Hey Pep!
First of all, welcome to AN and I'm absolutely loving your journal already! ;DSpoilerPutting this in a spoiler because I have a lot to write about SEAS.
For SEAS, the support statement is meant to be someone that has known of the problems for about 12 months (So in this case, if you have talked about the problem a year ago and haven't brought it up again, it should be fine!). You will just have to be sure that the person who writes your support statement is over 21 and not family-related (and for category 3/4, is alright with writing a statement for you and can describe how it has affected your education). For Category 3 and/or 4, depending on the situation, you may need to get some medical/legal documents to support your claim, so if you are thinking about applying I would highly suggest starting to find the pieces you need for your application. (I'm applying for both of these too so I can relate to the struggles as well as the stress associated with trying to get paperwork and the appropriate responsible person to put this application together). I highly recommend that if you do plan to put an application in, you talk to someone that has known about your problem and possibly ask if they would like to be your support statement? That might be a good first step because it does get more stressful when applications open and you panicking last minute to get everything together? (If you want someone to talk to just give me a message💕)
Good luck for your English SAC next week! I did Women of Troy for my creative and I must say, that text for me was REALLY hard (I didn't understand anything). I'm absolutely positive that you will do amazing in your SAC and I 100% believe in you that you will be fine. Also, good luck for your Chinese SAC! Languages in VCE sounds super hard, let alone having SACs back to back for it must be a nightmare in a way.
Make sure you have a relaxing holiday and a long-deserved break after those SACs! ;D Hope you have a lovely week and be pumped for holidays just around the corner ;)
Thank you! I love reading your journal too- sounds like you got your life together so it's pretty inspirational
I can't imagine doing Women of Troy as a creative, it seems confusing as is to do as a text response. But then again at the same time, everything's a struggle for me to begin with lmAo
In terms of SEAS- thank you! Read this and then went ahead with an email to my psychologist from last year ;D I wonder how it'll go. Or I could just ask a teacher I suppose, but it's a bit weird knowing that someone who sees you everyday knows your situation? Maybe just me I guess. I wish you the best for your SEAS application!!
It's a shame that restrictions are tighter again, I was looking forward to going to parks with my friends on the holidays. Guess I'll just be at home playing random video games I find again- or maybe Valorant? I think it was produced by the same company that made LoL so I'd assume graphics and whatnot would be good~
Hope your holiday plans are going better than how mine are looking ;)
Welcome to the forums!SEASMy difficult circumstances statement was written by someone in the school's wellbeing team. They knew me for over 12 months but only learnt about my circumstances while I was in year 12. I was referred to this person by my psych teacher which meant my psych teacher knew about what I was going through as well and imo it wasn't awkward for them to know just really nerve wracking to tell them.
I think a psychologist or teacher are both good options to have write a supporting statement.
I hope you get some good relaxation in and your holidays pan out better than you hope :)
I've been researching/thinking about uni courses lately and I feel like nothing's really much of an interest. I started off wanting to do vet like a couple years ago, but then I seriously doubt- I literally know- I wouldn't be able to put down the animals. Then I gradually started to get on the med train, but realistically I know I would hate it LOL (I know some people love it, but it's just not my passion man). I've been looking at law, computer science, health science and engineering. But truth is nothing from that list interests me besides a few aspects from each- and I really don't think I'd be built for the long term to have a stable job in a couple of those fields anyway. I think with each passing day my expectations just get lower and lower? Besides courses, I don't even know what uni I want to go to. Everyone seems to want to go to Monash but I'm starting to head on towards Deakin?? I've heard too many opinions from both sides to be able to make a decision for myself anymore LOL. I know it ends up just depending on yourself but there's so many pros from both that I don't even know anymore.Mind letting us know what you like and dislike about the courses you mentioned above and what you’re looking for in a course? And, if you like, describe some of your hobbies/ interests? Perhaps one of us on the forum can help suggest something or, if one of us do the course (since there’s quite a few uni students/ grads here), maybe we can describe our own experiences. :)
Chinese SL
I'll probably write essays in preparation for the next AOS and memorise my GC + maybe detail study. Though I reckon memorising GC would be the most important since I've fallen behind and I've only really memorised like half of the first category.
