ATAR Notes: Forum
General Discussion => Accountability and Motivation => Topic started by: Willba99 on October 05, 2017, 09:36:24 pm
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Hello peeps.
Here's the situation:
1) My dream course at UNSW has an ATAR of 92 to get in (!!)
2) Although I'm confident at maths, I'm terrible at English and if anything's going to hold me back, it'll be my English exam score. I'm alright at grammar and spelling but actually finding and expressing coherent ideas is NOT my strong point.
3) At the start of the holidays (a week and a half ago) I told myself I would do an essay a day and send them off to my teacher. I started off really well but I'm slipping and now haven't done one for two days. I hate This Boy's Life as I think there are only so many things that can be analysed when the protagonist is a moody teenager.
4) I'm going to post a little thing here every day after I write my essay. If you don't see me post here for a few days then SPAM ME. like legit go crazy. My teacher says I'm getting better but its just so hard for me!
Thanks in advance, I love you all AN <3 <3
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If you don't see me post here for a few days then SPAM ME. like legit go crazy.
Thanks in advance, I love you all AN <3 <3
Sweet, I now have permission to SPAM and the mods can do nothing about it :P.
I hope you are able to do this goal, but don't stress if you miss a few days as well.
It isn't about the quantity, but the quality of the essays you make :D.
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Sweet, I now have permission to SPAM and the mods can do nothing about it :P.
You underestimate our power.
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Sweet, I now have permission to SPAM and the mods can do nothing about it :P.
I hope you are able to do this goal, but don't stress if you miss a few days as well.
It isn't about the quantity, but the quality of the essays you make :D.
Very true! Today's update: I've got a German class at school until 12, but after that I'm going to have a crack at doing 2 essays in 2 hours! If I'm not done by 3 then feel free to start the SPAM
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You underestimate our power.
K888 sorry but the mods are gonna have to join in too. MAXIMUM SPAMMING POWER
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Mixed feeling right now. I got home late from the German class so I only had time to do 1 essay (I had an hour and a half but This Boy's Life essays are still taking me a while). On the other hand, I did finish a This Boy's life essay in one sitting for the first time in weeks. I guess that's an upside?
I think its a good thing that I'm trying to do so many essays. You know what they say - "aim for the moon so when you fall short, you land in the stars", and I'm notorious for not quite accomplishing the goals i set myself. What do you guys thing about still doing an essay a day once i go back to school?
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Mixed feeling right now. I got home late from the German class so I only had time to do 1 essay (I had an hour and a half but This Boy's Life essays are still taking me a while). On the other hand, I did finish a This Boy's life essay in one sitting for the first time in weeks. I guess that's an upside?
I think its a good thing that I'm trying to do so many essays. You know what they say - "aim for the moon so when you fall short, you land in the stars", and I'm notorious for not quite accomplishing the goals i set myself. What do you guys thing about still doing an essay a day once i go back to school?
As I have said before it isn't the quantity you do, but the quality of them.
-If your doing practice essays and making the same mistake and not correcting them. Then obviously address that first, before doing an essay a day.
Also factor in your other subjects as well, how much study do they need? You may have to allocate time and effort towards studying for that subject and thus move away from writing an essay a day. Ultimately, you have to decide what areas need work on the most. Nevertheless, I wish you all the best on your exams and study.
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What do you guys thing about still doing an essay a day once i go back to school?
I think this would be too much unless you have lots of free time during school hours. I would say aim to do one a day 4-5 days a week. If you have some days that are busier than others (eg. after school activities) then don't do one those days. As much as you want to do well you also need to pay attention to your other subjects and not burn out.
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What do you guys thing about still doing an essay a day once i go back to school?
Sort of adding on to PhoenixxFire here, but I'd only do it if you think you're gonna get something out of it. If it's not improving your writing, and you're not getting much benefit out of writing the essay, then there's probably better ways to spend your time. But, if you think that you really need that practice in joining your arguments and making them flow, getting the structure right, etc. then keep on going (but as PhoenixxFire said, maybe only a couple of times per week). :)
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Thanks for all the feedback guys! On that thought, I probably won't have that much time once school goes back so I'll probably cut back to an essay every two days, just so I have time to have a think about each one. Once school finishes though, it'll be full steam ahead for English!
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And he's back!
I did an AA essay today. Honestly I'm feeling pretty good about it. AA tends to be my best English essay because its very methodical (topic sentence, technique, link to intention) which suits my maths-oriented brain much better than the airy-fairness (plz don't hate me) of other English essay types. I also managed to do it in 50 minutes for the first time. Hopefully, on the exam I can smash out AA in <50 minutes and then have a few extra minutes up my sleeve for This Boy's Life.
How's everyone else going with their English revision?
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Feeling really good! Today my focus was on writing an essay with more sophisticated vocabulary, as I have the ability to use more complex language but rarely do because of effort. I found this really helpful! Some ideas that i normally would have had trouble expressing, or would have needed three or four sentences, I could do in one longer sentence! I'm emailing this one to my teacher, hopefully he agrees!!
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Hooley Dooley.
Yesterday I did my first full english practice exam - 3 hours, 3 essays, 1 very tired Will. I honestly don't know what the point is in making us write three seperate essays in three hours. Wouldn't one essay in three hours give a much better chance to express ourselves? I probably wrote three-four pages for each essay but it just seems senseless to me
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Been a while since I've seen an update from you.
You faring alright Wilba?
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Thanks for the reminder!
I'm going alright actually. Yesterday we did another full practice exam and for the first time ever I think my This Boys Life essay was better than both my LA and my comparing, so its good to see some reward from a month of hard work :D Ive also restored the "essay per day keeps the doctor away" idea (the actual exam is next week so I think its time to step up the amount of time I'm spending on English) but I don't think theres much point doing a whole english exam every day? Now that i've got the hang of the mental stamina required for a three hour exam I think I'll just focus on the essays themselves, making them as high quality as possible. Definitely in a better head space about English than I have been all year!
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Burnout burnout burnout
I've realised the lack of English motivation I've been feeling is probably what people call "burnout", resulting from working too hard without any noticeable rewards (unlike maths, it's hard for me to track improvement in English, leading me to feel as if the work I've been doing is worthless). Its funny; I've done bulk revision (50+ practice exams) for my other subjects, but literally can't force myself to do anything for English. Thus, I've done little English over the last couple of days. I couldn't have done a practice essay/exam even if I'd wanted to, and I'm alright with that, but I've decided to take a gamble and go cold turkey on English on this last day before the exam. Probably not an advisable move, but I think the brain reboot it will pay dividends for me - either way, I'm looking forward to walking out of the exam tomorrow in the knowledge that I will never write another English essay in my LIFE!
I might have a read through some of my practice essays later and write some plans, but right now I'm trying to just stay calm lol.
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Good luck with the exam! You are going to smash it, because hard work and diligence pays off! Stay calm 8)