What was your biggest learning curve in Year 12?

[greenbeans]

I thought this would be a good place to start a thread about all the learning experiences that many of us here at AN would encounter, mainly in year 12. Many people say that you learn a lot about yourself and a lot about life experiences in VCE, so feel free to post advice to fellow students especially those that are new to this epic program. Everyone's always got a different image in their mind before commencing their last years of schooling about what they will entail, so feel free to reassure, enlighten and excite!

For example:
What did you find was surprising?
What can you say has changed about you over these years?
What was the hardest thing about it?
Did VCE meet your expectations, how so?
What were some of the things that you found out the hard way?
If you could give current VCE students advice, what would it be?


Feel free to rant away, just be mindful to others' opinions and values.
Sorry if this is posted in the wrong thread!

[totaled]

What did you find was surprising?
How we could still continue, and how we should still continue extra-curricular activities. While I wasn't overly-active in such activities, I found it surprising that you definitely can keep up so much activities, without it having an effect on your scores. It isn't healthy to go home and study for 8 hours, so there definitely was time where I just relaxed, and could have undertaken more hobbies etc.

What can you say has changed about you over these years?
uh.. tough question LOL

What was the hardest thing about it?
Having to dig deep and try study, especially during exam time, after a period where I really wasn't into it. You'll have these periods during year 12 where you just ceebs doing anything, so you would often relax for a few days.

Did VCE meet your expectations, how so?
Yes, I had talked to quite a few people before I undertook VCE, and it was just as they had described it. Doing lots of exams, and trying to minimise mistakes were the key to doing well in the sciencey/maths subjects which I undertook

What were some of the things that you found out the hard way?
How to study english, and how to score high marks in each of the sections of the english exam. I wasted a lot of time by being unproductive in how i wrote essays and how i studied so I believe that you should find a good way to studfy that works for you, in particular in english, to ensure you make the most of your time. Also, i found out, the hard way, that careless mistakes really do count, and add up in methods/spesh/chem.

If you could give current VCE students advice, what would it be?
Give it your best shot. But don't let it come at the expense of your normal routine. If you enjoy playing basketball, play basketball. It's virtually impossible, and unnecessary to study from the minute you get home till you sleep, for 7-8 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you simply set goals on where you want to be in each subject by the end of the week, it becomes a lot easier than simply setting say "2 hour's" on specialist, and two hours on methods .. etcetc
AND study hard!

[jane1234]

I'm very bored, so...

What did you find was surprising?
How difficult it was to motivate myself. I thought I'd be so motivated and study every day, but turns out I think I spent more time procrastinating homework than actually doing it. Also found suprising the difference between doing one 3/4 subject and five. I found I couldn't study the same way I did in year 11 for my one year 12 subject.

What can you say has changed about you over these years?
I've definitely become more sure of what I want and what it will take to get it. Before I kind of floated along not really caring about my future and slacking of heaps because it was considered 'cool' back then.

What was the hardest thing about it?
Doing subjects I really didn't like and then having to somehow try and find the motivation to work at them (not very sucessfully). Beating procrastination was near-impossible, and it really cost me for the end of year exams.

Did VCE meet your expectations, how so?
Yes and no. TBH I didn't think I'd stress or care about it that much, that I'd study every night and then reap the benefits of all my hard work blah blah - pfft, yeah right. It wasn't so much the coursework that was difficult, but trying to get into a rhythm of studying habitually and effectively was.

What were some of the things that you found out the hard way?
Gee, where do I begin? I discovered that habits are really hard to break - believe it or not the study habits you form in years 10-11 are usually the ones that you fall back into in year 12. Also learnt to aim for the most difficult course you are considering, and this may include extra preparation for tests (such as UMAT, folios, interviews) even if you aren't 100% sold on the course. You just might find out that it was what you really wanted to do right at the end, and by that stage it's too late.

If you could give current VCE students advice, what would it be?
Study in year 11, even if it's just a little bit. This will help with learning the foundations in subjects as well as helping you to get used to studying regularly. Also, don't give up right at the end (no matter how much you want to) because that's when it will usually cost you the most.

