The subjects you choose for grades 10 to 12 will affect your career choice. So, it is vital to select subjects that give you the widest choice possible. If you don’t know what job you want to do after school, you need to select those subjects that will offer more choices, such as maths and physical sciences.
Only if you’re absolutely sure about your career choice, should you select specialist subjects that will prepare you for your chosen career, such as visual arts or agricultural sciences.
Consider first those subjects that you have to take for grades 10 to 12.
First, you must take two official South African languages. One of these must be the language used to teach and learn in your class. At least one of the two languages must be at home language level. The language used to teach and learn may be the one that you take at home language level.
For example, if your lessons are in English, but you take isiZulu home language as a subject, you would select isiZulu as your home language and English as either another home language or as a second additional language subject.
If you are taught in English and take English as a home language subject, you can take any other of the official South African languages as the second language, for example isiZulu, Afrikaans, Sepedi, and so on.
You can take a maximum of four languages for the national senior certificate.
Second, you must take a maths subject. You can choose between mathematics and mathematical literacy. Mathematics includes algebra, geometry and trigonometry and requires you to develop the necessary skills to understand mathematical sciences. Many courses at university require a good pass in mathematics.
Mathematical literacy allows even learners who are not good at mathematics to acquire a mathematical knowledge and skills that you will use in daily life, for example use of numbers, graphs and symbols and the ability to calculate money, measurements and interest rates.
Third, you must take life orientation. This is a compulsory subject. Life orientation teaches you advanced skills, knowledge, values and attitudes. Career guidance is important because it will help you to refine your career choice by the time you reach grade 12 and you need to apply to a university, college or for a job.
Once you have selected your four compulsory subjects, you must choose three other subjects. When choosing these, think about your future and what you intend studying after school. If you intend studying for a degree at university, you must select from the list of “designated subjects”.
Universities have determined that these are the subjects that will help you to learn critical thinking and the problem-solving skills needed to cope well with degree studies. Four of your subjects must be on the designated subjects’ list.
If you plan to study science and health subjects or engineering and technology, you will need mathematics, physical sciences and possibly information technology.
For business and economic sciences, the most appropriate subjects are mathematics, accounting, business studies, economics, consumer studies and information technology. For humanities, law and teacher education, subjects such as mathematics, mathematical literacy, languages, history and geography are possible choices. However, you must check the requirements of the specific universities where you want to apply and the entry requirements for the specific courses.
Subjects that will give you a good grounding for the services industry include consumer studies, hospitality studies and tourism. For those of you who are artistic by nature, you might enjoy dance studies, design, dramatic art, music or visual arts.
Three subjects are available to those of you who intend going into agriculture: agricultural sciences, agricultural management practices and agricultural technology. To enter the fields of engineering and technology, you can choose between civil technology, electrical technology, engineering graphics and design and mechanical technology.
A particularly useful subject in this world of information technology, no matter what your chosen career, is computer applications technology.
But taking the right subjects is not enough. You have to attain certain grades in your subjects to obtain entry to whatever courses you wish to study. The more difficult the course, the higher the grades you will require. Only applicants with the best grades will be accepted for the course.
For more information on selecting subjects, try the National Information Service for Higher Education at www.hesa-enrol.ac.za/nishe or www.gostudy.info. Jennifer Rault-Smith works at the department of education