ATAR Notes: Forum

VCE Stuff => Victorian Education Discussion => The VCE Journey Journal => Topic started by: sodacat_ on January 07, 2022, 08:54:52 pm

Title: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: sodacat_ on January 07, 2022, 08:54:52 pm
INTRODUCTION:
G'day everyone! I'm sodacat, I use she/her pronouns, I'll be entering Year 10 in 2022 and I'm extremely excited to start the tumultuous journey that is VCE! I've been scrolling about on ATAR Notes since late 2020, and I've only just made an account last year. I'm very much looking forward to posting about my on-goings across these years as I navigate the delights and difficulties that there will be in the next three years.

I personally indulge in quite a few things, I love reading, writing [creative writing, though I also love doing those analysis essays we do in English], crocheting, languages [Japanese is the language I'm learning and absolutely in love with, but it's fascinating to learn about the writing systems and such of other languages too!], history, listening to music and so much more! I've been studying Japanese since year 7 [it's the language my school does] and history has intrigued me for a long while now. I'm currently reading The Midnight Library and I've recently finished The Queen's Gambit (I absolutely loved the book and I cannot wait to watch the Netflix series). Some of my favourite albums to listen to right now are Mitski's 'Be The Cowboy', Placebo's 'Meds', Taylor Swift's 'Red [Taylor's Version, of course]' and MARINA's 'Electra Heart'!

VCE JAPANESE SL:
Japanese SL 1/2 is the subject I'll be doing this year, I'm looking forward to it! I have been self-studying for VCE Japanese since late year 8 [using resources that one of my teachers gave me and resources I've managed to find during my own self studying over year 9]. I completed semester 2 of Year 10 Japanese last semester with the year 10 class which was such an honour to do, especially considering that I was a year 9 at the time. Most of this was due to obsessive self studying. Apparently it isn't common to move up a year for languages, so I'm proud of my work ethic and where it got me.

Over the past few months I've been extremely burnt out, as I used to study every day and stick to a pretty intense routine which focused more on memorisation than immersion like I should've been doing. However, I plan on improving this with yet another new schedule/studying list. I'm hoping that using a new notebook will help my motivation. I plan on studying mainly the VCE content, then once that becomes advanced, going from there and studying using either Japanese Year Levels or JLPT instead [I'm trying to prevent using the JLPT system, I'd prefer my studying to be more broken up].

HISTORY SELF-STUDY:
I have plans to self study history units 1/2 this year, I am not sure how I am going to do it as of yet or whether I could find the resources, but I am really hoping that I can! History fascinates me and I've wanted to study more about it for an extremely long time. I'm hoping this self study will help me next year in making the transition to all my classes being VCE subjects less stressful for myself. Besides, it gives me something to do in my already pretty full day (my attention span is extremely short, so I often switch between tasks). I'm going to have my friend (who's doing History 1/2) to send me some resources throughout the year and hopefully that follows through.

SUBJECTS I HOPE TO DO NEXT YEAR:
English 1/2, Methods 1/2, Japanese 3/4, History 1/2, Psychology 1/2 and perhaps Literature 1/2?

OUTRO:
I'll be updating this journal [hopefully!] as often as possible, at first just chronicling my studies, then my results and other thoughts that I'm having throughout the week.
Have a lovely day everyone, and I look forward to seeing you in the next entry! <3 <3
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: KenW on January 07, 2022, 10:29:02 pm
Good Luck for 2022! Hopefully you can smash out Japanese!
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: Scilover on January 08, 2022, 10:24:40 am
Good Luck for 2022! Hopefully you can smash out Japanese!

Good job! That's a really good ATAR!
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: Scilover on January 08, 2022, 10:27:18 am
INTRODUCTION:
G'day everyone! I'm sodacat, I use she/her pronouns, I'll be entering Year 10 in 2022 and I'm extremely excited to start the tumultuous journey that is VCE! I've been scrolling about on ATAR Notes since late 2020, and I've only just made an account last year. I'm very much looking forward to posting about my on-goings across these years as I navigate the delights and difficulties that there will be in the next three years.

