Hey,
I'm katie,rinos. I'm 17 and am in year 12 at the moment. I only have about 4 weeks left of actual classes (Yay!), but two months till the HSC and thought that this was a really cool idea.
I'm not really sure yet what uni or course I will be doing next year-and UAC applications need to be in sometime next month. At the moment I want to be a music/history teacher but I just don't really know. So, I guess that this has been pretty stressful at the moment.
I'm going to try and update this thread at least every week, if not more. Some of my posts may be really small while others may be larger. I'm not really sure what to post at the moment, but I may post later on in the week to update you guys with my some of my trial marks (depending on if I feel brave enough)-I've been starting to get some back and it's not entirely what I was expecting.
I don't really know what else to add at the moment, so I guess that's all for now :D.
General Maths- I actually prefer maths to English but it's still not my favourite subject.Still refreshing seeing a historian prefer maths over English 8)
2) Nice thread name ;)Wonder where she got it from?
clarinet!!!! i love hearing about why people chose their instrument - what's your story?Do you play an instrument? I don't even really have a good story. I started playing in year 3 at my schools band, so with a bunch of other kids we had a go on all of the different instruments. The clarinet was the only one that I could even make a sound out of. I think I dropped the clarinet the first day I had it though-clumsy year 3 me. Really funny, because at the time, a lot of the kids just did band as a way to get out of classes and I didn't practice for a long time, but now I need (and want to) practice a lot more.
good luck with choosing your uni preferences! teaching sounds great :-)) and don't worry about your trials, i absolutely flunked english and i'm still getting out of a rut with motivation because of it, but that's okay. here's to 4 weeks until school ends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Still refreshing seeing a historian prefer maths over English 8)Wonder where she got it from?
Do you play an instrument? I don't even really have a good story. I started playing in year 3 at my schools band, so with a bunch of other kids we had a go on all of the different instruments. The clarinet was the only one that I could even make a sound out of. I think I dropped the clarinet the first day I had it though-clumsy year 3 me. Really funny, because at the time, a lot of the kids just did band as a way to get out of classes and I didn't practice for a long time, but now I need (and want to) practice a lot more.
Thanks, I've only got marks back for two of my subjects at the moment, and while I was happy with one, I was a bit disappointed with the other.
I just need to say two things:Thanks (for both things) :D!! I don't really know what i'm writing yet, but this is actually cool (I'm excited myself).
1) I'm looking forward to reading the next update!
2) Nice thread name ;)
Still refreshing seeing a historian prefer maths over English 8)I think that i'd prefer anything over English :)
maths is so so so so so so (add 100 more sos to the end of that) better than english. it's refreshing not having to write essays just for that one subject.Definitely agree with you!:) Every other subject I have to write at least 1, in some cases 3 essays so it's nicer to not have to do that.
However, a huge thanks to Jamon, as my AOS essay increased from a 7/8 to an 11 out of 15-which was my best mark and I was really proud of it! :D
So, any teaching course requires a band 5 in English, and with my internal marks i'm not sure if that will happen. Is there English bridging courses at all unis? What do they cover? If I needed to do one, would I be able to go into a teaching course next year after doing one? If I don't get a band 5, would it be better to do a non teaching course such as Bachelor of arts/music and then do a degree in teaching afterwards? I still feel really lost about what degree/uni to choose and it needs to be in so soon.
I think i'm going to the UNSW open day next week so I may be able to ask a lot of questions there, and check out the uni (I've never been there before). Hopefully this will be helpful. :)
Really glad I could be helpful Katie, well done! ;D keep working hard, let's get everything else up to an 11 and then head to 12 and 13, onwards and upwards ;DYeah, I'm going to do a lot more practice essays (although I hate it), to try and get everything up! I might try and redo some of my trial essays and post them for feedback next week sometime. :)
I don't know a lot about the teaching requirements, someone else might, but definitely don't worry. There are always ways to get where you need to go. Definitely go to the UNSW Open Day, it will be really beneficial to chat to people about your options. What I'd suggest is perhaps a double degree, which might exempt you from the Band 5 requirement? This page seems to suggest that as an option (and might be a good way to combine teaching with another passion) ;DThanks for the link! I'm going to need to do some more research on the weekend but that website looks pretty helpful. :) Will go to the UNSW open day (luckily I'm not working)! Some of the stuff they have on sounds really useful and I'll be able to ask a lot of questions.
