ATAR Notes: Forum
HSC Stuff => New South Wales Education Discussion => The HSC Journey Journal => Topic started by: Lollzza on August 31, 2017, 09:56:29 pm
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Hi y'all! I don't think many here have seen my face around much, and I donnae think many will here but if you do, hey again! I'm Lollzza and I'm just finishing up my Preliminary year. I hope to update weekly, since I;m not usually exciting enough for daily updates but we'll see!
The Journey So far *insert cool theme music*
- SO I thought taking 14 units in grade ten would be a good idea. My subjects to date are: 3U English, 3U Math, Biology, IPT, Modern History and Legal Studies.
- It was not a good idea and I plan on dropping ext math straight after prelims, along with legal studies. I do plan on picking up ext 2 english though.
- Experiencing a bit of a burnout but I'm gradually coming back from it in time for exams. Lost my motivation for a while but i went to the Uni of Melbourne for Open Day (shoutout to any other students who went!) and realised I'm not gonna be able to achieve what I want without hella lot of assistance.
- My goal for HSC is an ATAR of 99.90 and major in Psychology at UOM. Which seems rather like a pipe dream, I'm aware but I really really need that Melbourne Chancellor's scholarship.
Prelim students feel free to hit me up! Or anyone really, I'm always up for a chat. :D
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YAAAAS! We actually get to follow your whole Year 12 :D
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^Super exciting! :D Welcome aboard, Lollzza. :)
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Day 2--Gerard Way is still 40. I am still not okay.
My exams start next week and I'm not stressed which is a sure sign I'm stuffed. We're not getting a paper 2 for English though? Teacher said there was no point since the syllabus is changing so much and they didn't want to write it.
I'm not complaining to be honest. I am rather worried about my math exam but it should be okay? I think I've already decided not to care too much since I've gotten good marks all year in all my subjects (apart from IPT but group assessments grrr). And I think I'm just ready to move on ahaha.
I walked away from this for like ten minutes and now I've no idea what I was talking about! Guess that's all ahah!
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Today was Father's Day and I spent it sort of studying. Who thought to put prelims the week in front of Father's Day? I personally don't have good enough a relationship with my dad to care but I know other people are cut up about it. Strangely relaxed still which is making me even more stressed.
TBH I feel as though English will be easy as long as I can figure out a template for my creative. We're only doing Paper 1 so I suppose that's why it's alright. I have a full mark essay from term one on the same topic soooo I'm just modifying that and taking the quotations. Very willing to put it lower in my priorities since its my second best subject (below English Ext)
Math is whoops trig is a thing but at this stage I don't have it in me to care too much. More focused on learning the content than studying if that makes sense? I'd prefer to be ready for year 12 than learn wrong while cramming for prelims. Differentiation and I are still awkward friends.
Biology is pretty ace. I know my content pretty much, or I know enough to seem like I know (which does wonders sometimes). Also my rank is secured since my teacher told me someone would have to score over 30% more in the exam to get ahead of me.
English Extension is...well, I'm not stressed. But I also only have two texts ready. Sort of not enthused with the other two and found them pretty boring to study as Gothic texts when they should really be more crime. But I have an average of 100% percent in English Ext lol so its not gonna hurt my grades too badly if i fall into the eighties.
Math Extension: Dropping the day after the exam so who caaaaares. Just want proof I've done it on my preliminary record and the fact I was topping there for a while despite my friend being a math genius. She's topping now by like a percent but shes gonna go way above me for the exam. Oh wells.
IPT is my jam and a lot of it is common sense really. I know my COASPTD in and out so I think that's pretty much all the content he's testing us on + our first unit of the design process.
Legal is another subject I'm dropping but its probably my third highest in terms of marks. Sad to see it go but I can't handle so many units either. Its a shame but our teacher is also too lenient with us so we're gonna be so unprepared for the HSC anyway. We were only a class of seven but I hope enough people stay she doesn't lose her class. Shes a sweet lady.
Modern History: AHHhhh the end of the road here. Love Modern but my marks have taken bit of a tumble with my Investigation. I mean my log book is shit lol so I don't blame her. We have had an intern teaching us this term for Modern and English and isnt that a bit of dick move to put on seniors? Like shes a cool lady but she doesn't know her subject matter. I spent a period educating our class on the Italo-Turk war which she'd never heard of--despite teaching us the World at the Beginning of the Century. Don't wanna be too hard on her but it's just really frustrating when they don't know something so relevant to the course.
So all in all! Stuff prelims i am looking forward to year 12 and trying to not land myself in hospital in the meanwhile ahaha.
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Prelims start tomorrow! . . .
Still not stressed??