I personally indulge in quite a few things, I love reading, writing [creative writing, though I also love doing those analysis essays we do in English], crocheting, languages [Japanese is the language I'm learning and absolutely in love with, but it's fascinating to learn about the writing systems and such of other languages too!], history, listening to music and so much more! I've been studying Japanese since year 7 [it's the language my school does] and history has intrigued me for a long while now. I'm currently reading The Midnight Library and I've recently finished The Queen's Gambit (I absolutely loved the book and I cannot wait to watch the Netflix series). Some of my favourite albums to listen to right now are Mitski's 'Be The Cowboy', Placebo's 'Meds', Taylor Swift's 'Red [Taylor's Version, of course]' and MARINA's 'Electra Heart'!

VCE JAPANESE SL:
Japanese SL 1/2 is the subject I'll be doing this year, I'm looking forward to it! I have been self-studying for VCE Japanese since late year 8 [using resources that one of my teachers gave me and resources I've managed to find during my own self studying over year 9]. I completed semester 2 of Year 10 Japanese last semester with the year 10 class which was such an honour to do, especially considering that I was a year 9 at the time. Most of this was due to obsessive self studying. Apparently it isn't common to move up a year for languages, so I'm proud of my work ethic and where it got me.

Over the past few months I've been extremely burnt out, as I used to study every day and stick to a pretty intense routine which focused more on memorisation than immersion like I should've been doing. However, I plan on improving this with yet another new schedule/studying list. I'm hoping that using a new notebook will help my motivation. I plan on studying mainly the VCE content, then once that becomes advanced, going from there and studying using either Japanese Year Levels or JLPT instead [I'm trying to prevent using the JLPT system, I'd prefer my studying to be more broken up].

HISTORY SELF-STUDY:
I have plans to self study history units 1/2 this year, I am not sure how I am going to do it as of yet or whether I could find the resources, but I am really hoping that I can! History fascinates me and I've wanted to study more about it for an extremely long time. I'm hoping this self study will help me next year in making the transition to all my classes being VCE subjects less stressful for myself. Besides, it gives me something to do in my already pretty full day (my attention span is extremely short, so I often switch between tasks). I'm going to have my friend (who's doing History 1/2) to send me some resources throughout the year and hopefully that follows through.

SUBJECTS I HOPE TO DO NEXT YEAR:
English 1/2, Methods 1/2, Japanese 3/4, History 1/2, Psychology 1/2 and perhaps Literature 1/2?

OUTRO:
I'll be updating this journal [hopefully!] as often as possible, at first just chronicling my studies, then my results and other thoughts that I'm having throughout the week.
Have a lovely day everyone, and I look forward to seeing you in the next entry! <3 <3

Hi! I'm in the starting Year 10 in 2022 as well. I plan on doing VCE German, VCE Biology, VCE Chemistry, VCE Methods, VCE Specialist Maths and VCE English in Year 11 and 12. Any tips on self-studying for a language?
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: sodacat_ on January 08, 2022, 02:02:30 pm
Hi! I'm in the starting Year 10 in 2022 as well. I plan on doing VCE German, VCE Biology, VCE Chemistry, VCE Methods, VCE Specialist Maths and VCE English in Year 11 and 12. Any tips on self-studying for a language?
Hello there! I'd be happy to give you some tips on self-studying :D

SELF-STUDYING A LANGUAGE:

1. Motivation. I repeat. You need motivation. Otherwise giving up on the routine feels like a cycle, it quickly becomes exhausting and hard to do. I found I had a lack of motivation when my routine was too intense and too notes based and not goal oriented as such. I was studying from random sources that had no relevance to my goals. Which leads me to my next point.

2. Make a schedule of different sources to study each day, but it can't be intensive. An intensive schedule will lead you to be quickly exhausted. I did it for months and it did not work out. If you go too intense (especially from the start) you'll burn out very quickly for a very long time. So I recommend either scheduling smaller things everyday (if you want everyday practice) or scheduling actual study once every two days and a tiny daily routine for German that you keep to on the side.

