ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => Victorian Education Discussion => The VCE Journey Journal => Topic started by: KatieWolf on December 13, 2019, 03:09:52 pm
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I had never done a proper journal regarding my school studies before, but I think it will benefit me especially now that I am entering Year 12!
I'd love to share my experiences with my readers, so I welcome you to my journal!
My name is Katie and I have just finished Year 11. I had recently received my 3/4 Biology raw study score of 39 which I am told scales up to a 40.
I was aiming for at least a raw 40 all year so that 1 point off did make me a tiny bit annoyed but nevertheless I am happy with my result as it scales to 40 anyways!
The subjects I take next year are English, Chemistry, Health and Human Development, Mathematical Methods and Specialist Mathematics. I'm not feeling too confident about English and Chemistry next year, so I'll definitely be looking into a tutor anytime soon (if you offer tutoring in these subjects near the far northern suburbs, please dm me!)
I've always loved math and I am really hoping Methods and Spesh will be my highest raw study scores. It's probably a little unrealistic as I'm not really familiar with how next year will go, but here are my goals prior to beginning Year 12!
English: ~37
I can do really well in English sometimes, I always manage to smash the exam for some reason since I am really good at time management while under stress and I seem to just write whatever is on my mind and it happens to work! I always struggle when it comes to SACs though, I've never been that good at essays (particularly comparative essays) and language analysis pieces since I haven't had much practice. I dropped unit 1 literature so I hadn't developed those key skills and I had only done one LA and comparative in year 10 prior to unit 2, so I haven't received much feedback!
HHD: ~40
I know for a fact HHD would most likely be one of my bottom 2 because of scaling and how ridiculously hard it is to achieve high 40s in this subject! I'd love to at least receive a raw 40 so I'm still in the high 30s though! HHD isn't a very hard subject in my opinion and I absolutely smashed unit 1/2 with an average of 98% in both units with barely any study, so I'm hoping I will do even better next year!
Spesh: ~34
I am aware of how ridiculous spesh scales up by, so I'm not going to aim too high here. Unit 1/2 was pretty good for me; I achieved 90s regularly and only ever really gotten one high 70 because I couldn't be bothered studying LOL. Even if I get mid 30s hopefully scaling will put me up near the high 40s and that would be fantastic!
Methods: ~36-37
Methods has always been my favourite subject. There are a lot of instances where I don't do particularly well on a SAC but majority of the time I will achieve 90s throughout the whole semester. Last year my averages were in the low-mid 90s and I'm pretty sure I topped the class a lot during the first semester, so I'm hoping with a bit more dedication and study I can get even higher! I'm aware sometimes I'll probably have a bad SAC since I really struggle on topics such as differentiation and probability, but hopefully I can make up for that most of the time, especially when it comes to exam time!
Chemistry: ~35
I've also always had a passion for Chemistry. Units 1/2 I did struggle on some instances but I'd say 70% of the time I was up to date with the content and I did really well. I don't know why, but for some reason a lot of the mathematics in chemistry trip me up in spite of loving math so much. I find theory work really easy and enjoyable and I practice questions frequently involving math, however I still lose all of my marks on those sections! It's definitely an area I need to work on.
Overall I am aiming for over 90 ATAR, but I'd be absolutely thrilled if I can achieve a 95 (which is probably a long-lost dream!)
I am aiming to do a lot of work these holidays and work a little bit ahead so I am already prepared in class. I'm hoping this year I don't get lazy again and remain consistent with my work ethic since I tend to procrastinate very often! Let's hope the start of the year I kick off amazingly!
Thank you for tuning in!
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Awesome to have you here, Katie. :) What did you take most out of doing a 3&4 subject in Year 11, do you reckon?
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Awesome to have you here, Katie. :) What did you take most out of doing a 3&4 subject in Year 11, do you reckon?
Hi Joseph41!
I definitely think I slacked off a little when it came to exam time. I started studying around 1 month prior to my exam but that definitely stuffed me up since I wasn't 100% confident on some topics which happened to be in the exam, so I think that definitely cost me! I didn't take the whole "the exam is the most important" phrase from everybody else and I relied on myself to achieve really high as reflected from my SAC scores and practice exam scores, but I definitely walked out of the exam feeling really nervous! I think it might've scaled down my Unit 3 SACs too since I averaged a 97% but I only received an A :-\
So yeah, the biggest thing I got out of that was that exams ARE REALLY IMPORTANT and I should do my absolute best that I can throughout the entire year to revise for the exam instead of leaving things last minute!
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Hi Joseph41!
I definitely think I slacked off a little when it came to exam time. I started studying around 1 month prior to my exam but that definitely stuffed me up since I wasn't 100% confident on some topics which happened to be in the exam, so I think that definitely cost me! I didn't take the whole "the exam is the most important" phrase from everybody else and I relied on myself to achieve really high as reflected from my SAC scores and practice exam scores, but I definitely walked out of the exam feeling really nervous! I think it might've scaled down my Unit 3 SACs too since I averaged a 97% but I only received an A :-\
So yeah, the biggest thing I got out of that was that exams ARE REALLY IMPORTANT and I should do my absolute best that I can throughout the entire year to revise for the exam instead of leaving things last minute!
