Katie-A Rhino's charge through the HSC!

[katie,rinos]

Hey,
I'm katie,rinos. I'm 17 and am in year 12 at the moment. I only have about 4 weeks left of actual classes (Yay!), but two months till the HSC and thought that this was a really cool idea.

Not too sure what to write right now, but I'll give you a little run down of my subjects.
My subjects are:
Advanced English-I'm not a huge fan of English-it's my worst subject and it's probably a subject that I will complain about. If anyone's interested i'm studying Frosts poetry (AOS), Metropolis/1984 (Mod A), Hamlet (Mod B), and The Art of Travel (Mod C).
General Maths- I actually prefer maths to English but it's still not my favourite subject.
Music 1- I play the clarinet and am doing 4 performances for the HSC (my topics are an instrument and its repertoire, 19th Century music, and 20/21st century music). The pieces that I am playing are Brahms-Clarinet Sonata no.2 , Schumann Fantasy piece (2), Milhaud-Duo Concertante and  Hurlstone-Ballade.
I've also just come home from a school musical rehearsal where i'm playing in the orchestra (school from 8:30am-9pm=a long tiring school day). Our first show is on Friday and were doing Mary Poppins. Might try to keep you guys updated-although we have longish night rehearsals it's actually really fun.
Legal-My options are consumers and family law. Found consumers fairly boring, especially at the start but family law is more interesting at the moment.
Ancient-I really love history and for Ancient I'm studying Pompeii/Herculaneum, Sparta, Julio-Claudians and Agrippina.
Extension History-Love Extension as well, really interesting stuff. We do JFK as our case study. You learn all these new concepts and things that really challenge your views on the world and the way that our history is written.
Hospitality- The work placement in this is really annoying me. I have about 15 hours that I still need to do. Like hospitality as well though, really fun course.
If you haven't realised I like all my subjects (except English)! Although 13 units is heaps their all really interesting and fun.

I'm not really sure yet what uni or course I will be doing next year-and UAC applications need to be in sometime next month. At the moment I want to be a music/history teacher but I just don't really know. So, I guess that this has been pretty stressful at the moment.

I'm going to try and update this thread at least every week, if not more. Some of my posts may be really small while others may be larger. I'm not really sure what to post at the moment, but I may post later on in the week to update you guys with my some of my trial marks (depending on if I feel brave enough)-I've been starting to get some back and it's not entirely what I was expecting.

I don't really know what else to add at the moment, so I guess that's all for now .

[fantasticbeasts3]

Hey,
I'm katie,rinos. I'm 17 and am in year 12 at the moment. I only have about 4 weeks left of actual classes (Yay!), but two months till the HSC and thought that this was a really cool idea.

I'm not really sure yet what uni or course I will be doing next year-and UAC applications need to be in sometime next month. At the moment I want to be a music/history teacher but I just don't really know. So, I guess that this has been pretty stressful at the moment.

I'm going to try and update this thread at least every week, if not more. Some of my posts may be really small while others may be larger. I'm not really sure what to post at the moment, but I may post later on in the week to update you guys with my some of my trial marks (depending on if I feel brave enough)-I've been starting to get some back and it's not entirely what I was expecting.

I don't really know what else to add at the moment, so I guess that's all for now .

clarinet!!!! i love hearing about why people chose their instrument - what's your story?

good luck with choosing your uni preferences! teaching sounds great :-)) and don't worry about your trials, i absolutely flunked english and i'm still getting out of a rut with motivation because of it, but that's okay. here's to 4 weeks until school ends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Calebark]

I just need to say two things:
1) I'm looking forward to reading the next update!
2) Nice thread name

[RuiAce]

General Maths- I actually prefer maths to English but it's still not my favourite subject.

Still refreshing seeing a historian prefer maths over English

2) Nice thread name

Wonder where she got it from?

