For students in India, one of the most important decision taking moments appears once they clear the class 10 board examinations. Essentially the question becomes which stream should you choose for class 11 to accomplish your career goals? While there are students who may have already defined their paths according to future career ambitions, most of them feel overwhelmed about which stream they should actually choose. 

There are lots of students who tend to decide on this vital step based on what their parents, other family members, and teachers think would be advantageous for them. While taking advice from seniors certainly helps a lot in this confusing situation, we think every student should be able to evaluate each stream on his/her own to make an informed decision. This is simply because a wrong step at this stage can dramatically alter a student’s entire career path which may not be the ideal option for him/her.

If you too have just finished your class 10 board exams and are looking for some concrete information that would help you choose the right stream, this guide is for you. Here, we’ve incorporated every detail that you may ever need to steer clear of the dilemma of choosing between the three key streams – Science, Commerce, and Arts. Continue reading to choose the right stream after your class 10th that would help you accomplish academic goals and future success.

A Comprehensive Look at 3 Streams

Before we delve deeper into more intricate details of this guide, we think it’d be helpful for you to take a thorough look at each of the three streams to develop a clear understanding of what they actually consist of. In this section, we’ll also discuss which students should take up which stream so that you can obtain an initial understanding of whether or not you’ve got the mindset appropriate for a particular stream.

Science

Science is the most sought after stream that the majority of students want to take up in class 11. This is mainly because of the common perception that says it would bring some highly rewarding career opportunities such as engineering and medical your way. Another key advantage of choosing the Science stream is you’d be able to switch the stream and take up Commerce or Arts in case you don’t feel comfortable with the options available when you enter the graduation level.

You can consider science as a field that involves systematic study of natural occurrences and phenomena. As a student of this stream, you’ll be able to understand various scientific concepts such as the structure of the atom, how the planetary motion gets influenced by the laws of gravitation, the way other universal laws impact various natural processes, among others.

The science stream is divided into two sub-branches: medical and non-medical. If you want to take up the non-medical branch, the subjects you’ll be studying include: 

• Physics
• Chemistry
• Mathematics
• English
• One optional subject

And in case the medical branch is what you want to go for, your subjects will include:

• Physics
• Chemistry
• Biology
• English
• One optional subject

So, whether you want to go for PCM or PCB, physics and chemistry will be two common major subjects with the difference in the third major subject i.e. mathematics or biology. 

When it comes to optional subjects, your options may vary from one board to another. However, the most commonly offered subjects in the non-medical branch include:

• Computer science
• Economics
• Engineering drawing
• Physical education
• Psychology
• Fine arts

And in the medical branch, these include:

• Biotechnology
• Psychology
• Home science
• Physical education
• Fine arts

So, as you’ve probably already understood, choosing between PCM and PCB combinations will solely depend on your future career goals i.e. whether you want to pursue your career in the engineering field or in the medical field.

When You Should Take Up Science?

First of all, we want to make one thing very clear that education in our country has come a long way and today it’s simply impossible to say that one particular stream is better and more advantageous than the others. Whether you want to take up Science, Commerce, or Arts, it’s absolutely possible to pursue a highly rewarding career.

What we want you to understand is you should never take up the Science stream only because you’ve got high percentages in your class 10 board examinations or most of your peers are trying to take it up. Science is a massive field and its study involves putting in a huge amount of time and sincere effort. Put simply, some of your seniors, who’ve got marks similar to you in their 10th board examinations, have done extremely well in the Science field doesn’t guarantee that you’d also be performing well. 

Science is the field that revolves around innovation and creativity. Here are some common characteristics of students who could be the right fit for this stream. Take a look at these and ask yourself whether or not you’ve actually got them.

• You love to spend time working on innovative ideas that come to your mind.
• Solving equations of mathematics is your favorite pastime.
• You spend a fascinating time in the chemistry lab.
• The laws of physics are something that you frequently relate to the surrounding environment.

In case some or all these scenarios sound familiar to you, taking up the Science stream in your class 11 might be the best option for you.