Hey, Katie! Nice to meet you! ;D
Do you have anything in particular you'd like to pursue in the future, career-wise?
I'm excited to follow your VCE journey!
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Hey, Katie! Nice to meet you! ;D
Do you have anything in particular you'd like to pursue in the future, career-wise?
I'm excited to follow your VCE journey!
Hi Evolio! It's nice to meet you too! I'm glad to hear you're excited to follow my journey, as I am too to see you tag along with me!
I'm not exactly sure what I'm interested in to be completely honest. I think I've always been interested in helping others out in the community through medicine. Although I could go for the bachelor of biomedicine, I am also considering other fields in biology and chemistry where I can do research, so my best bet at the moment is probably a bachelor of science! That way if I am still interested in medicine I can go from there and if not I have other doors open for me!
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Oooo, another journal!
I share a bit of your struggles with chem! I do find the maths easier in chem compared to methods though, physics maths was kind of worse, but I think that was more due to how it was taught. Do you have any hobbies or sports you do as well?
Looking forward to the journal entries.
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Hi, nice to meet you! I'm doing Bio 3/4 this year as a higher study like you did, so it's nice to hear your perspective! Good luck for the year ahead, excited to read your updates :D
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Congrats on the study score, can't wait to follow your journal as we try to survive 2020 year 12 together!
Chemistry's also my favourite subject, it's really cool to meet others with a passion for it too :) :)
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Oooo, another journal!
I share a bit of your struggles with chem! I do find the maths easier in chem compared to methods though, physics maths was kind of worse, but I think that was more due to how it was taught. Do you have any hobbies or sports you do as well?
Looking forward to the journal entries.
Hey! I can totally relate with what you're saying, it was a lot of how the chemistry math was taught for me as well that tripped me up a little!
As for hobbies, one thing I absolutely cannot stand doing is staying at home. I have to go out with friends often or take the dog for a walk because I feel so isolated at home doing nothing! Other than that, I play a lot of video games when I am stuck at home (which, I won't lie, does probably take a toll on my studies - something I need to improve on!)
Although I don't like sports in general, I do like to go to the gym from time to time to relieve stress and just improve my overall health :) I should definitely go to the gym more often and replace that with the immense amount of time I spend on video games!
Hi, nice to meet you! I'm doing Bio 3/4 this year as a higher study like you did, so it's nice to hear your perspective! Good luck for the year ahead, excited to read your updates :D
Hii! Nice to meet you too! Good luck on biology next year, feel free to PM me if you have any questions that I can answer! Thank you for tuning in!
Congrats on the study score, can't wait to follow your journal as we try to survive 2020 year 12 together!
Chemistry's also my favourite subject, it's really cool to meet others with a passion for it too :) :)
Hey, thanks so much! It's good to hear there's others out there that have the same passion for science as I do! Best of luck for 2020, I hope to hear from you throughout the year as we get through year 12 together!
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So last night I was invited to our annual school presentation evening. I wasn't exactly sure why I was invited as I wasn't aware that I had won any awards.
It turns out I ended up winning academic excellence in 1/2 HHD and Chemistry alongside 3/4 Biology!
As far as I know, 'academic excellence' at our school is defined as the individual who has scored the highest average (or study score, in this case, for biology) throughout the entire year out of the cohort! I'm not exactly surprised about HHD, but I was ecstatic to hear that I topped the cohort in chemistry and biology! I always thought I did horribly in chemistry and that I'd miss out on the award, especially because I scored 61% 8) such a low mark for the last exam! I didn't expect to excel in 3/6 of my subjects out of our entire cohort (keeping in mind that my peers are EXTREMELY intelligent)!
This has definitely given me a lot of motivation to keep striving forward and to smash my subjects (especially HHD and chem) next year!
I've earned a lot of insight from our dux and valedictorian this year as well, and I have gathered enough motivation to continue my work ethic and do the best I possibly can. I hope year 12 will be a fantastic academic year and I leave my school feeling proud, and I hope I can look back and see how I have evolved as an individual, especially through this journal!
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So last night I was invited to our annual school presentation evening. I wasn't exactly sure why I was invited as I wasn't aware that I had won any awards.
It turns out I ended up winning academic excellence in 1/2 HHD and Chemistry alongside 3/4 Biology!
As far as I know, 'academic excellence' at our school is defined as the individual who has scored the highest average (or study score, in this case, for biology) throughout the entire year out of the cohort! I'm not exactly surprised about HHD, but I was ecstatic to hear that I topped the cohort in chemistry and biology! I always thought I did horribly in chemistry and that I'd miss out on the award, especially because I scored 61% 8) such a low mark for the last exam! I didn't expect to excel in 3/6 of my subjects out of our entire cohort (keeping in mind that my peers are EXTREMELY intelligent)!
