Subject Selection, Part 2: Which VCE Subjects Should You Actually Choose?
Yahav Ben Yosef · 26 July 2026
Last time I wrote about when to do your Unit 3&4 subjects — and why getting one or two out of the way in Year 11 is one of the smartest moves in VCE. This post tackles the harder question: which subjects to actually choose.
The Biggest Myth: “only pick subjects that scale”
There’s a deeply held belief that you should only choose the “hard,” technical, high-scaling subjects — Methods, Specialist, etc and steer clear of everything else.
But… look at the students on the honour roll every year, and you will notice that their subject lists are all over the place. No single pattern. We invented the pattern afterwards; “the top kids all did Methods and a language” — but it isn’t real. There is no meaningful difference, in terms of what’s achievable, between doing Literature and Specialist Maths, or Visual Communication Design and VCE French.
What actually decides the outcome is something far simpler: enjoyment.
Why Enjoyment Beats Scaling Every Time
Let me be clear about how scaling actually works, because it’s badly misunderstood:
Scaling has a much smaller effect than students and parents fear, especially once a student scores well. If you do genuinely well in a subject, scaling is rarely what makes or breaks your result. It is an effect, not the cause of success!
Some subjects adjust down, and some adjust up, but for most subjects the movement is modest — and the higher you score, the less it tends to shift you either way. For instance, if you score a 40+ in specific subjects such as VCE Health and Human Development, it won’t scale down.
Crucially: if your child picks a subject they enjoy and performs strongly in it, they were never going to lose much to scaling in the first place — because they’ll score well.
(If you want the exact figures, VTAC publishes a scaling report every year — but please don’t let it drive the decision ;)
In a nutshell, the single best predictor of a strong study score is whether the student will actually sit down and do the work. And they’ll only do that consistently for a subject they don’t dread. If you want to do well, you have to enjoy it.
The subjects that genuinely are advantageous
That said, a few subjects do carry a real edge for practical reasons.
Languages. If I could tell every Year 9 student one thing, it would be this: if you’re doing a language, commit to it and actually learn it, so you keep the option open for VCE. Even if you don’t love it, a language is one of the most advantageous subjects going:
The workload is low, and there’s relatively little content.
The cohorts are small, which can make a high score more achievable.
Language exams tend to fall early in the exam period, so you knock a subject out and free yourself up for the rest.
And if you take a VCE language, you can often continue into a university-level (tertiary) extension version — even more manageable, with further advantages. (More on that in my post on tertiary subjects.)
Group your subjects — don’t spread yourself thin
Here’s a secret strategy of mine: subject grouping.
If you scatter yourself across totally different disciplines — say Media, Methods and Accounting all at once - you’re forcing your brain to switch between three unrelated worlds. That’s far more mentally draining, especially when the exam period comes around.
Instead, choose subjects that complement each other:
Specialist + Methods + Physics reinforce one another.
General Maths + Accounting (and Economics) overlap neatly.
Media + Literature + English share the same core skills.
When your subjects intertwine, your brain starts seeing the patterns, you remember more, and there’s less new content to cover when it counts. You can even lean all the way in — two maths subjects, or two languages. The less disconnected content you’re carrying, the lighter the whole load becomes.
A warning on art-subjects
One warning. Art-related subjects — Media, Visual Communication Design (VCD) and the like — are often treated as the “easy” options. It’s almost funny, because they usually carry some of the highest workloads of any subject. Media means preparing a folio, making a film, and sitting a theory exam. VCD means a major folio. There’s a practical component stacked on top of the theory, and the hours add up fast.
I’m not saying avoid them. If you genuinely want to do an art subject, absolutely go for it. Just be ready for the workload. Perhaps do this as your 3&4 subject in year 11 when you have more time to focus on it!
The bottom line
Four things, in order of importance:
Choose subjects you will actually enjoy — because that’s what they’ll study for.
Group subjects that complement each other to lighten the mental load.
Respect the workload of art subjects — be aware.
Don’t obsess over scaling. It’s the cherry on top, not the cake — and for a student this age it should never override the three points above.
Get those right, and the score tends to follow. As always, if you’d like to talk through your child’s specific subject choices, reach out anytime — happy to help.
With love,
Yahav