CHEMISTRY OR LEGAL STUDIES (1 Viewer)

[hailey_brown]

I just started year 12 this week and have been facing an apparently 'detrimental' issue since I'm doing all 6 subjects and have no free periods which my school doesn't really accept. Since I go to a selective/private school, they are able to determine what subjects we do and if we are to be dropped or not. My current subjects are;

• Standard English (I decided to drop from advanced so my rank is not determined)
• Standard Math (2nd)
• Biology (4th)
• Business Studies (11th)
• Chemistry (6th)
• Legal studies (14th)

Since we are a large cohort and in the top 50 in school rank, I have reached a band 6 rank for all my subjects from previous year numbers, except obviously English as it isn't determined. I am aiming to receive an ATAR of 90+ hopefully. The issue starts here. Due to the new syllabus for chemistry being introduced this year, it only leaves me and my classmates one certain trial exam and HSC to study from. Considering the module just got harder too, I'm really starting to stress if I am able to receive a band 6 or even a high band 5 in chemistry. My deputy principal at school told me I should play it safe and do Legal as I am already getting a band 6 and it is easier, but I honestly don't have much of a passion for the subject, whereas I absolutely love Chemistry, go to matrix tutoring and plan on going into the science field after school. Some of my teachers are saying to drop chemistry and pick it up in Uni and others are saying if I have a passion and want to study for it I will do better regardless. I'm honestly stumped... Any suggestions?

 

[Drdusk]

I just started year 12 this week and have been facing an apparently 'detrimental' issue since I'm doing all 6 subjects and have no free periods which my school doesn't really accept. Since I go to a selective/private school, they are able to determine what subjects we do and if we are to be dropped or not. My current subjects are;

• Standard English (I decided to drop from advanced so my rank is not determined)
• Standard Math (2nd)
• Biology (4th)
• Business Studies (11th)
• Chemistry (6th)
• Legal studies (14th)

Since we are a large cohort and in the top 50 in school rank, I have reached a band 6 rank for all my subjects from previous year numbers, except obviously English as it isn't determined. I am aiming to receive an ATAR of 90+ hopefully. The issue starts here. Due to the new syllabus for chemistry being introduced this year, it only leaves me and my classmates one certain trial exam and HSC to study from. Considering the module just got harder too, I'm really starting to stress if I am able to receive a band 6 or even a high band 5 in chemistry. My deputy principal at school told me I should play it safe and do Legal as I am already getting a band 6 and it is easier, but I honestly don't have much of a passion for the subject, whereas I absolutely love Chemistry, go to matrix tutoring and plan on going into the science field after school. Some of my teachers are saying to drop chemistry and pick it up in Uni and others are saying if I have a passion and want to study for it I will do better regardless. I'm honestly stumped... Any suggestions?

Teachers you tell you to drop a subject just so you can get a 'higher atar' are bad teachers. Do NOT take their advice. Always follow your heart. You want to study Science in uni and you love Chem. I would definitely encourage you to stay with it.

 

[hailey_brown]

Teachers you tell you to drop a subject just so you can get a 'higher atar' are bad teachers. Do NOT take their advice. Always follow your heart. You want to study Science in uni and you love Chem. I would definitely encourage you to stay with it.

Thanks heaps!!! honestly didn't think anyone was going to reply, let alone so quickly. Yes I enjoy chemistry and was most likely going to stay with it. Thanks for the validation.