This has definitely given me a lot of motivation to keep striving forward and to smash my subjects (especially HHD and chem) next year!
I've earned a lot of insight from our dux and valedictorian this year as well, and I have gathered enough motivation to continue my work ethic and do the best I possibly can. I hope year 12 will be a fantastic academic year and I leave my school feeling proud, and I hope I can look back and see how I have evolved as an individual, especially through this journal!
Congrats on your achievements and study score!! All the best for next year!!
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So last night I was invited to our annual school presentation evening. I wasn't exactly sure why I was invited as I wasn't aware that I had won any awards.
It turns out I ended up winning academic excellence in 1/2 HHD and Chemistry alongside 3/4 Biology!
As far as I know, 'academic excellence' at our school is defined as the individual who has scored the highest average (or study score, in this case, for biology) throughout the entire year out of the cohort! I'm not exactly surprised about HHD, but I was ecstatic to hear that I topped the cohort in chemistry and biology! I always thought I did horribly in chemistry and that I'd miss out on the award, especially because I scored 61% 8) such a low mark for the last exam! I didn't expect to excel in 3/6 of my subjects out of our entire cohort (keeping in mind that my peers are EXTREMELY intelligent)!
This has definitely given me a lot of motivation to keep striving forward and to smash my subjects (especially HHD and chem) next year!
I've earned a lot of insight from our dux and valedictorian this year as well, and I have gathered enough motivation to continue my work ethic and do the best I possibly can. I hope year 12 will be a fantastic academic year and I leave my school feeling proud, and I hope I can look back and see how I have evolved as an individual, especially through this journal!
Congrats on everything this year Katie! Good luck for next year and I cant wait to see more of your journey as you head into Year 12.
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So last night I was invited to our annual school presentation evening. I wasn't exactly sure why I was invited as I wasn't aware that I had won any awards.
It turns out I ended up winning academic excellence in 1/2 HHD and Chemistry alongside 3/4 Biology!
As far as I know, 'academic excellence' at our school is defined as the individual who has scored the highest average (or study score, in this case, for biology) throughout the entire year out of the cohort! I'm not exactly surprised about HHD, but I was ecstatic to hear that I topped the cohort in chemistry and biology! I always thought I did horribly in chemistry and that I'd miss out on the award, especially because I scored 61% 8) such a low mark for the last exam! I didn't expect to excel in 3/6 of my subjects out of our entire cohort (keeping in mind that my peers are EXTREMELY intelligent)!
This has definitely given me a lot of motivation to keep striving forward and to smash my subjects (especially HHD and chem) next year!
I've earned a lot of insight from our dux and valedictorian this year as well, and I have gathered enough motivation to continue my work ethic and do the best I possibly can. I hope year 12 will be a fantastic academic year and I leave my school feeling proud, and I hope I can look back and see how I have evolved as an individual, especially through this journal!
Awesome job, congrats!
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Congrats Katie! Happy for you! Even we had our presentation night yesterday and i was ecstatic to find out i was the top 10 students of year 12 in my school this year. I genuinely thought i would never get the ATAR that i did let alone be elected for top 10 as there were thousand other students in my cohort who were way more smarter and brighter than me. II also won three awards at graduation this year and i was really happy cause i realised how much hard work and dedication i had put towards my studies in the last two years of school. For year 12 next year, i would suggest for you to keep working hard and maintain that positive mindset/work ethic. YOU CAN DO IT and achieve your dream ATAR.
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Awesome job, congrats!
Congrats on your achievements and study score!! All the best for next year!!
Congrats on everything this year Katie! Good luck for next year and I cant wait to see more of your journey as you head into Year 12.
Congrats Katie! Happy for you! Even we had our presentation night yesterday and i was ecstatic to find out i was the top 10 students of year 12 in my school this year. I genuinely thought i would never get the ATAR that i did let alone be elected for top 10 as there were thousand other students in my cohort who were way more smarter and brighter than me. II also won three awards at graduation this year and i was really happy cause i realised how much hard work and dedication i had put towards my studies in the last two years of school. For year 12 next year, i would suggest for you to keep working hard and maintain that positive mindset/work ethic. YOU CAN DO IT and achieve your dream ATAR.
Thanks so much for the congrats guys!
@lleeea congratulations on your massive efforts also! It's fantastic to see how your hard work has paid off! I really appreciate your suggestion and I will definitely try my absolute best - my studies are super valuable to me as they must be for you!
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Another holiday update!
I wouldn't normally do another holiday update, but I feel the need to write down how I am feeling about next year.
I'm pretty positive I can reach my goals as described in my introductory post. However, I am a person with very high expectations for myself. I would love a 90+ ATAR, but I am extremely afraid I won't get my dream goal of 95+ no matter how much work I apply!
I met a very lovely Year 12 student from my specialist math class who averaged high 90s in every single SAC. I was so certain that they would get a high study score, but they told me they got a 30 raw. That scares me considering they were probably the most dedicated student in the entire Year 12 cohort!
