ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => Victorian Education Discussion => The VCE Journey Journal => Topic started by: pugs on July 05, 2019, 04:51:45 pm
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hi everyone!
i'm starting this journal pretty late into the year but i figured i might try to document the last stride (and most daunting part) of year 12 → term 3 and the exams :-[
here's a quick introduction :)
about me
i'm what you could probably call 'the person who asks loads of questions but doesn't really help anybody on the forum' → you may or may not have seen me lurking around the biology and chemistry question threads in particular (i need help :(). i happen to ask many questions, but don't really answer other peoples' questions. my main reasons are probably 1. i have no idea about the topic or 2. i am uncertain of my answer and don't want to accidentally provide false information → so i stick to asking questions :/ (i'm hoping to start answering other peoples' questions soon though! *maybe as a form of revision?*)
about my studies
i studied a LOTE second language last year, which i had been learning for literally my whole life (can you guess what it is? :P) and ended up with a decent study score that i was happy about (mostly because i know it scales well haha)
this year i am undertaking mainstream english, biology, chemistry, further maths and maths methods. i have absolutely no idea what i want to do in uni as of now, but i'm hoping that i'll get a high enough atar so that i'll have options :P my goals at the start of the year were at least 40 in each subject, but i highly doubt that i will be able to get that with my SAC scores so far :(
chemistry: i've only gotten 1 SAC back and i got a 60% :(
english: i've gotten 4 SACs back and despite aiming for an A on each SAC i only ended up with one A :/
biology: this is probably the subject i'm doing the best in so far, as i'm happy with my current SACs, but not exceptionally happy because i probably could have done better
methods: we've only gotten 1 SAC back so far, and despite my score being just above average, i was hoping for a higher mark :(
further: we've gotten 2 SACs back, and i did surprisingly well in the first SAC and not so well in the second one (finance :()
i'm hoping that as term 3 picks up, i can get myself back on track with the SACs, assessments and tests (especially as we have a methods SAC on the first week back D: )
and a quick question!
our school is studying year of wonders and the crucible for our comparative SAC, and i was wondering if anyone had studied/is studying these texts and had any tips? thank you! :D
bye for now!
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Hey pugs! :)
Great work on the journal. I wouldn't give up on a 40+ based just on SAC scores. Remember that these might not be quite as they seem (due to moderation and other stuff not really worth thinking about too much), and exams always play a role, too!
How would you describe each of your subjects atm?
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Welcome to the VCE journal club! I can see that you're feeling a bit down but trust me to release your most inner struggles here. Our lovely community will always be there for you. I'm not forcing you to do that, you have the right to not. If you're okay with it your VCE journal will be quality and perhaps will be a great journal to remind yourself how far you've come in the future. Have fun out there :)
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Hey pugs! :)
Great work on the journal.
hey Joseph41! thanks for the positive response! ;D
I wouldn't give up on a 40+ based just on SAC scores. Remember that these might not be quite as they seem (due to moderation and other stuff not really worth thinking about too much), and exams always play a role, too!
ah that's true! i really ought to keep up this mindset else i might just end up giving up altogether :-[
How would you describe each of your subjects atm?
for english, i'd say that we're going at a pretty decent (but boring) pace → as we're currently studying the crucible, we're watching the play and annotating our copy of the play in each class (with a break in between for our oral presentations). the workload right now is not as hefty as we still have to go through the whole of year of wonders before our practise SAC/the SAC! for extra work, i really want to write a bunch of practise essays and get them marked, but i can't find the motivation to do so :( furthermore, i really suck at writing essays in general, so it usually takes me hours to just write one essay :/ (which is very bad as the english exam is looming)
in biology, it's pretty content heavy as expected. at the end of term 2 we just finished unit 3 and moved onto a little bit of unit 4 (the DNA technology component). i find biology quite fascinating, as most of it can be applied to our daily lives or our future as well! as mentioned before, the workload is heavy, but i think i'm keeping up okay as of now! regarding the previous topics, i think photosynthesis and respiration was one of the trickier topics for me to understand, but with a buNCH of extra work i managed to score a SAC mark that i was happy with! :)
chemistry on the other hand is a big mess rn :/ we've begun organic chemistry, which i find quite confusing with all of the als D: lol!! but then again i am slacking with the extra work. i really love the experiments we do in class though, and i find that i am a visual learner, so they really help me understand the content! in the previous topics, i got mixed with electrolysis and galvanic cells (lol) which screwed up one of my SACs :(, and i'm not a big fan of fuels either. however, i found the equilibrium and rates of reaction topics okay, but i'm awaiting my SAC score to confirm whether i know this stuff or not *sweats nervously bc of first failed sac h a h a*
in both of the maths subjects, the homework/extra work is pretty much just textbook questions, which i think i'm handling okaYż for further, the textbook questions are always doable, which is a relief for me as i picked it up this year. our teacher also gave me some extra questions to do, so i think i'm set for extra work for further lool. i found the bivariate/univariate topic in further quite simple, and i was happy with my SAC score. as for the finance section, i legit don't understand it like ??? but i managed to do okay in my SAC, it definitely could have been better though!
