Do i drop chem? (1 Viewer)

[TeaTav]

Hi guys! You may have made me make a similar post earlier, whether i should drop chem or not. If you've seen my status post, you would know i was forced to keep chemistry this term, and start matrix chem tutoring.
After half a term, i'm honestly starting to like chem more, it's still my most difficult subject (other than E1 math), but i'm starting to understand the content more and i'm doing okay. For my goal ATAR, i roughly need to score within the top 5% of chem students, so a probably a band 6. My school hasn't gotten a band 6 for years in chemistry, even students who loved and worked so hard in chemistry usually just miss the band 6 mark by a few points. For context, i'm at a middle-of-the-road catholic school, we aren't in the top 100, but are just below it, usually sitting around rank 105-115 every year.
Another thing to consider is that i failed year 11 chem. I got a 44% in the prelims. The class average was 35%, so it was a shared issue. My school isn't great with chem in general. In terms of my class i came fourth out of like 15, half the class has dropped now.
All things considered do you guys think scoring that high is possible for me at my school?
Would it be worth it to keep chem? (My assessment is in a couple weeks, i'll update you guys after i get the results!)
Thank you all so much <3

 

[WeiWeiMan]

Hi guys! You may have made me make a similar post earlier, whether i should drop chem or not. If you've seen my status post, you would know i was forced to keep chemistry this term, and start matrix chem tutoring.
After half a term, i'm honestly starting to like chem more, it's still my most difficult subject (other than E1 math), but i'm starting to understand the content more and i'm doing okay. For my goal ATAR, i roughly need to score within the top 5% of chem students, so a probably a band 6. My school hasn't gotten a band 6 for years in chemistry, even students who loved and worked so hard in chemistry usually just miss the band 6 mark by a few points. For context, i'm at a middle-of-the-road catholic school, we aren't in the top 100, but are just below it, usually sitting around rank 105-115 every year.
Another thing to consider is that i failed year 11 chem. I got a 44% in the prelims. The class average was 35%, so it was a shared issue. My school isn't great with chem in general. In terms of my class i came fourth out of like 15, half the class has dropped now.
All things considered do you guys think scoring that high is possible for me at my school?
Would it be worth it to keep chem? (My assessment is in a couple weeks, i'll update you guys after i get the results!)
Thank you all so much <3

top 5% is well above band 6

scoring high is very possible. who cares how people at your school have done? there are many people who feel no love for chemistry who've gotten band 6s.

what's your goal atar anyway

also bro english is at least 50 times harder than chemistry

 

[TeaTav]

top 5% is well above band 6

scoring high is very possible. who cares how people at your school have done? there are many people who feel no love for chemistry who've gotten band 6s.

what's your goal atar anyway

also bro english is at least 50 times harder than chemistry

Goal ATAR is 98+, but i'm specifically aiming for 98.5. I got the percentile from Talent 100 ATAR calculator
I don't think English Adv. is extremely hard (Maybe bc i was recommended to do Ext English in year 11), but everyone has their own strengths, for me, chem is as challenging as Ext 1 Maths lol, especially since i struggled with year 11 content and aren't confident with what is assumed knowledge.
I most likely will keep tho because it scales well so maybe ill do well- I'll have to see after my first task
also i love ur turtle pfp
Thanks!

 

[Trial&Error]

Chemistry requires a lot of time to learn. It’s quite content heavy and everything needs to be learnt in a lot of depth. Sometimes you’ll have to learn things outside of the syllabus in order to understand. Unlike other subjects (like physics for example), you can’t just skim over a couple of dot points, and a lot of the time things don’t come intuitively. Everything is so tightly knit that even missing one small bit of info can mean you won’t understand a whole inquiry question. And they love to ask trick questions and inter-module questions, so on top of content, your exam technique needs to be really well polished.

I personally found that I spent the most study time per week on chemistry and I still think I might fall just short of band 6.

I would say do this term’s exam, and then probably drop it (unless by some miracle you get the highest in the class). I think, given your school’s history, you might have to be 1st or 2nd to get band 6. Also don’t fall for the “high scaling” reasoning. In 2024, 87 raw was required to get 90.

Also, if you drop it, you’ll have so much more time to spend on your other subjects, which are quite high yield.

Best of luck!

 

[Flatuitous]

outside of the syllabus in order to understand

Could u give me examples?
I'm quite curious on how to get better at chem cuz im lwk hella ahh

 

[WeiWeiMan]

Goal ATAR is 98+, but i'm specifically aiming for 98.5. I got the percentile from Talent 100 ATAR calculator
I don't think English Adv. is extremely hard (Maybe bc i was recommended to do Ext English in year 11), but everyone has their own strengths, for me, chem is as challenging as Ext 1 Maths lol, especially since i struggled with year 11 content and aren't confident with what is assumed knowledge.
I most likely will keep tho because it scales well so maybe ill do well- I'll have to see after my first task
also i love ur turtle pfp
Thanks!

what marks did u put in? surely if you're aiming for 98+ just aim for 99+

imo, math ext 1 is significantly easier to b6 than chem but neither are super difficult.

i did english ext in yr11 and it was my worst subject :O (eng adv was SOMEHOW my best)

turtle pfp lwk goated fr fr

 

[Flatuitous]

turtle pfp lwk goated fr fr

i love you weiweiman
have my kids!

