ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => Victorian Education Discussion => The VCE Journey Journal => Topic started by: JackH10 on October 01, 2019, 11:26:24 pm
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Hey everyone! :)
Just signed up and saw this thread, so I figured, why not hop on the trend and start my own journal.
So first, a bit of background,
I'm currently a Year 10 Student who is also an avid fan of soccer (if you can't already tell by my avatar) I also participate in numerous extracurriculars to relax and get away from school, although it gets a bit tedious sometimes... Especially after school orchestra rehearsals. And the odd DAV debate here and there, but otherwise, it's chill.
Year 10 Subjects:
Only got 3 electives, with everything else standardised so I'm studying Sports Science, SLA 1/2 and Latin
Year 11 Selections :)
Bio 3/4, Chem 1/2, Latin 1/2, Methods 1/2, Physics 1/2, Spec 1/2 and normal Eng
Yeah.. I know 3 sciences 2 maths... But I'll most likely drop one of those 4 in year 12.
Not sure what I'm going to drop for year 12 yet though, so I guess I'll just see how next year's 1/2s go. Not sure how I'm feeling about doing 2 maths subjects in year 12, but I guess I'll get a better taste when I get a year's experience.
Well... That's it from me for now, I know there's a tonne of stuff which I missed but you'll most likely see updates, so I'll remember and add stuff as the years progress. Feel free to ask me any questions that you wonder about.
;D
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Welcome! :)
There's absolutely nothing wrong with 3 sciences 2 maths, if my school had offered spec I might've done that too.
Why did you decide to make bio your early subject?
Good luck with your VCE journey!
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Hey JackH10! :D
Welcome to the ATAR Notes forums and great job on starting your own journal! I think the title of this journey is pretty cool, I'm looking forward to reading it!
It sounds like you do lots of exciting extra curricular's, and goodluck this year with your VCE :D
Coolmate 8)
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Hey everyone! :)
Just signed up and saw this thread, so I figured, why not hop on the trend and start my own journal.
So first, a bit of background,
I'm currently a Year 10 Student who is also an avid fan of soccer (if you can't already tell by my avatar) I also participate in numerous extracurriculars to relax and get away from school, although it gets a bit tedious sometimes... Especially after school orchestra rehearsals. And the odd DAV debate here and there, but otherwise, it's chill.
Year 10 Subjects:
Only got 3 electives, with everything else standardised so I'm studying Sports Science, SLA 1/2 and Latin
Year 11 Selections :)
Bio 3/4, Chem 1/2, Latin 1/2, Methods 1/2, Physics 1/2, Spec 1/2 and normal Eng
Yeah.. I know 3 sciences 2 maths... But I'll most likely drop one of those 4 in year 12.
Not sure what I'm going to drop for year 12 yet though, so I guess I'll just see how next year's 1/2s go. Not sure how I'm feeling about doing 2 maths subjects in year 12, but I guess I'll get a better taste when I get a year's experience.
Well... That's it from me for now, I know there's a tonne of stuff which I missed but you'll most likely see updates, so I'll remember and add stuff as the years progress. Feel free to ask me any questions that you wonder about.
;D
Hey JackH10!
Super cool title! I saw that and I was like mann thats a w e s o m e.
Welcome to ATARNotes, Have you studied Latin before or did you just pick it up this year?
I'm looking forward to reading your journey journal :)
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Welcome! :)
There's absolutely nothing wrong with 3 sciences 2 maths, if my school had offered spec I might've done that too.
Why did you decide to make bio your early subject?
Good luck with your VCE journey!
Hey Bri,
Thanks for the reply :)
My school standardised most of the curriculum up all the way to the end of year 10, so the early subject selections were quite limited. (Geo, Global Politics, Bio, Chinese, Accounting were the main ones) I guess it ultimately came down to Chinese vs Biology, as I wasn't too passionate for the other subjects.
I was torn about the decision for some time as I had attended chinese school weekly since year 1, so I had made several close friends there. However, if I selected chinese I would have been placed in SLA (living in china/chinese speaking country for 3 years or more), which is significantly more competetive compared to SL, that compiled with the fact that I had moved here when I was 5, (hence no official chinese education, which made me severly disadvantaged compared to students which have a much better foundation in the language--students whom have completed grade 6 of primary school in China).
