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phy, chem or bio? (1 Viewer)

untouchablecuz

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physics, easiest and many Q's you can logically answer yourself with minimal study (not much memorising; once you understand a concept it'll stay there)

about the mathematical part of HSC physics, if you can use a calculator your fine
 

Amogh

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just go with your preference
i would prefer physics
 

jonowang

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well im thinking of phys cos im good at maths, and chem isnt really my thing but im not too sure about bio
 

IntoTheFire

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I reakon it depends on what you enjoy the best, and what you wanna do in Uni, if you have any idea. Alot of the sciencey type things in Uni assume you know Chem, but If you dont like it I wouldnt recommend it, it would be the hardest of the three, in my opinion; and I am doing all three. I find Bio the easiest,. but It really depends on your interests; like chemicalss and stuff like that pick Chemistry, like to know how living things work pick Biology, and if you like maths and learning about stuff sorta pick Physics, in the end if you pick soomething based on how it scales and you hate it it really doesnt matter, cos youll probably not do well in it, pick the one that you will enjoy the best, and work at it, your better to blitz something you enjoy that to come dead last and flunk something because it has better ranking...

Hope that helped :)... I may have contradicted myself but oh well
 

pman

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yeah, you have to realise that people on this page have diffewring opinions and diferent things will help you more, even tho i'm recomending chem, for me personally, phys is by far the most important of my sciences
 

squeenie

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Like everyone else has said, base it around interest and future uni plans.

For me, HSC chem wasn't really hard, just extremely annoying. Chemistry is especially useful in uni, I can go through most of my chem lectures without too much confusion having done HSC chem. It's in between physics and bio in terms of the amount of theory and maths required. Some maths in there - definitely more than biology has, but it's mostly theory based

Physics is easy if you're good with maths. Some of the concepts might take a while to understand, but once you can understand the theory and work out how to do the calculation questions, it can bring you easy marks.

I really should have done biology instead of physics in HSC though (I'm doing mostly biology subjects now). My biology subjects have mostly been theory with a bit of maths thrown in here and there.
 

mattloo

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Just though i might tell u a few people are wrong. Chemistry gets the most scaling bio and physics barely any. All three are good for getting into uni courses.
If u have time to study it is easy to achieve a better mark in biology, for most people. Chemistry you have to be naturally good at. I.e i have a friend who was in my year 11 chem he failed, same friend got a B+ or low a in bio. Physics is very dry but if you are naturally gifted can get a good mark.

I would achieve best marks in chem for sure (a+ midyear) but i think biology is the most enjoyable physics being my worst choice even though i love spesh and that kind of thinking.
hope that helped...
 

killua_3

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i do all 3 so i think i can give you a rough view into all of them

personally, i like bio the best because i'm interested in medicine and the yr 12 course has more to do with it than the prelim. its also the easiest imo (common sense mostly)

i find that chem has more memorisation required than bio (lots of details you have to know, unlike bio, which is just sort of a broad view + some examples) other than that, the calculations are quite simple and straight forward, as long as you understand molarity, you'll do fine.

as for physics, the hsc course deals with history, development & past experiments much more compared to calculations. all the calculations you need is very simple. if you can find the correct formula on the data sheet, you'll get the right answer
 

Uncle

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I reakon it depends on what you enjoy the best, and what you wanna do in Uni, if you have any idea. Alot of the sciencey type things in Uni assume you know Chem, but If you dont like it I wouldnt recommend it, it would be the hardest of the three, in my opinion; and I am doing all three. I find Bio the easiest,. but It really depends on your interests; like chemicalss and stuff like that pick Chemistry, like to know how living things work pick Biology, and if you like maths and learning about stuff sorta pick Physics, in the end if you pick soomething based on how it scales and you hate it it really doesnt matter, cos youll probably not do well in it, pick the one that you will enjoy the best, and work at it, your better to blitz something you enjoy that to come dead last and flunk something because it has better ranking...

