Advice I'd give any one who's choosing their own subjects
Please, for your own good. Ask your seniors. Go through syllabus. I'm really serious about this, so damn serious.
A few days ago, i was on my way home and i usually travel with a junior, she's taken the same subjects as me except 2 papers etc. One is language, another one is maths. We just talk sometimes and she clears her subject doubts with me etc etc.
While we were talking, she said that the language she chose was really hard now that she actually started studying it and she was ranting about it.... The irony is that i already had warned her in the first week of school about the paper being difficult with a huge syllabus but she said she loved it and was excited, I just shrugged it off and didn't tell her anything. But now she says she regrets it.
Then, another junior travelled with me today, she took completely different subjects, more of physical sciences etc. When i asked her how her classes were ... She replied "It's not even a month and I'm regretting this"
And this is not the only one, I've heard this from multiple juniors, I've seen how exhausted everyone looked. Their faces drained. I'm not saying that in a "I told you so" way but rather in a genuine gesture.
Two things you need to do before you choose subjects:
Things to ask your seniors:
How hard is the syllabus?
If given another choice, would you choose the same subjects again?
How are the question papers usually set? (In terms of difficultly)
What are the resources that you used for studying?
How much do the teachers assign work?
Things to look for in your syllabus :
Number of chapters and content.
The reason why I stress on asking seniors is because they've been through the same year. They have an idea of what's going on. Don't ask your teachers, every single teacher wants you to join their class and of course she'll say that the material is easy. For a safer side, I ask 3 seniors, even if 2 give opposite scenarios, the 3rd one will be the tie breaker. Don't ask everyone's opinion, you'll get confused, just be... Careful.
And not to mention, I've heard many say things like "But it's awkward to talk to seniors." Or "We don't want to annoy them" etc etc. Honestly I, as a senior, have never felt irritated or annoyed and neither have my classmates felt that way because we all know how confused we were while choosing our subjects and we definitely don't feel awkward. Choose an appropriate time and place, the conversation won't take longer than 10 mins and at the end of the day, you got a new acquaintance :)