That was one of the pivotal factors, but another was the fact that I was definitely more passionate about Biology, as I had previously enjoyed the biology blocks of the science unit at my school, and ever since attending a lecture style session about the subject, I was hooked. Although I know that I'll need to put in some work to catch up (No prior Bio 1/2 knowledge and the immense content), but I believe it will definitely be more feasible to get a good score in Bio compared to Chinese due to the above mentioned reasons.
Hope this made sense :)
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Hey JackH10! :D
Welcome to the ATAR Notes forums and great job on starting your own journal! I think the title of this journey is pretty cool, I'm looking forward to reading it!
It sounds like you do lots of exciting extra curricular's, and goodluck this year with your VCE :D
Coolmate 8)
Hey Coolmate,
Thanks for that! Hopefully I can manage my time well and minimise the procrastination :)
Saw your study guide as well, very informative and helpful, will definitely try put the techniques into practice.
Good luck for your HSC as well! ;D
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Hey JackH10!
Super cool title! I saw that and I was like mann thats a w e s o m e.
Welcome to ATARNotes, Have you studied Latin before or did you just pick it up this year?
I'm looking forward to reading your journey journal :)
Hahaha thanks for the reply and the welcome J_Rho!
I have studied latin since year 7 (only half the year during year 7 though) so I'm in pretty deep (nearly finished with the Cambridge latin course... onto the last chapters of last book :)), but still tough to not forget grammar and vocab after a while.
I saw your journal as well, damn, it was impressive, the organisation was immaculate and the joke of the week is such a clever component. Seeing that you are undertaking Bio 3/4 this year, I just wanted to see just generally how you found the subject and if that changed at all throughout the year(seeing that you've completed most of it already)
Thanks so much!
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Hey Jack! A fellow debater here- what do you enjoy most about it? Also, what speaker are you normally? ;D Look forward to learning more about you!
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Hey Jack! A fellow debater here- what do you enjoy most about it? Also, what speaker are you normally? ;D Look forward to learning more about you!
Hey Laura, great to hear. ;D
I'm normally 3rd speaker, and I mainly enjoy the spontaneous challenge which being the 3rd speaker poses and being able to conclude and rebut in a manner to swing the debate. I also relish finding the multi-layered thematic rebuttals to major clashes which can challenge my thinking skills and make the difference.
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Hahaha thanks for the reply and the welcome J_Rho!
I have studied latin since year 7 (only half the year during year 7 though) so I'm in pretty deep (nearly finished with the Cambridge latin course... onto the last chapters of last book :)), but still tough to not forget grammar and vocab after a while.
I saw your journal as well, damn, it was impressive, the organisation was immaculate and the joke of the week is such a clever component. Seeing that you are undertaking Bio 3/4 this year, I just wanted to see just generally how you found the subject and if that changed at all throughout the year(seeing that you've completed most of it already)
Thanks so much!