 

[TeaTav]

Chemistry requires a lot of time to learn. It’s quite content heavy and everything needs to be learnt in a lot of depth. Sometimes you’ll have to learn things outside of the syllabus in order to understand. Unlike other subjects (like physics for example), you can’t just skim over a couple of dot points, and a lot of the time things don’t come intuitively. Everything is so tightly knit that even missing one small bit of info can mean you won’t understand a whole inquiry question. And they love to ask trick questions and inter-module questions, so on top of content, your exam technique needs to be really well polished.

I personally found that I spent the most study time per week on chemistry and I still think I might fall just short of band 6.

I would say do this term’s exam, and then probably drop it (unless by some miracle you get the highest in the class). I think, given your school’s history, you might have to be 1st or 2nd to get band 6. Also don’t fall for the “high scaling” reasoning. In 2024, 87 raw was required to get 90.

Also, if you drop it, you’ll have so much more time to spend on your other subjects, which are quite high yield.

Best of luck!

So.. update on my chem mark: I got the second highest mark (25/32), off by one point (highest: 26/32), and came 3rd overall since two people tied for first... Now i'm stuck since apparently i'm doing okay, but i still dislike it

 

[CirrusTheJet]

Isn't cChemistry just Physics at the basis? I didn't do Chemistry, but just curious. 25/32 equates to about 76% which isn't to bad although it indicates that you probably need slightly more practice. Consider using the Strive Chemsitry textbooks as well as the Excel Study Guides.

 

[TeaTav]

Isn't cChemistry just Physics at the basis? I didn't do Chemistry, but just curious. 25/32 equates to about 76% which isn't to bad although it indicates that you probably need slightly more practice. Consider using the Strive Chemsitry textbooks as well as the Excel Study Guides.

Honestly, I wouldn't say Physics and Chemistry are awfully similar in the HSC syllabus. There are definitely things that cross over! and doing one can help with the other. But the majority of physics is equations, while the majority of chemistry is hell.

 

[CirrusTheJet]

To be honest, considering you do not like chemistry as much, you are probably doing very well. The Excel Study Guides and Strive textbooks I have personally found to be very useful. A 76% indicates you know your content in depth but you may struggle with answering the more complex higher mark questions.

 

[TeaTav]

Also random positive news! My school has just gotten our first chem B6 since 2019 There is a slight hope for me!

 

[f7eeting]

So.. update on my chem mark: I got the second highest mark (25/32), off by one point (highest: 26/32), and came 3rd overall since two people tied for first... Now i'm stuck since apparently i'm doing okay, but i still dislike it

i had 2 friends who were in this exact same situation lol
they were first and fourth in our chemistry cohort but still dropped. our schools' teachers tried really hard to make them stay but they disliked chemistry too much to keep it. they dont regret dropping it and they're really happy that they have that extra study period as well
anyways, what im trying to say is that despite doing well there's no way that your school can make you stay in the class, and in my opinion it's always best to just keep the subjects you actually like.

 

[TeaTav]

i had 2 friends who were in this exact same situation lol
they were first and fourth in our chemistry cohort but still dropped. our schools' teachers tried really hard to make them stay but they disliked chemistry too much to keep it. they dont regret dropping it and they're really happy that they have that extra study period as well
anyways, what im trying to say is that despite doing well there's no way that your school can make you stay in the class, and in my opinion it's always best to just keep the subjects you actually like.

Thats so real, The majority of the Chem cohort at my school hates it! I lowkey am one of the more positive people, despite my obvious abhorrence. Half of my classmates are only there since they don't have enough units to drop . Thats another reason I'm worried for my score, most of them aren't doing great and I dont want them to scale me down.

 

[Burnt_Out]

i had 2 friends who were in this exact same situation lol
they were first and fourth in our chemistry cohort but still dropped. our schools' teachers tried really hard to make them stay but they disliked chemistry too much to keep it. they dont regret dropping it and they're really happy that they have that extra study period as well
anyways, what im trying to say is that despite doing well there's no way that your school can make you stay in the class, and in my opinion it's always best to just keep the subjects you actually like.

same. my school's average for task 1 was just over 50% and its a top selective school. one class got an average of 40% (i did fine dw)

 

[f7eeting]

same. my school's average for task 1 was just over 50% and its a top selective school. one class got an average of 40% (i did fine dw)

50% is wild my school suffers from the opposite problem
one of our assessment tasks were so easy there was a six way tie for second at 92%

 

[Study to success]

same. my school's average for task 1 was just over 50% and its a top selective school. one class got an average of 40% (i did fine dw)

This sounds like my school for bio lol

 

[TeaTav]

50% is wild my school suffers from the opposite problem
one of our assessment tasks were so easy there was a six way tie for second at 92%

Damn thats crazy! How many people are in chem for that to even happen?

 

[Burnt_Out]

50% is wild my school suffers from the opposite problem
one of our assessment tasks were so easy there was a six way tie for second at 92%

tbh idek if that test was even that hard do you wanna see this trainwreck? (i'm only saying that as i got 84% on that).
wait this maybe because it was all in 45 minutes

 

[Burnt_Out]

Damn thats crazy! How many people are in chem for that to even happen?

like over 100 people...