[Furbob]

What did you find was surprising?
I managed to survive VCE doing 5 subjects + uni enhancement all in the one year~! everyone kept asking how I'd cope and manage with it but I was lucky with MUEP Jap giving me a reasonably cruisy workload and the fact that I had a double free before the class to cram the whole week's of work in. Mind you I chose Further over Spesh to "lighten" the workload for myself and after seeing that massive spesh scaling....jdsalkjsalk.

What can you say has changed about you over these years?
I've matured a lot - dealing with high levels of stress, reassuring myself that a loudy mark/SAC/text does not mean the end of the world and learning to accept that there will always be people who are far better than you. That being said, you just have to use the most of what you've got and be the very best and aim for that SS you so desire~

What was the hardest thing about it?
Come to exam time, I was reflecting on all of my SAC marks knowing that around 33%~50% of my marks for each subject had already been determined and that for some subjects, a 40+ SS seemed a little uncanny... so my expectations lowered and I started to believe that I would be getting a <90 ATAR. During SWOTVAC I just kept churning out practice exams feeling a little cynical about whether it would do me any good in the end, but hey, I guess it paid off in the end?
moral: "dont give up"

Did VCE meet your expectations, how so?
yes and no - at the beginning of the year I was whacking in high-30s and 40+s on the ATARcalc and thought I would have a pretty chill year then SACs crushed my confidence with an iron-fist. I remember walking into the methods exam 2 feeling pretty defeated thinking that I'd be lucky to get a 30SS but it was the exam that dragged my awful SAC marks (our whole cohort's SAC average was a C~D but im pretty sure that it meant that my school couldnt write methods SACs or we were just plain retarded) to a B+ on the GAs o_o. On the other hand, Accounting was the subject that I was most passionate about after Japanese but it ended up being my worst subject after scaling, go figure :\

What were some of the things that you found out the hard way?
Learning that VCAA just crunches people's marks into scores, GAs and then we become ranked against each other and that in the end we're all just a bunch of numbers. Our talents and skills beyond churning out exams and getting A+'s are never assessed really... but I guess it's the only way to sort us out right?

If you could give current VCE students advice, what would it be?
Dont give up and ask yourself what scores you really need to get into your course - it's not about being the best in the class (for pride/bragging rights) - it's your personal competition to keep up with what you need and that is all. Once you're in your course no one will give a rats ass about what you got tbh. Just be glad that you've reached your goal whether it'd be a 75+ to a 99.95 ATAR, after that VCE is done and dusted. forever. (thank gawd.)

[acinod]

What did you find was surprising?
The amount of procrastination I can get up to. Mid-years was ok because I only have 2. But when it came to end of year prep, i was so under prepared. I thought I would get through every single practice exam for every subject but in the end did less than half of what I thought I would.

What can you say has changed about you over these years?
I learnt to balance school life with social life as well as staying fit. I realized social skills are the most important aspect when it comes to life and if you are lacking those then you life will be much more difficult.

What was the hardest thing about it?
English. I'm sure most of you will agree that this is the worst subject in VCE because not only is it compulsory but the course is just terrible. It also tends to drag your ATAR down a lot, even if you succeed in other subjects. I know a friend that beat me in everything except English and his ATAR was a lot lower than mine. I also know a friend that got near perfect ATAR and I beat him in all our subjects except English. My tip to all students - please do well in english.

Did VCE meet your expectations, how so?
No. Having struggled to even write 2 essays when I was suppose to write 3 in my trial exam just a month before the english exam, I expected to get a lot lower score in English. Thank god I realised within a few weeks how important it was.

What were some of the things that you found out the hard way?
Every point counts in Spesh and Methods. You do one little mistake and it can make a huge difference.

If you could give current VCE students advice, what would it be?
As I said, do good in English. For other subjects, just make sure you familiarize yourself with past exams. On social side of things, don't neglect friends and family. Stay healthy. Don't be distressed with low SAC marks or mid-year marks, you will always be able to make it up at the end of the year. Good luck everyone.