Another update. This weeks been a killer. There's good news and bad news. This week happened to be one of the hardest weeks so far this year. I wasn't expecting what happened to happen.
Let's start of with the bad news first.
We got our methods marks for our sac back. Despite studying so hard and giving it my all it wasn't enough.My mark was horrible, to the point where my methods journey ends.I'm not going to like, I was disappointed.I wasn't expecting it all.
Here are my past and present thoughts of methods in a somewhat creative format.
I want to write a success story .How I came from an 18 predicted study score to a 30 in methods. My story will start like this. Only passing once in year 11. Failing unit 3. Failing the sac but then I will make my story change. I will study not only for the tests and quizzes but for the bigger picture, the sacs and the exam. I will make sure that I am up to date no matter how far behind I am. I will make sure that I will catch up that I will do questions that will not help me only for test's but rather the sac. This time I will change. I will work harder and stronger and faster so I can eventually start passing. Passing a few times consistently passing then I will aim go go further work harder so I can get that 30 study score so I can become another success story.
Let me write the end of the story. It goes like this. My store ends right here today on 3rd August 2018. I will no longer be completing methods. There will be no success story. The story ends with a message, sometimes no matter how hard you try, life will not be in your favour. It was destined that I will not be completing methods. Who knows maybe it was for the better. So the methods drop kick becomes the methods drop out.
Onto the good news now. We had our last ever oral for english.I don't want to sound to confident but I felt like I smashed it. The teacher said it was beyond her expectations. So now I'm just going to wait for the results. We also got our Language Analysis sac marked. I did well. My highest ever mark in English yet. I was pleased with the results.
For chemistry and biology, there is not much updates besides the fact that I have my chemistry sac on Monday. I didn't do to well on the quiz so I'm hoping I do better on the sac.
Career wise, there hasn't been much change but rather more detail. I want to do Science at Monash ideally majoring in pharmacology and doing electives in communication or journalism. I've also thought of the idea of studying public health, since I loved studying Health and Human development last year, so I'm keeping that an option.
Over the next couple of weeks,I plan to attend the open day for Monash, Melbourne and Deakin. I want to get a feel of the universities.
I'm going to end this with another quote:What is meant for you, will reach you even if it is beneath two mountains. What isn't meant for you, won't reach you even if it is between your two lips.
So Atar results are out and we have come to the end of the vce journal. It has been an interesting year.
I'm going to be honest with you all. I was disappointed. Extremely. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought to do this bad. My goals at the start of the year weren't even a 90. They were realistic. Possible to achieve but I would need to work for them. When I dropped methods. A lot of doors closed for me but some remained. But now it's just more doors closing.
It might be stupid to say but I think I deserve better. That all my studying should amount to something. That all my late nights,my tons essays, my practice exams,my money spent on tutoring,countless sacrifices of events should have amount to something better. That all my hard work and effort should have gotten me to some place. I've always had this irrational fear of what if my best isn't good enough. Time and time again, I've faced this. Yet the pain still hurts. Every time I've fallen, I've managed to get back up again and I know that I will do this time too.
The atar will not define me. Sure some doors have closen .My journey is long and it will continue. It is not over yet. The truth is I don't know what to do in uni. In another world, I know there might be another version of me who is brave enough to study her dreams,but in this world there are many factors that need to be taken to account. The atar is just a number. It doesn't not reflect my intelligence. It does not show my perseverance.
All hope is not lost. I've still got chances. I just have to wait and see. I'm taking a path, I didn't expect. It may take longer for me to achieve my dreams but I've got time. Life is full of unexpected surprises.
The last 2 years have taught me more about life than ever. I've learned who my real friends are. Hint, they're the ones with you while your crying in your school's bathroom. They're the ones you share your happiness and tears. The ones that can sense your disappointment. The ones that know your seeing someone ,just by the looks on your face.
At this point I've accepted life and that everything happens for a reason. I'll go wherever life takes me.
To all those keeping up with my journal. I thank you for your unwavering support and encouragement. Thank you for being there for the good and bad. Thank you to the mods. Thank you for the amazing friendships I've developed as being part of this great community.
Since joining the community almost 2 years ago, I’ve received an immense amount of support from community. I’ve read countless “how to get a 50”articles and I think It’s time I give back to the community by sharing some of my advice.
