What do you think of these subjects? Questions on ATAR and English levels? (1 Viewer)

[Ares]

Okay so I'm in year 10 right now and I'm choosing subjects for year 11 and 12. I've chosen:

1 Unit Studies of Religion. (compulsory)
Standard English.
General Mathematics.

Biology.
Chemistry.
PD/Health/PE.
Ancient History.

Legal Studies. (alternative, in-case I don't get into chemistry, due to my lacking mathematical skills. xD)

A teacher recommended me to do Advanced English, because I'm always getting 80%+ in exams and assignments, and I honestly enjoy the subject.. but I've chosen Standard, simply so that I can get the highest marks and help boost my ATAR a bit. Thankfully, all of the subjects above I will enjoy - the only ones I'll have to spend extra time studying will be maths and chemistry.

I went to this site: http://www.matrixeducation.com.au/atar/atar-calculator.html

It calculates an ATAR. I just put in my exam results from this year (year 10) exams, for a rough estimate. I even lowered some of the results, to be pessimistic. xD and managed to scrape a 75.50. And mind you, I barely studied this year.. I'm incredibly lazy (something I plan on improving, to get a nice ATAR in year 12). I'm trying to get into actual study routines, and hopefully with better exam/ assignment results (and more commitment), I'll aim for an ATAR of at least 80.

I'm choosing bio/chem/health because I'm planning on going to uni for a medical course. I'm thinking of either bachelor of paramedicine or bachelor of nursing, or both. I could try to go straight out for doctor, but that requires a REALLY good ATAR, and I think 2 Unit math.. I'm not THAT smart, unfortunately. And even if I was, I don't plan on spending 7 years at uni studying it. I'd rather start out as a paramedic or nurse, to see whether I like that sort of career first.

But anyway, do you think these are all good choices? Choosing Standard over Advanced, to help lower the workload and ensure better marks? Get into a consistent study routine, stay confident, do the best I can and aim for 80+ ATAR? Sorry if I've typed heaps. If you're currently in year 12, or already gone to uni, and have some experience - it would really help if you could reply and give me some tips.

Thanks, if you've managed to read it all. xD

 

[tambam]

Choosing Standard over Advanced, to help lower the workload and ensure better marks?

Noooooooooooo way!
Doing standard english when you are capable of doing well in english will in no way get you higher marks!
You should do the highest level of english which you are capable of.
Its actually easier to get much higher marks in english advanced if you are good at english, because of scaling, and the fact that from what i've heard, there are very little band 6s given out in standard english in the hsc.

And i wouldn't rely on the atar calculator too much in year 10, just because its completely different from senior school.
Maybe in year 11 you could see where you're at academically and then you could more accurately figure out how well you could potentially do in the hsc.

 

[Shadowdude]

You're good at English. Do Advanced or I will personally laugh at you because you would have just did a really stupid thing.

 

[enoilgam]

Doing standard will be the biggest mistake you make and I will give you the stock explaination I always use on this forum.

The difficulty between advanced and standard is minimal. In advanced you study more difficult texts, but the difficulty of the actual questions which you get asked on the HSC and trials is about equal. Also, standard aligns poorly compared to advanced. For example, getting a raw mark of 80/105 in your HSC exam for standard might only align to a final HSC mark of 80/100. Whereas in advanced, a mark of 80/105 might align to a final HSC mark of 90/100. This is emphasised by the fact that last year only 64 people got over 90 in standard english (about 30,000 do standard english altogether). So really, in my opinion, standard english is a waste of time and potentially hazardous to your ATAR. This is especially the case if you want to get an ATAR over 90.

 

[Shadowdude]

Though note Standard and Advanced scale the same but align differently.

 

[Riproot]

Advice from a standard student: do advanced and stick to it!!!

 

[Ares]

I suppose, I get where you're all coming from. But I used the ATAR calculator, and it doesn't matter what marks I get in Standard and Advanced.. the ATAR is only increased by a tiny amount if I'm in Advanced. As long as the exams aren't massively harder, then I'll choose Advanced.

But what about workload? Do they hand out way more homework, more assignments and require more study in Advanced? Or is it just more difficult text for better readers and writers? I LOVE reading and writing, that's why my english marks in exams get so high. If Advanced is just 'difficult texts' I'll really enjoy it.

But if there's a bigger workload, harder exams = lower my ATAR in comparison to Standard, I'm not sure. Any help?

 

[Shadowdude]

I suppose, I get where you're all coming from. But I used the ATAR calculator, and it doesn't matter what marks I get in Standard and Advanced.. the ATAR is only increased by a tiny amount if I'm in Advanced. As long as the exams aren't massively harder, then I'll choose Advanced.

But what about workload? Do they hand out way more homework, more assignments and require more study in Advanced? Or is it just more difficult text for better readers and writers? I LOVE reading and writing, that's why my english marks in exams get so high. If Advanced is just 'difficult texts' I'll really enjoy it.

But if there's a bigger workload, harder exams = lower my ATAR in comparison to Standard, I'm not sure. Any help?

Standard and Advanced scale the same. Don't base it from an ATAR calculator.

The exams are the same difficulty - you still do Belonging, plus three modules - workload is also the same. The only difference is you're expected to analyse at a greater depth and write better essays in Advanced.

 

[timmyt]

But if there's a bigger workload, harder exams = lower my ATAR in comparison to Standard, I'm not sure. Any help?

Advanced has a lighter workload than standard in my opinion...
Mainly because you don't need a related text for each section. Like for my trials I did barely any study and could answer everything fine because all I needed to know was the set texts themselves...
And also as everyone has said basically, doing standard will not improve your final ATAR - doing advanced will.

 

[Ares]

I've decided on subjects below, will hand in sheet sometime next week.

Advanced English.
General Mathematics.
1 Unit Studies of Religion.

Biology.
Chemistry.
PD/Health/PE.
Ancient History.

Legal Studies. (alternative, in-case I don't get into chemistry, due to low math results).

Thanks for all the answers, especially on the whole Standard/ Advanced area. Now all I have to do is wait and hope I get the subjects I want, and then go good in them.

 

[powlmao]

Advice from a standard student: do advanced and stick to it!!!

This, I too do standard.

I very much regret it.