UMEP Physics, UMEP Indo or Specialist Maths???

sandra

I need to finalise my subjects for next year and have no clue what to do...

This year I'm doing Chem 1/2, Methods 1/2, Spec 1/2, Physics 1/2, Eng lang 1/2 and Indo 3/4

I'm rlly enjoying indo and would love to do it with UMEP but idk if I'll use it in the future as I'm considering an engineering pathway and feel like physics or spec might help more

Spec is a good class because it's small and I like learning new math concepts but I feel like the workload is a lot and can't really be bothered with it next year but I'm not sure if this will stop me from doing things at uni in the future

UMEP Physics sound interesting and I'd love to do it but I'm not sure if I'll get in considering I have an 86% average and I need an A average to get in

Any advice would be greatly appreciated especially if u have done any of these subjects

Thanks

ccla04

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.

Ali

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

English 1/2 (May switch to Englang 1/2)
Chemistry 1/2
Methods 3/4 (doing 1/2 this year)
Biology 3/4 (doing 1/2 this year)
Specialists 1/2
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?

James385

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

Ali

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

Ali

I think the major factor is your uni choice! If you want to pursue medicine, then maximising your ATAR will be crucial. Having extra study time in year 12 will also be very important to revise for the UCAT. In that sense, UMEP is undeniably better.

But if you want to do engineering, physics is definitely important! Unless you're aiming for Chancellor scholarship I'd argue the ATAR is less relevant.

Most important thing now is to decide what career path you'd like! You can list some pros and cons of each, and happy to help you work through it 😃

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

i_need_mental_asylum

James385 WOW 99.90 ATAR