ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => Victorian Education Discussion => Topic started by: acciodraco on November 23, 2012, 12:42:29 am
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I'll be in year 12 next year (2013).
As much as I am incredibly excited to travel overseas in December, I cannot stop worrying about getting behind in year 12. I'll be pretty much 'wasting' three and a bit weeks of valuable time. I know I can't change it now, but is it still possible to do well in year 12 having missed out on a month's preparation at home? :-\
I'll be bringing and hopefully reading my English texts on the plane and in other free time. I *might* even go through some theory for Chem and Bio just for a bit of reassurance. As for spesh, well, I don't think I'll be willing enough to drag out the CAS during the 9-hour flights, or after I get back to the hotel room in the middle of the night..
I'd like to hear some advice from graduates about how they tackled the holidays; how much work you guys did, and what you did to prepare for the year ahead.
I'm really hoping to hear some good news lol. Thanks for reading :)
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh honey, the biggest advantage you have over the rest of the state right now is going away in the December holidays. That's all I have to say. I could elaborate but seriously, don't even stress. Just read your English texts. Don't waste your holidays with other subjects, you have all of January lol. Enjoy yourself!!
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Hey, I don't think you're screwed at all! A lot of my friends did *nothing* over the holidays and churned out great ATARs :)
Just make sure you have the work ethic to work that little bit harder to stay on time with your workload!
Good luck :)
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I was overseas in the holidays in Indonesia and I was fine. I brought books with me and studied on the plane and in my downtime. It wasn't hardcore study but more-so reading novels and answering light questions. If you're doing spesh you may want to work on a few things, but really you'll get into the swing of things and plus, you have all of January to catch up on anything you may have missed out on.
I think about 5% of my holiday was studying, the rest was enjoying myself and drinking copious amounts of Bintang! enjoy yourself :)
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i also went oversease for ALL of january - and i actually missed the first week of school too - its no big deal :)
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Yeah don't worry about it at all. I'd say everyone in my cohort did no extra study during the summer holidays for year 12 but the set homework even then I don't think many would've completed all of it! By the end, I think around 10% so like ~22 or so students scored over 90!
Enjoy your break year 12 is tough slog, you're better to rest up now and study hard during the year than learning content now which may be inefficient and not work that hard during semesters as you think you know the stuff already.
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I was away for pretty much all of the summer holidays before Year 12 - I was in Sri Lanka since November/December, returned to Australia in early January to an Olympiad summer school (where I was learning Olympiad level chemistry); the summer school finished a week before real school started.
Studied whilst I was in Sri Lanka; that's how i went around it. And it worked for me, I was joyous with how I went last year.
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You aren't screweed at all! If anything, it's good.
Last summer holidays I was in Sri Lanka too (whoo chemderp!) and I took my books with me because I was there for quite a while and we were given a lot of holiday homework (I was going in to year 11 btw, but still) Going overseas is really great as you get to relax, but you can also do some light study while you're there.
When I came back, I felt so refreshed. I pushed all my regrets and bad study habits from my prior schooling years behind and felt like I was gonna start new with my habits and all, if you know what I mean. I actually wish I could go to Sri Lanka again these holidays before year 12 so I can feel the same again!
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I went overseas during the holidays and did absolutely nothing. got a decent score
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Didn't start 3/4 prep to mid january this year, still hoping for a decent score
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Didn't start 3/4 prep to mid january this year, still hoping for a decent score
maybe you should play less dota :P
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lmao, i hope you realise that those 3 weeks will be like 7% of your year...why are you even worrying? :P
seriously though, just take along your English texts and a few highlighters, read through them once quickly and then read through them again in detail, highlighting stuff and making notes. i think that's all you should do really in your 3 weeks.
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As others have said, going overseas is an advantage if anything. I wouldn't even touch any work. I was away from December 1st until earlyish January going into Year 12 and I was still much more prepared than the vast majority of my peers.
You'll be fine. Just make sure you enjoy your trip and try not to worry about your work. It would be counterproductive to worry yourself when you should be having the time of your life; there's no point making Year 12 any harder than it is.
All the best. :)
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My friend went overseas during the summer and got a horrible ATAR.
I think it was because he didn't study during the year though ;)
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You're not screwed for year 12 if year 12 hasn't even started yet so stop stressing kiddo! :D
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Wow, thanks for all of the responses! Read them all, and I really really really appreciate it. I feel much better now. In fact, I'm finally beginning to feel excited. :D
Thanks so much for answering everyone. ;D ;D
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Maybe use it as motivation to get heaps done in the meantime? I feel when you get all the time in the world, you have the tendency to do close to nothing anyway..
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Last year I went to Germany for all of December on the German Exchange Program... Didn't really effect my year 12 preparation, in fact I didn't start studying until the second week of January!
