Choose subjects with a field of study in mind
You do not need to know exactly what career you will follow in order to choose subjects in Grade 9. You do, however, need to identify which career field suits you best.
Once you have identified your career field you can begin choosing subjects which are required for university or college once you complete matric. Fields of study include: Visual Art, Business, Science, Education, Engineering, Medicine and others. Each field has specific requirements for entry, both subjects and level of achievement. To identify which career fields suit you best do the PACE Self-Exploration Questionnaire. Once you have completed the Questionnaire read up on the careers and related subject requirements.
As a general rule, the following fields require Mathematics and Physical Sciences to matric:
Read more on, Careers which require Mathematics and Careers which require Physical Sciences
The following fields require Mathematics to matric:
- Finance
- IT (only if you study IT at University)
- Bachelor of Commerce If you plan on doing a BCom at university after school then you will need to have Mathematics as a subject to matric.
Read more on, Careers which require Mathematics
If you are planning to study anything to do with the Visual Arts and Design after school you will be required to produce a portfolio of your work. Therefore take Visual Arts as a subject at school.
As a rule of thumb in choosing subjects, one should always try to keep as many options open as possible. A good subject choice combination is often a balance between the subjects that learners are interested in and perform well in. However, this is where it gets a little tricky. It is better to take subjects you perform well in than to take subjects in which you are likely to perform poorly in. Should you take a subject , first try to ensure that you will meet the minimum admission requirements for the tertiary institution or course you wish to do after school.
This problem often occurs when choosing subjects like Mathematics or Physical Science. Your choice will also depend on what subjects are offered at your school from Grade 10. Schools do not offer the same subject choices. Sadly, all schools in South Africa do have the same capacity to offer subjects at the same high standard. This is particularly true when it comes to Mathematics and Physical Science. A learner who does not have a good grounding in these subjects in primary school will struggle to meet the level of achievement required to take these subjects to matric. Read more on, Careers without Mathematics as well as, Careers which require Mathematics.
Read more on subject the requirements for Choosing Subjects in Grade 9 and the Role of Parents in Career Decisions.