Bio 3/4 is different from 1/2 in terms of workload (there's more) and I would say Unit 4 is easier then Unit 3 as the concepts are a little more straightforward and you don't have to go into as much depth. Despite being difficult at times it is extremely enjoyable and easily relatable to the outside world! If you want I can email you my 3/4 notes from this year :)
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Bio 3/4 is different from 1/2 in terms of workload (there's more) and I would say Unit 4 is easier then Unit 3 as the concepts are a little more straightforward and you don't have to go into as much depth. Despite being difficult at times it is extremely enjoyable and easily relatable to the outside world! If you want I can email you my 3/4 notes from this year :)
Ok, that's great to know! If that last bit is possible I'd love to, think it'll be great to get a better view of what's ahead of me ;D
Thanks
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Ok, that's great to know! If that last bit is possible I'd love to, think it'll be great to get a better view of what's ahead of me ;D
Thanks
If you wanna pm me your email I can send you through my notes :))
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UPDATE #1:
Exam and Holidays
I realise that I have not been active at all since about October, but it was really fun starting this VCE journey journal so don't ditch this journal just yet :). I did pretty well in exams and have finished some of my holiday homework and have started the Bio 3/4 course with help from the Doutchy's Biology on Edrolo. Having said that, if anyone's done 3/4 with Edrolo, especially without previously doing 1/2, I would love some advice on generally how much the online course actually covers (and also perhaps major gaps in knowledge as a possible result of not undertaking 1/2), as I have realised that I often found external note sheets tend to have quite a lot of extra information, which isn't explained on the online videos so it would be really helpful if anyone can just provide a general guide on how I should be using Edrolo as a resource (and also any other helpful resources I could use). I also managed to get my hands on a PDF version of Cambell's biology, after seeing a previous thread on how to do well in Bio. However, I'm not quite sure how to efficiently and effectively utilise the textbook as it is very lengthy and various portions are more advanced than what I expect would be expected at VCE Bio. And our school generally doesn't really adopt a textbook oriented style of teaching (They mainly make their own booklets for topics covered in science, without any textbook), so tips to tackle it will be extremely helpful.
Otherwise, my work on other subjects (no order) is as follows:
Latin: No assigned homework, planning to start revising grammar/vocab 1.5 weeks before school starts.
Chem: Quite a lot of homework, but most of it is straightforward, self explanatory, haven't done it yet, would take a day max to complete (complete next week?)
English: Read 2 books... VS litchart summaries?
Methods: Homework was very straightforward, pretty much just revision, COMPLETED :)
Spec: Some parts were alright, some parts were actually quite challenging :-\ 1-2 Questions left
Physics: Like chem, but less, will complete at same time as chem.
Looking back... I realise I haven't really done that much work :(
Extra note: I would also appreciate any notetaking tips/general approaches to the subject, especially geared towards Bio.
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Hey Jack!
Good to see this update. Don't feel too worried about updating this too often, sometimes life gets in the way! I know my own Year 12 VCE journey journal wasn't nearly as packed as I hoped to make it, but that's the nature of VCE. That said, I do hope to hear lots more from you!
I love your choice of Latin! May I ask what led you to that decision? Definitely in line with that 99.9 aim, and is beneficial because it not only scales up so much, but it doesn't contain the speaking element which traditionally poses a lot of pressure, as well as the fact you're basically on an even ledger with the rest of the people taking the subject!
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Hi Jack,
I did biology last year and worked through Edrolo 3/4. I would say Douchy is rather good at covering most aspects of the study design, (that said, there are definitely things that he skims over and a few aspects where he goes into too much detail). I used Edrolo to introduce myself to new topics, supplemented with the reading of the textbook. I also wrote notes for the whole of the Edrolo course, jotting down all the important things I wanted to remember from the videos. While this is certainly not necessary, I did this because I know I personally learn most efficiently when I am actively writing stuff down (although obviously this takes a bit more time). Thereby, my primary suggestion to you would be to find out how you learn content best and work out how Edrolo fits into the equation. However, you should at least write a key bits of information that you may be likely to forget from the videos and any questions which arise from watching the videos (you can then review these points later without having to re-watch the entire Edrolo course ;)).
The best way to efficiently use the text book is to USE the study design at the same time. It literally notes down, in dot point form, exactly what you will need to know for the end of year exam. So, print one off and put it beside you when you are reading your textbook. That way, if the book begins to delve too deep into certain topics (e.g. some textbooks go into too much detail about cellular respiration), then you won't have to worry because you know whether you will need to know it or not. Personally, I found that my school powerpoints were rather good at covering the course (most but not all of the time), so I primarily used the textbook to introduce myself to new topics (light reading) and to clarify anything I was unsure of when writing notes. Also I did write a guide with lots of other resources/tips if you'd like to look here
In terms of what you missed in 1/2, I wouldn't worry too much. In my experience, most of the stuff that you need to know from 1/2 is taught again in units 3/4 anyway. But there is an easy way to be sure 8) just check out the study design to make sure your class is covering everything you need to know.
Hope this helps, I'm excited to follow your journal through 2020.