Don't stress, just relax and have fun!
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for the love of god don't overwork yourself during the holidays, you'll burn yourself out come crunch time
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If you're only going away for a month, you shouldn't fall behind at all.
The only students that you'll fall behind will be those who work through the entire course during the holidays, which, if you want to be stimulated during the semester, is a bad idea, in my opinion.
I have to agree with ning, after all they're called holidays for a reason.
Let me remind you of the definition of a holiday;
holiday
Noun:
A day of festivity or recreation when no work is done.
It's best to take some time off and keep away from your studies, catch up with friends, enjoy life. It might be last time you're able to for 12 months ;)
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Paul's Year 12 Survival Guide in 1000 Words :)
Paul’s rule of holidays
Holidays are holidays. Spend a maximum of 50% of your holidays working. You don’t want to wear yourself out.
You should use your holidays away from home to your advantage - just relax
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If you're only going away for a month, you shouldn't fall behind at all.
The only students that you'll fall behind will be those who work through the entire course during the holidays, which, if you want to be stimulated during the semester, is a bad idea, in my opinion.
I have to agree with ning, after all they're called holidays for a reason.
Let me remind you of the definition of a holiday;
holiday
Noun:
A day of festivity or recreation when no work is done.
It's best to take some time off and keep away from your studies, catch up with friends, enjoy life. It might be last time you're able to for 12 months ;)
I also agree with you and ning
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I find it absolutely unnecessary to even touch your books during the holidays
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I find it absolutely unnecessary to even touch your books during the holidays
Wouldn't go that far. It's ideal if you do some light pre-reading.
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It's a must to read, but don't over do it just take it easy and slow :P
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Are you screwed? NOT AT ALL!
If this helps, this is my story of my summer before year 12.
Mid November - early January: was on exchange in France.
Had a few (<4) days at home, before going on physics olympiad camp (which had nothing to do with VCE, as I did VCE physics in year 11) for almost three weeks. Had about one week at home before year 12 started, during which I caught up on sleep, because I didn't get enough during olympiad.
I did have a little bit of catching up to do at the beginning of the year, but it worked out fine. You can do it! If it helps, I did work really efficiently in the times I had to do work over summer, because I was aware that I didn't have any time off.
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I had the same kind of paranoia as you, but I didn't go overseas during the holidays :P
However, just because you are granted 2 months of holidays, doesn't mean you should use this time to study only!
Throughout the holidays I would spend majority of the days just studying, and sure I got ahead with all my subjects, but it had minimal benefits when school commenced. In hindsight, I feel that this was a mistake as I didn't spend time to relax and when the workload proliferated, I needed respite.
I am not saying, don't study, rather I am saying that it is extremely important that you relax before a year's worth of intense work.
Maybe start studying in January. Many of my friends didn't study until the last two weeks of the holidays and they were performing phenomenally in SACs :P
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Thanks everyone. Really good advice. I'm so glad I'm not the only one. :D
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Have you ever tried studying on a plane before? I've tried, and failed miserably.
Kudos to you if you're flying overseas on economy and manage to study. I found it terribly cramped, and I felt airsick. Try to get as much sleep on the plane as possible. And a travel pillow works great too.
Unless you're flying business class or something, then study away! :P
EDIT: Though reading is okay lol
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Flying is quite conducive to audiobooks and listening to lectures if you're keen :P
I just watch movies/sleep
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It seriously worries me that people finishing Year 11 are stressing so much about Year 12. Read your English texts, maybe give a skim over your textbooks, but do not get your body tensed up about this already.
Don't worry, be happy.
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Have you ever tried studying on a plane before? I've tried, and failed miserably.
That was me. Probably will happen again.
OH WELL. Leaving tmr, so thanks everyone (again) for your input. Have a nice Christmas everybody! ;D
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You have nothing to worry about! Go overseas and have a good time. You need to rest up and relax yourself so that you will be fully energized for the final sprint to the finish line.
I spent 6 weeks overseas before the commencement of Year 12, I brought some textbook with me, but I didn't have much time to look over them. I do not believe that it hindered my performance in Year 12 in any way.
Perhaps read the texts you will be analyzing for 3/4 English whilst you are overseas.
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It seriously worries me that people finishing Year 11 are stressing so much about Year 12. Read your English texts, maybe give a skim over your textbooks, but do not get your body tensed up about this already.
Don't worry, be happy.
I agree. I learnt my lesson the hard way this year. The problem is that we read so many posts where people say they did all this work in the holidays and attended all these lectures and wrote all these essays etc. Even now, I don't feel easy in my choice to take it down a few notches because I know that I could be working and that perhaps I will regret it in 12 months' time.