possible_to_return_passport Hey there!
possible_to_return_passport I’m thinking about studying Japanese SL 1/2 next year, however it would be useful for me to know how much work I should be doing, esp. when balancing Japanese with other content-heavy subjects (e.g., Methods, Chem, Bio) when my school doesn’t have a Japanese program or teachers at all.
I don’t think there’s any right or wrong answer as everyone will find it of varying difficulty. However, personally in year 11 (10 years ago now), I took Japanese SL U1/2 along with Eng Lang, Methods, Chem, Economics (all U1/2s) and Psych U3/4 (I also took General Maths U1/2 and Chinese SL U1/2 in year 10). I found it challenging to find enough time for Japanese SL and it suffered a bit. In Year 12, Japanese SL and Chem were my two most time-consuming subjects (by then, I’d dropped Economics in favour of Further and ditched CSL), but they also ended up my worst two subjects according to my raw scores in my ATAR, despite all my efforts. (No regrets though!) So balancing was hard for me, but everyone will find it of different difficulty and thus will find the workload bigger or smaller as a result.
As to how to balance it with other content-heavy subjects, this depends on your study method and again, this is personal. I never dedicated specific time but did whatever homework and revision was due soonest. When I did have time, I’d dedicate it to my subjects in my weakest areas e.g. Japanese listening tasks were weak so in year 12, I’d spend my first few spare periods doing listening tasks to improve.
Yes. Japanese, at least in my experience, builds up from the foundations, despite the topics being different. If you’re confident already with it, your main issue will be refining your answers to VCAA standards.