How would you rate 2019 out of 10?4/10
What was your biggest academic accomplishment in 2019?There are 4 things that I am really proud of accomplishing this year:
1. Picking up my grades in biology, physics and psychology to end the year with 100% As
2. Topping Psychology
3. Proving one of my teachers wrong (at the start of the year they said I wouldn't get an A in their class, but guess who did
)
4. Starting off grade 12 with 100% A+s (10/10 for Bio, Psych and Physics, 24/25 for SOR and either 24/25 or 25/25 for English - all I know is that I got an A+ for English) - I have my first task for maths next year, fingers crossed it goes well
If any, what's your biggest academic regret for 2019?Putting so much pressure on myself. Not letting myself enjoy things. Being so focused on my academic performance that I put my grades above my health, and spending time with family and friends. I regret not letting myself hang out with family and friends over fears that if I didn't spend 100% of my time studying I would be a failure. I regret pinning my self worth to my grades. I regret getting only 3-4 hours of sleep almost every night this year because I was afraid that if I wasn't studying until 3am I would be a failure.
If you had your time again, what would you change from 2019?I would learn for the sake of learning. I put so much pressure on myself to perform well academically, that I didn't care if I had actually learnt anything in any of my classes. I just wanted to get straight As and I didn't care how much time and energy I had to devote to achieving that goal. If I could change anything, it would be my mindset towards school. Instead of having my goal be getting straight As, I would change my goal so that I was focused on actually understanding the content and developing the expected knowledge. I somehow seemed to forget that if I actually know the content, my academic achievements will show. So in 2020, I am making a change. I am focusing on actually learning, and from that I know good grades will follow.
What's your funniest story/moment from school/uni in 2019?After I came back from school camp this year, I was sitting at a table with some friends and we were just chatting and passing time until the school bell went and we could be dismissed. One of my friends was sitting beside me on top of her suitcase and she had her feet resting on the bench - this detail is important for later. As we were chatting I turned my head and saw one of our favourite teachers (who is leaving this year sadly
). We got really excited and we called out her name and all jumped up and ran over to say hi. As I started running however... I failed to notice that my friend had been sitting on her suitcase the whole time and ended up full on somersaulting over it - landing flat on my back on the ground. It was freaking hilarious. Some teachers who were watching also had a good laugh at me.
Another funny moment/s from school this year is literally any physics lesson. In particular the lessons we started learning about electromagnetism. So many people got little electric shocks when we were messing around with the Van de Graaf generator thingy. Some of us learnt the hard way that you are not meant to touch someone if they are touching the generator and aren't earthed...
Were your exams as expected?Some of them yes, some no. Some exams were much easier than what I thought they would be, but some were a lot harder. I finished almost all of my exams early. Some exams I finished an hour early, others I finished 30 minutes early. Out of the whole year, there were only 2 or 3 exams that I didn't finish at least 15 minutes early.
What's your best advice for younger year levels studying in 2020?Be kind to yourself. Allow yourself to have fun and hang with friends and family. One of my teachers always talked to me about diminishing returns (I could probably recite his whole spiel - I did hear it about a million times after all) and I think it is very important to think about. You could spend 2 hours studying or you could spend 8 hours studying. You would probably think that you would benefit more from an 8 hour study session, than you would from a 2 hour study session. But you won't. You will reach a point where you keep putting more time, more effort, more energy into studying, but you won't receive anything back. There won't be any improvement. So taking a couple hours out of your day to catch a movie with your friends won't hurt you academically, rather it will probably help you. So take time to relax. Also, don't worry so much about grades. Just make sure you are actually learning what you are meant to be learning. If you know the content good grades will follow.
Outside of school/uni, what were the best and worst parts of 2019?I didn't really have a life outside of school - I guess that was one of the worse parts...
One of my family members was diagnosed with nonhodgkins lymphoma t-cell type 1 (cancer), and at the same time doctors found a tumour on their pituitary gland and an aneurism in their brain... that is definitely
the worst part of 2019....