3. Immersion. Immersion is extremely important and vital to learning a language. Things like (in your case) listening to German podcasts, reading German news or books, watching German videos, etc. Things like listening to an episode or two of a podcast in your target language every day on your bus commute can really increase your listening skills. It doesn't have to be too big or anything. For a long while, I didn't focus on Japanese immersion, I focused on intense memorisation and the consequences of that were that I would recognise things but forget what they meant or how to use them and I would forget the word whilst listening to Japanese stuff. You can also watch German TV shows and movies. There are channels on YouTube that do podcasts (I'll link some at the end of this reply)

4. Don't forget grammar. I know it's easy to get caught up in vocabulary and such, but grammar is vital as well!

5. Just a recommendation, not a requirement, but: install Anki. You'll thank me for it later. It's an app where you put flashcards in and you go through them each day with only a certain amount of new cards each day (and it'll give you a certain amount to revise) and you choose how easy it is and based off that, that's when the card will appear again. It's great for long-term study, so basically any vocab words you come across that are new (in reading or something) you can search up and add to your anki deck to learn later. It's a bit like an online dictionary. You can install it for free on your laptop or pay to install it on your phone.

6. Speaking practice is so important. Some forget about speaking practice (and listening practice) but it's equally vital and so important. Please don't forget it.

7. Take breaks when you need to. Establish healthy boundaries with your studies and don't persist when you're tired. Schedule in breaks in your head as a matter of fact, if you study without rest, you'll be exhausted and not have time for much else.

Some good resources for studying German (I presume that's the language you wish to self-study):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbxb2fqe9oNgglAoYqsYOtQ - A German Podcast for beginners that I found that seems promising (I don't know how advanced your school's German education is, so I'll include something for intermediate learners as well)
https://mydailygerman.com/websites-learn-german/ - A list of good resources for beginners, I recommend checking out resources 1, 3, 4, and 10 as they seem rather promising.
Also do check out atarnotes' VCE German SL section, I haven't personally seen it myself but there will inevitably be some amazing advice tailored to German or some amazing resources that will really help you!

Good luck on your VCE journey!
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: sodacat_ on January 08, 2022, 02:02:56 pm
Good Luck for 2022! Hopefully you can smash out Japanese!
Thank you! :D
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: Scilover on January 08, 2022, 03:12:04 pm
Hello there! I'd be happy to give you some tips on self-studying :D

SELF-STUDYING A LANGUAGE:

1. Motivation. I repeat. You need motivation. Otherwise giving up on the routine feels like a cycle, it quickly becomes exhausting and hard to do. I found I had a lack of motivation when my routine was too intense and too notes based and not goal oriented as such. I was studying from random sources that had no relevance to my goals. Which leads me to my next point.

2. Make a schedule of different sources to study each day, but it can't be intensive. An intensive schedule will lead you to be quickly exhausted. I did it for months and it did not work out. If you go too intense (especially from the start) you'll burn out very quickly for a very long time. So I recommend either scheduling smaller things everyday (if you want everyday practice) or scheduling actual study once every two days and a tiny daily routine for German that you keep to on the side.

3. Immersion. Immersion is extremely important and vital to learning a language. Things like (in your case) listening to German podcasts, reading German news or books, watching German videos, etc. Things like listening to an episode or two of a podcast in your target language every day on your bus commute can really increase your listening skills. It doesn't have to be too big or anything. For a long while, I didn't focus on Japanese immersion, I focused on intense memorisation and the consequences of that were that I would recognise things but forget what they meant or how to use them and I would forget the word whilst listening to Japanese stuff. You can also watch German TV shows and movies. There are channels on YouTube that do podcasts (I'll link some at the end of this reply)

4. Don't forget grammar. I know it's easy to get caught up in vocabulary and such, but grammar is vital as well!

5. Just a recommendation, not a requirement, but: install Anki. You'll thank me for it later. It's an app where you put flashcards in and you go through them each day with only a certain amount of new cards each day (and it'll give you a certain amount to revise) and you choose how easy it is and based off that, that's when the card will appear again. It's great for long-term study, so basically any vocab words you come across that are new (in reading or something) you can search up and add to your anki deck to learn later. It's a bit like an online dictionary. You can install it for free on your laptop or pay to install it on your phone.

6. Speaking practice is so important. Some forget about speaking practice (and listening practice) but it's equally vital and so important. Please don't forget it.

