What should I do? (I am doing 12 units)

Ofinitme

PLEASE HELP !!
If anyone has a solution or advice I’d be so grateful! I am so conflicted!

So currently I am doing 12 units.

SOR 2
English Advanced
PDHPE
Modern History
Legal Studies
Maths Standard

I am thinking that this will be a lot to cope with for the HSC. At my school, you only get study periods if you do SOR 1, you have 10 units or do extension. For me, I don’t have any of these options. So I don’t know whether to keep 12 units and have a back up in case I stuff up or have 10 units with no buffer for error in any subject?
If anyone has any idea what I should do, please comment!

Sallymelek

Ofinitme

In my personal experience. I found dropping the subject I didn't like helped as there was less stress and that means I can put more effort into my other subjects. Perhaps talk to your teacher in the subject you want to drop and talk about your performance. Your teacher knows your strengths. The teacher may tell you to drop or keep going so you can reassess the situation in the future

Etho

Ofinitme This is a pretty common scenario with a lot of students and the same solution can be generalised every time.

You need to consider a couple of things in relation to subject dropping, and I used these sets of questions to inform my decisions on when I decided to drop Drama and Physics (Was originally on 13U but now on 11U - dropped those and picked up Mx2 and Sci Extension). The things I considered were:

Why am I dropping this subject? - good to start somewhere lol
How am I performing in these subjects?
Are they of any use to me in the future?
Do I even have any motivation to continue with the subjects?
How much time do they take up?
If I were to drop them could I ensure that my study periods are going to be productive and I will use the most out of them? (distractions with friends may make this something to consider).

I think this is something that you'd have to ultimately decide yourself based on some of the questions I've listed to think about above.

isabellathanos

Ofinitme I did 10 units for my HSC and loved it. If you love all your subjects then just keep them all it is always good to have a back up subject in case something goes wrong. However if there is a subject you are not particularly good at or you don't enjoy I recommend dropping. There is no point wasting your time studying a subject you hate and are not strong at. I know from experience. I dropped chem after year 11 because I got 17% in my yearly 😆 and it was the best decision I ever made.

Hope_Lasts

I have the same problem except the class I absolutely loathe and want to drop is the class I’m coming 1st in. I love all my other subjects and are doing pretty well in them too (placing 1-4 in all). While we are on the topic of dropping, is it smart to drop that subject I loathe or keep it? So so stuck because I don’t like the class and but I’m good at it and at the same time I’m stressed out constantly because of the weight of my other subjects
Pls help

LouisGilbert

Hope_Lasts
decided to stick with the subject I excelled at (Legal Studies), there’s no right choice in that situation

Ofinitme

Hope_Lasts
i know you hate the subject but if you’re good at it and especially if you’re placing 1st, I’d keep it. I’m not ranking that high in any of my subjects. I just have the subject I hate the most (modern) and the worst marks (Maths)

Etho

Hope_Lasts If you're coming first in whatever subject you were referring to I don't really see the point of dropping unless you're incredibly demotivated. In my opinion, I don't see why you'd really want to compromise your loathing for something which could potentially contribute to your ATAR immensely. However, an exception to this I'd say would be if it is really wasting your time and you find as if you cannot balance the "weight" of your other subjects, in which case if you think you'll benefit from dropping to gain extra study periods perhaps it might be a good idea.

Hope_Lasts

LouisGilbert
ahh it’s so tough hey! I really do need the extra study periods though because I only get 4 periods of Music a fortnight and 5 periods of Adv English so it freaks me out already having the lack of hours 😅

Hope_Lasts

Ofinitme
thank you for your advice. I’ve just always been told to do subjects I enjoy and Geography isn’t one of them sadly. I love the environmental side of it all but the syllabus is mostly population and urban geography which is yuck as. Also, geography skills are definitely not my strong point and never have been. They are what bring down my marks

Hope_Lasts

Ofinitme
in your situation, I would drop Modern. Maths opens up so many more career pathways for you (that’s unless you’ve already got your mind set on something, but it’s always good to have backup). You can always use those extra periods from dropping modern to get extra maths help!

thetestdude

Ofinitme

I believe that if doing Maths doesn't particularly help you beyond the HSC, or if it isn't a prerequisite or assumed knowledge for a course that you'd like to do at uni, then consider dropping it. You might hate a particular subject, but marks do matter as well.

If you can't drop Maths, then I would go with @Hope_Lasts advice and drop Modern. That way, you would have a more positive mindset and your goal at this point would be to work on maths and try to improve.

LouisGilbert

Reminder: If you decide not to do maths, there are tafe courses you can do that improve your English and mathematics skills! Which will reopen those pathways. Never only one options

bobmattew100

I suggest dropping to 10 units, mainly because you’re allowed more time to focus on these other subjects, and also reduces stress. Also you’re HSC Mark isn’t that important ultimately, and it’s doubtable you’ll flunk a subject unless you did what my classmate did and not hand in anything.

Chelseaaaakane

I’d drop whatever subject you like the least cause you won’t apply yourself fully to that subject and therefore won’t achieve a high mark in it