VCE homework help and emotional support thread

[CALZALOL]

Currently doing;

• Unit 1 & 2 Psychology
• 'A' Maths (The maths that leads to Methods and Specialist) [Going to do Methods]
• Normal English
• Japanese
• Commerce (Legal studies, Economics and Politics all rolled into one subject)
• Health studies [Will drop]
• Physical Science (Chemistry and Physics) [Will drop]

I'm wanting to do Legal studies, Accounting and Business management in Year 11 & 12, would it be wise to drop Japanese or should I carry through with it? I am relatively good at it (90% being my minimum on all tests I've had this year and Acing 5 out of a possible 8), but don't want to carry on with it if it could hinder my potential ATAR score.

I have spoken to my parents and teachers but looking for a tertiary opinion on this... 

[Petercrouch]

Currently doing;

• Unit 1 & 2 Psychology
• 'A' Maths (The maths that leads to Methods and Specialist) [Going to do Methods]
• Normal English
• Japanese
• Commerce (Legal studies, Economics and Politics all rolled into one subject)
• Health studies [Will drop]
• Physical Science (Chemistry and Physics) [Will drop]

I'm wanting to do Legal studies, Accounting and Business management in Year 11 & 12, would it be wise to drop Japanese or should I carry through with it? I am relatively good at it (90% being my minimum on all tests I've had this year and Acing 5 out of a possible 8), but don't want to carry on with it if it could hinder my potential ATAR score.

I have spoken to my parents and teachers but looking for a tertiary opinion on this...

All subjects bar a few are fairly certain to lose marks on your ATAR, as someone who put absolutely no effort in, I walked out with a very decent ATAR given my ethic...

I would suggest you pick the subjects that:

A.) you enjoy

B.) you do well in

C). have some sort of influence on your proposed future career

If you go and do hard subjects that get marked up but don't know much about and drop subjects you do well in and you enjoy, you'll probably get around the same mark anyway so what's the point of hating your last two years of school?

Edited March 19, 2014 by Petercrouch

[CALZALOL]

 

Currently doing;

• Unit 1 & 2 Psychology
• 'A' Maths (The maths that leads to Methods and Specialist) [Going to do Methods]
• Normal English
• Japanese
• Commerce (Legal studies, Economics and Politics all rolled into one subject)
• Health studies [Will drop]
• Physical Science (Chemistry and Physics) [Will drop]

I have spoken to my parents and teachers but looking for a tertiary opinion on this...

All subjects bar a few are fairly certain to lose marks on your ATAR, as someone who put absolutely no effort in, I walked out with a very decent ATAR given my ethic...

I would suggest you pick the subjects that:

A.) you enjoy

B.) you do well in

C). have some sort of influence on your proposed future career

If you go and do hard subjects that get marked up but don't know much about and drop subjects you do well in and you enjoy, you'll probably get around the same mark anyway so what's the point of hating your last two years of school?

 

Thanks for that man I'll take all that on board

[marteaux]

The whole marked down argument is pretty weak petercrouch. My best mate pulled a 96.9 doing drama, theatre studies, VET acting, lit and English.

It just comes down to how good you are compared to other kents in the state. I wish I understood the difference between a Low A and a High A+ when I started year 12, cos I would have realised quicker that A's simply aren't good enough in sacs. Every mark you drop let's you down.

- don't do bus man. I busted my arse and got top of the year in sacs 191/200 sac marks and a high A+ in the exam but only got a 38 in it which was lower to a fucking 34.

- do politics, small cohort across the state and if you are any decent at it then you'll excel. My mate got a 50 (only 4 in the state got this in pol) in it and often dropped marks in sacs, that's how ducked pol is if you try hard. I expected to get a low 30s and got a 38

Don't underestimate how hard English sacs are, and how well they prepare you for the exam.

Don't do take and mind dulling substance week before sacs

Also people who rely on just 2 subjects to get them through year 12 with a good idea are also stupid.