7. Take breaks when you need to. Establish healthy boundaries with your studies and don't persist when you're tired. Schedule in breaks in your head as a matter of fact, if you study without rest, you'll be exhausted and not have time for much else.

Some good resources for studying German (I presume that's the language you wish to self-study):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbxb2fqe9oNgglAoYqsYOtQ - A German Podcast for beginners that I found that seems promising (I don't know how advanced your school's German education is, so I'll include something for intermediate learners as well)
https://mydailygerman.com/websites-learn-german/ - A list of good resources for beginners, I recommend checking out resources 1, 3, 4, and 10 as they seem rather promising.
Also do check out atarnotes' VCE German SL section, I haven't personally seen it myself but there will inevitably be some amazing advice tailored to German or some amazing resources that will really help you!

Good luck on your VCE journey!

Thank you so much! I'm so glad you replied and your tips are really useful, I'm going through the sites right now.  :)
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: Scilover on January 08, 2022, 03:15:57 pm
BTW, how did you manage to skip a grade for language? How high does your language ability have to be to that?
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: sodacat_ on January 08, 2022, 05:43:52 pm
BTW, how did you manage to skip a grade for language? How high does your language ability have to be to that?
Well, I was in Year 9 and I self-studied a lot. I was getting the highest grade possible on all of my work as well as 100% on everything that I did. On my Semester 1 2021 report, I was mid Year 11 in Japanese. My Japanese teachers saw that in my assessments I was using some VCE level grammar and vocabulary, and they made a collective decision to put me into the year above solely for Japanese because the work was too easy where I currently was and I would be ahead of the kids in the year above me. I was two years ahead, hence, they requested for me to do it and I accepted. I only knew basic Japanese, but it was far higher than Year 9 standard. It isn't something typically done at my school, or I think anywhere really, not for languages. You need an INSANE amount of dedication to self-study to a higher standard.

And about the tips, it really is no problem! I'm always happy to help :)
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: Scilover on January 08, 2022, 05:55:11 pm
Well, I was in Year 9 and I self-studied a lot. I was getting the highest grade possible on all of my work as well as 100% on everything that I did. On my Semester 1 2021 report, I was mid Year 11 in Japanese. My Japanese teachers saw that in my assessments I was using some VCE level grammar and vocabulary, and they made a collective decision to put me into the year above solely for Japanese because the work was too easy where I currently was and I would be ahead of the kids in the year above me. I was two years ahead, hence, they requested for me to do it and I accepted. I only knew basic Japanese, but it was far higher than Year 9 standard. It isn't something typically done at my school, or I think anywhere really, not for languages. You need an INSANE amount of dedication to self-study to a higher standard.

And about the tips, it really is no problem! I'm always happy to help :)

That's really impressive! Great achievement!
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: sodacat_ on January 08, 2022, 06:09:56 pm
That's really impressive! Great achievement!
Thank you! :D I'm hoping I can have the same dedication this year towards my studies haha
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: Scilover on January 08, 2022, 06:15:53 pm
Thank you! :D I'm hoping I can have the same dedication this year towards my studies haha

fingers crossed :D
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: vehura on January 08, 2022, 10:26:50 pm
Hey sodacat! It’s nice to see another VCE journal pop up - welcome to ATARNotes!

Funnily enough, you actually sound a lot like me when I was in year 10. I accelerated Japanese in year 10, and was going to complete 3&4 in year 11, but was (luckily, for me) stopped by my frantic homeroom teacher because I really wasn’t that good. Lol! But it sounds like you’re completely on top of it and genuinely enjoy it, which is the best way to stay motivated. Was there a particular aspect of Japanese culture that drew you into wanting to learn the language, like TV drama or anime (like in my case  :-[)? Or was it just a general interest? I also did the JLPT in year 9; it’s a good thing to do in the lower year levels when you don’t have to juggle the extensive workload in years 11 and 12. So although it is definitely rigid in terms of expected knowledge (literally basically a checklist), I feel like it was a GOOD waste of my time (lol)

I also love Mitski, glad to see another mitski stan on the forums <3

I’m really looking forward to reading this journal - it’ll be super cool to look back on it once you’re done and see how much has changed in your life. ;D
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: sodacat_ on January 08, 2022, 11:54:57 pm
Hey sodacat! It’s nice to see another VCE journal pop up - welcome to ATARNotes!

