ATAR Notes: Forum

Administration => Announcements => Topic started by: brenden on June 10, 2016, 03:24:55 pm

Title: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: brenden on June 10, 2016, 03:24:55 pm
What's up, everyone?!

Well, what can I say? We're back at it again with the white vans free lectures - this time with a whopping thirteen lectures!!

This is going to be huge.

Click here to see the lecture timetable and register now!

In the past, we've run lectures for what you might call the "Core 7" of the ATAR Notes Forum Community - English, Biology, Chemistry, Methods, Physics, Psychology, and Specialist Maths. Honestly, when you're running free lectures, there's a lot of risk associated with the subjects you choose to run. If no one registers, or if no one turns up for a subject, you've lost a lot of resources, as well as the opportunity to run a subject people would have attended. So we 'play it safe' and run those subjects that we know are key to our forums - but not necessarily key to everyone else.

But seriously, that's just not good enough. Every time we run a lecture series we have people ask us "please run x", "please run y", and I'm so proud to say that yes, we weren't running enough subjects and yes, we listened. In addition to the seven aforementioned subjects, we will also be running:


This is huge news, and you're hearing it here first on the ATAR Notes Forums. The addition of these subjects means that there is, in all likelihood, not a single person in this entire state taking VCE that can't benefit from our completely free, high-quality lectures. Virtually everyone takes one of English, Literature, or English Language, and if someone took one of those subjects in Year 11, there's an immensely high chance they're taking at least one of the other of the 10-12 subjects.

This should be an incredibly proud moment for everyone on the ATAR Notes Forums. The fact of the matter is this: eighteen months ago, the idea of a 'free' lecture series for a broad range of subjects was inconceivable, let alone expected by a large portion of the VCE cohort. For over a decade the only options for VCE students were "pay hundreds" or "miss out": a dichotomous set of choices not appropriate for a year so important in shaping the next 3-5 years of your life. The lectures are undoubtedly the best parts of my year. They represent in the purest form what ATAR Notes stands for, but more than that, what the power of the ATAR Notes Forums can do.

The fact of the matter is this: no team of 4-8 people can do what we've done. No small group of people can take a website, or a community, from something with a few thousand webpage visits a month just under ten years ago, to tens of thousands of real, live bodies waking into RMIT University to enjoy free lectures. For that to happen, it takes a curated and focussed effort from hundreds of people - people that, if you think about it, span across two generations. You're one of those people. To anyone contributing on the forums: whether it be by asking questions, marking essays, answering questions, or offering your heartfelt opinion - thank you. When we think of things like global warming, a lot of people might think "what's the point of reducing my carbon emissions if no one else is going to?" - and it's a rational line of thought. There isn't much point for just one person to do it. Achieving such enormous feats only happens with the concerted effort of enormous amounts of people. Similarly, you could think about ATAR Notes and say "what's the point of participating if no one else does? Who are we going to help?"

The best thing about this community is that, everyone's helping. We've achieved that enormous feat. And every single person participating makes that possible. For that, you have the gratitude of everyone else on the forums, just like you.



We receive phenomenal feedback on the lectures every time we run them, so we almost never think twice about how brilliant our lecturers are. If you'd like to see what some other students have said about the ATAR Notes lectures and lecturers, then just click the spoiler below.

Student Feedback on ATAR Notes Lectures
“The notes (when they didn't sell out straight away) and the content.”

“Brilliant content, really concise and clear way(s) of explaining key concepts. The lecturer could explain difficult concepts in more than one way, in an entertaining fashion. Thought provoking and challenging, the lecture was an extremely valuable time that truly accelerated my learning. Would most definitely recommend. Seriously, well done ATAR notes. 9/10 :)”

“High quality lecturers who not only break down the main concepts but also the smaller, trickier nuances”

“The amazing lecturers. I attended Methods, Chemistry, Biology and English, and the two lecturers were fantastic. I especially enjoyed the English lecture; I honestly wasn't expecting much out of it due to the fact that different schools studied different texts, but the lecturer gave a really relevant lecture and totally blew me away.”

“Being able to get a head start and the notes.”

“I loved how the lectures were interactive and didn't just involve sitting in a seat for hours staring at a projector. The lecturers had interesting stories to share about their university experiences and Year 12, so it placed things into perspective and made me feel like my lecturer understands me. I also really liked how the lecture was strictly adhered to the VCAA Study Design, which made the lecture extremely relevant, succinct, and to the point.”

“Learning how to do things from a person who has completed the exact course and knows how things work.”


What are the subjects, who are the lecturers?