SpoilerMind letting us know what you like and dislike about the courses you mentioned above and what you’re looking for in a course? And, if you like, describe some of your hobbies/ interests? Perhaps one of us on the forum can help suggest something or, if one of us do the course (since there’s quite a few uni students/ grads here), maybe we can describe our own experiences. :)
Hey!! Thank you for so much advice!!SpoilerHey Pep, really liking your journal :D
For essays, if you have a SAC-filled week, you can even just do essay plans or spider diagrams of what you may discuss or write about for that essay question. Don't be too stressed in having set responses to some for your GC. You might want to have a few phrases up your sleeve that you can apply to a broad range of questions to kickstart the conversation (then add in the relevant info or what a teacher I once had called 'the meat' you need to provide for that specific question, e.g. leisurely activities in your spare time and most importantly your subjective viewpoints, which examiners want.
Some examiners might have a slight prejudice towards memorised parts or responses, so chucking in some relevant Chinese interjections (you can even use them when there's a tough question, to give yourself some time to give a 'sound' answer or keep the flow of the conversation going) will make your oral exam more of a conversation than a job interview and make the whole conversation less awkward for you and the examiners, and make you sound more genuine and even less scripted believe it or not.
Having a few phrases that are interchangeable, can allow you more time to prepare for your detailed study (where you want solid sentence structures, encompassing, a bit more presentation-like and get to your points fast (like when people are giving a pitch to sell something) so that you can give examiners a chance to ask questions and take a breather in processing what you've talked about. You can better show your attention to detail and efforts you've made in studying your topic/person.
Oh, in case if you haven't been told already. If you do make a mistake, correct yourself in Chinese, you won't get marks deducted and if you're not 'making a bit deal about it' you may even pick up some marks (obviously don't do this just for marks, but think of it as something to keep the conversation going).
When describing something using idioms or even adjectives, the examiners may ask you to explain them so make sure you have a clear example/s to use in your explanation, synonym/s or description in mind so that you can explain it in a way that is succinct and easy to understand. Other than preparing for the advised topics that may be asked on the oral examination, you should also be preparing the way you present yourself visually. Such as your facial expressions and body posture (i.e. to show confidence and sincerity). If you have a considerably large mirror at home or at school (that you can see the reflection of you sitting on a chair), you may want to practice e.g. facial expressions (yes very important), hand movements, head tilts, shoulder movements, and the slouched position when talking about something sad and etc. Yes, this is not a VCE Drama solo, but psychology is equally important to your fluency in the language. So don't neglect simple manners and kind gestures too.
Also, you might want to have a look at how natives (make sure they're from the main cities in Mainland China and conversing in Standard Mandarin, yeah there's an unofficial bias unfortunately) interact with each other in day-to-day conversations and pay attention to what sort of subtleties are commonly present in people's expression and overall demeanor.
Hey!! Thank you for so much advice!!
I've asked so many people and no one really knows what they did to pass 3/4 chinese nor how they did so that was helpful ;D I didn't know that you were allowed to make mistakes and correct them? I thought once you made a mistake that was it so that was really nice to know that I'm allowed to screw up- comforting more than anything considering I have like 2 months left until GC/detail study
I'll start looking at how regular mainland chinese people converse starting today then I suppose
Thank you again :D
eeeee late reply but here!!Thanks for replying!
Computer science
I'm interested in coding and building software!! But I feel as though I need to be super passionate in it to survive through otherwise I'd want to switch courses or drop out? Also I feel as though you need a certain degree of creativity (that I don't have lmAo) to create things that might be required in the course
Nursing
I don't mind the helping people part- but the thought of getting used to other people's bodily fluids puts me off a little? I can handle blood 100% but seeing other stuff,,, I'm not sure? The one I'm mostly interested in is becoming an anaesthetist but I'm sure that I still have to go through regular practicing first so... yeah I'm not sure AHAH
Health Sciences
I want to do something that doesn't limit me to an office? I'd hate to be stuck just sitting with a computer the whole day. Clinical research still sounds pretty good though! There are so many issues I'd like to fix if I happened to become one. Though I feel the course may or may not be similar to nursing (?)
Engineering
Now if I WAS cut out for this course, I 100% would! I love the idea of building things from the structure of it to the functionality- but I don't think I'm prepared to be set down to do 40 hours of study every week just to keep up- and the mathematical aspect or even the physics aspect worries me. If it wasn't such an intense course from what I read- this would have been what I aimed for lol.