[katie,rinos]

clarinet!!!! i love hearing about why people chose their instrument - what's your story?

good luck with choosing your uni preferences! teaching sounds great :-)) and don't worry about your trials, i absolutely flunked english and i'm still getting out of a rut with motivation because of it, but that's okay. here's to 4 weeks until school ends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you play an instrument? I don't even really have a good story. I started playing in year 3 at my schools band, so with a bunch of other kids we had a go on all of the different instruments. The clarinet was the only one that I could even make a sound out of. I think I dropped the clarinet the first day I had it though-clumsy year 3 me. Really funny, because at the time, a lot of the kids just did band as a way to get out of classes and I didn't practice for a long time, but now I need (and want to) practice a lot more.
Thanks, I've only got marks back for two of my subjects at the moment, and while I was happy with one, I was a bit disappointed with the other.

[fantasticbeasts3]

Still refreshing seeing a historian prefer maths over English 8)Wonder where she got it from?

maths is so so so so so so (add 100 more sos to the end of that) better than english. it's refreshing not having to write essays just for that one subject.

Do you play an instrument? I don't even really have a good story. I started playing in year 3 at my schools band, so with a bunch of other kids we had a go on all of the different instruments. The clarinet was the only one that I could even make a sound out of. I think I dropped the clarinet the first day I had it though-clumsy year 3 me. Really funny, because at the time, a lot of the kids just did band as a way to get out of classes and I didn't practice for a long time, but now I need (and want to) practice a lot more.
Thanks, I've only got marks back for two of my subjects at the moment, and while I was happy with one, I was a bit disappointed with the other.

yep, i play the piano! what a coincidence though, i began music through school band as well. i definitely feel the practicing thing - i've abandoned piano a lot since year 11 and would love to get back into it but i just don't have the will to sit down and play a lot of the time.

that's okay about your trials. i did decent in 2 subjects, but the other 2 i've got back and the last one coming in on thursday don't look too great. you've still got time to fix everything up. :-))

[katie,rinos]

I just need to say two things:
1) I'm looking forward to reading the next update!
2) Nice thread name

Thanks (for both things) !! I don't really know what i'm writing yet, but this is actually cool (I'm excited myself).
Also, love the thread name! (Thanks for that!)

Still refreshing seeing a historian prefer maths over English

I think that i'd prefer anything over English

maths is so so so so so so (add 100 more sos to the end of that) better than english. it's refreshing not having to write essays just for that one subject.

Definitely agree with you!:) Every other subject I have to write at least 1, in some cases 3 essays so it's nicer to not have to do that.

[K888]

Unpopular opinion: English was so much better than Maths in high school haha

Looking forward to seeing how the (short) remainder of your HSC year plays out Katie! No matter what happens, I hope that you can be proud of yourself for your achievements

[heids]

Even though I'm not a STEM person and tend towards humanities and started as an English mod here, I still liked Methods more than English by a long way hahaha.

Will be reading every update with enthusiasm, Katie.

[elysepopplewell]

Thanks for contributing Katie! I can't wait to read your future entries. We're all backing you!

[katie,rinos]

23/8/17
Hey, back again
I've started getting trial marks back (Music, Hospitality, Legal & Extension) and i'm a bit disappointed at some of them. I was aiming for around 80% (wishing/hoping for 90ish), and have so far received mainly mid 70's. It annoys me because some of the subjects that I've put heaps of effort in isn't reflected through my marks. The two subjects that I have been coming first in all year, I dropped to second in my exams, which i'm hoping doesn't impact on my ranks. Incredibly happy for the girls who placed 1st though, they are both good friends of mine, and deserved their marks. I'm going to really need to study a lot more to get those higher marks to try to reach my goal atar of 90. I'm a bit nervous to get my other marks back (maths was a difficult exam, and I don't normally go well in English exams).

I'm also feeling really unmotivated at the moment and a bit drained. After the half yearlies, we went straight into a two week holiday-now I've put so much work and effort into my trials and going to school this week is exhausting. I haven't been able to study as much as I should be doing, but I want to give myself a rest (maybe to Sunday or so), so i'm able to recover.

My school musical starts on Friday which is really exciting. We have six shows (one on Friday, two on Saturday, and then the next Friday and Sat).
Should be practicing my clarinet so I'll leave you here (ahhh, music HSC is in 2 weeks!!).