as for methods, i think i'm doing alright with the textbook questions, but they are tough questions, so i usually end up asking for help haha. we've finished most of the calculus topics and are currently starting probability. hOWEVER!! we have a SAC on algebra, antidiff and circular functions very soon (first wk back :( how mean ikr!!!) so i'm a bit worried about that as the content is quite heavy!
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Welcome to the VCE journal club!
thanks for the welcome brothanathan! ;D
I can see that you're feeling a bit down but trust me to release your most inner struggles here. Our lovely community will always be there for you. I'm not forcing you to do that, you have the right to not. If you're okay with it your VCE journal will be quality and perhaps will be a great journal to remind yourself how far you've come in the future. Have fun out there :)
aww thanks so much for the positive energy! <3 i will definitely try to release my struggles without it just turning into a rant haha
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What lote subject did you do last year?
Side Note: feel free to not answer this if you're not comfortable in doing so
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What lote subject did you do last year?
hey Snow Leopard!
i did chinese SL last year hehe
Side Note: feel free to not answer this if you're not comfortable in doing so
and nono, it's all good :D
i think the main reason i didn't explicitly say this (and why it's not in my forum sig) was because i was worried people were going to figure out who i was. however, i didn't really think about putting my other subjects out there, because i think they give a pretty good giveaway if anyone from my school sees this anyway haha
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small holiday update
only 1 week of holidays left! :'(
i've also got an update on the first week back methods SAC → turns out we also have a methods test the day after ;/
so far, i have
- procrastinated a lot
- read year of wonders
- completed chemistry assignments
- spent too much time eating ;;
- completed methods textbook questions
now i need to
- stop procrastinating
- write english essays
- complete my practise exam for biology
- study for my methods SAC and test >:(
- study for my further and biology SACs (i have 6 SACs the second week back sigh)
- exercise (urgh i keep saying i will exercise but i get too lazy!)
how are your holidays going? are you procrastinating like me as well?
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small holiday update
how are your holidays going? are you procrastinating like me as well?
Unfortunately, yes. :-[
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small holiday update
only 1 week of holidays left! :'(
i've also got an update on the first week back methods SAC → turns out we also have a methods test the day after ;/
so far, i have
- procrastinated a lot
- read year of wonders
- completed chemistry assignments
- spent too much time eating ;;
- completed methods textbook questions
now i need to
- stop procrastinating
- write english essays
- complete my practise exam for biology
- study for my methods SAC and test >:(
- study for my further and biology SACs (i have 6 SACs the second week back sigh)
- exercise (urgh i keep saying i will exercise but i get too lazy!)
how are your holidays going? are you procrastinating like me as well?
Yikes, six SACs in a week? That's pretty rough. But one by one, you'll get them done. :)
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Yikes, six SACs in a week? That's pretty rough. But one by one, you'll get them done. :)
ok well to be honest it's 6 SAC sessions (biology + because the further and methods SACs go over multiple (50 min >:() sessions) but i still like to call them individual SACs for motivation hahah
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term 3 week 1 update
so.. i think i'd say my first week back was bad
i definitely liked seeing my friends again, but i had a number of breakdowns over the past 4 days :/. first of all, we got our second (and final) chemistry unit 3 SAC back, and i hadn't performed as well as i had hoped (i had initially walked away from that SAC feeling pretty content). i also calculated my chemistry unit 3 SAC average, and based on the VCAA 2018 grade distributions, i'm sitting pretty low. sigh. it also doesn't help that my chemistry teacher is pretty much really stone-cold whenever i ask questions, which just makes me feel like i'm dumb. we are currently finishing up organic chemistry in class, and i'm hoping that i can start some summary revision for that topic.