Although I want around a 34-35 raw for spesh, I am afraid that I might not be able to achieve that. My teacher LOVES to spoonfeed and gives us SACs that are very very similar to the revision, so it's not hard to achieve high. In saying that, we don't really apply ourselves properly. He skips some topics due to the lack of time we have since spesh is such a long course, so I am very scared I will walk out my exams feeling horrible. Hopefully I can get my goal with enough commitment outside of class!
To be completely honest, I wouldn't say I go to an absolutely amazing school. It's great in terms of what facilities are available, etc. However, in terms of academic excellence, our school isn't exactly the best. I will admit that I am not happy with my teachers for next year as they can be quite unbothered... However, I do majority of my studies outside of class, so I hope that doesn't make too huge of an impact!
I also decided I wanted to get an English tutor. I was going to get a tutor for methods/spesh but I really can't afford it and I have my peers to help me if needed. I've been highly recommended by a Year 12 friend of mine to a lovely tutor who seems very dedicated and intelligent, so I can't wait to see what she can provide me and how I can improve! I've never been given much feedback on my performance by past English teachers, so I am very glad to know I can finally receive detailed feedback on my work!
I had recently ordered checkpoints brand new for spesh and chem. Browsing through ATARNotes, many have been advised that checkpoints are extremely helpful especially for the majority of subjects I am doing. So now I have the 2020 checkpoints for spesh and chem, as well as the 2018 checkpoints for HHD and 2017 for methods given by some very kind Year 12s! I find that even keeping the older versions will allow me to fully apply myself without memorising questions when it comes to practicing recent exams, so I am glad I grabbed those copies!
I have been working very hard for the past week. The start of these holidays I wasn't very motivated to give myself a headstart to next year until I recieved my biology study score. I definitely overestimated myself and after writing my goals down I have become SO motivated to do well.
My goals for these summer holidays is the following:
- To complete all given holiday homework (pretty obvious)
- To complete all of my HHD Unit 3 flashcards
- To at least try and complete all exercise questions for each subject
- Try to write at least 2-3 practice language analysis essays from past VCAA exams (so I can compare at the end of the year next year and see how much I've improved!)
- Watch Edrolo if I can't be stuffed
- Write notes for the beginning 1-2 chapters of HHD and Chemistry
I am so very passionate to get the ATAR of my dreams and I am really willing to do whatever it takes to get the score I want! I've always enjoyed learning and going to school every day makes me very happy, so I really REALLY hope I can end Year 12 on a good note and see my ATAR with a huge smile on my face!
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congrats on your amazing study score Katie! you sound super motivated and dedicated and I have no doubts your hard work will pay off!!
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"6 months from now you will wish that you have started today"
This is a quote I found while seeking for motivation during the holidays to get ahead of my subjects and start studying while I can.
Although I have been notified on many occasions to "not get too ahead of myself", I still feel it is necessary for me to begin studying for my Unit 3 SACs by creating revision documents, flashcards, etc.
I've completed all of my holiday homework as of January 10th, and I don't go back to school until February 3rd. I've been enjoying my break, however, I feel like I could empower myself by going even further.
So, I've begun writing notes for all of my subjects. I'm writing my Unit 3 notes for Chemistry and HHD so I don't have to waste time when a SAC approaches making the notes instead of actually studying them. I have a habit of making sure everything is neat and concise for me to read.
Methods and spesh, I'm not exactly sure what I want to do. I would do more questions but we're doing them in class anyway and if I get it all done now I won't be able to refresh my memory throughout the year with new questions. I'm thinking perhaps I should find practice exams and begin them, and hope that I don't remember my answers at the end of the year?
English I am going to start getting into the habit of reading for leisure. I find that my vocabulary and expression isn't very good, and the only other way I can improve my abilities is through reading. I hope to find books that can assist me; please reply if you have any book suggestions to help!
I'm not feeling as confident as I was initially. Now that I've exposed myself to the homework and particularly the rest of the course for my subjects, I'm not exactly sure if I'm going to get the scores I want due to how difficult the work is. I am really worried that I will lose motivation.
I also haven't been feeling well. I have insomnia and anaemia and, although I take supplements daily, I don't seem to feel energetic throughout the day at all, meaning I'm not exactly motivated to do work. I hope that this improves when school starts!
I also recently enrolled for tutoring for English and Chemistry. I'm doing Chemistry from Tutesmart with my friend, so I'm very excited to use their facilities and learn a lot more about how the program works!
The next time I post will most likely be a week or two after school begins, so let's hope I get everything I want to done these holidays and I remain consistent throughout the first weeks of school!
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Hey Katie! ;D
Wow, that quote is really motivating! I'm going to imprint it in my mind to boost my motivation levels whenever I'm not feeling it.
I've completed all of my holiday homework as of January 10th, and I don't go back to school until February 3rd.
Wow, that's awesome! You're super organised!
I'm not feeling as confident as I was initially. Now that I've exposed myself to the homework and particularly the rest of the course for my subjects, I'm not exactly sure if I'm going to get the scores I want due to how difficult the work is. I am really worried that I will lose motivation.
