanced and English ext1, because the idea of doing both extension English and extension math is a bit daunting, plus I plan on going to math ext2 in year 12.

As for sciences, I love math so picking physics is an obvious but can anyone tell me about chemistry and biology? how are they as subjects and how do they scale? is it bad to do multiple sciences?

I am not sure on whether I should do modern history or geography. I know modern history involves a lot of essay writing and that its important to pick a more relaxed subject to not overload yourself, but how does both geography and modern history scale for the HSC, even though I may end up dropping it in Year 12.

In my school, if you want to do an extension subject you need to do a one unit subject, so for me since I wish to do math ext1 in year 11, I need to pick either English ext1 or studies of religion. what's a better option? I hopefully want to get into medicine for university so I need subjects that scale well and can maximise my ATAR potential.

Any help from current Year 11's or Year 12's as well as previous high schoolers will be appreciated!

If u plan on doing medicine dont do subjects only for scaling tf
do chem and bio, u dont need physics for medicine
math ext isnt necessary but sure
eng adv sure, ext idk
economics is so fun and i love it n it has good scaling but its not beneficial for u
geo and modern completely unnecessary for medicine

be wise w ur subject selection and not scaling

 

[tyguy]

If you dont mind me asking what do you mean by English Extension 1 being more "enjoyable" than English Advanced. Tbh I find essay writing okay, however I plan on going up to 4u math in year 12. Either way I hope to drop SOR in Year 12 and another 2 unit subject I pick for Year 11 to go down to 10 units. Ive seen some ppl say to pick the subjects necessary for medicine, whilst others have said just pick what you enjoy. Whats your take on this?

 

[tyguy]

Tbh i dont rlly enjoy essay writing, but what makes extension so much more enjoyable than advanced? Im not too worried about how enjoyable SOR is bc i plan to drop it in Year 12 anyways.

 

[Study to success]

Tbh i dont rlly enjoy essay writing, but what makes extension so much more enjoyable than advanced? Im not too worried about how enjoyable SOR is bc i plan to drop it in Year 12 anyways.

Well if u really don’t enjoy essay writing then maybe don’t pick too many essay subjects cause u will prob hate it. But if u don’t mind it then u should be fine. Are u planning to keep Eng ext or drop it in year 12? If ur sure ur gonna drop then maybe do SOR cause it’s really easy and the workload is lesss but it’s just boring

 

[tyguy]

I dont really enjoy English essay writing if you know what I mean. I've taken a look at Modern History past papers and theyre full of essays, however I feel as if i would enjoy writing essays as I generally just enjoy history.

 

[Study to success]

I dont really enjoy English essay writing if you know what I mean. I've taken a look at Modern History past papers and theyre full of essays, however I feel as if i would enjoy writing essays as I generally just enjoy history.

Then maybe don’t choose ext Eng cause writing essays in adv is already annoying enough and having ext essays too might get even more annoying

 

[killer queen]

For me the content in ext Eng is just a whole lot more fun and I feel the essays have a lot more scope for personal opinion/genuine critical analysis than a stock standard response they expect in adv

But that’s my personal experience

If you dont mind me asking what do you mean by English Extension 1 being more "enjoyable" than English Advanced. Tbh I find essay writing okay, however I plan on going up to 4u math in year 12. Either way I hope to drop SOR in Year 12 and another 2 unit subject I pick for Year 11 to go down to 10 units. Ive seen some ppl say to pick the subjects necessary for medicine, whilst others have said just pick what you enjoy. Whats your take on this?

do a bit of both I guess

On physics not being good for medicine, this is true on paper, however the raw ability required for subjects like physics and chemistry means that I’ve heard of some places valuing physics more than biology simply because it means the student is capable of taking an applying a skill
Whereas bio is a lot more memorisation, you could learn that
However bio’s content is definitely geared towards med more
What I mean by this is if you wanna take physics and can only afford one subject change then take chem
(I assume you want to take physics because you’re good at it in which case if it’s beneficial to your ATAR then just do it)

Worst case scenario with assumed knowledge courses is you take a bridge course

If you’re good at history writing that might also help you with SOR a significant bit, idk tho I don’t do history

 

[hscccc]

English ext 1 is like a dreeaaam. It's so much better than advanced. I found it to be so as there are only two topics so you get to go far more in depth with your analysis of your texts. It also stylistically differs in essay writing; they expect a higher standard, yes, but I found it so much easier to write extension essays. The exam is, imo, the best HSC exam I did, only two sections and you get an hour for each section. Memorise an essay and a creative, prepare for a critical, and you're all good - was my least stressful exam by far. Over half of the cohort ends up with an e4 too (I know ppl who didn't b6 advanced but they did ext).

I would not do modern based on the scaling. It isn't an easy subject, which is why it's the 'best scaling humanity' (aside from econ, I think). You have two 25-mark essays and two sections of short answers that have 'mini' essays. I loved modern, but it requires so much work and preparation to be prepared for the HSC - there is so much content to memorise, and if you're not organised, it becomes very overwhelming. I think you also have to be a pretty competent essay writer and exam taker to do well in modern. Do it if you enjoy history and are willing to dedicate time to it.

If you do bio, it's also content-heavy, so be mindful of how that would pair with modern.

SOR is quite easy (and yes, boring), but I think it sometimes leads people to not put in effort, and they don't do as well as they probably could. I don't think you should pick any subject to be a bludge, esp if it's something that you'll be bored by and unmotivated to work at. Also, be mindful of your cohort; for most of mine this was their 11th unit so it wasn't going to contribute towards their ATAR, so they gave up. If you're not ranked well, it could end up dragging your mark down.

I'd just play to your strengths and what u enjoy rather than focusing on what scales well - it doesn't matter if it scales amazingly if you end up with a bad mark.

 

[tyguy]

Hmm thats quite interesting to believe that extension is easier than advanced, though ive heard others say the same. I genuinely enjoy history so might take modern, still in a dilemma. But if i end up doing extension english than SOR is really pointless as it will put me at 13 units which is unecessary.