All good
Eight subjects sounds like a lot! How you are feeling about your 3/4's so far?
Omgggg I swear to god I'm so bad at responding hahah but new year new me! I'm going to be much more active this year now that I'm fully emerged in VCE.
I'm feeling really nervous for my 3/4s because last year I only had one and I did so much worse than I thought I would, even though I thought I put in a lot of effort. This year at least I know relatively how much more time and effort is needed and how my study habits need to change, but the sheer amount of work that's needed kind of scares me!
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Hey everyone! Since the new year is officially underway I plan to be much more active on AN this year and especially with keeping up this journal! So I guess I'll start with an official introduction in this post to welcome 2020 (4 days late but idc).
About Moi Hi there! Name's Prag. I'm 16 and going into year 11 this year at a public school in Melton, Melbourne's west. Academically, the school is at the far bottom of the pecking order, but we do get great VCE results once in a while. I'm a Christian.
The Past I started VCE in year 9 (2018) with Psychology 1/2. Naturally, last year I followed with 3/4. I loved psych and worked so hard all year with the goal of a raw >40 study score. I thought a 40 was easy. But then I had to miss the exam due to a family emergency. I applied for a derived score, and got a disappointing 35.
What scares me isn’t getting a much lower than expected score. It’s this: after comparing my trial exam scores to what others got this year, I realised that a 35 isn’t too far off. While I had first assumed it wasn’t fair that I had to derive my score, I now realise I had been overconfident and the amount of effort I put in last year is nowhere near enough.
The PresentThis year I am doing 8 VCE subjects (yes, eight): Legal, Economics, and Accounting 3/4; and English, Methods, Busman, Politics, and Sociology 1/2. I'm doing two through distance education as my school does not offer them.
In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a humanities person through and through.
My goal is to get >42 in accounting and eco, and >45 in legal. It might not happen, but I want to aim high, and I think I stand a better chance now that I know how difficult getting a 40 actually is.
The FutureNext year I plan to do English, Methods, and Business Management 3/4. As I'll only have 3 subjects, that means I would be studying part time, giving me opportunity to also work on the side - and I don't just mean 3hr shifts at Maccas after school.
Last year, I did 2 weeks of work experience at a business consultant firm, and at the end, the manager told me to come back after I’m done with VCE to work part time. I’m not sure whether I truly left a good impression, or if it’s just courtesy, but I’m treating it as the former. Even if I don’t eventually work there, I’m sure I can find work elsewhere — I just hope it’s relevant as I don’t want to slave away in retail or hospitality.
There are two reasons as to why I want to work in year 12 — one, I struggle a bit academically so I’ll need plenty of work experience to stand out. Two, I come from a single-parent family that’s not exactly what you’d call financially well off, and I’m the oldest, so I must do all I can to help out even if it’s not much.
After high school, my goal is to study either BCom/LLB at Monash or BCom/JD at Melbourne.
Beyond VCEAside from academics, my main things are debating and athletics. I’ve been doing public speaking since primary school, it’s one of the few things I’m really confident in. Athletics is the other. I used to always sleep past my alarm and miss the bus, meaning I had to run to school everyday and all that running made me more fit than a gym membership ever will. I do both sprinting and cross country — my worst event at athletics carnivals is the 800m, because it’s such an *
awkward* distance - too short to jog but too long to sprint.
This year I’ll be taking on the roles of house debating captain and school sport captain. I’m also leading our school’s TedEd club, which I co-founded last year with a student who had since graduated. Additionally I’m working to form a Model UN club at school. I’ve already talked it out with a couple of interested students and teachers and I believe it can start running maybe by the end of term 1.
I hope to document my full VCE journey in this thread, starting from today, until December 2021 when I (hopefully) receive my VTAC offer. It sounds like a long way away but
this last year went by so quickly so I've no doubt these two years will rush by too. I'd also love to meet any other aspiring lawyers and maybe offer some of my own insights from the perspective of a current VCE student.
Most importantly I aim to update regularly and actually respond on time to people who take time out of their day to reply.I'll wrap it up for now here, see you all soon!