My missus got two low 40s, and 2 low 30s but got a lower atar than me because I was middle to high 30 in all subjects.

If ur in year 11 do a vet and a 3/4 (and put all ur time into it, 1/2 ain't shieet), my biggest regret.

[Petercrouch]

Just writing based off my experiences mate

Just suggesting on a way to do well and enjoy your time as it's clearly what your mate did and got a high 90 score so I don't really understand what you're trying to say here...

[MaliMate]

Stoned for English SAC crew checking in.

[marteaux]

Just sayin don't do a subject cos it's marked down isn't a great shout

However bus man is an obvious exception to this.

Wasn't having a go just posting what I wish I had known at beginning of Vce

[CALZALOL]

~Snip~

Thanks Marty will definitely be doing politics

[Libero]

Dont really see the need for me to do PE any more tbh, considering we can change our subjects at the end of semester. i find it fairly easy but im seriously beginning to hate it.

 

also - is there actually a need to do Further Maths? ive heard both sides - some say its important and others say maths is useless unless you do methods/spec. etc...

[marteaux]

Everyone I know who has done further has regretted it. 

[kingofhearts]

Dont really see the need for me to do PE any more tbh, considering we can change our subjects at the end of semester. i find it fairly easy but im seriously beginning to hate it.

 

also - is there actually a need to do Further Maths? ive heard both sides - some say its important and others say maths is useless unless you do methods/spec. etc...

If your a math type of person you should do it. FWIW most of the people in my further maths class were doing further and methods and aced them both, leading to a better ATAR.

 

One suggestion i would make is to not have english literature as your only english. It's a lot harder than what you think, and if you want to do it i would do both English's. That way, if you fuck up in lit, you've got core english as your back-up.

[Tbitm]

Everyone I know who has done further has regretted it.

did further and loved it (then again I don't know you)

I wouldn't do it unless you're doing methods too tbh. That really helped me do well in it and the guys that did further as their only math class were pretty shit at it

[malloy]

I did further and methods. Further was a breeze. Did nothing all year and just fucked around playing drugwars on calculator

[marteaux]

 

Everyone I know who has done further has regretted it.

did further and loved it (then again I don't know you)

I wouldn't do it unless you're doing methods too tbh. That really helped me do well in it and the guys that did further as their only math class were pretty shit at it

 

 

are you chinese

[Nate]

I suppose it depends on how high a score you're aiming for but just do what you enjoy and you'll typically get a better result. 

 

Got about mid-30's for most subjects and a 46 in Media which was easily my favourite subject but that's probably got more to do with Media being piss-easy ahaha

[Tesla]

I busted my arse and got top of the year in sacs 191/200 sac marks and a high A+ in the exam but only got a 38 in it which was lower to a fucking 34.

Unless I'm missing something or something has changed, this doesn't add up. If you had the highest SAC mark in your school, and got an A+ on the exam, then you would have an A+ for both exam and SACs, which would mean you would have a study score in excess of 45 before it's standardised. Sure, if a lot of people got high scores because it's easy, it will be dropped down, but to claim you got a raw 38 while getting an A+ and being top of your school in SACs doesn't make sense.

 

I did further and methods. Further was a breeze. Did nothing all year and just fucked around playing drugwars on calculator

Very much this, if you're half decent at maths, Further is basically free marks.

My school might have been shit but a very good policy they had was that they almost forced us to do Further if we are doing Methods, or do Methods if you are doing Specialist, because if you're good enough for the harder one, then you're bound to get a very very good score in the easier one.

Edited March 19, 2014 by Tesla

[Heart4Life]

Dont really see the need for me to do PE any more tbh, considering we can change our subjects at the end of semester. i find it fairly easy but im seriously beginning to hate it.

also - is there actually a need to do Further Maths? ive heard both sides - some say its important and others say maths is useless unless you do methods/spec. etc...