Yeah, I can relate to this so much! But, you know what? We've just got to work as hard as we can and never give up because if we do, we won't even have the chance of getting those magnificent scores. No matter how many times we fail, we've just got to get back up and keep trying like your life depends on it. Maybe it does.
I also haven't been feeling well. I have insomnia and anaemia and, although I take supplements daily, I don't seem to feel energetic throughout the day at all, meaning I'm not exactly motivated to do work. I hope that this improves when school starts!
I hope you feel energetic and motivated soon!
See you!
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Hey Katie! ;D
Wow, that quote is really motivating! I'm going to imprint it in my mind to boost my motivation levels whenever I'm not feeling it.Wow, that's awesome! You're super organised!
Yeah, I can relate to this so much! But, you know what? We've just got to work as hard as we can and never give up because if we do, we won't even have the chance of getting those magnificent scores. No matter how many times we fail, we've just got to get back up and keep trying like your life depends on it. Maybe it does.
I hope you feel energetic and motivated soon!
See you!
Hey Evolio! Thanks so much for your support, I really appreciate your kind words! Best of luck to you, let's smash this year!
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Update Time!
I survived my first week of Year 12! Hooray!
Here are my thoughts thus far:
- Things have been running pretty smoothly. I've been getting ahead for a lot of my subjects.
- I've made all of my AOS1 notes for chemistry and I'm currently ahead in terms of textbook questions and content, so I'm feeling great about chemistry!
- HHD I could perhaps push myself further and do the same thing that I did with chemistry since I'm getting a bit lazy. I'm definitely trying to write up my AOS1 notes this weekend and perhaps next week.
- Methods I've been keeping up to date with the content and I've gone 1-2 sub-chapters ahead. I don't want to get too ahead of myself since I want to go at a steady pace.
- Spesh is the same deal with methods
- English has been very stressful although I have been trying really hard to write analysis notes for my texts.
My tutors are lovely for English and chemistry so I'm very happy with where I am standing :)
Things I am struggling with:
- I find that I am a very competitive person. One particular individual in my methods/spesh class has already completed both textbooks back to front and is already working on practice exams. I try not to think much of it but I constantly think to myself, "should I be working ahead too?" I'm hoping I'll get ahead at some point so I can begin my practice exams early-mid July!
- In a similar fashion, I'm obsessed with the idea of constantly working towards something. I'm so tired already with how many notes I've been collating, how many questions I've been doing and overall I think I've gone a bit overboard for the first week of school! I should definitely tone it down.
- I find that I am already overwhelmed with stress at the fact that there are so many well-performing students in my cohort. One major goal I have this year is getting dux, however, I am against so many competitors that I am stressing myself out WAY too much about it.
Hopefully this stress subsides and this obsession with performance does too! :)
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That's great about Chemistry! You're really organised with your notes and your chapter questions!
- In a similar fashion, I'm obsessed with the idea of constantly working towards something. I'm so tired already with how many notes I've been collating, how many questions I've been doing and overall I think I've gone a bit overboard for the first week of school! I should definitely tone it down.
- I find that I am already overwhelmed with stress at the fact that there are so many well-performing students in my cohort. One major goal I have this year is getting dux, however, I am against so many competitors that I am stressing myself out WAY too much about it.
I can relate to this so much! I've been doing so many Specialist questions this week and it's made me feel drained already and it's only the second week of school! What I found helped me was to just chill out on one of the weekdays, not do any work, and just watch a movie. That made me feel relaxed. You should take a break doing something you like, even if it's a tiny one, to relax you and this will help you recharge your mind. Also, about the well-performing students, I can relate to that a lot! Being constantly surrounded by EXTREME high achievers makes me feel very anxious sometimes and it makes me so stressed thinking about how hard I need to work and what I need to do to surpass them.
It's great that you're aiming for dux! That's really inspiring and I know that you have the potential to achieve it! ;D
Looking forward to future updates!
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Here are my thoughts thus far:
- Things have been running pretty smoothly. I've been getting ahead for a lot of my subjects.
- I've made all of my AOS1 notes for chemistry and I'm currently ahead in terms of textbook questions and content, so I'm feeling great about chemistry!
- HHD I could perhaps push myself further and do the same thing that I did with chemistry since I'm getting a bit lazy. I'm definitely trying to write up my AOS1 notes this weekend and perhaps next week.
- Methods I've been keeping up to date with the content and I've gone 1-2 sub-chapters ahead. I don't want to get too ahead of myself since I want to go at a steady pace.
- Spesh is the same deal with methods
- English has been very stressful although I have been trying really hard to write analysis notes for my texts.
Oh wow! It's great you're getting ahead, good luck with your hhd stuff but make sure to take care of yourself!
- I find that I am already overwhelmed with stress at the fact that there are so many well-performing students in my cohort. One major goal I have this year is getting dux, however, I am against so many competitors that I am stressing myself out WAY too much about it.