English
Spoiler
1.Make sure you read your texts. Read them,understand them and try to enjoy them. Sometimes you might get texts that absolutely suck,that are completely boring and impossible to read.That’s when you got to be creative with your resources. Look online.
2. If you have a problem with something, work on it straight away. For a long time, I’ve had a huge problem with spelling,grammar and punctuation. It was my weakness. For some reason, I never decided to work on it continuously. So fix the issue before it becomes big.
3.Read, now I’ve mentioned reading before but read other texts. Read newspapers, novels. Read everything you can get your hands on. You don’t know how you will be able to incorporate it. When I was younger, I read the Percy jackson series and that pretty much taught me everything about Greek and roman mythology.This year, when we were asked to do some research on Medea. I was able to use my knowledge on Greek mythology to help me.
4.Practice. Practice writing essays, language analysis, text response. Practice writing succinctly. Use the weekly language analysis thread here on atar notes to practice.
Biology
Spoiler
1.
You need to understand the concepts well. When most people think of biology, they think of memorising. While it’s true there is a lot of memorising involved, you also have to understand the concepts as they often link with each other. Things will make sense the more you learn biology.
2.It is easy to waffle on and get off topic in biology. Always refer back to the questions and use the information presented to you in the question to help with your answers.
Chemistry
Spoiler
1. It’s important that you understand the concepts well.
2.Practice calculations. There are a lot of calculations that come with chemistry. Now sure you might think these calculations might be easy particularly if you’ve done a hard math subject like methods but chemistry calculations are a bit different. They require a special type of thinking where you need to understand what the question is saying and applying the correct calculations
3. Don’t forget states, units or significant figures. These are easy marks that can be lost.
Methods
Spoiler
1.Know your stuff. It is important in methods that you have a solid base. A good foundation in math can help you do really well. Know your basic stuff like Trig,Algebra etc.
2.Practice. Math is a subject where you need to practice a lot. The more questions you do. The more you improve.
3.Do not give up. There are times where it will be rough. You will hate methods. It will cause you countless breakdowns and endless tears
but you can’t give up. This is a subject that requires perseverance. Just keep going on.
HHD
Spoiler
1.Learn to bullshit. Out of all the subjects, this is the most important one that you will use it. Learn to make quick connections and links.
2.Having good writing skills will help you. Practice writing extend response
3 Know your terms. Know your definitions.
Study tips
Spoiler
1.Try studying in different ways until you find out what works for you. Cue cards, posters notes. What worked for me was making cue cards for memorizing,posters for linking concepts, writing and rewriting notes for everything else.
2.Utilize your resources. There are so many free resource online and here that can help you for all your subjects.
3.Checkpoints. I liked doing checkpoints as it was a good way to make sure you understood the knowledge and a great prepaeration for the sac/exam
4.Try to study in a clean environment and try change it up every now and then. When my desk was cleaner I found that I was more productive. When I couldn’t study at home, I studied at the library.
Overall tips
Spoiler
1.Don’t neglect your health. Put your mental health first. It should be your number one priority. Use resource. I loved this website which helped managed stress.
https://www.thedesk.org.au Your mental health is more important than your Atar
2.Pace yourself. Don’t study all day every day. You need to pace yourself so you don’t burn out. It is critical that you take break and do something for yourself.
3.Learn to recover from failure. You will fail. You will fall. It will be tough. It will suck. There are times when you don’t want to continue but you must persist. It is important that you keep going and pushing no matter what.
4.Enjoy the year. It’s year 12. There are plenty of opportunities for socialising and meeting new people. Participate in all the activities you can. Have fun. Life goes on. There is more to your life than your atar.
Skills you will learn in year 12
Spoiler
1.Perseverance. You will fall and fall. You will cry. But most importantly you will learn to get back up again. Time and time again, you will fall but get back up. It's okay to fall. It's okay to be sad but know that you are stronger than this and you will do better.
2.You will be to find the people who are good for you. You might cut some people of but you may gain new ones. This is life
3.You will learn more about yourself and see how much you have changed as a person. You will not be the same person you were at the start of the year.
That's all for the year. Hope everyone has had a good year and wish you all the best. Maya out