Is it over for me?

[oliverk94]

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.

[aes_999]

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.

[DisaFear]

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

[oliverk94]

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.

[star1]

Hey, why not consider tutoring to build up the basics? Might help

Good luck

[nacho]

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

[nkultra42]

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 

[DisaFear]

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?

[oliverk94]

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.

[ShortBlackChick]

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

[Truck]

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!

[monkeywantsabanana]

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!

[tea.squaredd]

True story,
guy slacked off until year 12.
got into medicine.
but he was a mhs kid, so i dno

[taiga]

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.

[schnappy]

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...