Pick up advanced again

[clovvy]

Hi guys, 
This situation is really odd because I am an ex-advanced student who dropped to standard english only to realise that I find hardly any differences in terms of difficulty...  I only got 11/20 for my first english assessment which is an AOS assessment (I was already in standard at this point)...  Right now I am working the best of my ability for english and I notice that it is taking up a lot of my time and it gets frustrating, because when I get my drafts done it never got checked by my teacher while she checked other student's essays instead even though they finish theirs much later than me....  This kinda anger me because I want to do really well..... I find myself getting frustrated over dropping even when i tried not to remember it or even think about it... Even if I was able to pick it up again I never studied the advanced texts AT ALL and I will be getting very VERY limited time to do all the assessments and study all of the advanced texts that I missed as well as studying their modules (I am familiar with discovery, I just need to polish my essays further)....  Any thoughts guys? Thanks

[Potatohater]

Sounds like if English is really so much of a struggle for you it's not worth trying to get back in advanced. As you said, it's gonna be a LOT of work to catch up and if the amount of effort you're putting in right now is too much, the transition back will be so much harder. I'd reccomend just focussing on smashing standard, and maybe talk to your teacher about her checking work and helping you, I'm sure she's not ignoring you on purpose. Good luck 

[clovvy]

True in a sense.....  I mean I do have a lot of dilemma,  I thought the standard teacher for the 'ex-advanced standard class' was really good, well she literally just spoonfed ALL the students in the class to the point that most just use the stuff that was already given away which makes it easier yet harder to make original analysis...  I still have a feeling that yr 11 I was not putting enough effort at all...  Now I am starting to see that my essay works better through hard personal analysis over spoonfeeding like this....  I am currently in that dilemma which is probably why I posted this in the first place...  (I don't hate english at all, but it can be confusing)...   I have heard that students are offered to move back up, I actually read NESA's handbook for hsc rules and I can somehow change my entries BEFORE the end of Term 2... Which is why I posted this...  The advanced essays in my cohort are not any better than the top standard class that I am in, and yes I feel like it is highly competitive there....  I am already competitive and I want a band 6, knowing that I am doing my best, I believe I can somehow achieve that but it is really hard with standard due to it tending to scale down

[jamonwindeyer]

True in a sense.....  I mean I do have a lot of dilemma,  I thought the standard teacher for the 'ex-advanced standard class' was really good, well she literally just spoonfed ALL the students in the class to the point that most just use the stuff that was already given away which makes it easier yet harder to make original analysis...  I still have a feeling that yr 11 I was not putting enough effort at all...  Now I am starting to see that my essay works better through hard personal analysis over spoonfeeding like this....  I am currently in that dilemma which is probably why I posted this in the first place...  (I don't hate english at all, but it can be confusing)...   I have heard that students are offered to move back up, I actually read NESA's handbook for hsc rules and I can somehow change my entries BEFORE the end of Term 2... Which is why I posted this...  The advanced essays in my cohort are not any better than the top standard class that I am in, and yes I feel like it is highly competitive there....  I am already competitive and I want a band 6, knowing that I am doing my best, I believe I can somehow achieve that but it is really hard with standard due to it tending to scale down

If you:

a) Are prepared to spend 20 hours catching up on reading your texts and understanding your modules on top of regular English work
b) Haven't noticed a difference in workload since dropping
c) Are allowed to go back

Then why not I guess! But in general I agree with PH, I think you'd be better off just hammering into Standard, going back to Advanced might be more work than you think it will

[clovvy]

Hi Jamon, while I was in stress, the principal noticed it and asked me what was wrong and I explained the situation...  He told me to go ahead and speak to the headteacher and told me not to be scared and take the risk (I was too scared to bring it up)...
 I actually spoke to my english headteacher about it (she is taking the one and only advanced class), she told me that I have missed too much therefore it is not ideal and surprisingly I did not get flat out turnes down (I did not beg or anything, I was only discussing in a civil manner)... Then the I happen to walk pass my principal again and asked how things are going for me, and I explained what happened... Then he told me that I should try my best and he knows that I am committed to work to the best of my ability therefore he will try to speak to the headteacher to consider letting me pick it up again somehow...   So I felt a lot more relieved... Yes I am prepared to read all the texts and catch up because I notice that there is no difference at all, the fact that I work WITH dilemmas and paranoia is not helping with standard... Knowing that the cohorts in advanced are not any better than my standard class, it is worth the risk I think

[jamonwindeyer]

Cool! If it is going to put you in a better place in your own head I think it's a good move, that's half the battle sometimes - Good luck!