Of course, you are assuming you won't get a Band 5 - Don't think that way! Never resign yourself to anything, aim for the stars, and if you don't quite get there you'll still be on the moon - Or however the saying goes ;)Coincidentally, this is one of my yearbook quotes.
Celebratory post!
I got a really good mark in maths (92% scaled, 2nd or 3rd), that really surprised me as it was a hard test!
So happy my work paid off! :D
Celebratory post!Yesss! Hang on to this feeling and turn it into motivation to get you through the HSC. The feeling of success, I find, is very addictive, so remember this moment so you can strive to have it again! :)
I got a really good mark in maths (92% scaled, 2nd or 3rd), that really surprised me as it was a hard test!
So happy my work paid off! :D
Atar Notes reminded me today that there is only 50 days left until the HSC!! I wasn't ready to be reminded of this (I didn't really realise that it was so soon). I'm kinda excited, happy and nervous.
I had my school musical on Friday and Saturday. The singing was really good as everybody had been practicing for the majority of the year. When I wasn't playing, I had a great seat to watch the musical from the orchestra pit. I've had the songs stuck in my head all day today!
Atar Notes reminded me today that there is only 50 days left until the HSC!! I wasn't ready to be reminded of this (I didn't really realise that it was so soon).Jamon loves scaring people
I was behind that post and the email... Sorry to be a buzzkill ;)I saw it on Facebook, and then Instagram, email and the AN post.
So glad it went well for you all! ;D
29/8/17
- We had a year meeting in the morning to talk about UAC applications and how to apply. We also had someone from Western Sydney uni to talk to us (it is the closest uni to my school). Although I don't want to go to Western Sydney uni, it looked like it had some good facilities and the talk brought up some new ideas. I also decided to research some scholarships that night and may apply for some soon (once I actually decide what courses to study) although I'm unsure of if I would actually get any.
- My English teacher has started doing classes for us doing sport (as we don't have to do sport anymore) and it was really good/productive. We broke down an essay question on Hamlet and worked on starting an intro for it. I'm going to try and get this essay done soonish.
30/8/17
This is my longest school days of the week (8:30-5:15) because of extension. Normally my school has 6 periods a day that are 53 minutes long and also has an A and a B week. Wednesday is probably my favourite day this week because I have double Ancient, extension, music and no English.
Legal (double period):
We had a police prosecutor come to talk to us about domestic violence. This links with both the family and crime topics and was really interesting (although also some of the cases she described were sad). She also went through how the topic relates to the themes and challenges section of the course which was really good for our essay writing. People also were able to ask questions and I got to write about 4 pages of notes.
Ancient (double period):
We’re studying Agrippina at the moment and are about halfway through the third main dot point (Career). We got through a lot of content today. We covered her marriage to Claudius, when she promoted Nero over Britannicus, honours/titles, image/status, removal of perceived threats and historians interpretations of her (including if she murdered Claudius). I’m almost sick of Powerpoints at the moment though (it’s all we’ve done in Ancient all year).
Lunch:
I had a meeting with our principal today which went for around 15 minutes. He’s been doing meetings with everybody in my year throughout this year. I think that there’s not a lot of point now though-it was helpful but may have been better earlier on in the year (as one of the questions was how the school could help us which isn’t too useful now as we only have 3 weeks). I ended up answering ‘I don’t know’ to about three of his questions.