Funnily enough, you actually sound a lot like me when I was in year 10. I accelerated Japanese in year 10, and was going to complete 3&4 in year 11, but was (luckily, for me) stopped by my frantic homeroom teacher because I really wasn’t that good. Lol! But it sounds like you’re completely on top of it and genuinely enjoy it, which is the best way to stay motivated. Was there a particular aspect of Japanese culture that drew you into wanting to learn the language, like TV drama or anime (like in my case  :-[)? Or was it just a general interest? I also did the JLPT in year 9; it’s a good thing to do in the lower year levels when you don’t have to juggle the extensive workload in years 11 and 12. So although it is definitely rigid in terms of expected knowledge (literally basically a checklist), I feel like it was a GOOD waste of my time (lol)

I also love Mitski, glad to see another mitski stan on the forums <3

I’m really looking forward to reading this journal - it’ll be super cool to look back on it once you’re done and see how much has changed in your life. ;D
Hi! Thank you for the kind words <3
I only started learning it because I had to for school, but I completely fell in love with the language itself actually, the culture kind of came after. Most of my motivation for studying Japanese is pure fascination with the actual language itself (I'm a bit of a language nerd haha). It was the way Japanese was written, the grammar, the way it rolls off the tongue when spoken, everything about that. In the lower year levels, I agree that it's good to do N5 or even N4 purely because it'll put you high enough to start VCE and you'll think of the beginning VCE work as easy without realising that it's actually a challenge for some.

I'm looking forward to putting more entries in this journal, I've always been bad at keeping diaries but I reckon I won't be so bad at this haha. I'll be in year 12 and I'll think 'whoa, I was like this in Year 10??'.
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: sodacat_ on January 09, 2022, 03:33:15 pm
UPDATE #1
G'day everyone! I hope we're all well <3
It's been a few days, so here's a small update on what I've been up to!

HISTORY SELF-STUDY:
I finally finished my history notes! I took these notes from a powerpoint that a friend sent me from his VCE History 1/2  holiday homework, the powerpoint was about empires and monarchies and such. I found myself particularly interested by the etymology of the different words, something unsurprising considering my love for languages. Did you know the word monarchy comes from the Greek word monarkhia which means "rule of one"? Just a little something I found interesting. I'm glad I finished these today, because I started them four days ago but didn't have the motivation to complete them all in the same day (I started them at around 1am on that day so no motivation). Three and a bit A4 pages later and I'm finally finished!

OTHER:
Japanese progress unfortunately is just not happening right now, I think I had to get the history out of the way first. I'm planning on trying to do more today!

I crocheted some more squares for the jumper I'm making, I'm using a wool that's a mix of various shades of brown as well as a single shade of red! It gives me a lot of autumn vibes haha, I adore crocheting, it's so relaxing! I like to listen to good music as I do it, it's very rhythmic.

I'm going to start reading Pride and Prejudice soon, which I look forward to! After I read it, I'm going to watch the series (the  1995 TV mini-series). I generally like to read the books before watching the movies/TV series, how about you?

That's about it! Not much has happened in the past couple of days, nothing really exciting. I hope to complete more Japanese work and fully transfer into that mindset within the next week. I'm awaiting anxiously for my local library to reopen so I can borrow plenty of books! Goodbye everyone!
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: sodacat_ on January 25, 2022, 10:47:44 pm
UPDATE #2
Hello everyone! It has been some time since I last updated, so here I am! The holidays have been a good time to relax, I have been staying up until 2am and sleeping in 'til 12! It is severely annoying my parents; however, I am enjoying myself!

