Class 11th: Subjects (Compulsory & Optional)

Hello friends,

So now you know what are the things you need to understand about yourself before you take that very important leap of adventure with Accounts, Maths, Biology or Social Studies. Understanding oneself & matching it with the current stream goes side by side & only you could reap the best future for yourself if you sow the best seed of your strength into the best kind of soil (stream).

Above figure shows the compulsory & optional subjects in different streams (Maths, Biology, Commerce or Arts/Humanities). Selecting an optional subject is equally important as that gives you something extra to pursue as your dreams. Misconception is that one should select an optional which is more practical oriented as it will give more free marks to secure merit list in class 12^th, but one should select their optional subject more cleverly as it is there to give an extra subject to strong your base in it & your career or future could depend on this subject.

Selecting a right optional subject is equally important, think about your goal after 12^th and find out which subject could help you more in achieving that dream, select a subject accordingly.

Typically there are 3 major streams: Science, Commerce & Arts/Humanities.

Science is subdivided into Medical (PCB) & Non-Medical (PCM)

Just like every student has their strength & weaknesses, every school also has their strengths & weaknesses, so before you take admission make sure to research whether an individual school has their strength on the optional subjects you want to consider or not & don’t walk with schools offering.

Now let’s understand each & every stream in detail:

Science (Medical)

A stream typically students select to get into Medical field with an ambition to be a Doctor. Subjects comprising mainly are Physics, Chemistry, Biology & Languages. In CBSE these subjects are added with one optional Subject like Psychology, Home Science, Mathematics, Economics, Biotechnology, Fine arts or Physical Education. Often students select an optional as Physical education which is more practical oriented and marks are into hands of school & people consider the optional subject as percentage enhancer rather than taking a subject which could actually help them to make a better career. It is your call to take Psychology or Bio-Technology as your sixth subject as it will give you another stream you could focus your career on.

Science (Non-Medical)

Science (Non-Medical) often termed as PCM comprises subjects like Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics & English as main subjects with an optional subject like Computer Science, Home Science, Economics, Bio-Technology, Fine Arts or Physical Education. Maths or PCM stream is most favorite among the students mostly because of various reasons like:

1.       It offers a wide arena of career options after 12^th for PCM students.

2.       It covers pre-requisites of Engineering, Defense, and various Govt. jobs.

3.       Other than core medicine almost every opportunity is open for PCM students

Commerce

The pre-conceived notion of most of the students are they like to take commerce because either they don’t understand biology or just hate Maths, that’s how they options-out others & stuck with commerce (as various school don’t offer Arts/Humanities) but the student should realise that commerce is not an easy option it is equally challenging as Maths & Biology & student should possess a right aptitude to be in commerce stream and understand subjects like Accountancy, Business Studies & Economics, also you should have tremendous love for basic maths & numbers.

Commerce is a field of loving finances, the money flow, economics & business.

Arts/Humanities

Arts/Humanities offer a huge number of career options after 12^th, almost every career path a student could go to after Humanities is open for Maths student as well. Arts are generally of three category literary arts (languages, literature, philosophy), Performing arts (music, drama, dance) & Visual arts (painting, sculpture, drawing). There has been a misconception among students that Humanities is only for those students who are weak in Maths or don’t want to study commerce & there are no good career options. It can also prove to be an added bonus for those of you planning to take civil services examination in the future.

Options other than Schooling (Vocational Courses)

 Read part 3

Class 11th : Points to be considered before selecting stream

Hello friends,

So, you had all the hustle of late night studies, board exams pressure, parents & teachers expectations, planning how to & what to study, making timetable & living to it. There would have been a subject you liked and the one you didn’t but you had to study both with an equal preparation & concentration to get through these exams. Some of you might have done exceptionally well & some of you might not have performed as per your preparations.

But let me tell you this, this is not over yet & it will never be. The struggle for success never ends, it’s an ever lasting impression we all need to fight regularly. Success is a series of problems you overcome throughout life. Similarly class 10^th was a barrier you cleared in this marathon, but the race ahead would be more complex & will ask you to take decisions that would impact your future. As a student you need to be very careful while taking an admission into any stream in class 11^th as that would lead the direction of your success. You need to consider various points before taking this very important decision.

1.     Interest: It’s not about whether you like solving maths or not, neither it is about you hate dissection. Most of the students select a stream by elimination of options like they will take commerce because they don’t like maths or they want to take Bio because their parents want. This should never be an approach for stream selection, as this could give you a short success for 11^th & 12^th, but would make it tougher for career selection or persuasion.   

Therefore before selection of stream one should consider what he/she likes to do when they have ample time in front of them, Interest is something that not only drives an individual to pursue their dream studies but also helps them to do a job lifetime, which is a vital component in a success story. Do everything you come in contact with, participate in all the event your school organizes or inter-school events, play all the sports you could, go to your parents workplace or anyone you know, go to industrial visits, explore all the available streams & understand the opportunities it provide. This research or exploration will give you an idea where your interest lies & what you really want to pursue.

2.  Strength: No one has ever failed while playing on his/her strengths, a simple yet brilliant understanding of success formula is to find out your strength, pursue it & do something remarkable. Finding your strength as soon as possible is very important while working on your success path as every good thing you can assemble would be around your strength. For building a house, strength of base is very important. Finding out what you are ‘good’ at & working continuously to improve it to ‘better’ will let the success story.

3.     Weakness: Finding weakness is equally important as it will not only let you understand that what is not meant for you or it is something which is not worth your time & effort. Knowing your weakness also let us understand & visualize that whether working on this weakness is going to help anyhow in future or we could keep working on improving our self on our strength & take someone’s help for our weakness.

4.    Opportunities: Opportunities doesn’t come by itself banging the door of a person and asking him to open, opportunity is an integration of finding your strength, finding spaces & places you could utilize your strength, working continuously to make it better. You will definitely get thousands of opportunities in your lifetime but 999 would be a waste because you were not ready for it. So, making all the efforts to better your strength, being the best in a field with full preparation is very important to grab a chance that comes to you. Remember the movie “MS Dhoni” where he did hit a lot of sixes right where selectors were, but it took him years of practice, various downfalls, failures and persistence to be able to play in that selection match & rest is history. This is common to every success story.

Before you take admission in class 11th take a sheet of paper & fill following details:
1. Your strength as a subject
2. Your weakness as a subject
3. What are you planning to be in future & why
4. What are the fields you hold interest into
5. Are you logical or numerical (whether you like to find logics or you love numbers or arts)
6. Write in brief the type of person you are, what you like what you don't (anything that comes to your mind) finding your personality will help you to go through your selection process.
7. Try to read and understand which industries holds the future & what is being outdated.
8. Still if you are unsure, ask the expert counselors @ www.careerinnova.com  or call us at +91-9584902777