So I'm probably gonna fail??
Or maybe I'm just going through an existential crisis and think all life is meaningless right now. English first up and I've got all my quotations and analysis + a creative template so idk how much more i could do?
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You sound super prepared!! Best of luck, I bet you'll smash it ;D
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Prelims start tomorrow! . . .
Still not stressed??
So I'm probably gonna fail??
Or maybe I'm just going through an existential crisis and think all life is meaningless right now. English first up and I've got all my quotations and analysis + a creative template so idk how much more i could do?
Not being stressed isn't inherently a bad thing. To be honest, I felt pretty relaxed going into my final exams! :)
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Prelims over and these were my results:
English Advanced--91%
Mathematics--77%
Biology--78%
Modern History--84%
IPT--85%
Legal Studies--93%
English Ext--88%
Haven't got math ext, but I don't want it either haha. Not really satisfied with any of them, but I know I can improve them for next year/next term. So wooooah I'm about to be in year twelve.
Like wooahhh
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This looks like a really great set of results to me, awesome building point for Year 12 ;D congrats on finishing Year 11!! ;D
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Thanks jamon!
Well, my ranks for the whole year are apparently:
Eng Adv: 1/23
Mathematics: 2/21
Biology: 1/30
IPT: 2~/12
Modern: 1/13
Eng Ext: 1/2 (eughh 2 person classes are the worst you feel so bad when you do better)
Math Ext: 2/10
Legal Studies: 1/7
So I guess I should focus more on ranks ahah. I don't think I tried to hard on Math, Legal or IPT honestly because they were too late for me to find anymore energy. English I'm honestly aiming for 95+ for all assessments at least, the same going for Biology. I'm going to definitely pick it up next year to make things easier for me in the long run. :)
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Officially finished year 11!
Existential crisis incoming.
It didn't finish too well thanks to English. An intern has been teaching us all term (which I don't really agree with for senior years personally) and on Thursday, our second last lesson, we did a creative exercise. She gave us a starting sentence and we wrote four after it before passing it on to someone else.
So, of course, some of them took the opportunity to write horrible things. I knew some of it but I didn't personally read (or contribute to) any of them.
Intern heard everyone laughing, saying how gross it all was and did nothing. Instead, she collected them and gave them to our English teacher. Without telling us beforehand. Like, I'm honestly disgusted with both the people who wrote it AND her. She let it keep going and get worse and worse and instead went running to our actual teacher (who doesn't sit in with us and I haven't seen properly for like a term). And I'm like okay maybe you could've for starters, dealt with it. Then if it was that bad then...demand she read it and then pass those on?? Like blindsiding us is not how you teach. Be upfront and maybe we will be too.
I thought he was a pretty cool guy, my English teacher but he's been so weird lately and cold to us, even before this. Me and some of the others in my class have him for homeroom too and he doesn't come to that either. So any bond I've had with him is just sorta ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But basically what happened is he came in, yelled at ALL of us, despite knowing who screwed up and said he's gonna be on our asses next term. And I held quite a deal of respect for him so when someone you respect yells at you, even though its not your fault, it gets to you. But since then I've just been angry really. He didn't come to talk to us for our final homeroom meeting in the afternoon, and instead came to the whole house meeting just so we could applaud the intern as it was her last day.
The more I write the more I feel wronged ahaha. It turned out more of a rant but that is how the first period of my last day of year eleven went :) Other than that it was a rather good day, especially IPT where we just played Doom 2 together over a server the IDT kids made.
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I'm wasting my holidays awaaaay. I did get to go to the TiNA festival yesterday for a bit but I really wanted to spend my weekend just hanging around it. Also painted our entire common room this week. I got paint places there shouldn't have been paint like how.
Man this journal has already degenerated I need to get back to writing paragraphs.
Still eugh over IPT and History Extension. Is two major works too much like ahhhh. But Alexander Hamilton is calling to me from the ten dollar bill in my drawer.
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Still eugh over IPT and History Extension. Is two major works too much like ahhhh. But Alexander Hamilton is calling to me from the ten dollar bill in my drawer.
Hey there! I did two majors during my HSC year and I was perfectly fine. It is definitely possible to do two at once (even though it's not recommended). But its so worth it. It was so fun working on two projects and see how much you can push yourself beyond your limits. You have this creative freedom that is beyond your school's assessments. Especially with a great combination of prac and theory majors, you will certainly create the best project and essay ever. You just need to be good with your time management.
I'm not sure with what IPT entails but you can read all about History Extension in Susie's guide and Katie's guide. You can also check out my guide on how to manage your majors during your hsc year.
If you need any more help, we're all here!!!
