How to get a study score above 40?

[polomolo2405]

Hi guys  , I'm doing 3/4 Indonesian second language distance ed and was hoping if you guys have any tips on how to get a study score above 40?
How much does the SACS contribute to your final score?
I got 20/20 for my oral SAC, 19/20 for my writing SAC and 19.5/20 for my listening SAC. Do I have a chance of getting above 40?
Also, how do you prepare for your detailed study!? I'm so confused! I'm doing "anak jalanan" btw
Any replies would be greatly appreciated! thanks! 

[emilyb4398888]

I am studying Italian and the biggest tip my teacher ever gave us was to love the language. Passion will take your further than any amount of study. Your results are awesome ... 40 and above is definitely in reach. Keep it up!

[literally lauren]

Hi guys  , I'm doing 3/4 Indonesian second language distance ed and was hoping if you guys have any tips on how to get a study score above 40?
How much does the SACS contribute to your final score?
I got 20/20 for my oral SAC, 19/20 for my writing SAC and 19.5/20 for my listening SAC. Do I have a chance of getting above 40?
Also, how do you prepare for your detailed study!? I'm so confused! I'm doing "anak jalanan" btw
Any replies would be greatly appreciated! thanks! 

Hi there! It's been a while since I did Indo, but here's some general advice.

SACs make up 50% of your overall mark; 25% for Unit 3 and 25% for Unit 4. The final written exam is worth 37.5 and the oral is worth 12.5, making the whole exam score the other 50%

From the Study Design:



However, there is a lot of standardising and moderation that happens with language subjects. I'm not too sure about the details (maybe pop by the Technical Score Discussion Board and ask one of those geniuses!) but my general advice is to refrain from obsessing over numbers and processes you have little control over and instead focus on improving your skills and understanding.

So, to answer your question, those kinds of marks would well and truly put you on track for a 40+. I'm not sure whether distance ed marking scheme is more stringent or lax than other schools, but if you feel like you're pretty fluent in the language, then you can be assured of a decent result.

For your detailed study, start by accumulating a lot of information if you haven't already. It can be in either English or Indo, but the aim is to expose yourself to as much content and as many perspectives as possible. Anak jalanan is a pretty common topic, which means the oral assessors are probably going to be well-equipped at throwing curveballs at you to try and throw you off and test your improv skills.

In case your distance ed teacher hasn't gone through this yet, your detailed study assessment at the end of the year will consist of a one minute introduction (i.e. you just speak for a solid minute, fleshing out the basic details of your topic, maybe explaining why you chose it, and giving them a rough idea of the three major points you focused on in your research.) Then, there'll be about six or seven minutes of back and forth between you and the assessors where they ask you questions, and you have to respond.

Some of these will be things you can prepare for because they'll be quite predictable (e.g. 'Apakah isunya mempengaruhi baik Australia dan Indonesia?' atau 'Menurut pendapat Anda, apa yang dilakukan atas mengatasi masalah ini.') Others might surprise you, which is what the assessors want My topic was on 'Perbedaan antara Bahasa Inggris dan Bahasa Indonesia,' so I had a whole bunch of research on the grammatical and lexical differences and on how the languages had evolved... but about four minutes in, one of my assessors was like 'apakah Anda sudah pergi ke Indonesia?' and I was like  But your ability to think on your feet and respond to such left-of-field questions is exactly what they're looking for.

My best recommendation (for language learning in general, actually) is that you immerse yourself frequently. This might be hard to do unless you know someone else who speaks the language, but if you do, make a point to chat with them in Indonesian or maybe set aside time to do so (e.g. every Tuesday when you get home from school until dinner time, you speak to your older sibling in Indonesian, or every Wednesday lunchtime and spare period, you and your two Indo friends aren't allowed to use any English).

Alternatively, if no one you know is studying the same language, or if none of them are keen on immersion (or if you're just antisocial like me) then...

- LISTEN to the language as often as possible. SBS Radio do a half hour of news in most major languages each day; there are also a tonne of great Indo podcasts you can download (let me know if you're interested!) Other than that, songs, movies, and just random videos are all great exposure to different words, accents, and registers.

- READ as many different forms of the language as you can. Newspapers, legal documents, short stories, song lyrics, tweets, anything! This may also end up helping you in your writing tasks if you're looking to emulate a certain genre. Even just plastering your bedroom walls with some vocab words can help you grow more accustomed to tricky words or concepts.

- THINK in the language sometimes. This is really hard to do, especially if Indo is the only language you know aside from English. It's also quite mentally exhausting to force yourself to stick to the language, but setting aside a half hour window where you only use Indonesian in your brain is one of the most effective ways of learning and testing yourself. Make a list of all the things you can't express, or any words you don't know, and you can look them all up later. Likewise, if you have a certain thought and you're not sure whether it's grammatical, or you don't know if you can use a certain word in that context, note it down and check it later, or ask your teacher if you're still unsure.

Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any questions!