Oh man I relate to this so so much!
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I can relate to this so much! I've been doing so many Specialist questions this week and it's made me feel drained already and it's only the second week of school! What I found helped me was to just chill out on one of the weekdays, not do any work, and just watch a movie. That made me feel relaxed. You should take a break doing something you like, even if it's a tiny one, to relax you and this will help you recharge your mind. Also, about the well-performing students, I can relate to that a lot! Being constantly surrounded by EXTREME high achievers makes me feel very anxious sometimes and it makes me so stressed thinking about how hard I need to work and what I need to do to surpass them.
It's great that you're aiming for dux! That's really inspiring and I know that you have the potential to achieve it! ;D
Thank you so much! It gets difficult balancing my life with school work but I'm sure with practice and organisation I can cope :)
Oh wow! It's great you're getting ahead, good luck with your hhd stuff but make sure to take care of yourself!Oh man I relate to this so so much!
I'll try my best!
It's great to see I'm not the only one feeling this way in regards to being the top-performer and competing against everyone else!
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Hey! Just wanted to say good luck for your studies and everything, I'll definitely be following this thread! I just read yours and was motivated to make my own!
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Hey! Just wanted to say good luck for your studies and everything, I'll definitely be following this thread! I just read yours and was motivated to make my own!
Thank you so much! Good luck to you too :) I'm glad to see that I inspired you to make your own! Let's get through this together 8)
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Hey Katie! Just found your journal and I'm really enjoying the content on it ;D
It is so good to see the amount of work you have accomplished this week! Be super proud of yourself cause that is an amazing achievement. :D
- I find that I am already overwhelmed with stress at the fact that there are so many well-performing students in my cohort. One major goal I have this year is getting dux, however, I am against so many competitors that I am stressing myself out WAY too much about it.
Hopefully this stress subsides and this obsession with performance does too! :)
I can relate to this on a spiritual level here. Make sure you take a break every once in a while and look after yourself! In the end, if you do your best effort that is all that really counts. Aiming for DUX is amazing and I can see that you definitely have the skills and potential to get there!
Keep us updated on any new things that come up this year :)
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My motivation has really gone down the drain.
- English: I've actually began to grow a liking for the subject now that I try to delve deeper into the ideas, but I still find myself so unbothered to writing practice essays. Luckily i've been up to date and i'm still writing about 1-2 practice pieces per week, but I have a bad feeling that will drop off soon.
- Methods: Oh my god I actually cannot stand methods right now. It is so INCREDIBLY boring and I just can't find myself enjoying it right now.
- Spesh: Definitely my favourite subject at the moment. Sounds a bit funny since Methods is my least favourite, but it really just depends on the math topic. Right now we are covering complex number equations, which is one of many topics I enjoy doing.
- HHD: Very boring but not unbearable. I have my SAC next monday which I am feeling half confident about, so hopefully this weekend I can gather more motivation to study it more.
- Chemistry: Chemistry is looking good for me at the moment. I'm not stressed about falling behind and I relatively enjoy the subject thus far.
My goals for the next term:
- To achieve a 25/25 on the first HHD Sac
- To achieve at least 85% or above in the English creative SAC
- To continue writing 1-2 practice essays per week for English
- To be ahead in all my subjects and complete all set class work
- To continually revise over my HHD content through flashcards and notes to save the burden at the end of the year
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Last week I completed my HHD Sac.
My initial goal was to score a 25/25
Do I feel confident I'll achieve that?
I think it's possible, although I'm not one-hundred per cent sure.
I found the sac to actually be quite difficult. I studied so hard over the weekend:
- I completed all textbook questions
- Completed all edrolo videos
- Completed the JacPlus studyon questions
- Completed checkpoints
- Went through flashcards at least a solid 20-30 times
Yet, I still left the sac room not confident.
I could be overthinking it. Last year, I cried over my 3/4 biology SAC because I thought I got everything wrong, when I scored 100% in the end anyway. I'm hoping that will be the same case this year!
Additionally, I have my english creative SAC tomorrow.
To be completely honest, I am not confident with it at all. I've written out my creative and statement, but I feel like it doesn't give a "WOW" factor. I can't explain it, but it just feels so dull when I read it? I've shown my friends and they've all given feedback, yet I am still doubting myself.
Hopefully things work out well.
In terms of my other studies:
- I'm falling slightly behind in spesh due to how much time I've been dedicating to HHD and english in the past week.
- Methods and Chemistry are okay since I've completed questions and notes ahead of the class.
My new goals for the upcoming weeks:
- Achieve that 25/25 for HHD
- Achieve at least 85% for my English creative
- Catch up with Spesh again
- Complete my chapter 5 and 6 notes for Chemistry before we begin chapter 4
- Finish chapter 4 for Methods
- Write at least 1-2 essays/language analysis pieces per week (now that creative is technically over)
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A positive update! Well, mostly positive
So, my goal stated last post was to achieve a 25/25 for my HHD sac and above 85% for my English creative piece.
