The year 12 student at Gungahlin College completed a minor in maths in year 11 before ditching it to make way for her humanities-based subjects of English, psychology, legal studies and history.

But she is glad she devoted at least some of her college education to fundamental maths principles and she has it on her Year 12 Certificate if she needs it to get into university.

Ms Bonnici hopes to take a year off next year before starting an arts degree and aspires to have a career with psychology at its heart.

ACT Education Minister Joy Burch has asked the Board of Senior Secondary Studies to consider making English mandatory for all year 12 students, starting with new enrolments in 2015.

Ms Burch has also asked the board to consider whether the mandatory requirement should be extended to maths.

The ACT is the only state or territory which does not have any English or maths requirements in the college years, with some states making both subjects mandatory and also introducing minimum standard testing for year 12 students.

Ms Bonnici said she could see the point in mandating English, but thought that maths ability beyond year 10 level would be irrelevant for some students.

While she didn't mind her maths minor and didn't think her parents would allow her to skip maths altogether at college, Ms Bonnici said students should have a lot of choice in their college subjects.

Similarly, the Australian Education Union said only a very small proportion of students consciously avoided studying English in the ACT - just under 120 last year.

Slightly more - just under 300 - refused to study any maths.

The union's lead organiser Chris Hodgson said: ''It is always good to review things from time to time, but the ACT government school system is the best in the country and teachers already work closely with parents and students to make positive decisions around subject choice.''

Mr Hodgson said any moves to mandate English or maths in the ACT would need to be made in consultation with teachers and ''most importantly would need to be evidence-based''.

The ACT Council of Parents and Citizens Association said it had raised the issue of mandatory English with the Board of Senior Secondary Studies following parent concern that it was not mandatory already.

''We were concerned that if a student opted out of English it might limit their options further down the track,'' council president Viv Pearce said.