[polomolo2405]

I am studying Italian and the biggest tip my teacher ever gave us was to love the language. Passion will take your further than any amount of study. Your results are awesome ... 40 and above is definitely in reach. Keep it up!

Hey!! thanks a lot for your reply! it really boosted my confidence and I really hope you'll do well in Italian as well! 

[polomolo2405]

be well-equipped at throwing curveballs at you to try and throw you off and test your improv skills.

Thanks a lot for your lengthy reply!  it really helps a lot! I was just wondering from your experience, whether I should do a detailed study that will challenge myself and where it isn't such a broad topic as well.  The Indonesian seminar that I went to last month showed that 70% of the class is doing ''anak jalanan''  and none is doing ''TKW or TKI'' (labor workers) (out of 40 people). I'm still able to change my detailed study and is encouraged to choose TKW as well. Although, I chose ''anak jalanan'' because it is such an easy topic to do and is guaranteed for such a high grade (?). But now that I found out the oral examiners will actually be well-equipped as it is such a broad topic, and will somehow tend to make it harder compare to other topics? I'm thinking of changing my detailed study.
The other options that are given are ''Anak jalanan'' ''TKW or TKI'' ''Kehutanan'' and ''kemacetan Jakarta''

I'm so sorry if its such a long and confusing question. I never did 1/2 Indonesian before and is confused on how the system works! 

Oh, if its alright, I'm also very interested to the podcasts that you mentioned earlier!   

[literally lauren]

Thanks a lot for your lengthy reply!  it really helps a lot! I was just wondering from your experience, whether I should do a detailed study that will challenge myself and where it isn't such a broad topic as well.  The Indonesian seminar that I went to last month showed that 70% of the class is doing ''anak jalanan''  and none is doing ''TKW or TKI'' (labor workers) (out of 40 people). I'm still able to change my detailed study and is encouraged to choose TKW as well. Although, I chose ''anak jalanan'' because it is such an easy topic to do and is guaranteed for such a high grade (?). But now that I found out the oral examiners will actually be well-equipped as it is such a broad topic, and will somehow tend to make it harder compare to other topics? I'm thinking of changing my detailed study.
The other options that are given are ''Anak jalanan'' ''TKW or TKI'' ''Kehutanan'' and ''kemacetan Jakarta''

I'm so sorry if its such a long and confusing question. I never did 1/2 Indonesian before and is confused on how the system works! 

Oh, if its alright, I'm also very interested to the podcasts that you mentioned earlier!   

No worries!
It's definitely not too late to change your detailed study, especially if you haven't done much work for AJ yet. I'm not sure what the rules will be for you, but we were told that we could choose any topic we liked, provided we got our teacher's approval. There were a few recommendations (e.g. Penggundulan Hutan, Cara Jiwa Perdagangan, atau Politik Indonesia) but we were also free to go our own way. If that's the case for you, then I'd recommend looking into whatever you find most interesting about the language/culture/lifestyle, or just whatever you're interested in generally (e.g. the environment, economics, social media, endangered species, whatever!)

If you have to choose between AJ, TKW/TKI, kehutanan, dan kemacetan, the same advice applies: which of those do you find most interesting?

I don't think any topic could be counted as 'easy' since you'll likely have to do the same amount of work and preparation regardless. In fact, the only thing that would make this Area of Study substantially easier would be if you were to choose something you were interested in or passionate about. You're definitely not 'guaranteed a higher grade' just based on the topic you choose - it's all about the language abilities you can demonstrate.

I don't doubt that there'd be a heap of information about AJ (and perhaps even some VCE specific stuff like drafts or sample questions and answers from other students' studies) but you won't be compromising much if you choose something else instead.

No matter whether you're choosing the same topic as the majority of the state or a totally unique one they've never heard before, they'll still try and throw those curveballs at you, and you'll still have to prepare for all sorts of potential avenues of discussion. I tend to lean more in favour of unique stuff since it means you can control the discussion a bit more (e.g. when talking about the perbedaan bahasa, I tried to set out three clear focal points... can't remember what they are now... but I did that to provide the assessors with the groundwork to ask relevant questions. Unfortunately for me, they went off on their own tangents anyway but so long as you know your topic inside out and don't get too flustered by bizarre questions like 'apakah pendapat Anda berbeda jika Anda dibesarkan di Indonesia?' then you should be fine!)

PODCASTS:
- SBS Indonesian Radio: can't recommend this one enough (but I'm biased... if the archives go back long enough, you might hear me on some old episodes from ~2012-2013 )
- BBC Indonesian Radio: also another really great source, and can help you stay up to date with current affairs too.
- Apps Coast: is like a lowkey Indonesian version of TED Talks; they're all about technology and entrepreneurship, so there's quite a bit of highly specific terminology that won't directly help you (and there's a lot of clunky English thrown in there like 'oh ya, saya menggunakan FACEBOOK dan TWITTER sehari-hari' ) but it's good for a mix of speeches and conversational flow.
- Indo Progress: is a pretty prolific publication that do a variety of opinion pieces and feature articles - they used to have audio versions back in the day but it looks like they're more written-based now.
- Open Democracy: also do podcasts occasionally, and have a lot of decent articles about social issues and current affairs.

