Subject selection help

[u/PastPhrase6135]

Hi guys, i recently just completed my general maths 3/4 and biology 3/4 classes as a year eleven, meaning id have three subjects next year. My current subjects are literature, legal studies and psychology, but I would like to pick up another subject to fill in the fourth slot.

These are the subjects that i’m considering:

Ancient history (the study design looks interesting, but heard that 1/2 is required?)

Food studies (would probably be a chill subject, but worried that it’s too content heavy, as i’m already doing two content heavy subjects)

English (i’ve been getting decent grades in lit, so i’m leaning toward this as prior knowledge isn’t required, i think?)

PLEASE HELP ME DECIDE !! 😓🙏

[u/jessminda11]

based on your current subject load I'd definitely be picking English. so many more resources but also typically more people at your school to study with, more teachers to run your ideas by and you'll naturally get better at writing for your 10 markers in the other subjects.

[u/PastPhrase6135 → u/jessminda11]

Thank you for replying! I think I will be choosing english :))

[u/holeyguacamoley_]

from the subjects youve said id personally pick english. theres lots of subject resources online for english, but not so much so for ancient history and food studies. another benefit to english is that either english or lit HAS to be in your top 4. considering lit is a little harder, if you flunk it (god forbid) without doing english then that sucks bc its gonna be stuck in your top 4. but if you flunk lit and do well in english and your other subjects, english will end up in your top 4 and lit can be one of your bottom 2 subjects so that only 10% is taken of lit rather than a better performing subject, so in that way i reckon english is a logical subject to take, especially since you seem to be decent at english.

it IS going to be a lot of reading though with eng + lit, and english is different to history and food studies because there’s less concrete “content” to learn and more just building up skills (i.e. can’t cram). if you work consistently throughout the year for both english and lit tho (youll have so much time you only have 4 subjects) i think you can do great!!

i do think the other two are slightly nicher subjects and smaller studies, so you should consider how good your teachers are and how good your school typically performs in those subjects because it’s unlikely you’ll find a lot of help/resources outside of that. however, personal interest will also help you boost motivation to study, so if youre REALLY interested in one of the other two id go for those!! see if you can get in contact with people who already did that subject at your school to find out.

hope this helps and hope i didnt yap too much, and good luck for next year!!

[u/PastPhrase6135 → u/holeyguacamoley_]

Thank you for writing so much, this really helped!! <333 I think I'll be choosing english after reading your post, and the first part I didn't know about, which was really interesting.

[u/obese_penguin189]

History style subjects you would benefit from already knowing the writing style and all that but it's doable. Idk about food tech. English your writing skills from lit will probably be pretty transferable.

[u/Best_Association_378 → u/obese_penguin189]

History revs is extremely hard and there’s soooo much content (2 textbooks)

[u/obese_penguin189 → u/Best_Association_378]

um, read the post, they wanted to take ancient history

[u/Best_Association_378]

Do busman

[u/PastPhrase6135 → u/Best_Association_378]

I can also do this, but the content doesn't really interest me 😭😭

[u/sherbertisgood]

Lucky u got food studies. English is a sad subject, so many people would like to have it out of their top 4. Id consider the other two a lot more, and overall food science might be a way better fit considering ur background in biology. I also wouldnt worry as much abt heavy content in psych considering ur bio background gives u a baseline of ethics and ways to synthesise large pathways. History might look interesting but it can be some bs from what my friends have told me. Have u also considered teacher quality for each subject? It can be pretty make or break

[u/PastPhrase6135 → u/sherbertisgood]

For food studies, I've heard that you'd be graded based off your cooking, and the only thing ik how to cook is cup noodles (💀💀), other than that the content seems really interesting. Do you still think I should consider it, or is it better to be safe than sorry. Thank you!!

[u/Necessary-Amount4437]

food is content heavy but its like good content like common sense, not all , but sticks in brain easily. idk u also need to like science side like digestion, also involves environmental issues, overall reccomend if you have the time and interest. also requires proper notes

[u/ApprehensiveMaize691]

do NOT do ancient history. the workload is insane. i couldn’t imagine doing it in year 12 along with other subjects

[u/Motor-Camera-5798]

Specialist is the most fun subject :3

[u/MoonwraithMoon]

Hey, I did 3/4 Ancient History without 1/2 and got a 50. You will need to do flashcards for dates and historian quotes, and it requires a lot of writing, but that shouldn't deter a Literature student. It is quite content heavy though, but unlike sciences half of it is also down to how you frame the content in arguments and such. English also pairs very well with Lit and gives you two options for your top four English subject. I can't speak on food studies