Music:
Practice, practice,practice
I had to cut about a minute from two of my pieces (which was just less than a page). I still find the cuts a bit weird because I'm not used to them and I'm so annoyed that I had to cut so much because I had practiced it heaps.
Maths:
We had a catch up lesson today, however I was pretty unproductive (and tired for some reason). We have almost finished our last topic (non-linear functions-mainly graphs) so we should have a lot of lessons to revise before the term ends.
Extension history:
We studied the concept of Big History today, which looks at the history of the world from the Big Bang (and goes to the future). It's a newer concept but is supported by John Green and Bill Gates. It was really interesting but included a lot of science stuff (and I'm not really into science). We then did some exam skills and looked at finding the main ideas from sources. By the end of the class we were really tired and our conversations were getting off track.
Really excited to see some of you guys at the UNSW open day!! :D
Realised that this is actually really long-well, I guess I'll blame my procrastination, but it's fun to be able to write.:)
Definitely apply for them! You never know :DThanks, I think I may apply for some but i'm not too sure yet.
Dearie me. Nearly 9 hours at school o.0 The busiest day I have is 5 periods, and the least busiest has 2 :B
So excited for this Sat as well! We should set a time and place to meet :)
Thanks, I think I may apply for some but i'm not too sure yet.
Yeah, it's a really long day. How long are your school periods? I would love to have a 2 period day! I don't have any study periods either, but don't think I would be productive during them.
I'm actually thinking of skipping one of my musical performances for the open day (was really conflicted when I realised they were on the same day). My school does six performances so I think it should be ok if I miss one (theres another clarinet in the orchestra as well). However, i'm not too sure how my music teacher (also orchestra conductor) would react. Need to tell her tomorrow.
We should definitely set a time and place for all the AN people to meet. Would love to see everybody! :D
My school musical finally finished last night. I think that it was probably the best show as everybody had heaps of energy and was so excited on the stage. Its a bit sad to be finished but in a way i'm sick of the songs. My siblings were at the after party for the musical until 11:30 so I didn't get to go home until about 12:15ish (so I had a huge sleep in this morning).
Probably the best part of the open day was being able to meet some amazingly friendly people from AN (fantasticbeasts3, Jess, Rui, and E6P). I seriously can't wait until we have a state AN meet-up because I want to be able meet more of you! :D
It must go national!Yep! This needs to happen sometime soon! (You guys are the first bunch of people that I've seriously wanted to go interstate to meet :D ).
Yep! This needs to happen sometime soon! (You guys are the first bunch of people that I've seriously wanted to go interstate to meet :D ).Need more people to get their licenses first ;)
5/9/17
Today I had my soundcheck for my music HSC tomorrow! Yep, this time tomorrow I would have finished 70% of my external marks for music which will be amazing! I'm both excited and really nervous. For those who don't do music exams, it's basically only me, my piano accompaniment and the marker in the room. I'm having someone accompany me on the piano for all of my pieces and today we played through my pieces about 2-3 times.
It's pretty cool how far i've come with the pieces (especially how considering when I first got some of them I thought they looked so hard i'd never be able to play them well-especially the Duo Concentant). I've been practicing most of these pieces since January so I know them really well now, and am almost sick of them in a way (although I do like them).
I'm really hoping that I don't stuff up anything during the performance tomorrow! :)
good luck for music tomorrow!!! hope everything goes well - you've obviously prepared a lot :-) i get what you mean about being sick of those pieces after a while, you just play them over and over and over again and they just get sooooo boring. how many performances are you doing (i know someone who's doing 4; others doing 2, split with 2 compositions)Thanks! :D Definitely-they are pretty much the only pieces I've focussed on for the entire year (and are still not perfect) so I can't wait to get something new! I'm doing 4 performances (so 20 minutes all up!). :)
Thanks! :D Definitely-they are pretty much the only pieces I've focussed on for the entire year (and are still not perfect) so I can't wait to get something new! I'm doing 4 performances (so 20 minutes all up!). :)
oooh 4 pieces over the whole year doesn't seem like fun hahahah. whatever happens, happens tomorrow and if you know you've prepared as much as possible you'll be fine :-) do you do the 4 performances consecutively? or does someone go in after you've done, say, your first and second piece, then go back in after?Yeah, you do them almost one after the other (with little breaks in between when the marker is doing feedback and writing and stuff). So, by the end of my performance for trials I was so tired.