I wouldn't do further if I had my time over again. Got A+ on sacs, A on exam 1 and an A+ on exam 2. Only got a 39 which got scaled down to a 36 and only counted as my 10% subject. Was not worth the work I put into all year. So no I wouldn't do further

[Tbitm]

Everyone I know who has done further has regretted it.

did further and loved it (then again I don't know you)

I wouldn't do it unless you're doing methods too tbh. That really helped me do well in it and the guys that did further as their only math class were pretty shit at it

 

are you chinese I don't see race, people tell me I'm white and I believe them because I dance with my thumbs up.

[MKD]

- don't do bus man. I busted my arse and got top of the year in sacs 191/200 sac marks and a high A+ in the exam but only got a 38 in it which was lower to a fucking 34.

 

I disagree and would recommend the complete opposite, but it really depends on the individual. I didn't do bus man units 1/2, and 3/4 more or less covers areas that don't require prerequisite knowledge (unless the course has changed significantly since I finished school). So if you change your mind at the end of year 11 and decide you don't like a particular subject, bus man isn't a bad option to pick up in year 12.

 

What marteaux said is true, you really need to maximise your marks with these kind of subjects. The last thing you want is to be sitting in the middle threshold, because the scaling will absolutely kill you. It's not hard to be one of the top students in your class for bus man, because the subject generally attracts a lot of people who aren't really interested in doing that well in VCE (at least from my public school experience). It's kind of got a 'dummies' stigma to it, but if you're one of the better students then it can work to your advantage.

 

The content is really easy, and if you're good at remembering shit and regurgitating it into an answer that shows you have some understanding, then you'll get the marks. I managed to get a 50 in the subject with a lot less effort than some of my other subjects. That might just be me though, I was always better at those types of subjects as opposed to maths/science based subjects.

 

At the end of the day listen to what others here have emphasised. Pick subjects that you are interested in and you'll somewhat enjoy. It always helps to choose classes that are related to an area of study you may want to move into after high school, although this isn't essential since most of the stuff you learn won't really be used. Finally, make sure you pick subjects you know you'll be good at. If you're looking for the marks, there's no point doing a class that you might enjoy, but aren't necessarily good at.

Edited March 19, 2014 by MKD

[MKD]

 

I busted my arse and got top of the year in sacs 191/200 sac marks and a high A+ in the exam but only got a 38 in it which was lower to a fucking 34.

Unless I'm missing something or something has changed, this doesn't add up. If you had the highest SAC mark in your school, and got an A+ on the exam, then you would have an A+ for both exam and SACs, which would mean you would have a study score in excess of 45 before it's standardised. Sure, if a lot of people got high scores because it's easy, it will be dropped down, but to claim you got a raw 38 while getting an A+ and being top of your school in SACs doesn't make sense.

I'm not sure how it works exactly, but I do recall that SAC marks can be adjusted based on your performance in the exam. So if the top few students at the school didn't perform as well in the exam as they did on their SACs, then everyone's SAC marks will be scaled down. It's basically a way to ensure that SAC scores can be somewhat standardised and compared across the state. Otherwise there's nothing stopping the teachers from giving out easy SACs to maximise student study scores. My guess is that this is what happened here. Also, IIRC an A+ ranges from 38 to 50, but he did mention here he got a high A+. Although I'm not sure how one would know that unless they apply to see their exam result.

Edited March 19, 2014 by MKD

[Tesla]

My point was, if you have the highest SAC mark in your school, and your exam mark is A+, then those SAC marks can only be standardised to an A+ as either he is the highest exam mark in his school or someone with a higher A+ is.

[marteaux]

I applied to see my exam result to try and see where the 38 came from.

No idea how it happened, should have at least been low 40's.

But some of my other subjects being better than expected saved my arse and got me into my course by 0.4 of an atar

[True Until I die]

Im not quite fully into the vce but after looking at this good feedback I wanted to share my thoughts.

Currently in year 10 and doing the following

-10A ext math (leads to methods)

- English

- Standard science

- Australia and the Modern world

- Applied human movement (yr 10 subject which leads into pe/health)

- business management units 1/2

Im really liking bus man and doing very very well marks wise. Last year at my school a number of students got into the high 40's and a mate of mine got a 50, but no doubt very interesting to hear you thoughts on the subject marteux.

