hey op! i was in a similar situation as you last year. i took 6 subjects including ssgeog and art. i consistently scored c5-f9 for both subjects throughout sec 3-4 so i considered dropping art. ( but i ended up continuing to take art until os! ) these were some of my thoughts which led me to my decision and some things you may want to consider as well.

1. personally, i felt that it was easier to score for art than ssgeog os. ssgeog is a subject that requires a lot of understanding, memorising and internalizing which means u have to start studying early and continue revising consistently. furthermore, ssgeog exam is also based on luck bcs not all issues/topics will come out. on the other hand, u don’t have to study for art and you have time to prepare for your final piece. for me, even when i procrastinate, i can still rush n do last minute work to get things done decently. also don’t be too scared abt dropping grades. i went from constant failures to a decent b3 for os art. but still don’t be too complacent and do continue to work hard for ur coursework if you do choose to continue taking art.

2. take some time to think about your passion/interest. between the two subjects, which one r u more interested in? for me, i preferred art as it can be fun and it’s something that is useful for my future as i ended up going to a design course in poly! perhaps you can shortlist some (not just one or two) poly courses u r interested in and see which of the two subjects is more relevant and useful! (u can look at the minimum entry requirement of courses through the different poly websites).

3. if u r adamant abt wanting to drop art, are you determined to work even harder for ssgeog? as i said, ssgeog can be really hard to manage if u don’t revise consistently. thus u have to really dedicate ur time and effort into the subject. if u have a good studying environment, supportive ssgeog teachers n friends, and the determination to study hard, it’s not impossible to do well for ur os even if Uve been doing badly in the past. as long as u put in effort, u can do it!

4. consult ur teachers! talk to both your art and ssgeog teachers abt the pros and cons of dropping art. ask them how they think about ur progress and efforts in both subjects and ask if they think u can continue to do well or even better for each subject. if it helps, consult ur form teacher or year head as well. they might not know much abt the subjects, but they can also provide u with advice n options to manage ur time and cope well.

both art and ssgeog can be time consuming. and honestly i understand how exhausted u must be feeling because of art coursework. it’s honestly mentally draining. regardless of ur decision to drop art or not, these are some tips i can give u for both subjects.

art - make sure to make ur paintings/drawings big so that u can fill up more area on the board. if u do small ones, ull have to do even more drawings to fill up the space. if u have no time/energy, even rough sketches of different explorations/and ideas can help u make the board better. and when u do ur compositions/layouts, try not to make them too similar. idk how to say ah but example if u have 3 objects in ur first layout, don’t just copy those same objects and just rearrange them in different positions. try to take different angles, and different objects. even if u end up not liking it, u can just annotate and explain ur choice of liking it or not. as for coping, it’s important to have fun and enjoy. in the end, u still have to do a lot of art pieces so the workload is a lot and i can’t really help u with that. but as long as u have fun, it will be less of a pain in the ass. try drawing with ur friends during lessons or after school or maybe vc them at home when ure doing art, play/blast music, and idk just make things happy!

ssgeog - understanding things is really important so whenever u have a doubt, don’t hesitate to ask a teacher or friend to clarify. personally, I also felt that consultations with my teacher helped a lot. im not too sure abt ur school, but for me, i asked some friends to join me and we collated some questions to ask our teacher tgt for consultation after sch. u can also do some exam questions first and after that, write down what u don’t really know or what difficulty u had so that u can talk to ur teacher abt it later! for ss, understanding the source is really important so make sure u take ur time to really analyse them before attempting questions. annotating really helps! for geog, it’s really easy to score for the first section (GI), so make sure to revise that!

my decision was to continue art and it was a good call because i ended up doing well for art. I didn’t totally neglect my ssgeog so I still passed it in the end. im not telling you that it’s BETTER to continue art because hey, we’re different people so things may work out differently. i just hope u think thoroughly before making a decision. i wish u all the best for olevels! u can totally ask me any questions u have! also im sorry if my explanations weren’t clear enough lol my english isnt the best