Is it risky dropping to 10 units?? (1 Viewer)

[anonymousstressedstudent3]

Original Poster:

I'm planning to drop physics as my marks have been mediocre, but I'm worried about the risk factor as it will mean that every single mark will count, so is it risky dropping to 10 units or do should I keep physics?

well if you're doing poorly in physics anyway then its not like physics was going to get counted, and dropping physics means you have more time to study for your other subjects.

 

[liv888]

I mean it depends on how confident you are with the other subjects and define your version of "mediocre". I think 10 units is fine cause you can put all your effort into 10 units. If you're iffy why not just do one term of it, try your hardest and see how it feels. That way if year 12 hits you out of left field you can drop another subject.

But if you're confident you're going to do better in your other subjects I say drop it

 

[specificagent1]

You could always keep it for like a term to see how all your subjects play out

 

[tito981]

Original Poster:

My marks for year 11 were: term 1 I got 24/31 (~77%) (practical assessment) and the second term I got 19/30 (~63%) (depth study on a topic of choice)

I'm just a bit worried now because my math marks are also iffy, but its not as bad physics so I'm really confused what to do

To be fair you didn't have a proper written exam yet, so you don't really know, you might be good at tests and you could have got unlucky with pracs and depth study. You are going to have to judge if you are good at pure theory exams and if you are it might be worth keeping for an extra term or so.

 

[jimmysmith560]

Making an informed decision requires you to consider your performance in the rest of your subjects throughout year 11. In your particular case, I believe you need to weigh the advantages and the disadvantages of dropping to 10 units or keeping 12 units:

Advantages of keeping 12 units/Disadvantages of dropping to 10 units:

• You have 2 units of backup in the case of an unexpected occurrence regarding your performance in a particular subject, which can (if necessary) completely negate the negative effect that bad performance in a 2 unit subject would otherwise have on your ATAR.
• The notion of improvement, i.e. there is always room for improvement. Effectively attempting to improve in Physics, particularly if you are not fully confident in your performance in the rest of your subjects, will allow for additional relief regarding your overall performance throughout year 12.

Disadvantages of keeping 12 units/Advantages of dropping to 10 units:

• If you are absolutely certain that you cannot improve in Physics, no matter how much effort you put in, it may result in an inefficient subject selection, causing a waste of time that you can otherwise spend on studying for your other subjects.
• If you are fully confident in your ability to perform well in the rest of your subjects, provided you are determined and willing to put in the effort and achieve consistency, then keeping Physics will likely become unnecessary since you will have the ability to perform well in the rest of your subjects, significantly mitigating the risk of not having a backup.

Alternatively, you can keep Physics at the start of year 12 and carefully observe your performance. If satisfactory, then it will likely be an indicator that you should keep Physics. If unsatisfactory, then you should probably drop Physics and instead focus on your remaining 10 units.

I ask that this thread doesn't get deleted as all the advice that has been given may also be beneficial to other students in a similar/identical position.

I hope this helps!

 

[Life'sHard]

My 2 cents. It is not risky if you know how you'll perform throughout the year for your subjects. It is only risky when you're uncertain of your capabilities in particular subjects and your marks fluctuate throughout the year.

 

[totally_screwed]

I am pro 10 units. I never understood the appeal in keeping 12 units when ultimately 10 of them count (I think 11 is ok), it just means you're working harder and gaining like nothing in return, in fact you could be losing because if you're already not doing well in some subjects, then you can't fully dedicate your attention towards them bcz of those extra units, you could even burn out quicker since you have more workload but that depends on you as a student. personally I don't think a safety net is necessary if you consistently try to up and maintain your game in 10 units

 

[nourished.]

Original Poster:

I'm planning to drop physics as my marks have been mediocre, but I'm worried about the risk factor as it will mean that every single mark will count, so is it risky dropping to 10 units or do should I keep physics?

Like @jimmysmith560 has commented, you need to make an informed decision.

The main thing to consider here is that if you decided to keep Physics just to see how things go, you run the risk of wasted time and effort that could've been allocated to your other subjects. As a result, you'll likely not be performing the best that you could be for the rest of your other subjects. So, keep in mind that keeping Physics as a backup might actually just be giving yourself a liability.