GOOD LUCK!!!!!!11111111111 GOOOODJHGSD LUCKKAAGHA I HOPE YOU DO SWELLLLL HAVE A GOOD BREAK LEG OR WHATEVER THEY USUALLY SAYY~~~ (seriously though, I will pray for you if that is what it takes :P)Thanks so much!! (Two of my siblings have actually just recovered from broken arms-so I laugh whenever this expression is used atm). Are you religious (if so, praying would be amazing, but definitely up to you!)?
Break a leg Katie!! I bet you'll smash it (fingers crossed you get nice markers, mine were so lovely when I did mine) ;DThanks Jamon! :D Hopefully they are really nice (how many do you normally get?)
Yeah, you do them almost one after the other (with little breaks in between when the marker is doing feedback and writing and stuff). So, by the end of my performance for trials I was so tired.
Thanks so much!! (Two of my siblings have actually just recovered from broken arms-so I laugh whenever this expression is used atm). Are you religious (if so, praying would be amazing, but definitely up to you!)?
Thanks Jamon! :D Hopefully they are really nice (how many do you normally get?)
Thanks so much!! (Two of my siblings have actually just recovered from broken arms-so I laugh whenever this expression is used atm). Are you religious (if so, praying would be amazing, but definitely up to you!)?
5/9/17
Today I had my soundcheck for my music HSC tomorrow! Yep, this time tomorrow I would have finished 70% of my external marks for music which will be amazing! I'm both excited and really nervous. For those who don't do music exams, it's basically only me, my piano accompaniment and the marker in the room. I'm having someone accompany me on the piano for all of my pieces and today we played through my pieces about 2-3 times.
It's pretty cool how far i've come with the pieces (especially how considering when I first got some of them I thought they looked so hard i'd never be able to play them well-especially the Duo Concentant). I've been practicing most of these pieces since January so I know them really well now, and am almost sick of them in a way (although I do like them).
I'm really hoping that I don't stuff up anything during the performance tomorrow! :)
6/9/17
Today I had my music exam so classes weren't compulsory for us (so I only went to Ancient and Extension).
Ancient: Today we finished our last ever Ancient PowerPoint (and the Agrippina topic). From now on were just doing revision for the topics. We are having an Ancient party next week and our teachers making an Ancient themed escape room which should be really fun.
Music: I am so relived that this is over! It's an amazing feeling! There was two examiners in the room and they were friendly. One of them tried to say a couple of jokes, which may have been funnier if I wasn't so nervous. I think that my first two pieces were pretty good but the other two weren't as great (I'd probably played them better). I think that I got slightly tired during the third piece and started making some more mistakes. However, overall I think it was a good performance. It's really annoying how I will never really get any marks or feedback from today.
Extension history: Todays my second last class of extension ever. We did a lot of revision and study skills stuff. We worked on breaking down the sources, and writing mini essay plans. I also won a JFK kahoot! Next week we are having a class party with lots of food, and fun revision stuff such as quizlets and kahoot.
6/9/17
Today I had my music exam so classes weren't compulsory for us (so I only went to Ancient and Extension).
Ancient: Today we finished our last ever Ancient PowerPoint (and the Agrippina topic). From now on were just doing revision for the topics. We are having an Ancient party next week and our teachers making an Ancient themed escape room which should be really fun.