- I ended up getting 25/25 for HHD
- I also ended up getting 85%+ for English.
I'm not 100% sure as to what I got for English since my teacher hasn't posted our results yet, but she told me I definitely got over that percentage!
Overall, I'm pretty happy about that. It wasn't much of a surprise for HHD since the sac was pretty easy and although I felt slightly unconfident on 1-2 questions I scored full marks anyway!
I am SUPER surprised about English. I did NOT see that coming. I'm super super happy about that
- The not-so-good news is that I did my chemistry SAC. And I bombed it.
I left the room crying for the rest of the day. When I tell you I genuinely think I failed, I mean it. Perhaps not fail in terms of not passing the outcome, but below 50% for sure. I'd be so happy if I got 50%+ at this point.
I don't know what happened. Chemistry is one of those subjects for me where I try super hard and still get a bad score. I did every checkpoint question, every topic test question, every textbook question. I watched every video, read every page of notes, etc. I pretty much put my 100% into it for a solid 2 weeks straight, yet I still feel it didn't pay off.
I feel a bit better knowing like half the class also started crying from how hard it was. I felt it was a little unfair in a way - I believe the first SAC is meant to test knowledge from chapters 1-6, but it was pretty much 90% chapter 3. Happens to be chapter 3 is my worst topic. Pretty sad :(
Oh well, it's only one sac anyway. I know I shouldn't let it get to me too much, and whatever score I get is just an indication for me to try even harder next time and rethink my study methods!
My goals for this week are:
- Achieve 25/25 for the next HHD sac on Monday
- Catch up on my spesh questions
- Catch up on my methods questions
- Write notes for chemistry ahead of class
- Finish theme/scene summaries and analysis notes and character notes for English (We're studying the play Extinction now!)
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Hi all, just a super short update
I got my chemistry result back and scored 38/50 (76%). I'm super conflicted about it.
I'm happy I got above 50% like I wanted to, but everybody else did super amazing so it kinda threw me off. All of my friends scored above 80% and I was really hoping I would too for this sac since I put in so much effort for it.
I'm hoping I improve for the next SAC to come and I get back on track, but at the moment it's not looking good for me
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I'm not in a very good place at the moment
I've received marks I'm not very happy with for both chemistry and English.
You see, I'm happy with the actual percentages themselves, don't get me wrong
The thing is though, I'm super SUPER competitive.
Well, it's more so that I just compare myself to others too much
I put in a lot of effort into my studies. For my English creative sac, I did several practices, I read A+ creatives for my chosen text, I asked my teacher for help etc. I did the most I possibly could and to be frank I was super happy with where I was at.
I received my score, which initially I was really happy with.
However, I started to get upset realising what everyone else got. Basically, everybody else got higher than me.
The thing itself that upsets me is how others barely put any effort into their work and still get higher. One of my friends did the sac the night before and still got higher than me. Jeez, someone even did only 1 practice sac and called it a day and got 100%. I just don't understand why I'm getting punished for my marks.
The same deal happened with chemistry. My mark isn't horrible but it isn't what I wanted. However, others didn't put as much effort as I did and still got amazing scores.
I don't really know what to do at this point. My subjects are ridiculously hard and the worse I do the more unmotivated I become. I've had several mental breakdowns within the past week and I just find it so hard to manage myself at this point. I was really hoping with all of this hard work I've put in, I'd be happy at the end of term 1. I just feel like I'm being treated unfairly and I don't know what to do anymore. I know maybe my study habits should change, but I don't know where to start. I've been following every piece of advice -- do practice questions, do practice essays, ask for help etc. I do everything you could ever imagine and my efforts still pay off.
I've constantly heard of people say "if you put in the effort the results will show" but I call bullshit at this point.
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I'm not in a very good place at the moment
I've received marks I'm not very happy with for both chemistry and English.
You see, I'm happy with the actual percentages themselves, don't get me wrong
The thing is though, I'm super SUPER competitive.
Well, it's more so that I just compare myself to others too much
I put in a lot of effort into my studies. For my English creative sac, I did several practices, I read A+ creatives for my chosen text, I asked my teacher for help etc. I did the most I possibly could and to be frank I was super happy with where I was at.
I received my score, which initially I was really happy with.
However, I started to get upset realising what everyone else got. Basically, everybody else got higher than me.
The thing itself that upsets me is how others barely put any effort into their work and still get higher. One of my friends did the sac the night before and still got higher than me. Jeez, someone even did only 1 practice sac and called it a day and got 100%. I just don't understand why I'm getting punished for my marks.
The same deal happened with chemistry. My mark isn't horrible but it isn't what I wanted. However, others didn't put as much effort as I did and still got amazing scores.
I don't really know what to do at this point. My subjects are ridiculously hard and the worse I do the more unmotivated I become. I've had several mental breakdowns within the past week and I just find it so hard to manage myself at this point. I was really hoping with all of this hard work I've put in, I'd be happy at the end of term 1. I just feel like I'm being treated unfairly and I don't know what to do anymore. I know maybe my study habits should change, but I don't know where to start. I've been following every piece of advice -- do practice questions, do practice essays, ask for help etc. I do everything you could ever imagine and my efforts still pay off.
