Im deciding on what subject to drop for yr12 and Eco and chem are pretty near each other in terms of being the one to get the boot. what I wanna know is how does the yr12 syllabus compare to yr11? is it a drastically different course? do you find it any more interesting or less? is the content any harder or easier than yr11? and how does the workload or amount of content compare? here is a pretty specific question and I don't mind if it gets answered, but did you find it more interesting than chem, if you did both subjects of course?
any help is much appreciated.
1. it is a pretty drastically different course since it's purely macroeconomic although some stuff you learn in still 11 are still relevant. opportunity cost is not a big part but you just need to know it, supply and demand graphs are still used in different contexts (eg. exchange rates), and fiscal + monetary is always huge. Calculations are also a big part but dont get intimidated its yr 7 maths difficulty tops.
2. IMO, it's much more interesting. It's a lot more like the actual kind of interesting economics than yr 11 which just felt like 1/2 of it was business studies.
3. yes there is a LOT of content. speaking purely from personal experience, i would rate it's difficulty 6-7/10. not all of it is difficult, but the ones that are you just need to sit down and wrap your head around it but it is fairly logical and once you get it it dosen't go away since it makes sense. linking different concepts is also integral, but is again fairly logical once you get the content.
With regards to the huge amount of content, that's unfortunately a reality but as long as you stay 90% up to date with your notes it shouldnt be that big of a problem if you can manage your time well.
4. didn't do chem so I have no idea personally but from what I know of people that did, chem is still pretty hard but has less content relatively.
My advice is just decide based on your natural preference/affinity, chem and eco are polar opposite subjects so it's not like choosing between two simialr subjects like chem and phys or eco and business, you probably know already deep down which one you liked better based on your experience in yr11 (the content is different, but the experience really isnt). just go with your gut, or better yet keep both of them unless the workload becomes too much to handle.
be warned that I have heard prelim chem is very important for hsc chem so if you keep it make sure you understand the content and concepts from yr11.