Marketing/business in general
I like seeing how businesses work- but the idea of opening one up only for it to fail sounds daunting. I understand that the people who are the most successful take the most risks- but I'm not prepared for constant failure so...
Even if the course prepares you for the job, I don't think I'd be a reliable person to predict analytics or anything? Though I do think that this might be the most "chill" course I've looked at (at least from the descriptions and research I've done so far but I'm not a uni student so)
Overall
Mostly I'm interested in things that allow socialisation with people, building things from scratch (even like research), and solving problems that aren't math ;D I'm not really picky because I'm willing to adapt to whatever haha
Thanks for replying!
I’m not so good in the business/ computer science/ engineering areas, so hopefully someone in those areas can offer more suitable advice there. However, I can offer some insight into the Health Sciences and biological research, although in the latter I focused on ecological/ evolutionary biology and population genetics (where I focused on mathematical models in a biological context). I know quite a number of science/ health science jobs that aren’t limited to an office (the ones I’m thinking of are usually lab/ hospital/ part lab part office), so if that interests you, please PM me about that and I’ll be happy to answer there. :)
In terms of courses, I’d perhaps look into overlapping sections, perhaps a double degree or compromise between two major areas e.g. biotechnology or software engineering, might be more for you?
No problem Peppie :D also you should be looking to have your GC and DS polished by September I could schedule in a mock oral with you at some point if you want, PM if you're taking up this offer and I'll even give some tailored feedback :)
And on that note...
General thoughts ★
I'm really sorry if you were hoping to read a journal that belonged to someone who was aiming for a super high ATAR but really it's just an average/moderate/middle child journal that's really just there to remind myself I actually need to do things to even PASS vce at this point :"D l
On this week: Architecture!I applied for Monash Architecture back in the day and got an interview, then proceeded to never find out the outcome because I got a higher preference. Be sure to check out when the selection task is and when it’s due, as it’s close to exams! (It might not be due to the coronavirus though... but you should at least have a look at it when it comes, so you don’t miss anything crucial!)
I just had a long talk with my parents on what to do, and I guess now I'm aiming for architecture?? I'm mostly aiming for monash because I really like their campus- but I should probably look at how the courses are for different unis...
Idk how to quote more stuffYou can re-click the quote button more than once and/ or delete the sections don’t want to include in the quote.
Thank you for the response!! I'm not good with replying :')With memorising what exactly is the strategy your using?
Ahhh that honestly eases my stress (only by September?? People were telling me that I should have had it all done by July) ,, I really just want to get a 35 but with my unit 3 scores (haven't gotten them yet but honestly I doubt it's over 70 :/) so I guess I'll have to really pray on my oral
I'll definitely PM you at some point when I'm ready if that's okay!! I'm looking to have memorised everything by next month but I'm not sure how capable I am because my strategy of memorising is super slow
But thank you so much for the offer ;D
This is me I’m like a ~mid~ range person maybe even a low.... Everyone on here is such high achievers, it’s so easy to feel out of place. But you belong here because you work so hard just like everyone else I think you fit right in :)
Idk how to quote more stuff but it’s good to hear your coming back from unit 3!!!!!! Your gonna acheive your goals (whatever they may be next week haha)
I applied for Monash Architecture back in the day and got an interview, then proceeded to never find out the outcome because I got a higher preference. Be sure to check out when the selection task is and when it’s due, as it’s close to exams! (It might not be due to the coronavirus though... but you should at least have a look at it when it comes, so you don’t miss anything crucial!)
You can re-click the quote button more than once and/ or delete the sections don’t want to include in the quote.
With memorising what exactly is the strategy your using?
Also, if there's any tough words or idioms in your GC that's making it nightmare to get your head around. Don't worry. It's completely fine to substitute them at first with something more simple so that you can spend your efforts being familiar with the 'essential bits' or the stuff you can use in more than one wording of a question or a broader sense per se. THEN the tough words and idioms.
What I meant by getting it polished by September is: If you can get familiar with the crucial things by Late August, you can spend September adding the sauce (aka the flashy vocab, sayings, culture-appropriate humour etc.) in.
Yeah, I checked the course page and it didn't say anything other than an ATAR requirement?Huh. Probably changed since I did it then (back in 2014, so entirely possible). Good to know. Thanks!