With thirteen subjects, there are some new faces from the crowd - with all of our new lecturers having attended an ATAR Notes lecture when they were in Year 12. It's funny to think - you could be 12 months away from giving a lecture of your own.

Lecturer Info
For Biology, Chemistry, English Language, and Specialist Maths, your lecturer will be the mythical thushan. This is a man who graduated with a 99.95, a Premier's Award in THREE of the subjects that he's lecturing in, won a silver medal at the International Chemistry Olympiad, become a published author in three of these subjects and... I'll stop there. I have a word count, and I'd probably run out if I tried to explain to you how amazing Thushan is. And a damn lot of you will experience that first hand when you absorb his genius at the lectures.

Our English and Literature lecturer is none other than literally lauren. After the AMAZING things she's done on the forums (constant essay correction, helpful tips and tricks, writing practice exams), the lady who scored 60/60 in the English exam hardly needs any introduction. After tutoring for years, even I learn new things in all of her lectures - there's no doubt that she is truly an extremely talented person.

Physics? Alwin. The man who took two university extension subjects just for fun. He's a monster. But, he's not some super-freak. He's the coolest dude you'll ever meet. So cool, he'll probably throw a ball at your face just to illustrate the laws of motion. *Only half joking. 49 in Physics, 48 in Methods, and a future Aerospace Engineer, Alwin was a no brainer when it came to choosing lecturers.

Methods will be taken by the everpopular Sammy G - known on the forums as Zealous. An unflappable veteran lecturer, Sam's had a projector bulb blow in the middle of a presentation and still managed to deliver one of the best lectures on record. He's an absolute Maths Wiz, studying Engineering/Commerce at uni and achieving a stupidly high 48 raw in Methods - to go with his 50 in Physics and Premier's Award in Further.

Psychology; Health and Human Development? yearningforsimplicity. Otherwise known as Farween. Farween graduated with a 48 in HHD and Psychology, and just recently completed a Bachelor of Psychology through the University of Melbourne. She loves tutoring, lecturing, and helping Year 12s so much, that she's now completing a Masters of Education with a view to be one of those truly special high-school teachers. She's a published Psychology author, a very experienced tutor and an experienced lecturer. Psych students are in for a treat.

Our new comers - Tim and Avani, lecturing Physical Education, then Business Management and Legal Studies respectively. Tim scored a 47 in both of Psychology and P.E., while Avani, the Commerce Queen, scored a 45 in Legal Studies and valiantly agreed to cover for our previous Business lecturer after she needed to take an overseas trip. Having attended lectures in the past, they're working themselves to the bone thinking of ways to make their lectures even better than the ones we've done in the past. It will be a special moment for students in these three subjects to see these lecturers taking the floor for the first time in their careers.

When and Where
From th 4th to the 7th of July.

Lectures will once again be held at one of the most beautiful and accessible City venues: RMIT University's Building 80. We're so grateful for RMIT's partnership; for, without them, there is literally no way we could run these lectures for free. As stated in the past, they give us this venue space for free - an actually difficult task for such a large institution - and cover staffing, security, cleaning, and all sort of things you wouldn't even consider. Because of them, we can give these lectures for free. That's very cool.

It deserves to be stressed that you should book your tickets quickly and tell your friends to do the same. We get thousands of registrations per lecture series, and most of them come in the first few days so... you do the math.

Click here to see the lecture timetable and register now!

Thanks all - happy studies!

Edit: The timetable -

(http://i.imgur.com/eJ8ZgDI.png)
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: literally lauren on June 10, 2016, 03:29:44 pm
English
Literature

#gethyped

(hype is compulsory)

No but seriously, I'm so thrilled we get to expand more subjects this time; it's going to be awesome :) :)
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: HopefulLawStudent on June 10, 2016, 03:43:26 pm
Getting excited only to realise that I can't make it because it my subjects fall during the 2 days I'll be interstate. I just googled it and apparently I can't be in two places at once. #devastated

Question: Would you be able to make the lecture slides available for those of us who aren't able to attend afterwards? Pretty please?
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: Aaron on June 10, 2016, 04:23:59 pm
Sounds like it's going to be an awesome week. :)
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: Glasses on June 10, 2016, 04:54:18 pm
YES LIT LECTURES. LAUREN DOING LIT. THANK YOU GOD!!!!!!
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: brenden on June 10, 2016, 05:47:43 pm
Question: Would you be able to make the lecture slides available for those of us who aren't able to attend afterwards? Pretty please?
Totally.

YES LIT LECTURES. LAUREN DOING LIT. THANK YOU GOD!!!!!!
Don't thank God. Thank Lauren.
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: Glasses on June 10, 2016, 05:49:35 pm
Don't thank God. Thank Lauren.

