ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => Victorian Education Discussion => Topic started by: oliverk94 on January 19, 2012, 04:51:33 pm
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Hi, I'm new here.
I just want to get advice on whether or not I have a chance of achieving my goals for Year 12. This year I am aiming for an ATAR score of 90+ (not sure what I want to do yet). From Years 7 to 11 as a high school student i slacked off very badly, I never did my homework or studied in Years 7-10 and in Year 11 I hardly studied and only did the recommend homework of me in the last minute and tried to learn the material the day before the exam, and this got me pretty average results and even came close to failing Unit 2 of Chemistry.
There is about a week left of school and I still haven't even finished all of my holiday homework and haven't even started some of it.
I want to change, and I feel that if I don't change now my chances of achieving a 90+ ATAR are unrealistic..
What i want to say is, can I really change my years of bad study habits now? Or is it over for me?
Because I am competing against people who have worked hard throughout their high school careers and I haven't.. is it possible to achieve success even though I have a very bad record, academically?
Thank you.
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Yes. There's no such thing as being unable
to change your habits, but you've got to be motivated
to make that change.
But in the unfortunate event that your ATAR isn't high enough,
its not the end all and be all. There are many paths to go
into uni, such as transferring between universities and many more.
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It's not over until you actually do the exams. You have the whole year left! As aes said, you must remain motivated, determined, patient. Don't burn out, either. I know of a few people who slacked off in their early years, then completely reformed in Yr11/12 and aced VCE
Never give up. Never say die
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Thanks for the replies, but the thing is I'm starting the Year with a bad foundation for my Year 12 subjects, since I didn't do as well in Year 11.. which is what has been really depressing me a lot lately.. can you still do good even though you have a bad foundation? I mean I did bad (close to failing) in Chemistry Unit 2, will that effect how I do in 3&4?
Sorry for all these questions. I'm extremely stressed out and have a lot of pressure on me to succeed this year.
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Hey, why not consider tutoring to build up the basics? Might help
Good luck
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true story,
some kid at my school with the exact same story as you, ended up getting pretty average (low 30s) for his VCE sub in year 11
then in yr 12 he just picked himself up and got a 97+ ATAR
so yea, u can
but don't be the type of person that goes looking for motivation and wastes time on that, when they could be working
go do some work now and get ahead of the state
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I'm in year 12 this year as well, so the advice I give you might not be all that helpful, but I'll try :)
I also didn't have the best of years academically speaking, and ended up with an average study score for my 3/4 subject. I think the most important thing to is to look at your study habits and stuff, look at what you think is wrong and try and change it.
I know it's a bit of cliche, but I think it still works.
And as someone said before, Year 12 is not the be all and end all, there are countless ways for you to get into the course/career you want :D
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Can you still do good even though you have a bad foundation? I mean I did bad (close to failing) in Chemistry Unit 2, will that effect how I do in 3&4?
I know someone who got an E+ or something for Unit 3 Chem midyears, then a B end of year. That is quite an improvement, no?
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Can you still do good even though you have a bad foundation? I mean I did bad (close to failing) in Chemistry Unit 2, will that effect how I do in 3&4?
I know someone who got an E+ or something for Unit 3 Chem midyears, then a B end of year. That is quite an improvement, no?
Actually that's an amazing improvement :) Thanks for sharing that anecdote.
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LOL This isnt the end, this is only the beginning for you! (Philosophical notion of the day done!)
Yeah I was pretty much like you. I suppose it didnt end that bad for me, but it could have been way better. Considering the amount of work I didnt do, and the fact that I got an ATAR way more than I deserved, had I put my best effort in I think I'd have gotten about 10 more ATAR.
I think you might need to find something that will really keep you motivated throughout the year. I'm not sure if I had motivation last year even though I had decently high expectations. Perhaps you should just keep in mind the fact that it really sucks to not only to not meet your own expectations, but also not reaching a goal that you think you are capable of reaching. If any of that made sense LOL Just a thought like that should be enough motivation I think.
Also a notion that was put into my head by my teachers (which i regretfully ignored) is consistency. Be consistent with your studying. I think a lot of people on this site have said they did about 2 hours at least of work a day. I reakon I'm lucky to have scraped 1 hour per day most of the times. Do all the prescribed work and revise what you have at least on a weekly basis.
If you want, I can also show you what failure looks like LOL
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Alright Oliver, I am going to tell you a little motivational story about the dux of my old school.
In year 9 he was getting D's and E's and almost got kicked out of the school. In year 10/11 he smoked weed nearly EVERY single day and only JUST passed each year. In year 12 he quit the stuff completely, and changed his life - studied for around 3 to 5 hours every day, and he obtained a 99.95 and dux'd the school. Nobody thought he could do it (teachers/friends/parents), everyone expected him to get less then 50 for an ATAR.