we had the first session of our second methods SAC this week as well (our test got postponed). i just felt really confused with the whole SAC. it's about 'adding trig functions' (eg we had 2sin(2x) + 3cos(3x)), but the questions were worded in a way that i didn't understand them ,_, so i struggled with thAt. we have 2 more sessions next week, so i'm hoping that they go better, but they're probably going to be a follow on from the first session so we'll see ;/
further and biology are going alright. in further, we just had a whole bunch of work lessons preparing for our further SAC on matrices next week. in biology, we are finishing up on the topic of DNA technology/manipulation, as we have a SAC on that next week eek.
and english. oh dear. so, last term, my teacher asked me to write up some essays for our text response novel, frankenstein. i did that, and brought it to her to mark today. aand she said it was pre bad (not explicity of course, but in teacher talk lol). she says i'm struggling with explaining how shelley demonstrates/criticises/explains whatever she is doing, and that i need to do much deeper analysis. i tried practising this over the holidays, but evidently, it hasn't worked. if anyone has any text analysis/response tips please, please, please let me know – i need major help (thank you soo much). also i might just rant abt english a bit sorry in advance!! this whole year, i've been struggling with english so much, and it's so frustrating. regardless of what i write, how much evidence i put in, how much help i seek, how much proofreading i get, i'm still averaging a B, and i really, desperately want to get an A. i've talked to my teacher many times on how to improve, and each time i've tried to do what she has advised, but to no avail. i'm also doing eng tutoring, and i'm still struggling. i really despise how english marking is so ambiguous;/ i'm literally giving up rn, but the only thing that's making me work harder is that i don't want to let me parents down
and that's my week summed up lol - good job if you read it all haha
as i mentioned before, if you have any tips on how to do deeper analysis with english text responses, pleaseeeee let me know, i'd appreciate it so so so much (and!!! if you know anything about adding of trig functions for methods, pls let me know as well! thank you!)
*and i hope this wasn't too much of a rant/stress dump!* huge apologies if it was
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term 3 week 2 update
phew, just finished with my heaviest sac week yet, and i don't know if i should be relieved or worried..
further sacs
in total we had 3 sessions. the first one was pretty easy, so i'm hoping i can do well in that one. the other two were just .. weird ? the questions were all oddly worded, so i had trouble working out what they meant lol. i hope i did okay though !
methods sacs
there were also 3 sessions. oh boyy, do i hate some weird asf sacs. our school always gives us the weirdest methods sacs, and this one was no exception :/. our whole sac was essentially based on the addition of trigonometric functions (sin/cos only) and there were sooooo many prove/show questsions aiya : ( – today i did the dumbest thing though.. just when time was up, i flicked to the end of the sac booklet and realised that i had missed the whole back page :-[ so that's a solid 3-5 (idk) marks gone from 25 ;// i reaaallly hope my other sections were well done enough to make up for this stupid loss of marks (i maybe, just maybe blame the teachers for including a whole blank page on the page just before that question page ? ? i legitimately thought that was the end of the booklet sigh)
biology sac(?)
oki turns out our biology 'sac' wasn't really a sac, but just an excursion in preparation for our upcoming two unit 4 sacs, so that was cool. we did get our immunity sac back though. i didn't perform as well as i had hoped, but i'm still happy with the result :))
english
- we're just continuing with going through year of wonders :- v fun
chemistry
- we finished up with organic chem and are moving onto the technology section! kind of worried ngl..
how was your week? :D
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term 3 week 3 update
wow the term is flying by! it felt like only yesterday when it was week 1 :(
updates on subjects
english: not doing much new, just continuing with our study of year of wonders. i'm kind of freaked out about our upcoming comparative sac though, because it's in 4 weeks, and we're only halfway through yow
biology: we've moved onto evolution! we have both a test and a sac soon, so i hope they'll be ok. not going to lie though, i'm kind of getting tired of all of bio's content lol – now i realise what people meant by 'it's so content heavy' – this stuff is neverending! D: *it's ok, we can plough through it !!