 

[jazz519]

I just started year 12 this week and have been facing an apparently 'detrimental' issue since I'm doing all 6 subjects and have no free periods which my school doesn't really accept. Since I go to a selective/private school, they are able to determine what subjects we do and if we are to be dropped or not. My current subjects are;

• Standard English (I decided to drop from advanced so my rank is not determined)
• Standard Math (2nd)
• Biology (4th)
• Business Studies (11th)
• Chemistry (6th)
• Legal studies (14th)

Since we are a large cohort and in the top 50 in school rank, I have reached a band 6 rank for all my subjects from previous year numbers, except obviously English as it isn't determined. I am aiming to receive an ATAR of 90+ hopefully. The issue starts here. Due to the new syllabus for chemistry being introduced this year, it only leaves me and my classmates one certain trial exam and HSC to study from. Considering the module just got harder too, I'm really starting to stress if I am able to receive a band 6 or even a high band 5 in chemistry. My deputy principal at school told me I should play it safe and do Legal as I am already getting a band 6 and it is easier, but I honestly don't have much of a passion for the subject, whereas I absolutely love Chemistry, go to matrix tutoring and plan on going into the science field after school. Some of my teachers are saying to drop chemistry and pick it up in Uni and others are saying if I have a passion and want to study for it I will do better regardless. I'm honestly stumped... Any suggestions?

Hi I am someone studying a degree in chemistry. Honestly if you are going to go uni at either unsw or usyd trying to pick up chemistry or any science related degree once you get to uni is going to be extremely difficult. This is because they assume you know like most of this stuff in chemistry. The reason I say this is because the new syllabus for chemistry especially links to first year uni content. By having an understanding of that hsc content you will do much better in first year and therefore probably better in the rest of your degree as the content all builds on itself

 

[jazz519]

Also in terms of the resources there is already tonnes of stuff for the new syllabus. For example check out conqueringHSC website it has notes on the new syllabus and practice papers too as well, and NESA released an 80 page document as well so there is more than one hsc paper. The old papers as well are not useless, approximately 60% of the syllabus is the same. Especially for module 5 and 6 its basically the same

 

[hailey_brown]

Also in terms of the resources there is already tonnes of stuff for the new syllabus. For example check out conqueringHSC website it has notes on the new syllabus and practice papers too as well, and NESA released an 80 page document as well so there is more than one hsc paper. The old papers as well are not useless, approximately 60% of the syllabus is the same. Especially for module 5 and 6 its basically the same

Thanks heaps!! Honestly means a lot coming from someone who has actually experienced going through HSC Chemistry. I will definitely check out the resources you suggested.
Thanks again.

 

[jazz519]

Thanks heaps!! Honestly means a lot coming from someone who has actually experienced going through HSC Chemistry. I will definitely check out the resources you suggested.
Thanks again.

Yup no worries, if you put in the work you will do well

 

[hailey_brown]

Hi I am someone studying a degree in chemistry. Honestly if you are going to go uni at either unsw or usyd trying to pick up chemistry or any science related degree once you get to uni is going to be extremely difficult. This is because they assume you know like most of this stuff in chemistry. The reason I say this is because the new syllabus for chemistry especially links to first year uni content. By having an understanding of that hsc content you will do much better in first year and therefore probably better in the rest of your degree as the content all builds on itself

Someone told me that if I was to do legal studies and receive a band six I could do a bridging course for chemistry in order to understand what is happening at uni. Do you believe these courses are effective?

 

[jazz519]

Someone told me that if I was to do legal studies and receive a band six I could do a bridging course for chemistry in order to understand what is happening at uni. Do you believe these courses are effective?

I haven’t done a bridging course but it’s one thing like doing a bridging course to just do like one or two Chem subjects in a degree, which you can probably survive off that but like if you are seriously considering a degree in chemistry that in my opinion is not a good idea. The reason for that is bridging courses rush the content very fast. Now if you compare someone who did a bridging course and someone who learnt the content over 2 years in high school, it is more than likely the person doing it over 2 years is gonna have a better understanding and more practice

The ATAR is important but like if you are doing subjects that don’t really relate to the degree path you want to choose it is pretty pointless. If you don’t get exposed to that content during high school you won’t know if you are actually suited to that course in uni is another thing. If the subject is hard in high school it will only get harder once you get to uni

so I guess my point is that by trying to skip the subject now for a short term gain in ATAR, you might negatively affect your future progress in that course in uni