[elysepopplewell]

I want to echo Jamon's point!

If you're constantly down in the dumps with Standard, then maybe by being under acute pressure to catch up into advanced would also lead you to feeling down, but when you've successfully caught up you could feel a real sense of achievement and your entire attitude to English would change for the long term. To me, it seems worth the risk to try and move into Advanced. But, you're also not in worst case scenario by being stuck in Standard.

Please keep us posted!

[clovvy]

After getting my hopes up for a moment (still with doubts),  the teacher is unwilling to take me...  My current teacher from standard was very frustrated when she learned about my intention to transition into advanced....  I have had a letter prepared and I do ask other teachers to help me put convince (the process is going to be very complicated).. Most said it's better not to try pick it up due to the workload, but also there are people out there who told me it is worth the risk and I should try it...  One of the teachers decided to help me out by giving me a pink form (subject change form) and told me to get my parents write a letter then he will try do something about it...  Sometime in the afternoon, the headteacher (who took the Advanced class) emailed me a feedback on my essay and told me I am looking at a 'high B' which means I still have a long way for a band 6 (for my current assessment)... At this time I am also considering TAFE (do my HSC there)

[elysepopplewell]

After getting my hopes up for a moment (still with doubts),  the teacher is unwilling to take me...  My current teacher from standard was very frustrated when she learned about my intention to transition into advanced....  I have had a letter prepared and I do ask other teachers to help me put convince (the process is going to be very complicated).. Most said it's better not to try pick it up due to the workload, but also there are people out there who told me it is worth the risk and I should try it...  One of the teachers decided to help me out by giving me a pink form (subject change form) and told me to get my parents write a letter then he will try do something about it...  Sometime in the afternoon, the headteacher (who took the Advanced class) emailed me a feedback on my essay and told me I am looking at a 'high B' which means I still have a long way for a band 6 (for my current assessment)... At this time I am also considering TAFE (do my HSC there)

Are you considering moving all of your HSC to tafe or are you talking about applying to do Advanced through tafe if they don't let you in your school?

[clovvy]

I am planning to move all of my HSC through TAFE (not too sure about this yet) but if I could pick it up at TAFE maybe I would...  If I do pathways then I'll take extension english and do my sciences the year after (which I am not too sure about either)...  Considering I bombed my first assessment (11/20), I am not sure if I should start all over again and finish this year at TAFE, do pathways there or just stay at school

[elysepopplewell]

I am planning to move all of my HSC through TAFE (not too sure about this yet) but if I could pick it up at TAFE maybe I would...  If I do pathways then I'll take extension english and do my sciences the year after (which I am not too sure about either)...  Considering I bombed my first assessment (11/20), I am not sure if I should start all over again and finish this year at TAFE, do pathways there or just stay at school

I'm not sure if it's possible to do a single academic subject through TAFE, that's why I asked. I don't know if you can or can't, I've never thought about it!

You've definitely got a lot on your plate to consider. If there's a career advisor at your school that you trust, maybe have a chat with them.

What would you like to do after the HSC?

[clovvy]

I'm not sure if it's possible to do a single academic subject through TAFE, that's why I asked. I don't know if you can or can't, I've never thought about it!

You've definitely got a lot on your plate to consider. If there's a career advisor at your school that you trust, maybe have a chat with them.

What would you like to do after the HSC?

Combined degree of Law/Advanced Science

[elysepopplewell]

Combined degree of Law/Advanced Science

Fantastic! What a goal!

One of our lecturers Maddie studies this at UNSW. If you're interested, she wrote about it here

[clovvy]

After getting turned down again and again, I decided to remain quiet until I get my second assessment result back (I am not going to write what happened here, it is in my HSC journal if interested)...  From the way it goes, it seems that my rank may not be as strong relative to everyone else in my class (not the whole cohort)...  Sometimes I do wonder if that band 6 in standard is still possible given that I got 11/20 for the first one whilst most in my class get 13 at worst (3 standard classes, average around 8/20)... Second assessment I probably did better but probably won't satisfy me (haven't got it back, just judging based on how I go inside the exam room)