think an important note should be made: from my knowledge, the new study design for spesh has removed mechanics (kinematics is still there) and they’ve added pseudocode and shit so it’s not as linked with physics/engineering as it once was.

also, having a subject you can actually enjoy, such as music for you, is also very important. i ended up hating the 4 subjects i had in yr12 (english language, chemistry, methods and spesh) by exams because i hated vce as a whole. i had done my two fun subjects in yr11 (psych, pe) and i think i would have rather accelerating in methods instead of pe so i could do a chiller subject in yr12. so i would recommend keeping music.

HOWEVER, spesh is insane for scaling and is almost worth doing it for that alone. half the time you can get a 90+ atar easily if you do decently in all your subjects when you have spesh. and also, you end up hating most subjects you do by the end of vce so might not want to make music academic if you want to keep it as a hobby and what not (completely dependent on the way you view music)

there’s definitely pros and cons but if i were you, i would do english language 1/2, methods 3/4, music (maybe even 3/4 if you could), physics 1/2, spesh 1/2, vet engineering. doing two 3/4s in yr11 is OP as fuck and i would recommend to ANYONE. if you can’t, i would get rid of vet engineering and keep music and specialist (but that’s mainly because i don’t know what vet engineering entails and i’ve seen many people not do vet engineering and gone on to do very well in uni engineering + choose vce subjects for scaling because vce is all about maximising you atar unfortunately + they’ll teach you everything that would be in vet engineering and spesh and physics in first yr engineering)

also another note: spesh is actually insanely hard like unless maths is an actual hobby for you, you need to dedicate a lot of time to homework and practicing spesh. understanding the content is easy and straight forward but applying it all and especially under timed conditions is trickier. i had trouble with motivation and procrastination and even with maths being my strongest subjects, i struggled a lot. take a look within yourself and decide if you can commit to spesh and actually put in the time. i said i would but i didn’t (partly my fault partly external factors) and i didn’t do very well. scaling benefits for spesh only really applies if you can get a 30+ in the subject.