Music: I am so relived that this is over! It's an amazing feeling! There was two examiners in the room and they were friendly. One of them tried to say a couple of jokes, which may have been funnier if I wasn't so nervous. I think that my first two pieces were pretty good but the other two weren't as great (I'd probably played them better). I think that I got slightly tired during the third piece and started making some more mistakes. However, overall I think it was a good performance. It's really annoying how I will never really get any marks or feedback from today.
Extension history: Todays my second last class of extension ever. We did a lot of revision and study skills stuff. We worked on breaking down the sources, and writing mini essay plans. I also won a JFK kahoot! Next week we are having a class party with lots of food, and fun revision stuff such as quizlets and kahoot.
Well done Katie! Huge load of the shoulders I'm sure, glad it went well! ;DThanks Jamon! :D
You can actually request your marks for the performances, but it costs money :(
hey hey!!! congrats on finishing your first hsc exam, must be an amazing feeling!!!!Thanks, feels great! JFK's pretty cool although I never did the public and private option. Did you study him when you did extension?
history extension sounds so great - i miss it a loooott. one of the best subjects. jfk? more like jf-bae. (or not. as evident through the public and private option of that topic.) hope you have a great rest of your term! x
Thanks, feels great! JFK's pretty cool although I never did the public and private option. Did you study him when you did extension?
Can't believe there is just over two weeks left of school! I still have classes for the whole of next week and then the Monday and half of the Tuesday of the week afterwards. Week 9 is mainly fun stuff though (class parties, staff v. students soccer match, graduation, formal,etc.) :D!
Hope you have an amazing end of term aswell!
Congrats on those ranks!!! :D
:O THAT LOOKS SO PRETTY <3
now you've made me hungry ;)
gotta start doing that as well!
We have the same English rank! Except I think mine is out of 80 somthing. I'm probably gonna need to rewrite my trial English essays too cause they're not the greatest... I don't know what it is about English that makes the exam so hard!You have heaps more people in Advanced English then my year! Most other subjects I can write essays ok, but English is just terrible.
You have heaps more people in Advanced English then my year! Most other subjects I can write essays ok, but English is just terrible.Yeah I feel the same, my drama and geo essays are pretty good but English is so terrible in comparison. Maybe it's because the only module I have ok notes for is mod A (I love Gatsby!) but Hamlet and Art Of Travel are a trek and a half. At least you got somthing done though, unlike me who is using my current headache as a reason to take the night off.
I'm not great at English exams but I especially disliked paper 2 (Three essays in two hours is a lot!)
I need to do a lot more studying for English but it is my least favourite subject and I'm not a huge fan of writing English essays or most of my texts (especially The Art of Travel).
I started writing a Hamlet essay this morning and am only on the third paragraph after about an hour, and I was planning to finish it tonight. A lot of that time was spent procrastinating though.
As for avoiding procrastination… I kind of just embrace it? I don’t feel bad for procrastinating. I just do what I want and get it out of my system, then when I’ve not-done-something for so long that I genuinely need to get on it or I’m fucked, I usually work uninterrupted hahahaha. If I don't want to procrastinate, I don't procrastinate. If I want to procrastinate, I do it until I don't want to anymore. The problem wth people asking "how do I stop procrastinating" is they are actually asking, "How do I stop procrastinating when I want to procrastinate?" and I guess my solution is just... don't. Instead, work on not wanting to procrastinate.
Might go into school sometime this week to study and hand in some essays to my teachers for feedback. But we were emailed today saying that we come in we still need to wear our uniform.We had to do this too - honestly, I didn't mind it, because wearing school uniform put me into the work mindset so I felt like I was more likely to knuckle down and focus. I was definitely glad we had to wear uniform for exams - even if we had the choice to wear casual clothes, I think I probably would have worn uniform haha.
Really enjoyed your update, Katie! :DThanks K888! :D
Sounds like your prep for exams is going pretty well. I love that you're using your whiteboard - I honestly think whiteboards were the best revision tool I used during year 12.
