How To Pair Up General Academic Strand Electives For a Better SHS Experience

Is this another one of those General Academic Strand college course lists? Well, sort of. Thing is, we at Edukasyon have written quite extensively about the K-12 Academic Strand and the GA Strand. You’ll find that it’s actually one of the best strands to take. 

Don’t pay any thought to the stereotype that GA students are “unprepared.” Just because General Academics has no specialization doesn’t mean you’re “undecided” or unequipped for the future. In fact, the future is written in interdisciplinary learning. This means the combination of multiple courses or electives. Just take a look at all the successful businesses, people, and ideas around you. Aren’t they born from merging two seemingly different things together? 

First off, what General Academic Strand electives can you take? 

Students taking the General Academic Strand are allowed to take any two (2) specialization subjects from the other academic strands or tracks. Sometimes, there will be more subjects available depending on what your senior high school offers. Generally, these are the subjects under the DepEd curriculum.

Under the Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS), you can choose from:

• Creative Writing / Malikhaing Pagsulat
• Creative Nonfiction
• Introduction to World Religions and Belief Systems
• Trends, Networks and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century
• Philippine Politics and Governance
• Community Engagement, Solidarity, and Citizenship
• Disciplines and Ideas in Social Sciences 

Electives under Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) are: 

• Pre-Calculus
• Basic Calculus (where Pre-Calculus is a requirement)
• General Biology
• General Physics
• General Chemistry

Interested in Accounting and Business Management (ABM)? You can go for:

• Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
• Fundamentals of Accountancy, Business, and Management
• Business Math
• Business Finance
• Principles of Marketing

If your school offers Sports specialized subjects, you may have:

• Safety and First Aid
• Human Movement
• Fitness Testing and Exercise Programming

And finally, if your school has the Arts and Design track, you can pick from:

• Creative Industries I: Arts and Design Appreciation and Production
• Creative Industries II: Performing Arts
• Developing Filipino Identity in the Arts

With the General Academic Strand, you open yourself to crazy combinations and a myriad of learning opportunities. Throughout your Senior High School program, you’ll have to pair two electives from any track or strand to take up. Now the secret to making your GA experience worth it? Pick your electives wisely.

Instead of thinking about the subjects individually, begin with the end in mind. What do you think you can achieve with the two electives combined? Then make your way from there. Here are some GA electives you could pair up that could make for some cool learning experiences!

HUMSS + STEM = Philippine Politics and Governance + Biology

In fact, today’s tech-driven world has given birth to a growing debate between the value of humanities over sciences. But instead of subscribing to this dichotomy, why not just find a common ground and merge the two by learning both? Nothing can go wrong when you combine the humanities with the sciences. Imagine studying biology and gaining an interest in political sciences or philosophy. 

This could lead to an interesting and game-changing career in public health administration, environmental law perhaps, or community development! 

HUMSS + ABM = Trends, Networks, and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century + Business Ethics

So you want to change the world, and you want to make it big. Pair these two great concepts and subjects together. Learn how businesses can do good on a grander scale and pair that with an understanding of what’s to come in the next few decades. You’ll be able to predict trends, advise businesses—hey, even become an empathetic manager yourself! Go beyond corporate social responsibility and ethical consumption trends. Find the solution we need to live better in the 21st century!

STEM + ABM = Physics + Fundamentals of Accountancy, Business, and Management

Fancy yourself the next Elon Musk? He’s a successful businessman with a background in Applied Physics. All an entrepreneur needs is an eye for the next opportunity. Think of what you can innovate in the lab then go one step further. How can that change the world? The physics elective will equip you with the necessary soft skills, too: think data analysis, problem-solving, and logical thinking needed for a business career. 

STEM + AD = Chemistry + Arts and Design 

Are you an art lover? Do you like going to museums and seeing historic paintings in the flesh? Consider a future in art restoration or archaeology, which will put these artworks and timepieces quite literally in your hands. Art restoration is no easy feat, which is why it’s in high demand in the art and history world. You’ll be required to take up chemistry to get into the biz! After all, you’re dealing with very sensitive and dated materials. Get a headstart in senior high while you’re at it. 

STEM + Sports = Biology + Fitness Testing and Exercise Programming

If you’ve got an interest in sports and love watching and analyzing athletes, you might want to think about Sports Science. Yep, it’s a thing! Sports science merges human anatomy and physical conditioning with the psychology of sports. So it’s in between the liberal arts and sciences. You’ll need an understanding of human biology, but there’s also an added study on athletics. Which is exciting especially if this is one of your passions! Future career options you can look into are coaching, training, and even becoming a sports analyst or journalist.

ABM + AD = Principles of Marketing + Developing Filipino Identity in the Arts 

Here’s just one of the combinations you could explore with a marketing elective. You could start studying and appreciating Philippine art history and make your way into Arts Management: an emerging career, given our growing art industry. Heard of creative entrepreneurship? It’s the practice of setting yourself up as a business owner based on one of your crazy creative ideas and what you can make. Pairing up a business elective and something in either the arts or humanities is a surefire way to get that dream going.

In fact, just start with Principles of Marketing to spark that entrepreneurial spirit in you. The pathways could be endless from there on out. 

Bonus: ICT + HUMSS = Game Development + Creative Writing

Ever wanted to create a video game? How about write one, too? Well, if your school has a Game Development track and Creative Writing, we’re telling you now: Go. For. It! This is probably one of the coolest combos to take because imagine the creative output you’ll get to do. It sounds fun already. What’s more, once you graduate, you’ll gain the skills you can start upselling—like writing plus coding—that are extremely in-demand in this tech age! 

Find your future path with us! We’ve got tips and guides to getting through high school in our All About Senior High section on the Edukasyon.ph blog!