Hope that helped :)... I may have contradicted myself but oh well
oh but first year physics in UNSW is a rude wakeup call from hsc physics.
gone are historical, social and contextual sides and comes calculus and analysing the problem and make mathematical intepretations out of it which makes 3 unit mathematics child's play.
sorta pick physics at uni because hsc physics was so much fun and too easy that its like second nature
(coz physics is the most fundamental of all sciences).

sorta pick physics.
lol.


you dont know what you are talking about do you?
 

squeenie

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i do all 3 so i think i can give you a rough view into all of them

personally, i like bio the best because i'm interested in medicine and the yr 12 course has more to do with it than the prelim. its also the easiest imo (common sense mostly)

i find that chem has more memorisation required than bio (lots of details you have to know, unlike bio, which is just sort of a broad view + some examples) other than that, the calculations are quite simple and straight forward, as long as you understand molarity, you'll do fine.

as for physics, the hsc course deals with history, development & past experiments much more compared to calculations. all the calculations you need is very simple. if you can find the correct formula on the data sheet, you'll get the right answer
Uni has made me realise that HSC science is for the most part just one big history lesson :(
 

killua_3

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Uni has made me realise that HSC science is for the most part just one big history lesson :(
lol exactly. hsc science should be reviewed and changed completely
likewise for 4u conics. who da fk need it!? you get computers to calculate these painful crap in uni (so i heard)
 

jonowang

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Uni has made me realise that HSC science is for the most part just one big history lesson :(
if its only about the history of science now, i think i'll stick with a social science. if i wanted a history lesson i wouldve chosen modern or ancient
 

squeenie

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if its only about the history of science now, i think i'll stick with a social science. if i wanted a history lesson i wouldve chosen modern or ancient
It's not yet at the point that it's become completely irrelevant, but some parts of the syllabus are starting to become redundant (especially in physics). It gives a reasonably good foundation for uni if you're considering a science based course, but if you're not planning for something like that, the only reason you'd choose a science subject is for interest.

Scaling is only a small part of determining your final marks, so it's definitely not the reason a subject should be chosen. Too many people choose chem/physics because they 'scale well' and end up failing them.
 

banipal753

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Scaling wise Phys > Chem > Bio

As khorne said, bio is all memorising physics is problem solving (not much maths, still a lot of theory) and chem is a mixture.

Pick either what you like the most, what you want to do as a career (bio for med, chem for eng) or what you're best at. If you still can't decide and don't care then just do physics as it scales the best.
Im pretty sure chem scales just a lil better than physics like

Chem > Phys > Bio

oh and may i point out if ur doin engineering, physics will help u alot, because they relate.

Chem is assumed knowledge if u want to be a doctor, and bio would help with that too, physics and chem would be ideal if ur thinking of pursuiin engineering career.
 

occer

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Phys scales better than Chem, slightly.
 

annabackwards

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Just though i might tell u a few people are wrong. Chemistry gets the most scaling bio and physics barely any. All three are good for getting into uni courses.
Im pretty sure chem scales just a lil better than physics like
Chem > Phys > Bio
Take a look at the A3 Table or have a little play with SAM/Einstein/JUAI/Matrix calculator. You'll see that at the lower end of the spectrum chem scales a tad higher than physics but it's the other way around at the higher spectrum, where most people would be aiming for ;)

Phys scales better than Chem, slightly.
+1

It really doesn't matter anyway, seeing as the difference is pretty much not even one mark unless you do horribly...
 

shady145

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Take a look at the A3 Table or have a little play with SAM/Einstein/JUAI/Matrix calculator. You'll see that at the lower end of the spectrum chem scales a tad higher than physics but it's the other way around at the higher spectrum, where most people would be aiming for ;)
ooo damn my out of date 2007 data, looking at the 2007 stuff it looked as though chem slightly greater than phys be a wee little bit lol, but this (assumming it is 2008) is correct =)
 

annabackwards

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ooo damn my out of date 2007 data, looking at the 2007 stuff it looked as though chem slightly greater than phys be a wee little bit lol, but this (assumming it is 2008) is correct =)
I guess it varies a tiny bit from year to year. But seriously, a difference of one scaled mark is like nothing ^^
 

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