At the moment the vce subjects I'm looking at doing are:

1. Business management

2. English

3. Methods

4. Accounting

Not sure about the final two, I don't want to do a science or a pe subject so looking at some humanities or commerce subjects like economics, politics, histories.

The main thing I want is to ultimately be doing subjects I like in the final years of my schooling.

[Tesla]

At the moment the vce subjects I'm looking at doing are:

1. Business management

2. English

3. Methods

4. Accounting

Not sure about the final two, I don't want to do a science or a pe subject so looking at some humanities or commerce subjects like economics, politics, histories.

The main thing I want is to ultimately be doing subjects I like in the final years of my schooling.

See my above post, why aren't you doing Further as well if you have the mathematical ability to do Methods.

And do economics Everyone loves economics 100% srs

[cadete]

 

At the moment the vce subjects I'm looking at doing are:

1. Business management

2. English

3. Methods

4. Accounting

Not sure about the final two, I don't want to do a science or a pe subject so looking at some humanities or commerce subjects like economics, politics, histories.

The main thing I want is to ultimately be doing subjects I like in the final years of my schooling.

See my above post, why aren't you doing Further as well if you have the mathematical ability to do Methods.

And do economics Everyone loves economics 100% srs

 

I did Year 12 in the WA System  (Much to my annoyance as its very Sciences based)...

 

However I agree with Tesla amd Malloy on doing Further if you are at least okay at Maths because I did the similar subject in Perth and TBH it ended up saving my arse due to a bad Drama Mark of all things and getting me into the only Uni in Perth I could actually stand going too...

 

Even though that place and a particular inhabitant would too eventually grate on me and lead me to finnish up at Melbourne.

Edited March 20, 2014 by cadete

[Tesla]

If you think about it, a subject like Further may be scaled down, but it isn't scaled down anywhere near as much it should be. Because most the students that are good at maths dont do further, whereas a lot of people who shouldnt be doing any maths subject are doing it.

I think the same applies for a lot of the subjects famous for being scaled down, the more gifted students are generally not doing them, so your score is only being standardised against less gifted students.

[MKD]

Im really liking bus man and doing very very well marks wise.

That's more than enough of a reason to stick with it. Bus man is definitely one of those subjects that fits into what Tesla just posted.

[True Until I die]

Cheers, the catch with it though is that I want to get into quite a high level commerce course at uni and most of them have methods as a pre-requesite, so I would probably have to further and methods

Edited March 20, 2014 by True Until I die

[Tesla]

Cheers, the catch with it though is that I want to get into quite a high level commerce course at uni and most of them have methods as a pre-requesite, so I would probably have to further and methods

Not sure if this is to do with my post, but I didnt mean do Further instead of Methods, I meant do them both. If you want to do Commerce, might as well get a head start by doing Economics as well.

Edited March 20, 2014 by Tesla

[MKD]

Cheers, the catch with it though is that I want to get into quite a high level commerce course at uni and most of them have methods as a pre-requesite, so I would probably have to further and methods

This is probably the biggest mistake I made in VCE. I did methods 1/2 but slacked off a fair bit, so I dropped it for further in year 12. As a result I didn't have the pre-req for commerce, so instead I opted for a business degree with a finance major (the subjects between the two degrees are fairly similar). I wasn't too fussed with it since it's in conjunction with my law degree, but if you're looking to do straight commerce, definitely try and get into it. Most unis require methods as a pre-req to commerce, the exception being Deakin (I think) out of the main unis...but that may have changed since I graduated. As a last resort you can do a one semester course or something along those lines once you're at uni to satisfy the methods requirement, but there's no point mucking around when you can get it done in High School. But it shows that once you're at uni, there is plenty of room to maneuver and find something that is really right for you. VCE isn't the be all and end all.