chemistry: we've finished with learning about spectroscopy, nmr and all that stuff, but i'm still slightly confused between spectroscopy and spectrometry :/ – i believe we'll be moving onto food chem next? we'll see how that goes!! also, i'm doing the chemistry olympiad next week [size=8pt(]why did i sign up for this)/size] does anyone have any tips? :P
further: we have moved onto geometry! last topic blesssss!
methods: we're continuing with probability (one of my least favourite topics) :(. we also recently had a maths test, and i know i did really poorly even though i shouldn't have, bc i studied for it!!! aksdjs
~ i feel like every week my updates are all the same lolol, is there anything else you guys would like to see? ~
byeee!
also, i'm superrrr worried about the english exam, it's creeping up on us!!!!! :[
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biology: we've moved onto evolution! we have both a test and a sac soon, so i hope they'll be ok. not going to lie though, i'm kind of getting tired of all of bio's content lol – now i realise what people meant by 'it's so content heavy' – this stuff is neverending! D: *it's ok, we can plough through it !!
What a mood!
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What a mood!
:'(
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term 3 weeks 4 & 5 updates
sorry for updating for 2 weeks!! there hasn't been anything much new: just the same old tests/SACs/assessments/homework ;/. i have started to get into some arts related activities though (although i probably should be studying :(). with some warm weather outside and gorgeous flowers blooming, i've started to take more photographs around the garden (i've attached some of my favourites hehe).
i might not update in the upcoming 3 or 4 weeks because it's going to be h e l l – 4/5 SACs per weekż not looking forward to it :'( *let's hope i make it out sane*
on a happier note: the content for some of my subjects is finally coming to an end! i'm glad because then it gives us more time to prepare for the actual exams *shudders*
sorry that this update was super short, idk what else to say :/
yikes, english exam in 73 days!
oh yes! also, we need to do vtac applications soon, and i was wondering if anyone had any tips on applying for scholarships?/just applying in general? – thank youu!!
see youuu on the other side!
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Those pictures are really good!
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Those pictures are really good!
thank you so much! ;D i love photography so much haha
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term 3 week 6 update
i'm actually kind of shook at how the term has flown by so fast! sac season is right around the corner :'(
pre excited as all of the content for both further and methods has officially been taught!! now it's time to crack down on the revision for the sacs and then the exams :-(
a tad worried about the upcoming english comparative sac in particular, as well as the vtac stuff arghghghkljd
**if anyone has any tips on applying for scholarships, i'd be vv grateful!! <3
hope everyone's last few weeks of term 3 fly by smoothly! (i know mine won't, but we'll get there eek)
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About applying for scholarships, I think getting on top of it early and approaching people for statements well before the deadline is important.
Even if you think you won't get it it's important to put in all of the info/documentation just in case!
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About applying for scholarships, I think getting on top of it early and approaching people for statements well before the deadline is important.
Even if you think you won't get it it's important to put in all of the info/documentation just in case!
thanks for the advice! will get onto it asap <3
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term 3 week 7 update
it's sac szn!
srsly dying mentally and physically
here are some nice gifs because i should b studying :'(
(https://media0.giphy.com/media/jkPTSxuolA5jy/giphy.gif)
(https://media.tenor.com/images/4b158602cd0c328dcfbd9b19b7844baa/tenor.gif)
(https://media1.giphy.com/media/3oEjHCACoXye1k10GY/giphy.gif)
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Good luck for your sacs! :D
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Good luck for your sacs! :D
thank you so much!
(https://media.tenor.com/images/6e7741ad3216342d4c163a343ba6e771/tenor.gif)
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srsly dying mentally and physically
here are some nice gifs because i should b studying :'(
procrastination at it's finest! good luck!! <3
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procrastination at it's finest! good luck!! <3
thank youuuu!! <33
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term 3 week 8 update
the biggest week of sacs is over, so that's a relief :D – i still have two sacs next week though, so let's hope they go well!!
i don't really have any interesting updates :L but if anyone has any yummy recipes, i'd love to see them! i want to get into cooking in the upcoming holidays hehe :))
i'll see you guys next week!!
