Unsure of what to drop (Business or Ext English) (1 Viewer)

[zackbekro123]

Unsure of whether to drop business or ext english currently do 13u. Just finished term 1 of year 12 and want to go into next term with 11/12u -> 4u math, eco, business, eng adv + ext, legal

Pros of business:

• Ranked first + can guarantee similar rank for remaining tests
• Teacher likes me
• Easy subject

Cons of business:

• Lots of content
• Bad scaling

Pros of ext english:

• Ranked 8/32 overall (worth 35% of overall mark)
• Minimal content to learn
• Helps with other subjects due to writing nature of the course

Cons of ext english:

• Can’t guarantee similar position throughout other subjects
• Don’t like english that much
• Bad teacher

Unsure if how much better I am in business outweighs its poor scaling + more content needed
Any responses would help

 

[jimmysmith560]

From your post, it seems that Business Studies is the subject that you should keep. Your attitude and position in the subject, as well as the nature of the subject, all lead to advantages over English Extension 1, some of which you have identified. First, if your goal is to maximise your ATAR, you should ensure that you proceed with the subject combination that will allow you to do so. Ideally, such a combination would consist of subjects that you can perform well in. In your case, this appears to be more applicable to Business Studies than English Extension 1. Second, the fact that you are ranked first and that you are confident in your ability to maintain this standard of performance as you progress through year 12 mitigates the low scaling of Business Studies. Essentially, the better your performance in a subject, the less significant the effect of scaling becomes. Of course, the fact that you have a good relationship with your teacher is a plus and will hopefully make your HSC journey more comfortable.

Additionally, an important advantage of keeping Business Studies which you may not have already considered is unit value. Business Studies is a 2-unit subject, whereas English Extension 1 is a 1-unit subject. While both subjects can make favourable contributions to your ATAR, the contribution that Business Studies can make is inherently superior to that of English Extension 1 due to the larger unit value.

I hope this helps!