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March 28, 2024, 08:41:39 pm

Author Topic: Year 9 vs year 12  (Read 4202 times)

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PattyOOO

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Year 9 vs year 12
« on: December 28, 2021, 10:07:34 pm »
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Having just completed and aceing year 9 I am wondering if the workload is actually that different from year 9 (compared to year 12). What makes it so hard, the concepts? Raw amount of work?
And if the answer is yes, it is much harder then would would be the next year level that would be close to its work, year 10 or 11?
Thank you
QCE Year 10: English | Math Methods | Specialist Math | Physics | Chemistry | Biology

Snow Leopard

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Re: Year 9 vs year 12
« Reply #1 on: January 03, 2022, 08:30:58 pm »
+3
Disclaimer: I didn't do QCE, I did the VCE

I would say that there's a small jump between the difficulty of year 9 work and year 10 work. Then there's a bigger jump between Year 10 and Years 11 and 12. The main difference between Years 9/10 and Years 11/12 apart from the actual amount of content and the difficulty of the content is the fact that the questions that you have to answer are application based and not just content based.

Honestly, don't stress about Yr 12 too much for now. Try to continue doing well in Year 10 and onwards, building good study habits and looking after yourself (having a healthy sleep schedule etc). Choose subjects that you actually enjoy in Years 11/12 and play by your strengths. Try to explore the future careers that you're interested in through work experience. Get a part-time job if you can. Participate in extra-curricular or spend time on your hobbies.

This is a bit of an unpopular opinion, but imo, if you really want to do well in a subject in Year 12, you have to be acing that subject or at least doing really well in it in your previous years of high school as well.  This is because it would be really difficult to catch up on the content that you have missed and keep up with the new content that you're learning as well. This is just an observation that I made about the subjects that I scored the best in, in Year 12 and what I observed in other students who graduated in the same year as me.

PattyOOO

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Re: Year 9 vs year 12
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2022, 08:43:15 pm »
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thank you, is there any way there could be a translation between year 9 and 12 (e.g. one term of year 9 physics gets taught over 3 weeks in year 12?)
QCE Year 10: English | Math Methods | Specialist Math | Physics | Chemistry | Biology

keltingmeith

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Re: Year 9 vs year 12
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2022, 04:13:28 pm »
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thank you, is there any way there could be a translation between year 9 and 12 (e.g. one term of year 9 physics gets taught over 3 weeks in year 12?)

Lower school physics is honestly a bit weird - and full disclaimer, the Australian curriculum is VERY open to interpretation, so I may mention things that are "taught" in particular year levels that you've never seen before. Don't stress if that's the case, because what you need to know for year 12, you will learn when you get there.

Years 7, 8, and 10 are very "Newtonian", and year 9 is very "Quantum". The way ACARA describes these, you'd think there's a very logical progression. In year 7, you learn about forces and how things move, you then extend on this in year 8 to energy, so now you know both sides of the story - the energy required for motion to happen, as well as the forces required for motion to happen. In year 9, you then learn about the particle and wave models that explain how this energy propagates through materials by different models, leaving year 10 to be when we finally introduce maths to everything you already know, tying everything up in a neat and tidy bow.

Here's the problem - in QCE physics, these topics only cover half of unit 2, and half of unit 3 (each unit is essentially a semester). You also typically won't cover them anywhere near the depth in lower school than you do in senior school - typically in year 10, you will likely cover two or three equations to describe motion. In WA, for year 11 physics alone, we have a whole page of equations to describe motion.

There's not really a way of equating lower school to senior school, because they're just two entirely different beasts (with an exception I've been hinting at that I'll get to in just a second). Senior school physics assumes you're someone who's confident with their basic maths and algebra skills. That's not something we can assume in lower school - and not even something that's properly approached and broached until year 9 maths, either.

The difference is when you hit year 9, where instead of simply following on the path that year 7 and 8 lead, most places take a sidestep. Instead, let's learn about thermodynamics (conduction, convection, radiation), let's learn about electromagnetic waves, let's learn about electricity. Then, in chemistry, let's learn about radiation. All topics that make up just as much of senior physics as motion does - and one of them isn't even taught in physics.

