Information for secondary students and school leavers
Choosing school subjects
- Choose subjects you enjoy as you will be motivated to learn
Here are some tips to help you make a decision about what school subjects to choose.
Know your options
Each school is likely to offer different subject options. Some of the options you can take may also depend on your timetable at school, and subjects like maths and English may be compulsory.
Think about your abilities and interests at school
What subjects are you good at or not so good at? What does this tell you about yourself? Are you a good writer, good with numbers, a practical person? Which subjects have you enjoyed studying? Which do you dislike and why?
How will your choices affect your future?
When making subject choices, you need to think about how your choices will affect your future career options and/or your future tertiary training options.
Find out more about the careers that interest you to get an idea of what secondary subjects are recommended. Each job summary on our website includes information about recommended secondary subjects in the ‘How to enter the job’ section.
Keep your career options open
- Try different subjects to find out what you enjoy
Most people change their minds about what they want to do in the future. Your interests and abilities will change over time, or you might find out about new careers that you had never heard of before.
If you’re unsure about what job you want to do, try to study a wide range of subjects at school. This will give you more options later on.