[MaliMate]

If you think about it, a subject like Further may be scaled down, but it isn't scaled down anywhere near as much it should be. Because most the students that are good at maths dont do further, whereas a lot of people who shouldnt be doing any maths subject are doing it.

I think the same applies for a lot of the subjects famous for being scaled down, the more gifted students are generally not doing them, so your score is only being standardised against less gifted students.

I did Methods but dropped it in Year 12 because I was getting D's-C's on my SAC's.

 

I got pretty complacent with Further in Year 12 because it was my easiest subject, and only got a 36 which ended up being like 32 , if your average Joe Blow like me who has always been OK at maths but never dominant, it is important to pay really careful  attention to detail in Further because that's where I seemed to fuck it all up.

[MKD]

 

If you think about it, a subject like Further may be scaled down, but it isn't scaled down anywhere near as much it should be. Because most the students that are good at maths dont do further, whereas a lot of people who shouldnt be doing any maths subject are doing it.

I think the same applies for a lot of the subjects famous for being scaled down, the more gifted students are generally not doing them, so your score is only being standardised against less gifted students.

I did Methods but dropped it in Year 12 because I was getting D's-C's on my SAC's.

 

I got pretty complacent with Further in Year 12 because it was my easiest subject, and only got a 36 which ended up being like 32 , if your average Joe Blow like me who has always been OK at maths but never dominant, it is important to pay really careful  attention to detail in Further because that's where I seemed to fuck it all up.

 

 

Lol, this is pretty much identical to my story. Dropped methods in year 12 for further, and got the same score as you (raw and scaled). What you said is 100% true. Further isn't hard at all, but there are little things (almost trick-like) that will make you slip up and lose easy marks. Not reading the question properly is often the main culprit.

[malloy]

Tbh the biggest factor that will affect your score is effort.

[cadete]

Tbh the biggest factor that will affect your score is effort.

Agreed,

 

Mind you I have seen some pretty dumb PPL get good VCE marks entirely due to the fact that they went to Xavier or Gen.

[MaliMate]

Tbh the biggest factor that will affect your score is effort.

Yep. So simple.

Proof is I was always better at Maths than English but put a majority of my study time into English in year 12 and it showed on my study score.

[MaliMate]

Anyone know of an ENTER score below 9.8? Mate got that and we still laugh about it now. Jokes on us though as he's doing better than all of us financially driving a Courier van.

Edited March 20, 2014 by MaliMate

[Young Polak]

never did economics

did economics principles as a unit last year in my course

enjoyed it

got a distinction

regret using it as a subject to enjoy my VCE

but didn't matter, got the course I wanted anyway

[cadete]

Anyone know of an ENTER score below 9.8? Mate got that and we still laugh about it now. Jokes on us though as he's doing better than all of us financially driving a Courier van.

I always that was impossible because the count the PPL who quit through out the year.

 

That and the fact my not very bright Cousin got 40 and he didnt even know when two of exams were on until his mates came to his house pick him up to take him to them.

[MaliMate]

Anyone know of an ENTER score below 9.8? Mate got that and we still laugh about it now. Jokes on us though as he's doing better than all of us financially driving a Courier van.

I always that was impossible because the count the PPL who quit through out the year.

That and the fact my not very bright Cousin got 40 and he didnt even know when two of exams were on until his mates came to his house pick him up to take him to them.

Mr 9.8 went to an exam that he thought was at 3 PM but was at 9 AM.

[Tesla]

Anyone know of an ENTER score below 9.8? Mate got that and we still laugh about it now. Jokes on us though as he's doing better than all of us financially driving a Courier van.

I always that was impossible because the count the PPL who quit through out the year.

 

That and the fact my not very bright Cousin got 40 and he didnt even know when two of exams were on until his mates came to his house pick him up to take him to them.

Do they also count the people that fail?

I'm pretty sure you also need to pass every subject to get an ENTER, so to put in enough effort to pass every subject but to be so bad that you get a 9.8, bloke deserves an award.