( make the ten dollar founding father without a father proud ;) )
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( make the ten dollar founding father without a father proud ;) )
No my ultimate kryptonite--Hamilton references! I'm Helpless!
But thanks for the reassurance! I'm mostly worried because the other major work I'd be doing is English Extension 2, though I can't see how those Major Works would do anything but help me come exam time since creative and essay practise y'know? Though people do Visual Arts with Drama and I'm like y'all c r a z y. I've never met someone who actually thinks they had enough time for their major work in VA.
But yeah, HAMILTON. IPT is a subject where it's fun but I'm not gonna rank one and I'm like since I like both subjects that should be the next priority down? I'm wondering if its okay to take 13 units just for like term 4 to make sure i enjoy it. Since I don't want to be caught with 10 units.
Maaaaath amirite :')
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I'm wondering if its okay to take 13 units just for like term 4 to make sure i enjoy it. Since I don't want to be caught with 10 units.
Maaaaath amirite :')
Hey,
I did 2 majors (4 performances for music and history extension), and I loved both of them. It is definitely possible and can be really fun.
With the 13 units stuff-I'm still doing 13 units now in yr 12. It is ok and I love all of my subjects-but is a lot of work and stressful at times (9 exams for trials was not fun). I know for history extension the only assignment I had in term 4 was the proposal which was worth 10% so for that specifically I don't think there is too much for you next term. But, you can always drop a subject when you feel you need to.
Good luck for the start of year 12 :D
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No my ultimate kryptonite--Hamilton references! I'm Helpless!
But thanks for the reassurance! I'm mostly worried because the other major work I'd be doing is English Extension 2, though I can't see how those Major Works would do anything but help me come exam time since creative and essay practise y'know? Though people do Visual Arts with Drama and I'm like y'all c r a z y. I've never met someone who actually thinks they had enough time for their major work in VA.
But yeah, HAMILTON. IPT is a subject where it's fun but I'm not gonna rank one and I'm like since I like both subjects that should be the next priority down? I'm wondering if its okay to take 13 units just for like term 4 to make sure i enjoy it. Since I don't want to be caught with 10 units.
Maaaaath amirite :')
Three majors is still a possibility but that's just pushing it. It all really depends what subjects are your strengths, which ones will pull up your atar and which ones you actually enjoy. You are certainly allowed to do 13 units in Term 4. Give it a lil test run and decide if you want to stick with 13 units for the rest of the hsc year. Usually in term four, thats when you start planning your majors and might do a proposal at the end of term. See the feedback you get and hopefully you'll know which majors to stick with. Just do all that and That Would Be Enough ;)
(people who do VA and drama at the same time are so impressive. two people in my year group did that and i'm surprised that they did everything on time. especially with their performances and body of work due in the same week! it's like they wanna watch the whole world Burn ;) )
(i'll stop with the hamilton references now hehehe)
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Tomorrow is my first day of Year 12.
woo.
I'm excited for the process as a whole but not for tomorrow particularly. English first period and our teacher is going to be an ass because of what happened last term. Also debating history extension like ahh.
Also holidays are over and I'm not willing to deal with that to be honest. My gaming addiction has not been curbed--I need to finish Persona 5 after like six months before it is.
But otherwise, yay?
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First few days of Year 12 have been good! Our common room is amazing and air conditioned so I know where I'm going to be when it's hot af.
Some teachers are like stuff it let's start our course (Bio) and other's are like lets tiptoe around it (modern) while my English Extension teacher won't even explain what Navigating the Global is. Like I've no idea what it even entails, other than a few broad concepts. Biology I;m excited for though because this syllabus sounds so much better than Preliminary.
English I'm like blegh overall though. Still a little distant with my teacher because I'm done with his moodswings. He's good when he's good but when he's bad it's so bad. Math is a trainwreck as always. :)
Today is a Gala day because it's our new sports field opening! So we only go to periods 2, 5 and 6. And I'm currently watching YouTube in Legal because my teacher is like to me and the other girl dropping, "You're definitely not staying? Just do what you want then." So I'm like hell yeah. I'll probably use these three weeks to study for other classes. But I've been doing chores for teachers all morning so I'm gonna relax ahah.
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F*ck. Frick frack friggity frack. I'm going to be forced to stop going to therapy because of my school's stupid timetabling. My therapist only does Monday mornings and guess what I have Monday mornings? English Extension 2 ofc, the only subject i've been waiting to do for most of my schooling life. I'm even considering cancelling this appointment but I can't because they're closed and i have no idea what to do. I'm already on thin ice taking 11 units and 3 of them being extensions. I don't want to tell the school I go to therapy but maybe I'm going to need to? The ideal solution to this is to see if my therapist does !0:30 appointments since I have a free second period and then Christian Studies (which isnt a hsc subject) and i could continue life normally.