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I love your choice of Latin! May I ask what led you to that decision? Definitely in line with that 99.9 aim, and is beneficial because it not only scales up so much, but it doesn't contain the speaking element which traditionally poses a lot of pressure, as well as the fact you're basically on an even ledger with the rest of the people taking the subject!
Thanks Jimmy for the encouragement :), and I swear it's a genuine struggle to keep these up to date. As for why I chose latin, you got my motivations pretty much spot on. It was a combination of all of those, and also, I was thinking after stopping it last year, but our teacher game some of the class 'honours(year 11)' original latin as a head start, and it was really challenging, but simultaneously, very rewarding. So I'm looking forward to restarting soon, although getting back into it after a long break is not great, especially in terms of grammar/vocab.
Hope to hear more from you too :)
Hi Jack,
I did biology last year and worked through Edrolo 3/4. I would say Douchy is rather good at covering most aspects of the study design, (that said, there are definitely things that he skims over and a few aspects where he goes into too much detail). I used Edrolo to introduce myself to new topics, supplemented with the reading of the textbook. I also wrote notes for the whole of the Edrolo course, jotting down all the important things I wanted to remember from the videos. While this is certainly not necessary, I did this because I know I personally learn most efficiently when I am actively writing stuff down (although obviously this takes a bit more time). Thereby, my primary suggestion to you would be to find out how you learn content best and work out how Edrolo fits into the equation. However, you should at least write a key bits of information that you may be likely to forget from the videos and any questions which arise from watching the videos (you can then review these points later without having to re-watch the entire Edrolo course ;)).
The best way to efficiently use the text book is to USE the study design at the same time. It literally notes down, in dot point form, exactly what you will need to know for the end of year exam. So, print one off and put it beside you when you are reading your textbook. That way, if the book begins to delve too deep into certain topics (e.g. some textbooks go into too much detail about cellular respiration), then you won't have to worry because you know whether you will need to know it or not. Personally, I found that my school powerpoints were rather good at covering the course (most but not all of the time), so I primarily used the textbook to introduce myself to new topics (light reading) and to clarify anything I was unsure of when writing notes. Also I did write a guide with lots of other resources/tips if you'd like to look here
In terms of what you missed in 1/2, I wouldn't worry too much. In my experience, most of the stuff that you need to know from 1/2 is taught again in units 3/4 anyway. But there is an easy way to be sure 8) just check out the study design to make sure your class is covering everything you need to know.
Hope this helps, I'm excited to follow your journal through 2020.
Thanks for the great advice Chocolatemilkshake, didn't think to use textbook and Study design at the same time! I also read your guide, very insightful, hope I can get such a score as well ;D. Totally related from the first sentence about reading all the AN guides to the struggle of finding the right resources. Look forward to finding Douchy's podcast.
Hope you have a good rest of the holidays, and hope to see you on here again soon :)
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Hey JackH10!
Great to see you coming back to your journal! I can definitely relate to how they can be hard to keep up to date sometimes! How did you go with Biology last year? What subject do you think you'll enjoy most this year?
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Hey JackH10!
Great to see you coming back to your journal! I can definitely relate to how they can be hard to keep up to date sometimes! How did you go with Biology last year? What subject do you think you'll enjoy most this year?
Thanks, I was afriad that I wasn't ever going to post again! :-\ Anyways, I didn't do Biology as a 1/2, so we just covered a bit of immunology and genetics in science. They were both pretty good, but I'm sure it wasn't as in depth as 3/4. I'm not quite sure what subject I'll enjoy most actually, I'm finding biology quite fascinating as of late. It'll probably end up between Bio, Physics or latin. What about you? :)
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Thanks, I was afriad that I wasn't ever going to post again! :-\ Anyways, I didn't do Biology as a 1/2, so we just covered a bit of immunology and genetics in science. They were both pretty good, but I'm sure it wasn't as in depth as 3/4. I'm not quite sure what subject I'll enjoy most actually, I'm finding biology quite fascinating as of late. It'll probably end up between Bio, Physics or latin. What about you? :)
I love how Biology really relates to everyday life! For me it will probably end up being Legal or Further as I am bad at English, dislike the Psychology teacher and am only doing HHD cause the school said I had to have another subject.
