Hey, I did Chinese beginners in Year 11 and scored 95+ for Year 11 overall mark (but dropped in Year 12 so I could pick up extra units) so I might be able to help.
People seem to discourage the study of HSC languages because they think they're too hard to maintain and do well in. I actually found it was the opposite, because by picking subjects that I liked (such as French and Chinese) I'm able to absorb the content super easily and actually enjoy studying my subjects. Beginners languages are actually quite easy as they expect that you've never had any experience with the language, and thus the content is very much there to help you understand at a very gradual rate (compared to continuers where they essentially try to push you and build on what you already know). Beginners languages do generally scale down just 'cause of the candidature, but it shouldn't matter if you really want to study Korean, because you will do better in it compared to a subject you hate, regardless of whether you actually have a study routine for it or not.