Aren't they the same thing?
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: brenden on June 10, 2016, 06:01:32 pm
Aren't they the same thing?
Shhhhhhhhhhhhh
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: The Usual Student on June 10, 2016, 06:08:40 pm
I have never signed up for anything so quickly in my life
Thank god for some EL support!

Will there be notes for EL? I haven't seen any on AN shop before.
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: literally lauren on June 10, 2016, 06:14:15 pm
I have never signed up for anything so quickly in my life
Thank god for some EL support!

Will there be notes for EL? I haven't seen any on AN shop before.
There will be notes. Notes for all subjects. They will be magnificent. And lo, there shall be much rejoicing across the land.
(I'm not letting my newfound godliness get to my head too much, am I?)
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: grannysmith on June 10, 2016, 07:58:05 pm
OMG ENGLISH LANGUAGE!? THUSHAN!? CAN I REGISTER!?

In all seriousness (not that I wasn't), guys, jump on board the hype train.
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: heids on June 10, 2016, 08:11:40 pm
atarnotes u r my one and only love :')
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: jacitran on June 11, 2016, 04:50:43 pm
HYPE HYPE HYPE LIT LECTURE WITH LAUREN!! <3
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: thushan on June 11, 2016, 05:25:45 pm
Looking forward to taking English Language. There will be lots of humour. :D Note the use of ellipsis over here.

The only lecture where the lecturer and the students are allowed to utilise their rich vocabulary of four-letter words. :P
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: tashhhaaa on June 11, 2016, 07:37:26 pm
I went to these when I was in Year 12, and I might just go again because they're that awesome ;)

jk I won't
plz sign up guys
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: Joseph41 on June 11, 2016, 07:52:24 pm
These lectures will be absolutely incredible. I wish they were around in 2011/12! Well done, all involved.
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: qazser on June 11, 2016, 09:30:18 pm
Multitasking Thush - 4 lectures :)

Thanks to the other lecturers for making this possible <3
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: Pyromaniaa on June 12, 2016, 01:58:21 pm
Can someone please help me out here? So this will be my first time attending the ATARNOTES lectures, my question is: Do they supply you with a free booklet of notes for each lecture you attend or do u need to purchase them separately?
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: HopefulLawStudent on June 12, 2016, 02:16:05 pm
Assuming they haven't changed their modus operandi, you'll have to purchase them separately (Bought the Spec notes last year and they were v. good!)
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: brenden on June 13, 2016, 04:26:42 pm
The timetable:

(http://i.imgur.com/eJ8ZgDI.png)
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: heids on July 13, 2016, 11:06:58 pm
Since I'm only involved in the forum side of this place, can I just offer one fkn HUGE round of applause for what ATARNotes has achieved with these lectures?  Brenden, Lauren, Thush, Jamon, Jake, Elyse and so many others... just wow. :o  Can't believe how hard you've worked.

Am I the only one that just can't believe that AN's run hell-knows-how-many 100% FREE lectures in two states?!  Like srs.  Stop and think what a game changer that is.  In this selfish and pretty discriminatory world of TSFXes and Connects and private schools and expensive notes we have this group of people selflessly stepping up three times a year to reduce educational inequality and let EVERYONE get the education they need regardless of situation and income.  Exciting, hey? :D

(okay LOL I'll shut up I'm getting too excited here -.-)

Lastly, a giant round of applause to all of the awesome AN regulars here on the forums.  Tbh AN couldn't do this without your input and inspiration, and your contributions to reducing the inequality here on the forums are pretty stunning too. :D

AN, I love ya <3
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: Mellyboo on July 14, 2016, 10:26:55 pm
Hey I bought some Biology 3/4 notes from the lectures. Does anyone know when the missing pictures will be available? Thanks
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: skysailingaway on July 14, 2016, 10:31:39 pm
Attending these lectures was one of the best decisions I've made this year, I love the ATARnotes community and resources.
Thank you so much, you guys are a godsend for HSC students. :D
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: studybuddy7777 on July 18, 2016, 03:43:49 pm
Attending these lectures was one of the best decisions I've made this year, I love the ATARnotes community and resources.
Thank you so much, you guys are a godsend for HSC students. :D

I can certainly ditto this, having only attended the NSW HSC lectures though. The AN team (jake, jamon, elyse, thush, lauren, brendan, naomi and any others i may have forgot) are truly amazing!! Having only been in NSW since Jan (and hence the July lectures were only the second of their kind) I must give a huge thankyou and round of applause. My advice: Go along, this is a date you do not want to miss! Don't forget to ask questions or be afraid to answer them on the day, noone will judge you for your answer and it is perfectly okay to not understand something! (We are all human right? Well us students anyway, people like atarnotes team are like god in that i could never hope to achieve a 95+ atar doing 4u maths or english :P) Best of all, these lectures are free! There are notes (which are an absolute godsend) available for $25 which i recommend getting, however these are optional and entirely up to you. Make up your own mind about these no matter how many 'devils in the detail' adverts you have to sit through during lectures i record about 7 over my 3 lectures ;)

Ok i think i may have gotten a bit too excited there so ill stop. But seriously. Go to the lectures (and go with a friend!)

