sodacat's vce voyage ~

[sodacat_]

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

[KenW]

Good Luck for 2022! Hopefully you can smash out Japanese!

[Scilover]

Good Luck for 2022! Hopefully you can smash out Japanese!

Good job! That's a really good ATAR!

[Scilover]

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?

[sodacat_]

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

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!

[sodacat_]

Good Luck for 2022! Hopefully you can smash out Japanese!

Thank you!

[Scilover]

Hello there! I'd be happy to give you some tips on self-studying

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. 

[Scilover]

BTW, how did you manage to skip a grade for language? How high does your language ability have to be to that?

[sodacat_]

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

[Scilover]

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!

[sodacat_]

That's really impressive! Great achievement!

Thank you! I'm hoping I can have the same dedication this year towards my studies haha

[Scilover]

Thank you! I'm hoping I can have the same dedication this year towards my studies haha

fingers crossed

[vehura]

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.

[sodacat_]

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.

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??'.

[sodacat_]

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!