If you start working you can get above 90, I have no doubt. Start working now though - finish your holiday homework these holidays and prove to yourself you can work. Good luck!
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Alright Oliver, I am going to tell you a little motivational story about the dux of my old school.
In year 9 he was getting D's and E's and almost got kicked out of the school. In year 10/11 he smoked weed nearly EVERY single day and only JUST passed each year. In year 12 he quit the stuff completely, and changed his life - studied for around 3 to 5 hours every day, and he obtained a 99.95 and dux'd the school. Nobody thought he could do it (teachers/friends/parents), everyone expected him to get less then 50 for an ATAR.
If you start working you can get above 90, I have no doubt. Start working now though - finish your holiday homework these holidays and prove to yourself you can work. Good luck!
Sounds like something pulled from a movie!
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True story,
guy slacked off until year 12.
got into medicine.
but he was a mhs kid, so i dno
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Chill out brah I did nothing till year 10, studied a bit for year 11, studied a bit more for year 12. My year 11 score was about 7 less than the average score in my top 4.
Lots of time to change things. Simply put in the effort, you only do VCE once, so there's no point going half assed. Read this thread, then get off the computer and make a start right now and just keep motivating yourself to do that every night and believe me you'll be up to the standard of the higher end students in good time for your first few SACs.
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I never did homework in or before year 11 then didn't do a great deal in year 12. But something a teacher wrote on one of my year 11 subject reports 'a change in attitude could go a long way' is something I actually took note of.
Doing work will surely help you but you just put in the effort in class to learn and surround yourself in the material, you should do fine. My year 11 scores were fairly average, but got well above a 90 ATAR. Just choose your subjects wisely, I did far worst in 'easy' subjects than hard ones...
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OP I know how you feel, my last few years in high school have been horrible.
I've been expelled twice (I'm on a hat trick :P) and find myself moving from school to school every year since 9 I even attended a TAFE in a rubbish suburb for one whole semester just because no school would accept me, if you want to know why I've been expelled it's because I was an extremely lazy student and never respected my teachers.
My lack of discipline even costed me the opportunity of a finishing a unit 3/4 subject in year 11.
Over the Summer holidays I've realised if I don't shape up for year 12 I'm going to be expelled and would probably end up in some sort of apprenticeship (no disrespect to anyone doing a trade) but I know that I want to get into uni.
It's not over OP, prove everyone wrong and here are a few things I recommend you do:
1) USE ATAR NOTES TO YOUR ADVANTAGE !
Begin going on to the boards of the subjects your doing and read all the stickies, download all the notes and ask questions.
2) Invest some money into tutors, obviously your foundation isn't as good as the rest of average students so tutors are a good way to put you back on track.
3) Stay motivated. Always have a goal in your head and remind your self why your going to study hard in year 12 and leave all the rubbish from previous years in the past.
4) Class of 2011: ATAR and SS ONLY
Read this thread and go through every single page this motivated me so much imagine how happy these students are, and that could easily be you.
I don't have anymore off the top of my head, but if any are wrong feel free to correct me.
Good luck :)
Edit: I just remembered a story my brother told me of this girl who was in his class, in year 11 she was on the verge of expulsion, because she never studied and failed more than half her subjects.
Everyone lost faith in her, ever her own parents.
In year 12 she was out to prove everybody wrong, he told me she would always be studying even in that 5 minute break between 2 classes and waiting for the teacher she would be studying.
Long story short he told me she got the DUX of the school, and I promise you I'm not making up crap, she put in the hard yards and was rewarded.
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Thanks for the motivation guys. I'm really struggling with some of my holiday homework and was going to give up a few days ago. This really helped me a lot. I'm going to give Year 12 my best shot.
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In my opinion? Well, I think you really need to get some motivation in studying. I'm not the type of person to sugarcoat, or be diplomatic, when you are the one wanting advice. Find something to motivate you and stick to it throughout.
In my case, I am the complete opposite on you. I have worked hard in both year 10 and 11 and I believe it is quite essential to get a good foundation on year 12. I have read many posts on this thread of people simply aceing their exams and Atars with much less study than i did, but then it depends on the type of person you are. I am a slow learner, and don't pick something up until i've done a list of solid questions on them. not sure how it is in your case.
What keeps me motivated? My parents money. You wouldn't believe how much a private school costs + piano tuition +5 other subject tuition, these days. My parents are hardworking, and they put all the money they have into our education, so I need to make them proud.
