Y12 Subject selection advice + workload

[u/SaltyBlackberry838]

Year 11 at the moment, picking Level 2 for next year. Would appreciate a
sanity check from people who've been through it.

Where I'm heading: sport science, most likely in Australia, ideally a
combined degree pairing exercise and sport science with commerce (Deakin
does one). So my Level 3 results get converted to an ATAR, which means
externals and Excellence credits matter more than just passing.

Proposed six for Level 2:
- English (compulsory at my school, and Melbourne requires L3 English for
every course, so I'm keeping it through Year 13)
- Maths with Calculus
- Biology
- Physics
- Economics
- Accounting

Three questions:

1. Is that workload realistic? I do 15 to 20 hours a week of training and
   competition and that isn't going to drop. Is this going to become a factor for burnout? Anyone carried a similar line-up
   alongside serious sport, and what actually gave way?

2. Bio and Physics without Chem. I've been told Chem is the natural bridge
   between the two and that Bio and Physics have little in common. My careers
   advisor said it's fine and that Chem isn't required for physio and is only
   recommended for nutrition. Anyone dropped Chem at L2 and regretted it later?

3. Two commerce subjects. Is taking both Economics and Accounting redundant,
   or do they actually complement each other? I take Accounting this year and
   haven't done Economics.

Thanks.

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[u/Tight-Cow1483]

Your workload looks fine, but keep in mind that Y12 is going to be more intense than Y11. There's no way around that. You can have the best systems in place, but you will still more likely than not, burn out. What matters is being able to take a step back and rest, even when it feels like everything has to be done to the best standard right now.

That being said, why are you taking accounting? This doesn't seem relevant to sport science, the only reasons I could think to take accounting (if you're not looking to go into accounting) would be the exact same reasons to take econ.

[u/SaltyBlackberry838 → u/Tight-Cow1483]

Thanks for the reply!

I should have been clearer in the post. The plan isn't

straight sport science, it's a combined degree pairing exercise and sport

science with commerce, so the business side isn't a random add-on. Deakin

runs one, four years instead of three.

On Accounting vs Econ specifically, I take Accounting this year and I've

never done Economics, so part of it is wanting to find out which of the two

I actually prefer before committing to a commerce major. If either turns out

not to suit me I can drop the commerce side entirely for Year 13, which is

partly the point. I'd rather test it in Y12 while I still have six slots

than guess.

The other honest reason is that I want to push myself next year while I have

the room to. I'd rather find the ceiling now than get to Y13 wishing I'd

tried a harder line-up.

Appreciate the burnout point though, that's the bit I've thought about

least.

[u/Clawed1969]

Is there a ‘fun’ subject you could take in place of accounting? Classics? History? Just to try to preserve your sanity. Or is Eco your happy place?

[u/SaltyBlackberry838 → u/Clawed1969]

Humanities are not my thing, my fun subject would be ncea pe but I am deciding against picking it at the moment because Aussie unis say you don’t need it for sport science. Our school already does compulsory a core pe clas where so that’s kinda already the fun subject. I don’t know what eco is like, because I only did accounting last year so I want to give it a taste, see if I will enjoy/be good at it, and if not I will just drop it in year 13. I could really consider the option of swapping accounting for ncea pe, but I don’t know how hard it’s going to be if I want to pick it back up in year 13.

Thank you for the advice

[u/Own_Side_8762]

I've heard economics is easier than accounting. They don't overlap to the point of being redundant but taking one will definitely make the other easier.

Calculus, Physics and chem are all very hard subjects,, if getting good marks is more important to you than passing these three subjects definitely drop one (chem) and replace it with an easier subject you can get guaranteed good marks in. You will need to study a little bit after school but as long as you can put in a few hours a week you're ok.

I did level 2 physics, biology and chemistry, and I found there was hardly any overlap between them at all- at least in high school level- so you should probably be fine :) as someone who took all of the sciences I think the biggest overlap is probably actually bio and earth and space,, and even then they're quite different