Should you already decide your top 4 subjects?

Should I already decide my top 4 subjects?

Your ATAR is calculated using your aggregate score - a sum of all your scaled study scores. 

However, only the top 4 of your scaled study scores will fully contribute to the total aggregate score - these 4 subjects are known as the top 4 subjects.

The other 2 (or 1 or 3) subjects which you didn't do as well in will only contribute 10% of their scaled study scores to the total aggregate. These subjects are known as your 'bottom' subjects as they have the least effect on your ATAR.

Rule: An english subject (English language, Literature, English or EAL) must be one of your top 4 subjects, no matter what study score you receive for it.

Consider the example below, in which physics is a bottom subject for this student. As a bottom subject, it has minimal effect upon the ATAR

When students realise this, many of them already decide which subjects are going to be their top 4 subjects and which ones will be at the bottom, and dedicate time to each accordingly.

However, is ignoring some subjects in favour of others the right decision?

The truth is, there is no way to know which subjects will be your top 4. 

While you can predict your top 4 depending upon SAC scores and practice exam performance, anything can go wrong during the final exam, which can affect what your top 4 subjects will be.

Take the following as an example:

John takes Psychology, English, Physics, biology, Mathematical methods and further mathematics.

He has decided that English, Physics, Mathematical methods and Further mathematics will be his top 4 subjects.

His SAC scores in Biology and Physics are similar, but he reckons that due the physics scaling higher, physics will be in his top 4 for sure. 

As such, he does not study much for the biology or psychology exam at the end of the year, in order to save time for his top 4 subjects

On Physics exam day, John isn't feeling well, and doesn't do nearly as well as expected. He realises that physics may not be in his top 4 anymore, and starts to panic, because he hasn't studied for either the biology or psychology exam, as he had already pre-emptively decided his top 4 subjects.

In conclusion, do not neglect any of your subjects, because your performance in any particular subject is not guaranteed. 

From my own experience, many of my own peers incorrectly predicted their own top 4's, and would have benefited from not ignoring their 'bottom subjects'.

In fact, one of my bottom subjects was mathematical methods, which was only 1 point away from being in my top 4 subjects. This demonstrates that you can never truly know what your top 4 subjects are going to be.