Gems

Hello,
my son will be in year 11 after Christmas. Already in WA but his school only goes up to year 10.

The local high school does not offer his subjects and is not geared for those who are academic. Locals who want Uni often go to boarding school, but this is not something we want to do. It ok for others but I couldnt farm my son out when we have only just arrived.

Anyway we are doing his Year 11/12 subjects via SIDE which is education department distance learning.

He best subjects are Physic and Maths (doesnt take after his mum)lol
Anyway wants to study English, Maths, Physics and Chemistry.

Ive been told you must do a minimum of 4 subjects for Uni entrance scores. SIDE has told us he can do 4 subjects he has chosen or we can add another one.

Not sure what to do, as hubby said if he does badly and does only 4 he could not get enough points. So he thinks do a 5th subject just in case.

Son not sure but likes science. He dislikes art and design, and not sporty.
I know nothing of Year 11/12 work in OZ, so dont know if they do all 3 science or if its too much. eg chem,physics and biology?

Any input appreciated

GEMS

NickyC

Not familiar with the system in WA but bear in mind that there are pros and cons to having an 'extra' subject, just in case.

If he limits himself to the four subjects he's really keen on, then the chances are he'll do OK in them PLUS he'll have extra time to concentrate on those and those alone - but there's always the danger that one of his four favourites won't turn out to be as good as expected, in which case he'll have nothing to fall back on.

If he does an extra subject 'just in case' he'll reduce the time he has available to study the remaining four favourites as he'll be spreading himself more thinly across all five subjects.

I'd encourage him to take the five subjects. If one doesn't work out, he could then drop it later on and he'd have more time to concentrate on the four he does best.

It's better to keep his options open - particularly to begin with.

Good luck - we had a similar quandary with our kids going though Years 11 and 12.

Jacqui

Does your son have an idea yet what he wants to study at Uni? Different degrees have different entrance scores and require certain "prerequisite studies" and this will affect his decision. My daughter is going into Year 12 next year, then she wants to go to Murdoch Uni to study for a nursing degree. The TER (Tertiary Entrance Rank) score is relatively low, around 65, so she should be fine studying 4 subjects to achieve this, and despite being a scientific degree, there are no prerequisite studies required. If she had wanted to be a dentist or vet for example, the TER would be up in the high 90's with few places available and would require chemistry for sure.

BTW, Maths and English are compulsory TEE subjects, so that counts for 2 out of the 4. If your son likes science and wants to go for a fifth option on top of physics and chemistry, how about human biology? Have you seen any lists yet of available subjects for next year? Much more exciting things available compared to what I did back in the 80's.

Have just had a letter home from daughter letting us know that after the Year 11's sit their end-of-year exams in weeks 4 & 5 (we're currently in week 3), they can finish school! So she'll be off from 16th November right round to the second week of February. Not sure if this is private schools only, or if the public school kids will be off as well? Still, at least she'll be able to work plenty of extra hours at the pool (she's a lifeguard) and be able to save up for a car, that will be a few less taxi trips for me to do :-)

scrubbedexpat020

My daughter had the same in Year 10 in Vic and a few weeks ago announced she is getting the same long holiday this year.

I definitely missed out when I was a lad.

Ian

augigi

I did phys, chem, biol and maths and coped fine.