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Choosing subjects for year 12- Bio or Ext 1 English (1 Viewer)

Velocifire

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Whitewashed SO MUCH harder compared to the hardest of questions from year 10 :(
 

Velocifire

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are you gonna drop to advanced or drop math entirely?
Advanced ofc, I was joking about dropping entire math. I'm in a phase where adv content is really easy and ext is a nightmare
if only "2.5" existed.
 

tito981

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Advanced ofc, I was joking about dropping entire math. I'm in a phase where adv content is really easy and ext is a nightmare
if only "2.5" existed.
I recommend keeping mx1 till like half way through yr 12 (unless you despise it ofc), because i believe mx1 is hardest in yr 11 due to students having no foundation in the topics of calculus, perms and combs, etc. If you find advanced easy in yr 11 it will most likely be easy in yr 12.
 

hs17

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I need to hear from someone who does ext 1 English:(
 

notthedevil

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I need to hear from someone who does ext 1 English:(
I did Ext English for my HSC and I really really enjoyed it and it was my best result (47/50). I had a look at the 2019 exam quickly and it seems that a lot has changed since I did it in 2018.

But essentially if you enjoy Advanced English and you enjoy doing your own reading and research on texts, then you'll enjoy Ext1. I found it to be a lot of work for one unit compared to Advanced, but that's just how Extension units are and Ext 1 scales rly well so you get that benefit too. It's quite similar to Advanced but you're going a step further and you're being a lot more critical in your essays and you are expected to research and quote literary critics on the texts that you've studied. The creative writing part was tough and the prompts are more complex than in Advanced but it was very enjoyable to explore different writing styles and stuff (but for you I think it's gonna be more geared towards essay-style writing whereas when I did it the mark allocation was 50%creative 50%essay).

If you have specific questions regarding Ext 1 don't hesitate to drop them here and I'll try get back to you asap!!
 

notthedevil

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Oh also reading the prescribed texts is essential for Ext1 (at least once, ideally twice if you have the time). It's not like advanced where you can get away with internet summaries and reading little parts of the text etc, bc you need a really good understanding of the overarching concepts in each text because the essay questions are broad enough so that all the prescribed texts can be used for the essay question (although you'll really only be asked for like two prescribed texts and one related text for the essay).
 

hs17

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I did Ext English for my HSC and I really really enjoyed it and it was my best result (47/50). I had a look at the 2019 exam quickly and it seems that a lot has changed since I did it in 2018.

But essentially if you enjoy Advanced English and you enjoy doing your own reading and research on texts, then you'll enjoy Ext1. I found it to be a lot of work for one unit compared to Advanced, but that's just how Extension units are and Ext 1 scales rly well so you get that benefit too. It's quite similar to Advanced but you're going a step further and you're being a lot more critical in your essays and you are expected to research and quote literary critics on the texts that you've studied. The creative writing part was tough and the prompts are more complex than in Advanced but it was very enjoyable to explore different writing styles and stuff (but for you I think it's gonna be more geared towards essay-style writing whereas when I did it the mark allocation was 50%creative 50%essay).

If you have specific questions regarding Ext 1 don't hesitate to drop them here and I'll try get back to you asap!!
thank you for replying! I’m glad to hear it’s now more essay-geared...I’m not too good at creative. Did you have 2 hand in tasks throughout the year?
 

notthedevil

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thank you for replying! I’m glad to hear it’s now more essay-geared...I’m not too good at creative. Did you have 2 hand in tasks throughout the year?
Yeah so for Yr 12 my school did a hand-in essay, a hand-in creative and then a Trial exam. I think the hand-ins were marked harsher to account for being able to refine them beforehand.

And yeah getting better at creative writing just involves writing a lot of things, drawing inspiration from the writing styles/techniques of your prescribed texts, and getting your teacher to look over your drafts, but it’s definitely possible to get better and it’s something I struggled with too.
 

pikachu975

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I enjoyed year 12 bio content like 100x more than year 11, depends on the person. Learning about human and animal functions which is relatable to real life was really fun, compared to year 11 learning about plants and I forgot what else... Check the syllabus points and see if it's interesting for you!
 

ahri

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I did both bio and ext 1 (and ext 2) eng last year! Overall, I found Y11 bio REALLY boring (I'm not really an ecology person) but I found Y12 bio really cool (more human body and infection stuff), so if you're into that and you're doing well in Y11 then bio is not a bad subject. The workload doesn't really change much tbh, bio has always been a pretty content heavy subject.

Ext 1 English is REALLY fun imo (one of my best subjects) but a lot of work (basically advanced english since you're expected to do a new text every term). Keep it if you enjoy english and you're doing well.
 

Velocifire

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So EE1 imagine that... like even adv eng is a nightmare for me :(

and bio seems like it’s only necessary to aid ppl to stop having children with their first cousins
 

hs17

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EE1 is actually so fun!! Never thought i'd say that. But I need to improve my creative writing skills :(
 

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