UMEP Physics, UMEP Indo or Specialist Maths???

I am doing spesh, physics and umep maths this year. I can't say anything specific about umep physics and umep indo but I can talk about spesh and umep.

Spesh:
Dropping spesh won't stop you from doing anything that I know, except the accelerated first year uni subject that has a pre-requisite on spesh score. I actually quite like the content. Personally, I think if you like the content, doing spesh is not a bad idea because they will give you better knowledge when you go proceed to your engineering degree. For example, vector in spesh gives you some knowledge in linear algebra, which is a level 1 uni maths course. Maths in engineering degree will be harder than spesh anyways.
Workload-wise, I think it depends. If you understand the content instead of memorising ways to do a question, it might not take that much effort.
But next year's spesh will include a bunch of new content, so I'm not sure whether vcaa will do something crazy. This is also something to think about.

UMEP:
Absolutely love it. I learn content at uni level and get almost everything that other unimelb student gets. I even get a student card!! I can go to unimelb library after closing time till midnight (not that I will stay that late) to study or join student clubs. I also get to know year 12 students that love maths during umep, so I think this is a very great experience in year 12.
Only relevant if you are thinking about unimelb, but for umep physics, I heard that you can't really go straight into year 2 physics in your first year in unimelb because the maths pre-requisite is not satisfied. So you might need to do nothing physics in your first year.

Also, one thing to consider is atar. If you choose spesh and do well, it might be one of your best 4 and count 100% towards your star. This would be great considering the scaling. On the other hand, doing umep can only get you at most 5 marks because it can only be one of your bottom 2.

IMO, umep is great for its experience and uni level content, but spesh is great for its score and maths foundation.

Hi there, I'm in year 10 right now and I'm unsure whether I want to be doing UMEP Maths or physics at year 12.
My current subject selection for next year is

1. English 1/2 (May switch to Englang 1/2)
2. Chemistry 1/2
3. Methods 3/4 (doing 1/2 this year)
4. Biology 3/4 (doing 1/2 this year)
5. Specialists 1/2
6. Either physics or Umep maths (meaning if I do Umep at year 12, ill have study periods at year 11 I'm pretty sure as I only have 5 subjects in year 11).
   Im doing good at bio and methods, 95%+ both subjects so I cant drop those. I also really like physics though and find it interesting, and I'm unsure whether to choose physics and umep. I want to become an engineer in the future, petroleum or aerospace. What would you recommend.
   Also, they say that UMEP is easier than specialists, the workload is easier than methods and specialists, idk if that's true or not. Can someone verify this.
   What would you reccomend?

Ali

Normally, I'd say UMEP every day of the week! It's an absolutely amazing course and a real taste of what Uni learning is like.

However, if you're interested in engineering, Physics will be very relevant, so I will suggest you take that instead.

To answer your question, if you understand and like Spec, UMEP math is very very simple as far as workload goes.

VCE 2021: 99.90 ATAR
Monash Medical School Class of 2026
RAW 50 MM & SM Exam Prep Resources

James385 Hi James,

Thanks for your reply!

Even though engineering often requires physics and choosing it would make sense, opting for UMEP has a significant advantage: my school will likely allow me study periods in Year 11. This means I could dedicate a lot of time to studying for Biology and Methods. By Year 12, I’d have even more flexibility, with five study periods from Methods, five from Biology, and two from UMEP (since UMEP has three lessons per week, but my school allocates five periods per subject). This would give me a total of 12 study periods, allowing me to focus more on Specialist Mathematics, English, and Chemistry, aiming for a 40+ in each.

On the other hand, if I choose Physics, I won’t have study periods in Year 11 and would have fewer in Year 12, and the workload would likely be higher than with UMEP. So, overall, I feel my ATAR could be higher if I went with UMEP instead of Physics.

Would not taking Physics put me at a major disadvantage? I’m still undecided between Medicine and Engineering; my interest seems to shift every week. Given these pros and cons, do you think UMEP or Physics would be the better choice?

Thanks a lot!

James385 WOW 99.90 ATAR

Ali

Hey Ali!

Just saw the post. But good decision choosing UMEP Maths!

To answer your questions, it is definitely "tougher" than Methods and Specialist Math. The content is more abstract, and generally the problems require more understanding compared to the "pattern-recognition" that characterises Methods and Specialist Math. The workload is smaller in the sense that there is less content to learn. And it is very helpful to have free periods like you said.

How hard it is to get 5.0 is quite subjective. And to be honest kind of depends on how hard they make the exams for your year. You need to maintain above 90% average across 6 assignments and 2 exams throughout the year.

I'd say a 4.5 is far more within your control (80+), and should be the expectation unless you really love your math!

VCE 2021: 99.90 ATAR
Monash Medical School Class of 2026
RAW 50 MM & SM Exam Prep Resources