Commerce

The second most sought after stream in class 11 is Commerce. This is all about studying trade and business and involves economics, finances, and numbers. Though Commerce isn’t widely popular as Science, it would also open up doors to attractive future career opportunities. 

Again, there’s a common misconception that says students, who cannot take up the Science stream, opt for Commerce only because this is a relatively easy field. This is an absolutely wrong statement because here, you need to understand lots of trade-, business-, and finance-related aspects. From business operations and working methods of financial transactions to exchange methods of services and goods and present economical situations – various critical aspects are involved in this indispensable field. 

One of the major challenges of taking up the Commerce stream is here, the first three subjects in the following list appear as completely new to most students.

• Economics
• Business studies
• Accountancy
• English
• Mathematics

Though you can replace Mathematics with one of the available optional subjects, it’s important to understand that numbers are inherent parts of this stream. Therefore, as a Commerce student, one way or the other, you’d need to deal with massive volumes of data and calculations. 

Let’s take a quick look at the three new subjects to help you get an overview of them.

Economics deals with the production, distribution, as well as, consumption of services and goods. Its study involves how nations, governments, businesses, and individuals decide on resource allocation to fulfill their requirements. Two fundamental fields of study in economics are trade and labor.

Business studies is one of the broad subjects in the field of social sciences and involves the study of various specialties such as finance, accountancy, human resources management, marketing, and organization. You’ll be able to obtain knowledge on various business aspects and how they operate together.

In accountancy, you’ll be studying how to classify, record, and report business transactions. The aim is to provide feedback to a business’s management regarding the financial status and results of that particular organization.

In the Commerce stream, your choices regarding optional subjects include:

• Legal studies
• Entrepreneurship
• Computer science
• Multimedia and web technology
• Physical education
• Informatics practices
• Psychology
• Fine arts

When You Should Take Up Commerce?

As we’ve touched upon earlier, you should never take up Commerce thinking it’s quite an easy stream. Despite the presence of various interesting topics, this stream gets more complicated over time. But again, once you start to learn the subjects and become interested in them, the learning journey will become an enjoyable one.

One of the major advantages of taking up Commerce is that you’ll always be able to switch to Arts at the graduation level in case the available options don’t make you feel interested. Let’s see some parameters that would help you understand whether or not you’ll be the right fit for this stream.

• The way businesses operate and the flow of money make you feel attracted.
• You judge every situation on the basis of profit and loss.
• You try to find out profitable ways to invest your pocket money.
• You feel naturally inclined to analytics.

If any of these instances reflect your personality, Commerce could be the right stream for you.

Arts/Humanities

Though there was a time when Arts or Humanities was considered ideal only for students who wanted to step into the academic research field, these days, it has emerged as an attractive field with various rewarding career opportunities. Today, you can find a diverse range of career options that are equally attractive and rewarding as the ones you’d get by taking up Science or Commerce.

Though Arts is an umbrella term that covers a broad range of subjects, you can think of it as a discipline that deals with various aspects of human society, culture, and systems. By studying the subjects you’ll be able to learn how society and the world work in conjunction with the norms and laws.

One of the major advantages of taking up Arts instead of Science or Commerce in class 11 is you’d have a broad range of subjects to choose from in accordance with your personal interests. Here are the main subjects available in this stream. 

• Political Science
• Economics
• History
• Geography
• Psychology
• Sociology

Based on your institution, you may also have the flexibility of taking up these subjects in your preferred combination.

When it comes to optional subjects, your choices include:

• Legal studies
• Home science
• Mathematics
• Physical education
• Fine arts
• Media studies

In addition to these, the compulsory language subject(s) will also be there.

When You Should Take Up Arts/Humanities?

Despite the common misconception, the least preferred stream of Arts offers extremely good potential especially for students who’re interested in various creative fields. In addition to this, these days, many new fields are being added up to this stream such as Art Restoration, Rural Studies and Development, Gender Studies, Public Policy, among others.

Here are some indications that may prove that you could be a good fit for the Arts stream.

• You feel naturally inclined to creative fields.
• Various political and social matters make you feel interested.
• You love to obtain a thorough knowledge of historic places and events.

If you can relate to any of these instances, taking up Arts in class 11 might be prudent for you.