But the odds of that?? Idk I'm now so fricking anxious like therapy is meant to do the opposite of this right? I know if i have to I'll just have to get another therapist but I don't want to because she's so nice and we connect well. D:
There are only two of us in the class so I'm not sure if it'd be another option to ask the school if there was any other timetable alternative? Maybe if I explained that I've gone from seriously depressed, demotivated and a nervous wreck to a somewhat decently adjusted person partly because of therapy they'd be more sympathetic? I'm not sure if they timetabled it that way because my teacher can't do any other day but?? Maybe the teacher herself will understand, I'm not sure what to do because this is a big thing to me. Our school is only small so Im not sure if that helps or makes it worse.
Any advice or anecdotes from a similar situation would be super helpful!
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So that issue resolved itself because school decided timetabling in a lesson for monday morning on friday afternoon w/o consulting teacher or students was a good idea. So now its gonna be some time else but i have no idea honestly. We have our altogether lesson for the fortnight but then the other kid snagged the only spot on the timetable that i couldve gone with on my timetable and its asghfjk bc i already do morning classes AND lunch classes. Like please dont do this to me.
BUT I am SO glad i dropped subjects. The deputy almost wasn't going to sign me going down to 11 units/3 ext units but then I was like "Well y'all said I couldn't do 14 units and pass and guess who came second in ext math and first in ext english ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" and she just sorta conceded. Free periodsssss. My loves. My life. My everything. Get to go home early at least once a week. And considering 2/7 of my subjects are major work based i think free periods are more beneficial than class work really? Regret nothing though because I was going to treat them as bludge subjects anyway.
Got a math tutor! And he's so good!! He's a teacher at Merewether high and has been for hella long time so he really knows his stuff. I can now differentiate. I'm not sure how i got along so far without knowing how to but i did. But he's going to save my hsc math i think, as long as i keep working hard at it.
Year 12 is good so far, but let's see how we go with assessments lol. Biology prac test is scaring me because we dont get to choose groups. D: Group tasks are worst tasks. Always.
Anyone going to Avondale tomorrow for a leadership thing?? Hit me up if you are and lets see if we can spot each other!
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Omg feel you so much on the frees, had my first one ever 2 days ago cos I dropped biology and it was so freaking good.
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My friend's got a new tumour :/ Been lacking motivation for anything since hearing that
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Man, that's too bad, I'm sorry to hear that and hope he/she is holding up okay. Take care of yourself, before anything else. Is it malignant?
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Man, that's too bad, I'm sorry to hear that and hope he/she is holding up okay. Take care of yourself, before anything else. Is it malignant?
Yes it's malignant. She's got two actively growing ones now. The only reason the first one stalled was because of experimental drugs and therapy she managed to get in a clinical trial. The doctors dont know what to do. Its on the nerve that controls her left arm so even surgery has a high risk of paralysing her arm permanently. She's been dealing with this for two years and Idk how. Her cancer is extremely rare and its the first case in Newcastle ever. She was coming back to school and everything before and only after a couple days of saying her arm hurts her blood count is dangerously low. So, shes probs not ocming back to school.
In other news, I'm going to Relay for Life today, fittingly.
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Done a few assessments and handing a few more in this week.
Math i got 78 in which is really disappointing because it was one mark off an A. (the whole thing was out of 36 so one mark lost deducted a LOT) . Currently ranked 5th in the class, but I hope to move to 3rd in Half Yearlys, since some of what i did was a real stupid mistake.
Biology was 93%, ranked fourth. Hoping to claw my way back to 1st hahaha. Doubt it's gonna happen though.
Handing in Modern History and History Extension this Thursday + Biology portfolio test this Friday.
Short update because im v procrastinating from everything. Free periods are pretty great though so no regrets there.
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Done a few assessments and handing a few more in this week.
Math i got 78 in which is really disappointing because it was one mark off an A. (the whole thing was out of 36 so one mark lost deducted a LOT) . Currently ranked 5th in the class, but I hope to move to 3rd in Half Yearlys, since some of what i did was a real stupid mistake.
Biology was 93%, ranked fourth. Hoping to claw my way back to 1st hahaha. Doubt it's gonna happen though.
Handing in Modern History and History Extension this Thursday + Biology portfolio test this Friday.
Short update because im v procrastinating from everything. Free periods are pretty great though so no regrets there.
Hey good job ! sounds great , from my Hsc experience all i can say is nothing is impossible if you believe you can do it you can ! believe in yourself and put in the effort