Thats so cool that you're taking Latin! What made you choose Latin over any other languages?
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That's awesome that you're already aiming for a 99.9! In year 10, I was only hoping to aim for a 90+, as opposed to now, where I've finally decided to at least aim for 99+. You must have a lot of passion, drive and ambition for such a quest! All the best for your studies!
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Sorry for the late reply y'all
I love how Biology really relates to everyday life! For me it will probably end up being Legal or Further as I am bad at English, dislike the Psychology teacher and am only doing HHD cause the school said I had to have another subject.
Thats so cool that you're taking Latin! What made you choose Latin over any other languages?
Yeah definitely, it's great to apply concepts which you learned to your surrounding environment staight away. Forcing more subjects onto you doesn't sound very fun :/, but I guess you'll never know how the subject will be until you go through it yourself. Hope you thoroughly enjoy Further and Legal though!
Not going to lie, the scale up for latin was very appealing ;D and some of the stories which you get to translate are pretty interesting, if you end up translating it correctly. I also found that I'm not too bad at it, and with some work, I think I'll be able to enjoy it more. Chinese in year 11 was the main other option for me as I'm chinese, but as I came here when I was 5, I had to enrol in SLA, which is against other students coming from China in year 6. That along with the insurmountable workload to do well, and the fact that I never truly enjoyed it, made it a chore which I didn't want to slave away at.
That's awesome that you're already aiming for a 99.9! In year 10, I was only hoping to aim for a 90+, as opposed to now, where I've finally decided to at least aim for 99+. You must have a lot of passion, drive and ambition for such a quest! All the best for your studies!
That's great to hear, never hurts to aim (99.9 still looks very unachieveable right now :-\), and congrats on your 43 in Bus Man! Welp, I hope I had more of those qualities, the journey is going to be long, but I have an older brother who's already being through the process and I think that really helped me to adjust my goals accordingly :) You never know, by the end of this year, you could very well be the one with a 99.9 already ;) Wish you the best for your studies as well ;D
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Less than One week till school starts again UPDATE:
Went to some free AN Lectures for Spesh, Methods and Bio. Pretty helpful, and it was great to turn up the Bio lecture and understanding most of the concepts covered, definitely helped consolidate some knowledge. Really enjoyed Spesh lecture, was expecting to be brain dead after, but surprisingly good! Methods was alright, quite a lot of information was revision, some new aspects were covered well though. Otherwise, soccer training has restarted for a couple of weeks now and it's definitely nice to stay active during holidays :) And told I'm playing in a quartet for House Music in like a month :-\. Background Info: I kind messed up my first solo last year, and was not great... This year's piece is a lot harder and more chamber music than before with better players... Kinda scared, ready to practice 40hrs a day like LingLing.
Homework Summary:
Latin: NEED TO REVISE GRAMMAR AND VOCAB
Chem: Homework Booklet complete :)
English: Ok.. Haven't really made any progress... :(
Methods: Completed :)
Spesh: Completed :)
Physics: Completed :)
Biology: Still enjoying it :)
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The AN lectures were great. I only went to 3/4 bio, as the 1/2 ones weren't in the city and were harder to get to, but I found it great. Glad to hear you're still enjoying biology! Are you finding anything overwhelming because you didn't do 1/2?
Good on you having done so much of your homework. Best of luck getting that english stuff done!
When are you back at school?
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The AN lectures were great. I only went to 3/4 bio, as the 1/2 ones weren't in the city and were harder to get to, but I found it great. Glad to hear you're still enjoying biology! Are you finding anything overwhelming because you didn't do 1/2?
Good on you having done so much of your homework. Best of luck getting that english stuff done!
When are you back at school?
Haven't found anything too challenging just yet, hope it continues throughout the year :), but it could be because of the amount of time that you're allowed if you focus mainly on the one subject, and I feel like that'll change when school starts again. So guess we'll have to just wait and see. I start school tomorrow, what about you? Thanks for the encouragement :D