JAPANESE:
I have finally garnered the motivation necessary to do some Japanese study! You know that feeling when you're finally at home? When you're so focused in on what you're doing because it feels right? That's what finally doing Japanese study in a new notebook felt like for me. I was so burnt out, for so long, then... I wasn't. I had taken my long break, it was enough. I am saddened to have lost some knowledge, I do admit. However, it wasn't as much as I thought it would be. Studying once more was a thrill, it was exciting. It felt like home, oddly enough, though I don't think it should have been able to affect me in that way. I love the sound the pencil makes when I practice kanji, I always try to make a beat whilst doing it (I used to do percussion and I practice each kanji 10 times so doing this again and again is extremely satisfying). I plan on studying more and more in the holidays, I hope to have brief coverage of Year 11. I want a good idea of what I'll be doing for my SACs, etc. Hopefully I can get high marks.

I do not have a huge cohort for Japanese, there are less than 10 kids in my class (myself, Year 11s and Year 12s included). This subject is probably one of the smallest, if not the smallest in my school. Japanese is not a popular subject at all, it's almost ridiculous. And I am not exactly excited about my teacher either, I haven't had him before but people I know have and he isn't looking too good... let's hope he teaches this subject well.

My study score aim for VCE Japanese... above a 40 would be nice. I'm aiming for that. I need to get onto the honour roll on this subject. I have people in my family (and perhaps some of my friends too) who are expecting me to achieve a raw 50. It's a lot of pressure, I hope I can make it through. Internally, I yearn for a 50, though it is not a realistic goal. I want to work as hard as possible in order to get high marks, ones I have the potential to achieve. Everyone has high expectations for me in Japanese, people were telling me last year that if I failed in the exam, they were fucked. When I got a 99% on said exam, my friend and perhaps a couple of others asked me where the 1% was. It's a lot to handle. But I'll try my best, I am trying my best.

OTHER:
I've been reading more lately, which is great! It's a good way to spend time, I've found, to immerse oneself in the pages. A way to escape reality for a little while. I've borrowed some books from the library, so I hope to do lots of reading in the final week of the holidays.

Tonight, I plan on doing the second powerpoint for my self-study of VCE History. I love History, it is such a great topic, and I hope this bit of studying can give me a push to ease myself into the apparently quite difficult subject next year.

I also plan on searching up about VCE English, another subject I want to do really good in!

I just want to have some relaxation this holidays, some fun~ I hope everyone is having some good ol' fun on their holidays! Enjoy yourselves everyone! <3
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: sodacat_ on February 28, 2022, 10:21:51 pm
UPDATE #3
It's been a long while since I've last been here! Whoo! G'day everyone, it has been a rather relaxing weekend (believe me, I am grateful for the extra day off that I had today). Life has been very busy! I'm just trying to have fun before it becomes nearly impossible and I get too worried to even think about enjoying myself.

JAPANESE:
Okay, so I am one of two students doing Year 11 Japanese. There are more Year 12s than 11s, which I expected. However, seeing that number in person compared to on a screen was a massive difference and the contrast was very stark. The good thing about having Year 12s in the same classroom is that I can listen and watch the Year 12 lectures and the things they're being taught (my teacher actively encourages me to listen in, to note it down and to participate in their lessons. it's so good!). Our first SAC is a speaking SAC :( speaking is one of my weakest points, I really will have to practice!

The content and the classwork has been easy, so far, which I expected. Going into this I knew that Year 11 would be easy and it would be Year 12 that I found very hard to do. All I'm grateful for was that I'm doing it earlier so I can give it all my focus next year instead of having to do it along with other 3/4 subjects. It was actually quite wise, I think.

I have not studied. At all. I have been extremely unmotivated, I am even struggling to find the motivation to do something as simple as my homework (pretty small, pretty easy). I could do it, I just don't have that motivation to. I keep putting it off. "I'll do it next week, I'll do it Monday, I'll do it tomorrow." And it always leaves me doing it the night before, which is a nuisance.

I am not looking forward to this SAC, I want an A. No, I need an A. But I find no motivation to practice. I just hope that I manifest it soon or I'm screwed. :(

MY OTHER SUBJECTS:
They're all going well, I'm having a surprisingly good time with all of them this year (even math!). I am enjoying English the most, I think. I really like the teacher and I have a really close mate in that class who's great at English and he supports me and is willing to read over my work and stuff when I need it (and I do the same for him). It works very well academically. I just wish we'd do more writing and less analysing, the analysing is getting boring, I just want to write stories!!