Thanks for a truly amazing experience and I hope to be around in september where you will hopefully have even more subjects!!

rant over
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: elysepopplewell on July 18, 2016, 11:10:49 pm
I can certainly ditto this, having only attended the NSW HSC lectures though. The AN team (jake, jamon, elyse, thush, lauren, brendan, naomi and any others i may have forgot) are truly amazing!! Having only been in NSW since Jan (and hence the July lectures were only the second of their kind) I must give a huge thankyou and round of applause. My advice: Go along, this is a date you do not want to miss! Don't forget to ask questions or be afraid to answer them on the day, noone will judge you for your answer and it is perfectly okay to not understand something! (We are all human right? Well us students anyway, people like atarnotes team are like god in that i could never hope to achieve a 95+ atar doing 4u maths or english :P) Best of all, these lectures are free! There are notes (which are an absolute godsend) available for $25 which i recommend getting, however these are optional and entirely up to you. Make up your own mind about these no matter how many 'devils in the detail' adverts you have to sit through during lectures i record about 7 over my 3 lectures ;)

Ok i think i may have gotten a bit too excited there so ill stop. But seriously. Go to the lectures (and go with a friend!)

Thanks for a truly amazing experience and I hope to be around in september where you will hopefully have even more subjects!!

rant over

woooo! I wish you all the band 6s and happy feels in the world. Thanks for being amazing on the forums! You're the best!
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: jamonwindeyer on July 19, 2016, 09:35:22 pm
Thanks for a truly amazing experience and I hope to be around in september where you will hopefully have even more subjects!!

What subjects would you want to see?  ;D

PS - Your rant made my night  :)
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: studybuddy7777 on July 20, 2016, 06:26:25 pm
I personally would love to see Senior Science but ill stop being selfish because I think many people will need a lecture on Modern History. Extension English (if you dont already do this) would also be beneficial for a lot of people, as well as an English Standard lecture (I cant believe you dont have this yet! Some people in standard still want to achieve!). If you don't have Legal or Business Studies then, they would also be popular.

Just my suggestions :D
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: RuiAce on July 20, 2016, 09:48:11 pm
I personally would love to see Senior Science but ill stop being selfish because I think many people will need a lecture on Modern History. Extension English (if you dont already do this) would also be beneficial for a lot of people, as well as an English Standard lecture (I cant believe you dont have this yet! Some people in standard still want to achieve!). If you don't have Legal or Business Studies then, they would also be popular.

Just my suggestions :D
Fortunately they do already have business studies and legal studies.
 
I think English standard just isn't run because they don't have enough people that into English yet. Also, you know, the stigma of band 6 in standard = rare occurrence.

Stuff like Extension 1 English would probably require another day of lectures (a day 4) because its candidature is only so average. It's not that much more than Extension 2 Maths. And I reckon it's harder to lecture because there's 9 electives (divided into three categories) which you choose to only do 1 of. If they do have a day 4, however, I can see it happening.

Modern...poke Jake? :P
Title: Re: ANNOUNCING: ATAR Notes Unit 4 Lectures!
Post by: jamonwindeyer on July 20, 2016, 11:27:38 pm
I personally would love to see Senior Science but ill stop being selfish because I think many people will need a lecture on Modern History. Extension English (if you dont already do this) would also be beneficial for a lot of people, as well as an English Standard lecture (I cant believe you dont have this yet! Some people in standard still want to achieve!). If you don't have Legal or Business Studies then, they would also be popular.

Just my suggestions :D

Thanks heaps for suggesting Senior Science! Not being selfish at all, if you want it, I bet HEAPS of people want it too (everyone who does Senior Science should want it, because our lectures are awesome)  ;)

Our English Advanced lecture is massively beneficial to both Advanced and Standard (Elyse did a whole section on Creative writing last week, it is very skills based), but perhaps we could look at creating some separation? Not a bad idea  :o

We've definitely considered Modern and Extension 1, you never know! Elyse did Extension 1, Jake and Elyse both did Modern, we'll see what happens  ;D