I'm not saying any of this to make you worry or feel ill prepared for year 11 and 12 - because you're not the only one sitting in this soup of a curriculum that seems to barely connect to senior school. It's everyone in Australia. But people get through it all every year - and the truth is, succeeding in year 12 has very little to do with how well you understand the material, or how long you've been studying it for. The truth is, pretty much every student scoring above the average - at one point or another - understood most of that content. What sets students apart is how quickly they can recall the information, and how much practice they've put into using that information. The truth of the matter is, you are very unlikely to remember something now that will help you when you get to your year 12 exam.

Look, I'm not quite sure why you're asking this, but I highly recommend not focusing too hard on the future. Worry about the now. Do well now. Build good habits now. At least an hour a night on some form of dedicated work. If you don't have homework, make your own. Because when you hit year 12, you'll likely find that you need to double that number - and that won't include the homework you owe your teachers.

And even more importantly than building good study habits - don't forget to live your life. Breaks are just as important as study, and so is spending time with friends, family, and just being a kid.

And if this was all just an exercise of curiosity because you're seeing the year 12s at your school stressing and just don't quite get it - hopefully this helped explain some things

a weaponized ikea chair

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Re: Year 9 vs year 12
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2022, 08:05:51 pm »
+2
Year 7 : Very Easy

Year 8 : Easy

Year 9 : The teacher's stop holding your hand as much as year 7 and 8, but still easy.

Year 10 : A little jump from year 9, but not too bad.

Year 11 : There is a BIG jump from year 10 to year 11. Everyone I know said so as well.

Year 12 : Similar to the jump from year 9 to 10. Not HUGE, but still harder.

In short, year 9 difficulty and workload is nowhere near year 12.

PattyOOO

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Re: Year 9 vs year 12
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2022, 08:52:50 pm »
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Lower school physics is honestly a bit weird - and full disclaimer, the Australian curriculum is VERY open to interpretation, so I may mention things that are "taught" in particular year levels that you've never seen before. Don't stress if that's the case, because what you need to know for year 12, you will learn when you get there.

Years 7, 8, and 10 are very "Newtonian", and year 9 is very "Quantum". The way ACARA describes these, you'd think there's a very logical progression. In year 7, you learn about forces and how things move, you then extend on this in year 8 to energy, so now you know both sides of the story - the energy required for motion to happen, as well as the forces required for motion to happen. In year 9, you then learn about the particle and wave models that explain how this energy propagates through materials by different models, leaving year 10 to be when we finally introduce maths to everything you already know, tying everything up in a neat and tidy bow.

Here's the problem - in QCE physics, these topics only cover half of unit 2, and half of unit 3 (each unit is essentially a semester). You also typically won't cover them anywhere near the depth in lower school than you do in senior school - typically in year 10, you will likely cover two or three equations to describe motion. In WA, for year 11 physics alone, we have a whole page of equations to describe motion.

There's not really a way of equating lower school to senior school, because they're just two entirely different beasts (with an exception I've been hinting at that I'll get to in just a second). Senior school physics assumes you're someone who's confident with their basic maths and algebra skills. That's not something we can assume in lower school - and not even something that's properly approached and broached until year 9 maths, either.

The difference is when you hit year 9, where instead of simply following on the path that year 7 and 8 lead, most places take a sidestep. Instead, let's learn about thermodynamics (conduction, convection, radiation), let's learn about electromagnetic waves, let's learn about electricity. Then, in chemistry, let's learn about radiation. All topics that make up just as much of senior physics as motion does - and one of them isn't even taught in physics.

I'm not saying any of this to make you worry or feel ill prepared for year 11 and 12 - because you're not the only one sitting in this soup of a curriculum that seems to barely connect to senior school. It's everyone in Australia. But people get through it all every year - and the truth is, succeeding in year 12 has very little to do with how well you understand the material, or how long you've been studying it for. The truth is, pretty much every student scoring above the average - at one point or another - understood most of that content. What sets students apart is how quickly they can recall the information, and how much practice they've put into using that information. The truth of the matter is, you are very unlikely to remember something now that will help you when you get to your year 12 exam.

Look, I'm not quite sure why you're asking this, but I highly recommend not focusing too hard on the future. Worry about the now. Do well now. Build good habits now. At least an hour a night on some form of dedicated work. If you don't have homework, make your own. Because when you hit year 12, you'll likely find that you need to double that number - and that won't include the homework you owe your teachers.