[jamonwindeyer]

Definitely take a rest I reckon Katie, you earned it! Plenty of time until the HSC - Focus on having a blast with your musical!! Enjoy it!

[katie,rinos]

24/8/17
I got my trial marks back for English which were terrible, especially paper two. I wasn't expecting a really high mark, but this was pretty low and my rank wasn't great. I also had a double period of English this morning (106 minutes), which just felt really long and boring.
However, a huge thanks to Jamon, as my AOS essay increased from a 7/8 to an 11 out of 15-which was my best mark and I was really proud of it! 

This has brought up a lot of questions (understand this isn't a question thread but if anyone has any answers, that would be cool):
So, any teaching course requires a band 5 in English, and with my internal marks i'm not sure if that will happen. Is there English bridging courses at all unis? What do they cover? If I needed to do one, would I be able to go into a teaching course next year after doing one? If I don't get a band 5, would it be better to do a non teaching course such as Bachelor of arts/music and then do a degree in teaching afterwards? I still feel really lost about what degree/uni to choose and it needs to be in so soon.
I think i'm going to the UNSW open day next week so I may be able to ask a lot of questions there, and check out the uni (I've never been there before). Hopefully this will be helpful.

I got my formal invitation today, which is about a month away. I'm pretty excited but I still haven't brought a dress or shoes or anything which is slightly stressful.
I'm still not really sure what to post here, but this is really exciting (and I probably will update more often then once a week) 

[jamonwindeyer]

However, a huge thanks to Jamon, as my AOS essay increased from a 7/8 to an 11 out of 15-which was my best mark and I was really proud of it! 

Really glad I could be helpful Katie, well done! keep working hard, let's get everything else up to an 11 and then head to 12 and 13, onwards and upwards

So, any teaching course requires a band 5 in English, and with my internal marks i'm not sure if that will happen. Is there English bridging courses at all unis? What do they cover? If I needed to do one, would I be able to go into a teaching course next year after doing one? If I don't get a band 5, would it be better to do a non teaching course such as Bachelor of arts/music and then do a degree in teaching afterwards? I still feel really lost about what degree/uni to choose and it needs to be in so soon.
I think i'm going to the UNSW open day next week so I may be able to ask a lot of questions there, and check out the uni (I've never been there before). Hopefully this will be helpful.

I don't know a lot about the teaching requirements, someone else might, but definitely don't worry. There are always ways to get where you need to go. Definitely go to the UNSW Open Day, it will be really beneficial to chat to people about your options. What I'd suggest is perhaps a double degree, which might exempt you from the Band 5 requirement? This page seems to suggest that as an option (and might be a good way to combine teaching with another passion)

Of course, you are assuming you won't get a Band 5 - Don't think that way! Never resign yourself to anything, aim for the stars, and if you don't quite get there you'll still be on the moon - Or however the saying goes

[katie,rinos]

Really glad I could be helpful Katie, well done! keep working hard, let's get everything else up to an 11 and then head to 12 and 13, onwards and upwards

Yeah, I'm going to do a lot more practice essays (although I hate it), to try and get everything up! I might try and redo some of my trial essays and post them for feedback next week sometime.

I don't know a lot about the teaching requirements, someone else might, but definitely don't worry. There are always ways to get where you need to go. Definitely go to the UNSW Open Day, it will be really beneficial to chat to people about your options. What I'd suggest is perhaps a double degree, which might exempt you from the Band 5 requirement? This page seems to suggest that as an option (and might be a good way to combine teaching with another passion)

Thanks for the link! I'm going to need to do some more research on the weekend but that website looks pretty helpful. Will go to the UNSW open day (luckily I'm not working)! Some of the stuff they have on sounds really useful and I'll be able to ask a lot of questions.

Of course, you are assuming you won't get a Band 5 - Don't think that way! Never resign yourself to anything, aim for the stars, and if you don't quite get there you'll still be on the moon - Or however the saying goes

Coincidentally, this is one of my yearbook quotes.
"Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you'll land among the stars." Should probably start listening to it.
The other one was "Music can change the world because it can change people"-Bono (Don't listen to a lot of U2 but I like this quote)