3 Tips For Choosing VCE Subjects

Updated 10th July 2022

Choosing VCE subjects can be difficult, and it’s easy to get caught up in trying to choose subjects that will maximise your ATAR and allow you to access as many university or TAFE courses as possible so you have lots of options when you finish school.

But how do you even go about choosing your VCE subjects. Read on to find my best tips for making the right choice for you.

Tip #1 Choose Subjects You Like

My best advice when it comes to choosing VCE subjects is to choose things that you like to do. While others will talk about the best hacks to getting a great ATAR (including choosing subjects that scale up) or the subjects you have to keep in case you change your mind (like Chemistry or Maths Methods), the truth is that focusing on subjects you actually enjoy is the best way forward.

Here’s why:

Choosing subjects you enjoy will likely fulfil any prerequisites you need for further study and careers that will make you happy, and
You will find studying easier throughout VCE because you’re not forcing yourself to do something you hate.

The second point is one that a lot of people forget about. VCE is a lot of work. If you choose subjects you enjoy, you’re much more likely to stay motivated, concentrate in class, and ultimately achieve better results because it’s not so difficult to make yourself study.

Tip #2 Check Prerequisites

If you have an idea of what you’d like to do when you finish school, then it’s important to be aware of prerequisites for the types of courses you might be interested in.

Sometimes prerequisites are there to make sure that you have the basic knowledge you need in a particular area to succeed in the course. When this is the case, then by choosing subjects you like, you should already have the prerequisites you might need.

However, sometimes the prerequisites aren’t necessarily about the learning you do in those subjects. Sometimes prerequisites are chosen for popular tertiary courses to help universities narrow down the field and select students more easily. By looking at these prerequisites now, you can make an informed choice about whether you want to keep the option open to apply for the particular course, or decide that you’d rather study it somewhere else where that VCE subject isn[t a prerequisite.

Let’s look at how you can understand more about prerequisites so that you can make informed decisions about whether or not to choose a subject.

Use VTAC CourseSearch

CourseSearch is a tool that you can use to look up any tertiary course that you apply for through VTAC. When you look up a course it gives you heaps of information about what the course is about, where it leads, and the selection criteria including prerequisites.

If you have an idea about what courses you might like to do, then spend some time looking up some of these courses now to check what the prerequisites are. If the subject you’re considering dropping isn’t a prerequisite, then maybe it won’t hurt to let it go.

Using VTAC Prerequisite and Course Explorer

If you’re not sure what courses you’re interested in yet, then the Prerequisite and Course Explorer tool might be a better option for you to use. With this tool, you can either put in all the subjects you’re considering or you can just put the subject you’re questioning in, and it will bring up all the courses that have the subject listed as a prerequisite.

Keep in mind that this tool will show you courses that you could potentially get into without doing the subject. Courses often have strict prerequisites, where you absolutely have to have completed the subject and achieved a minimum study score to be eligible to study the course, however they also sometimes have a list of subjects where you have to have completed one of a list of courses. For example, it might say that you need to have achieved a study score of 25 in one of Chemistry or Physics. This course would come up in the Prerequisite and Course Explorer if you searched for Chemistry or Physics, but you don’t have to have done Chemistry to get in if you have a study score of 25 in Physics.

Lastly, although it’s not ideal, if you do find yourself at the end of Year 12 wanting to do a course and you don’t have a prerequisite, there is always another pathway to get where you want to go. Most universities and TAFEs offer diplomas or certificates you can do to complete the subjects you need to complete to have the prerequisites for a bachelor degree, and some even allow you to move directly into the second year of the bachelor degree upon completion so you might not even lose any time compared to those students who finished VCE when you did and started straight into the course the following year.

Tip #3 Choose a Range of Subjects

There aren’t really many rules set out by VCAA about choosing VCE subjects. Other than the fact that it’s compulsory to choose one English subject (eg English, Literature, English Language or EAL), you can really choose whatever you like.

Some schools group subjects into categories and encourage (or require) students to choose a certain amount of subjects from each group. While this practice isn’t usually popular amongst students, there’s actually a pretty good reason for it.

Once you go on to further study (if that’s what you choose to do) you’re likely to focus on a particular area. While you might be looking forward to this, it means that VCE might be the last time you get to explore some subjects (unless you choose to do more study throughout your career). So by choosing a wide range of subjects, you get to try a range of subjects before zooming in on your chosen area of interest.

You might even find that by doing a subject that you wouldn’t necessarily have chosen, you actually enjoy it enough to change your mind about what you’d like to study at university or TAFE.

So What Should You Choose?

My advice when choosing VCE subjects is to keep your options open within reason. If you make sure you don’t close too many doors, then you will still have lots of courses to choose from at the end of Year 12. However, continuing with lots of subjects that you really don’t like is going to make your life difficult, and if you don’t enjoy them they’re unlikely to lead you to a career you will like anyway. Use the tools available to help you make good decisions about your future.

Do you need help choosing VCE subjects? In my personalised career counselling program, Your VCE Roadmap, I can help you identify your interests and investigate tertiary courses so that you can choose a VCE pathway that keeps your options open AND allows you to explore the subjects you actually like!

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Author: KIM WHITTY

Ready to create a plan for your future, no matter what ATAR you get? That’s what I’m here for! Grab these digital resources to get clear on what you want and what course and career options you have, or learn more about the personalised career counselling packages I offer. I spent 13 years working in schools as a VCE teacher and qualified careers counsellor before starting Roadmap Education. Learn more about me.