I've constantly heard of people say "if you put in the effort the results will show" but I call bullshit at this point.
Hey Katie,
I know that right now, you probably feel quite bad about your results, but try not to dwell on them too much. At the end of the day, these are only the first SACs of the year and you still have quite a while to improve and redeem yourself!
In regards to feeling like you put more effort in and still your peers did better than you, you've got to remember that sometimes people aren't completely honest about how much they're studying for SACs etc and the only reason that they say that they did the bare minimum and at the last minute is probably to dissuade you from studying and make you feel overconfident. I think that it's important to find a balance before SACs. You shouldn't be too stressed otherwise you'll make silly mistakes but you also shouldn't be overconfident otherwise you'll miss important parts of questions. This is a saying that I heard, that I thought was really true: "Snakes don't hiss. They say they didn't study for the exam and then get 100%.". Also, maybe you're doing more revision, but it's not as effective as the revision that your peers are doing? Maybe you could try to get info about how your peers studied for this SAC and also obviously ask your teacher for feedback.
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Hey Katie,
I know that right now, you probably feel quite bad about your results, but try not to dwell on them too much. At the end of the day, these are only the first SACs of the year and you still have quite a while to improve and redeem yourself!
In regards to feeling like you put more effort in and still your peers did better than you, you've got to remember that sometimes people aren't completely honest about how much they're studying for SACs etc and the only reason that they say that they did the bare minimum and at the last minute is probably to dissuade you from studying and make you feel overconfident. I think that it's important to find a balance before SACs. You shouldn't be too stressed otherwise you'll make silly mistakes but you also shouldn't be overconfident otherwise you'll miss important parts of questions. This is a saying that I heard, that I thought was really true: "Snakes don't hiss. They say they didn't study for the exam and then get 100%.". Also, maybe you're doing more revision, but it's not as effective as the revision that your peers are doing? Maybe you could try to get info about how your peers studied for this SAC and also obviously ask your teacher for feedback.
So sorry for the super late reply, but thank you so much :) I really appreciate hearing your words and it cheers me up a lot!
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A short holiday update!
I've definitely taken a lot of my time to recover this holidays and I've only recently started getting back into school work now that theres one week left until school!
At the moment, I have completed:
- Chapter 9 for Methods
- All of my HHD homework (yay!)
- Chemistry chapter 4 and 5 notes
- English analysis papers
I haven't done a whole lot, and to be honest our school is super behind in terms of content compared to other schools (which is quite worrying... T_T)
Here's what I plan to get done before school begins again!
- Complete at least 3 practice essays for English
- Complete spesh
- Complete all chemistry questions from chapters 4-7 and notes for chapters 6-7
- Rewatch lectures
- If I have time, hopefully, complete my chapter 5-7 flashcards for HHD?
I know this is a super tough time for everybody at the moment, I hope everyone is staying safe!
And thank you all for your support during times of hardship thus far, I really appreciate how kind everybody is here on ATARNotes!~
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hi all, it's been quite some time since i last posted - roughly over two months now...
the reason why i haven't been posting is because i've been struggling with a lot of mental health issues, i've been dropping off at school quite a lot and it's really impacting me. i've had a lot of mishaps occur in my life and it's been really hard trying to get through life at the moment, i've sort've accepted this year isn't going to end as well as i wanted it to because of what's been going on and at this rate as long as i get into my course i'm not fussed because that would be a huge achievement. my scores have been dropping from 90s to 50s and 60s, unit 3 is looking really horrible for me in terms of my averages across all subjects. i've just been in a super emotional place and i can't find myself to have any motivation to try anymore, i've been slacking off ever since the last post i made.
i'm not seeking for people's sympathy or anything of the sorts, i just thought that perhaps it'd be good to look back on this one day and be proud that i could climb out of it, i know it's not a permanent thing but at the moment it's not looking like it'll be over any time soon...
i hope everyone else is doing well with their studies, be safe out there :)
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Hey Katie, what your going through must be really tough but I just want to say that I believe in you and that your grades don't define you!
I know that it's really difficult not to compare yourself to others, especially when you're not in the best headspace, but some things that I've found help me are staying off AN (don't get me wrong, I love this community, but sometimes I need to take a break from it otherwise I'm just gonna be comparing myself to others way too much) and maybe social media as well.
I hope things get better for you and make sure to stay safe as well! :)
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Hello Katie! :) Nice to hear from you !
I agree with everything Snow Leopard said and I hope you feel better soon. It may take a long time but I assure you, things will get better even though they don't seem that way at the moment.
I know you can get through this and if you ever need anything, we're here to support you.
I haven't been feeling that great either but I've found that doing things you like and taking a break from studying helps a bit and I've also found that writing about what I've been feeling in my diary is really helpful as it clears my mind. You could try these things if you wanted to.
Stay safe as well!