And even more importantly than building good study habits - don't forget to live your life. Breaks are just as important as study, and so is spending time with friends, family, and just being a kid.

And if this was all just an exercise of curiosity because you're seeing the year 12s at your school stressing and just don't quite get it - hopefully this helped explain some things
Thank you
Do you think that doing physics, specialist and methods math, chemistry, biology and general English would be too much? I enjoy all forms of math and chemistry is amazing, just wondering if it is too much because I have to choose my subjects halfway through year 10 and don't want to regret anything?
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Snow Leopard

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Re: Year 9 vs year 12
« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2022, 11:26:23 pm »
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thank you, is there any way there could be a translation between year 9 and 12 (e.g. one term of year 9 physics gets taught over 3 weeks in year 12?)
We went from covering a Chapter from the textbook in an entire term in Year 10 Chem, to covering a Chapter each week in Year 11 Chem.

Billuminati

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Re: Year 9 vs year 12
« Reply #7 on: January 19, 2022, 04:27:09 am »
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We went from covering a Chapter from the textbook in an entire term in Year 10 Chem, to covering a Chapter each week in Year 11 Chem.

I remembered it differently. All of year 7-10 chem were covered in the 1st 3 weeks of unit 1/2, basically the weeks before you encounter the mole. Even the jump from high school to uni chem wasn't this drastic, 1/3 of the weeks are actually revision of year 11 or 12 stuff.
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somebody8442

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Re: Year 9 vs year 12
« Reply #8 on: January 20, 2022, 12:41:08 pm »
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Thank you
Do you think that doing physics, specialist and methods math, chemistry, biology and general English would be too much? I enjoy all forms of math and chemistry is amazing, just wondering if it is too much because I have to choose my subjects halfway through year 10 and don't want to regret anything?

It is a lot but can be done. Three sciences + two maths has never been lauded but can be done and if you do it right, you'll do amazing.

beep boop

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Re: Year 9 vs year 12
« Reply #9 on: January 20, 2022, 05:02:11 pm »
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I'm speaking from my vce experience and know very little about qce.
For me yr 7-9 was pre much the same. Put in the work, you see the results. The jump from yr 9 to yr 10 was definitely a step. It was so different. Then in from yr 10 to yr 11 was even a bigger step. It wasn't so much work hard then get results. More so having good study habits, finding the right balance between school work and personal life. For example on for a yr 7 maths test, teacher tells you to study xyz. You go and do just that. You turn up to the test and do quite well. In yr 11 and 12, its different. For methods, a teacher will say go study xyz. Except when you turn up to the sac, its different, despite studying. All the teacher has given you is you need to have that set of skills but not what to study for. Thats just my five cents. I haven't started yr 12 yet, so I can't say much.

Honestly, just enjoy your junior yrs. I regret taking those yrs so srsly. It was so fun and carefree back then. Before you know it, you'll hit yr 12 and wonder how and why it went so fast.
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Golgi Apparatus

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Re: Year 9 vs year 12
« Reply #10 on: January 21, 2022, 01:24:23 pm »
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I think the difference between junior and senior years (at least in vic) is not just the amount of work (you cover content much faster in year 12 than year 9) but also the type of work. In junior years you are learning the basics and doing simpler questions, but in year 12 you need to apply your knowledge to new situations. For example, a year 7 maths question might be ‘solve this equation’ of ‘simplify this expression’, whereas in year 12 you will get a scenario and have to work out what the question is asking, which concept to use, how to use it correctly and how to integrate it with answers from other parts of the question. A year 7 science question could be ‘label the parts of the heart’, while a year 12 question could be ‘if someone has a disease that causes x, how would this affect y?’ and you need to use your knowledge to make an educated guess as to what would happen.

My point is that in year 12 you need a much deeper knowledge of the concepts, which means you need to study them more. You also need to know how to apply them to scenarios you have never heard of before, which means a lot of practice is needed to expose yourself to lots of potential questions. You also need to learn how the examiners think and what they are looking for in an answer (since questions are often worth more than one mark in senior years). The hard things about year 12 is that you will never have seen the questions before. In year 7 (and often even year 9), you can do a few practice questions on a topic then get 100% on a test. In year 12, the test will have questions about things you have never heard of before, and it’s hard to do well unless you’ve studied the topics thoroughly so you can work out what the question is really asking.
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