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holiday but not really holiday update
wassup guys!
how are everyone's holidays so far? for me, i'm really bad with time management right now, and i've done 1 practice exam so far so :-(
does anyone have any tips to not procrastinate hahaha
(v sorry for the super short updates :()
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holiday but not really holiday update
wassup guys!
how are everyone's holidays so far? for me, i'm really bad with time management right now, and i've done 1 practice exam so far so :-(
does anyone have any tips to not procrastinate hahaha
(v sorry for the super short updates :()
i feel you on the procrastination haha. a quiet space without any phones or devices helps me (:
its important to study but remember that holidays are to rest and recover, so don’t push yourself too hard
do you have any holiday plans?
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holiday but not really holiday update
does anyone have any tips to not procrastinate hahaha
I write out a plan for each hour of the day. If I finish a task in a shorter amount of time, I use the rest for a break, as well a blocking out some relaxing time during the day. I use that to motivate me to get things done earlier in the day and begin on the work for the next day. I have also used the "Pomodoro" method which can be quite helpful.
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post english exam update
lol soz guys i said i'd be back after the english exam and here i am! i found it pretty stressful, but english is also one of my weakest subjects soo
how did you guys find it? and when are your next exams? i have bio & further on friday and i'm lowkey worried D :
but yess finally no more being forced to read books (that aren't text books) !!!!!
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the exam wasn't too bad - i mean i know i didn't smash it, but i definitely believe i wrote enough to either get a C grade or higher.
i was extremely satisfied with section a, as the essay prompt was much like the practice essays i've done/seen online, so i felt like i was in control. section b was alright, don't think i did terrible, but again, don't think i did well. section c was nuts lol, i kinda ran out of time for it so i had to wrap things up in the last 10 minutes (im predicting a 4 or 5 out of 10 for this section). overall i think i should have used more textual evidence for sec a and b but meh, it is how it is.
i also have bio and further exam on friday. good luck my friend :)
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the exam wasn't too bad - i mean i know i didn't smash it, but i definitely believe i wrote enough to either get a C grade or higher.
i was extremely satisfied with section a, as the essay prompt was much like the practice essays i've done/seen online, so i felt like i was in control. section b was alright, don't think i did terrible, but again, don't think i did well. section c was nuts lol, i kinda ran out of time for it so i had to wrap things up in the last 10 minutes (im predicting a 4 or 5 out of 10 for this section). overall i think i should have used more textual evidence for sec a and b but meh, it is how it is.
i also have bio and further exam on friday. good luck my friend :)
I agree it was in the middle for me not terrible but not amazing.....hope this doesn't mean I'm destined for a 25 tho
Good luck for bio and further,,,,gosh this reminds me of last year wowee
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I agree it was in the middle for me not terrible but not amazing.....hope this doesn't mean I'm destined for a 25 tho
Good luck for bio and further,,,,gosh this reminds me of last year wowee
the exam wasn't too bad - i mean i know i didn't smash it, but i definitely believe i wrote enough to either get a C grade or higher.
i was extremely satisfied with section a, as the essay prompt was much like the practice essays i've done/seen online, so i felt like i was in control. section b was alright, don't think i did terrible, but again, don't think i did well. section c was nuts lol, i kinda ran out of time for it so i had to wrap things up in the last 10 minutes (im predicting a 4 or 5 out of 10 for this section). overall i think i should have used more textual evidence for sec a and b but meh, it is how it is.
i also have bio and further exam on friday. good luck my friend :)
ah im in the same boat as you guys – not too bad, but not great either :L
good luck to you too!!! let's hope we all finish happy :D
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how did everything go, pugs? congratulations on finishing the year ;D
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how did everything go, pugs? congratulations on finishing the year ;D
ah thank you! :) things went okay i think! i'm pretty happy with my study scores except for biology, which i had expected higher in :/
i'm also pretty bummed that i was only .5 away from potentially receiving a scholarship :((
Did you compelte VCE this year? :P if so, how did you go?
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ah thank you! :) things went okay i think! i'm pretty happy with my study scores except for biology, which i had expected higher in :/
i'm also pretty bummed that i was only .5 away from potentially receiving a scholarship :((
Did you compelte VCE this year? :P if so, how did you go?
it's good to see that you're happy with your scores! ohh, that 0.5 :( don't worry about it, i'm sure there's many more opportunities coming your way. and haha, no, i'm just starting vce next year :o
enjoy your well earned break!!