Unfortunately the two big ones I used to listen to in Year 12 have gone off-air and they don't seem to have uploaded previous episodes online anywhere The news stations are probably your best bet now, but you can also just google 'podcast bahasa indonesia tentang ____' and chuck some key words in there to see if anything crops up about politics, culture, environmental issues, etc.

[polomolo2405]

No worries!
It's definitely not too late to change your detailed study, especially if you haven't done much work for AJ yet. I'm not sure what the rules will be for you, but we were told that we could choose any topic we liked, provided we got our teacher's approval. There were a few recommendations (e.g. Penggundulan Hutan, Cara Jiwa Perdagangan, atau Politik Indonesia) but we were also free to go our own way. If that's the case for you, then I'd recommend looking into whatever you find most interesting about the language/culture/lifestyle, or just whatever you're interested in generally (e.g. the environment, economics, social media, endangered species, whatever!)

If you have to choose between AJ, TKW/TKI, kehutanan, dan kemacetan, the same advice applies: which of those do you find most interesting?

I don't think any topic could be counted as 'easy' since you'll likely have to do the same amount of work and preparation regardless. In fact, the only thing that would make this Area of Study substantially easier would be if you were to choose something you were interested in or passionate about. You're definitely not 'guaranteed a higher grade' just based on the topic you choose - it's all about the language abilities you can demonstrate.

I don't doubt that there'd be a heap of information about AJ (and perhaps even some VCE specific stuff like drafts or sample questions and answers from other students' studies) but you won't be compromising much if you choose something else instead.

No matter whether you're choosing the same topic as the majority of the state or a totally unique one they've never heard before, they'll still try and throw those curveballs at you, and you'll still have to prepare for all sorts of potential avenues of discussion. I tend to lean more in favour of unique stuff since it means you can control the discussion a bit more (e.g. when talking about the perbedaan bahasa, I tried to set out three clear focal points... can't remember what they are now... but I did that to provide the assessors with the groundwork to ask relevant questions. Unfortunately for me, they went off on their own tangents anyway but so long as you know your topic inside out and don't get too flustered by bizarre questions like 'apakah pendapat Anda berbeda jika Anda dibesarkan di Indonesia?' then you should be fine!)

PODCASTS:
- SBS Indonesian Radio: can't recommend this one enough (but I'm biased... if the archives go back long enough, you might hear me on some old episodes from ~2012-2013 )
- BBC Indonesian Radio: also another really great source, and can help you stay up to date with current affairs too.
- Apps Coast: is like a lowkey Indonesian version of TED Talks; they're all about technology and entrepreneurship, so there's quite a bit of highly specific terminology that won't directly help you (and there's a lot of clunky English thrown in there like 'oh ya, saya menggunakan FACEBOOK dan TWITTER sehari-hari' ) but it's good for a mix of speeches and conversational flow.
- Indo Progress: is a pretty prolific publication that do a variety of opinion pieces and feature articles - they used to have audio versions back in the day but it looks like they're more written-based now.
- Open Democracy: also do podcasts occasionally, and have a lot of decent articles about social issues and current affairs.

Unfortunately the two big ones I used to listen to in Year 12 have gone off-air and they don't seem to have uploaded previous episodes online anywhere The news stations are probably your best bet now, but you can also just google 'podcast bahasa indonesia tentang ____' and chuck some key words in there to see if anything crops up about politics, culture, environmental issues, etc.

Ah!! I see! honestly, thank you so much for your advices! you really helped a lot!! 

I think the topic that interests me the most is TKW and how many workers overseas are treated unfairly and are receiving mental/physical abuses. It's such a big topic, but yet seems to be ignored by the majority of Indo people.

I listened to one of the podcast,(SBS Indonesian radio) and they speak so fast!  I really gotta improve my Indo skills before the exams come up!

Once again, thank you so much for your help!! 

[literally lauren]

Haha, you're very welcome!

If TKW is the thing that interests you the most, then definitely stick with that. Hopefully you'll be able to find sufficient resources online.

Yeah, the speed of native/fluent speakers on SBS is definitely above that of VCE-level listening tasks, but even just trying to keep up and only understanding two out of every ten words can increase your language processing capabilities significantly. And as you gradually adjust to that level of difficulty, you'll likely find VCE tasks much more manageable.

Best of luck with everything! Drop by if you have any more questions

[dan_hari2000]

Hi, I'm also doing anak jalanan for my detailed study and I was just wondering if there is anyone that could help me on this topic.
it would be very much appreciated if someone could give me some tips, facts or notes for anak jalanan.

thanks 

[polomolo2405]

Hi, I'm also doing anak jalanan for my detailed study and I was just wondering if there is anyone that could help me on this topic.
it would be very much appreciated if someone could give me some tips, facts or notes for anak jalanan.

thanks 

Hey sorry I just read your reply!

I received a 49 last year and I could tutor you for free if you want! Message me