OTHER:
Life isn't too bad right now, I have a lot of books on my to-read list that I have to get through. Right now I'm reading Little Disasters by Sarah Vaughan - it's got me hooked!

Tonight I'm also going to procrastinate everything I need to do and busy myself by answering loads of PIP questionnaires (for the HSC Culture and Society subject, I think it is). I already answered one and it was very thought provoking, I enjoyed it very much. I shall answer quite a few more, I hope they have helped the people who made the questionnaires!!

I will try to update this once a week, or once every two weeks, depending on how ~eventful~ it has been.
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: sodacat_ on March 14, 2022, 06:32:05 pm
UPDATE #4
Hi everyone, I have so much schoolwork to do and I've been very busy. I went out with friends today, which was ridiculously fun. I am absolutely screwed, I have my Japanese SAC, my History assignment and an English assignment all due within the week. The only one I have any motivation to complete is my English assignment, which is creative writing. I was super excited with the idea for this one.

JAPANESE:
My SAC is tomorrow. It is a speaking SAC, my weakest area. I am absolutely and most utterly screwed. I did some practice yesterday but I'm going to do even more today. We have to have a conversation with our teacher about our summer holidays. I've prepared a rough script for it based off of the questions my teacher said were going to be asked (we have a task sheet). I'm trying to 'take control' of the conversation and force the conversation to float naturally.

My goal is to achieve a Very High, though a High would be decent too. For me, it is important to score high in Japanese especially because it scales so well. It will be the one to lift my ATAR so I have to work at it very hard.

I'm very nervous, please wish me luck for tomorrow!

MY OTHER SUBJECTS:
I am enjoying most of my subjects so far, even if Health just is an easy pass and nothing more than that. English and History are the ones I'm enjoying the most, and the two I happen to have assignments in. We're finally writing in English, we're doing our creative writing assignment - which I'm stoked about. I have to remind myself that I have other work which needs to be prioritised over it.

For History, I have to research WW1 and write like 3000 words on 6 different points if I want a high grade. Let's hope I get a high grade - I have worked too hard on this assignment not to!

OTHER:
Not much more to do other than practice. Wish me luck! <3
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: jinx_58 on March 14, 2022, 08:50:20 pm
Oooo, Japanese seems so cool! Good luck fellow sailor! You've got this!

 - jinx_58
Title: Re: sodacat's vce voyage ~
Post by: sodacat_ on July 10, 2022, 10:17:07 pm
UPDATE #4
Guess who's back after who knows how many months... me! I apologise for being gone for so long, I kind of forgot that I had an ATAR notes account :/ ... whoops. Anyway, I'll be summarising how I've done in the past few months with this post! My mental health hasn't been the best lately, but I'm trying to live through it.

JAPANESE:

As I'm sure you'll know, I'm doing SL Japanese as my accelerated Units 1&2. I am lucky enough to have good grades despite having only studied it like once this year and often rushing or not handing in my homework. I know I need to work harder because it's going to get difficult, but I find sitting down and studying difficult. Despite this, I will try my best! Now that I'm on holidays, I have finished my three SACs and midterm exam for this subject.

SAC 1 (Speaking) - High
SAC 2 (Reading & writing in test conditions) - High
SAC 3 (Creating a presentation) - Very High [Very high is the highest grade for SACs at my school, not sure if other schools use this system]
Exam - 98%

My feelings about these results are neutral. I don't care too much since Year 11 doesn't matter much for this subject and this unit was an easy one. I know that I could have gotten a very high if I tried harder but that didn't end up happening... it never does. My attention span is low and my ability to concentrate is also shockingly low. I could work harder, but I can't. I keep getting told to imagine how much higher my grades would be if I actually studied. But I'm trying my best, and that's all I can ask myself for.

UPDATE ON SUBJECTS I WANT TO DO:

Remember how I said something about wanting to do Psych?

Heh. Psych has been replaced! My desired subjects for next year are - English, Methods, Spesh, Japanese, Revs and Applied Computing. I've taken a strong interest in IT and coding and such. I'm going to be teaching myself Python and reteach myself the basic Python and Java I learned last year and the year before. Hopefully it all goes well!