What I would recommend for you? First calm down. Take a deep breath. And now, I highly recommend you get a tutor. Just to fill you in on all the basics you might not have grasped in the previous year (i'm not saying this to offend you at all, its just my opinion) as maths subjects develop step by step, and if you miss one, its harder to jump to the next one. The same definitely applies to Chemistry. Stick to the fundamentals. Do the work. You will get there:)
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Well I just don't know what is wrong with me. I don't seem to understand the concepts in Chemistry and Methods very well, it is just who I am, I also if you can't tell by now am a slow learner. I'm struggling with both my Maths and Chemistry work, I haven't completed 80% of the holiday homework for Chemistry and 30-40% of the Methods homework, simply because I just don't understand it, I have looked through the examples, read the exercise a few times, but still no results. The stress is already taking hold of me, I can't seem to think straight anymore, and I'm angry because I don't understand the work and am already behind before the year has even started.. and when I read of people finishing the whole Unit in their holidays it makes me even more stressed.. the fact that I have to compete against them..
As for tutoring, I would like to, but my family's financial situation is bad at the moment.. so I really don't know what to do at the moment..
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If you can come to Monash University I'll tutor you for free for a few weeks till you've caught up to be learning off your school teachers.
Sorta forgotten most of my chem though =\
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See?^^ There are people out there who are willing to help.
By any means, get a tutor, so that they can EXPLAIN a topic to you. After that there should not be that much trouble.
You will be fine, but have to be dedicated and hardworking enough to want to do well. Because you dont have a firm understanding and have not studied alot, yes it will be harder, but that does not mean you cannot do it.
Take a deep breath. Believe in yourself. Get a tutor. Pester your teacher or past students in your school that have done well. Understand the concepts. When I dont get something from a tutor or school teacher, I either ask at Atarnotes or I look on youtube for some videos on people explaining the problem. I remember watching 50 videos on Torque in Physics, just to reinforce the concepts to make sure that i had NO PROBLEMS.
Remember, that stress is only going to hinder your success as well as your learning. So dont be stressed. Focus on what you CAN CHANGE, AND NOT WHAT YOU CANT.
Good luck:)
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I know how you feel. Infact that situation you described is almost exactly the same as me.
I was close to failing unit 2 chemistry because the only subject I actually did work in was maths. I dropped chemistry and now I am doing no science subjects. I also missed the opportunity to do a 3/4 subject in year 11 because I didn't even know how the VCE system worked back then and I didn't realise that I could simply do a unit 3/4 subject without doing that subject in unit 1/2, so I am extremely disappointed with that. But I still hope for a 90+ atar score.
I made a massive list of all the things I wanted to do on the holidays. I even divided it into weeks so I would have to do xxx work on week 1, xxx on week 2 and so on. I have probably done about 1 week worth of work in 7 weeks. Now I only have 1 week to go and I am so far behind my schedule. It makes it even worse when I hear about people who have read all of their English/literature books when I haven't even started mine!
My only advice to you would be: Make this last week count. I know I will 8)
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OP I know how you feel, my last few years in high school have been horrible.
1) USE ATAR NOTES TO YOUR ADVANTAGE !
Begin going on to the boards of the subjects your doing and read all the stickies, download all the notes and ask questions.
2) Invest some money into tutors, obviously your foundation isn't as good as the rest of average students so tutors are a good way to put you back on track.
3) Stay motivated. Always have a goal in your head and remind your self why your going to study hard in year 12 and leave all the rubbish from previous years in the past.
4) Class of 2011: ATAR and SS ONLY
Read this thread and go through every single page this motivated me so much imagine how happy these students are, and that could easily be you.
Take his advice:)
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As someone who consistently did all my homework through HS, in Year 12 I still had to put in the hard yards. I found that it took me longer than my peers to pick up new information, and I found that I spent much of my weeks leading up to exams studying in a library. I would start earlier than my friends when I studied, and I would study for longer.
Sometimes in the year you may be tempted to go out when you should really be studying. It was hard knowing that my friends were out and about and yet I was sitting at a library reading or writing notes. However at the end of the year when I got my results, I was well rewarded with a score above what I was aiming for (and I beat my friends, LOL).
My advice is to keep the long run on your mind, you have to stay motivated. My mindset was to do the best I could, because I didn't want to regret my score at the end of the year and be thinking "If I hadn't gone out/done during x, y, z would I have a higher score?"
Set goals eg. 2 practice exams a night (pre-exam period).
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Its never easy for anyone. Don't worry ;D
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Its never easy for anyone. Don't worry ;D
Yeah, those who just seemingly cruise throughout the year with good marks are either good at hiding it or struggle at home just like everyone else..
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If you can come to Monash University I'll tutor you for free for a few weeks till you've caught up to be learning off your school teachers.
Sorta forgotten most of my chem though =\
Wow, that would be amazing of you. I would love to come.
Thanks for the all the replies guys I really appreciate it.
I'm going to use this thread as motivation.