We had to do this too - honestly, I didn't mind it, because wearing school uniform put me into the work mindset so I felt like I was more likely to knuckle down and focus. I was definitely glad we had to wear uniform for exams - even if we had the choice to wear casual clothes, I think I probably would have worn uniform haha.
Wishing you all the luck in the world for your upcoming exams! ;D
15/10/17
Not too long now! Tomorrow I have two different exams (English Paper 1 and Music)!
This weekend I mainly worked on getting together and working on all my quotes, working on some of my essays and making essay plans. I’m going to try and memorise my discovery essay and mould it to the question tomorrow (listening to a recording of it now :) )
Good luck to everybody for tomorrow! Sending you all internet hugs :D. Try to stay calm during the exam and don’t stress too much! I know all of your hard work will pay off! ;D
2/11/12
My HSC is over and the feeling is absolutely amazing!! ;D
All I have to do left is bring in one more library book (lost somewhere in my room) and organise my exit interview.
Thoughts on my final exams:
History Extension: Loved the questions. I had heaps of things to talk about and think that my essays went well. However, I forgot a few interpretations for section 2.
Hospitality: The questions are always so weirdly worded. There was also a 3-mark question on something I don’t remember covering in class (or if we did it was really quickly) which put me off. I think most of the rest was ok though. We also had three people leave halfway through the exam which was really distracting. I studied quite a bit for it and I’m not sure if I went as well as I wanted to.
Legal: Thought the questions today were quite nice. Really happy with crime and my consumer essay. Think my family essay wasn’t as strong but I was kind of expecting it. Made up a few cases and media and muddled up one of my legislations but I think it went ok.
Brought John Green’s new book today so hopefully I’ll read that tonight!
So happy it’s all over! Looking forward to the sleep ins!
Good luck to those still doing HSC exams and to those in VCE just starting yours! ;D
congrats on finishing, katie!Thanks!! ;D
random comment: how annoying is it when people leave the exam? 9 people left legal today... ugh
Congrats!!Thanks!! Congrats to you too! ;D
Congrats on finishing !!!!!!!Thanks!! It's the best feeling!
I haven't had too many people leave! I don't think my school even really allows it! But we had three people leave for hopso and one today! I was only halfway through the Hospitality paper as well so they definitely hadn't finished it. It was so distracting and annoying! :(
We had one person leave today and a few people were really annoyed at him! 9 is so much though!
Thanks!! Congrats to you too! ;D
8/12/17congrats on both! ;D
Got an email today saying that my UNSW audition was successful!! As long as I get an atar of 80+ I will be accepted into the course! Such an amazing feeling! :D
Got my braces off today which is a really weird feeling, but so good! :)
Ancient: 81 (wanted a little higher but really happy I got a b5)
English (Advanced): 77 (actually pretty happy with this, improved so much since trials! Thanks Jamon/Elyse for reading all my essays! Annoying that it's 3 off a b5 though)
History Extension: 37 (Was expecting a lot higher, really disappointed considering I put more effort into this then most of my higher marked subjects.)
Hospitality: 86
Legal: 84 (So happy I got 86 for the exam!!)
General Maths: 87 (Was expecting a b6, little disappointed but still happy with the mark)
Music: 77 (little disappointed, not too surprised though)
Sneak us into the UNSW music rooms Caitlin. We can start the AN band there ;)Will do! ;) Actually would be so cool though! :)
congrats katie!!!! very very very very deserving of this - you've worked so hard :-) i'll be at unsw tomorrow (don't know what time), but i'll be there later in the day. maybe i'll see you!Thanks so much!! ;D My clarinet teacher announced this at band tonight and they were all really happy for me! :)
best of luck for next year and beyond!
Will do! ;) Actually would be so cool though! :)Therefore it will actually happen? ;D
Thanks so much!! ;D My clarinet teacher announced this at band tonight and they were all really happy for me! :)
Hopefully we'll see each other tomorrow! I'll keep an eye out and we can always message each other.
Best of luck to you as well! Hope you get into your first preference! :)