Do you need to spend a lot of money in VCE in order to do well?

[shadows]

I am worried because there I've heard people quite adamant on saying that going elite and expensive tutoring , going to lectures (TSFX/ NEAP) and buying extra resources (other textbooks, booklets such as NEAP/ A+ ) is mandatory in scoring well in VCE.

I've heard that its common to spend all together thousands on dollars extra throughout year 12. I am quite hesistant in forking out that much money. (Im not that rich)

Will I be at a disadvantage if I only go through the year with the prescribed texts, probably checkpoints and doing the practise papers the schools give me?

Is there any free/ affordable resources that you recommend i get my hands on? Is tutoring well worth the money?

Any other comments?

I am quite puzzled and quite frustrated if financial circumstances will make it an uneven playing field for me, and might be stopping me in getting the best scores i can get??

[alondouek]

It certainly helps to fork out ridiculous amounts of money, but at the end of the day the ability and motivation of the student is what lets them do well.

I wasn't tutored nor did I go to any TSFX-like things, but I like to think I did alright.

Only get a tutor for a subject if you can 1. Afford it comfortably and 2. Really think you need it (as in, struggling a lot with even the basics).

[Professor Polonsky]

Spending all that money can be advantageous, that's for sure. But the only thing that can inhibit you from doing well is yourself.

And yes, I'm in the same boat as Alon - never went to any of those lectures, never really had a tutor. I think my "extra" expenditures during VCE can be summed up at less than $100.

There is a plethora of ways to get your hand on extra resources - you might be able to borrow textbooks/booklets from a library, and I think Monash has free VCE lectures from time to time.

[IndefatigableLover]

I am worried because there I've heard people quite adamant on saying that going elite and expensive tutoring , going to lectures (TSFX/ NEAP) and buying extra resources (other textbooks, booklets such as NEAP/ A+ ) is mandatory in scoring well in VCE.

I've heard that its common to spend all together thousands on dollars extra throughout year 12. I am quite hesistant in forking out that much money. (Im not that rich)

Will I be at a disadvantage if I only go through the year with the prescribed texts, probably checkpoints and doing the practise papers the schools give me?

Is there any free/ affordable resources that you recommend i get my hands on? Is tutoring well worth the money?

Any other comments?

I am quite puzzled and quite frustrated if financial circumstances will make it an uneven playing field for me, and might be stopping me in getting the best scores i can get??

I think this quote sums up tutors in a nutshell:

By the way, tutors don't "get" you the marks, they guide you along the path in which you work harder and therefore achieve better results.

If you're willing to work for the marks then you'll get there on your own determination.

Again also you're also on AN and there's plenty of resources here and there! Really having extra resources does help most people out however it is not necessary to have. If you understand the content fairly well and ask questions then I'm sure you'll do as well as other people who DO have other extra resources which you might not have

[Joseph41]

No.

Fifty times no.

If you're dedicated, you'll do fine. Have faith in yourself! 

[walkec]

I was talking to my brother about this yesterday because I was thinking I might be at a disadvantage not buying lots of additional resources.

My brother did really really well in year 12 and told me if you know how to google properly, google is a great resource in terms of free practice sacs And even summary notes. Lots of schools have wiki pages where they upload notes and practice papers from companies like NEAP that charge a heap for them, so you just have to spend a bit of time searching for them 

[brenden]

I probably spent more money on skittles and cup-noodles than I did on extra resources. (Legit)

[Alwin]

At my (public school so no ridiculous school fees):

In my cohort quite a few accelerated in subjects, here are some raw scores
Mate 1: 50 in Further and 46 in Spesh (HE NOW TUTORS IN YEAR 12)
Mate 2: 48 in Further and 48 in Psyc
Me: 48 in Methods and 49 in Physics
None of us did tutoring!
There are others with 45+ scores but not sure if they do tutor or not, but the long and the short of it is your personal drive

IF YOU ARE DETERMINED AND DRIVEN ENOUGH YOU WILL SUCCEED.
What are tutors doing that you couldn't do yourself?

Give you more questions ~	you could do more textbook qs, practise exams or by checkpoints, A+ guides OR THE AN GUIDES
	yes, for this you will need to spend money but look around on the net/school library/public library.
	Ultimately though, it will be cheaper than getting tutoring every week for every subject
Explain questions you don't get ~	ask your teacher in class or at lunch or stay back after school
Teach ahead~	teach yourself.. personally i can finish a textbook in a few hours
Sit next to you and watch you work ~	get a cat if you really want this
Take your money~	donate it to charity if you really don't want it

A tutor cannot give you the drive you need to succeed. They can try, but ultimately it comes from within yourself

Also the skittles and cup-noodles Brenden mentions sound pretty tempting

EDIT: If you don't believe me, and you might have a reason not to (?) , look at private schools can compare them with public/selective schools. Why do MHS and McRob always pwn private schools? Coz the students have something no amount of money thrown into education can give, personal determination and motivation
Good luck shadows and anyone else reading this!

[lala1911]

It depends on the person.
If you're not struggling with the work and can learn easy, then you won't need a tutor.
If you're struggling and find it difficult to learn, then you may want a tutor.

It all comes down to individuality.

[vox nihili]

When those companies boast about producing people with the best ATARs (eg TSFX loves talking about how the median ATAR is always ~95 and that's higher than the state average) you have to consider who is actually going to these things. The people who are willing to spend the money and, probably more importantly, the time taking extra classes and so on are people who are more inclined to do well anyway. So take those claims with a grain of salt, that's just an acknowledgment that high achieving students are more likely to go out of their way, not of the usefulness of going to TSFX or others.

[brenden]

Yeah, TSFX are definitely manipulative on their advertising, implying causation where there is only a correlation. Moreover, the families capable of spending that money are probably well-off enough that their child has got a good education from the get go.

[Planck's constant]

There is room for improvement even for the best students.
Best value for money is one-on-one tutoring with a tutor who knows what he is doing.

The best analogy that I can think of is Usain Bolt. He is fast, he is talented, but if he wants to win a gold medal at the Olympics, he needs a coach.

[ukface]

The best analogy that I can think of is Usain Bolt. He is fast, he is talented, but if he wants to win a gold medal at the Olympics, he needs a coach.

I somehow believe that Usain Bolt would be able to win gold without a coach, which is mainly down to his genetics.

[MJRomeo81]

VCE is all about determination and hard work.

I'm sure that online resources these days can help students with conceptual issues. I've always believed that the best way to learn is to teach yourself. You can't go wrong with the following process:

1: Identifying what you need to learn
2: Gathering the necessary resources to teach yourself
3: Deliberate Practice

[werdna]

At my (public school so no ridiculous school fees):

In my cohort quite a few accelerated in subjects, here are some raw scores
Mate 1: 50 in Further and 46 in Spesh (HE NOW TUTORS IN YEAR 12)
Mate 2: 48 in Further and 48 in Psyc
Me: 48 in Methods and 49 in Physics
None of us did tutoring!
There are others with 45+ scores but not sure if they do tutor or not, but the long and the short of it is your personal drive

IF YOU ARE DETERMINED AND DRIVEN ENOUGH YOU WILL SUCCEED.
What are tutors doing that you couldn't do yourself?

Give you more questions ~	you could do more textbook qs, practise exams or by checkpoints, A+ guides OR THE AN GUIDES
	yes, for this you will need to spend money but look around on the net/school library/public library.
	Ultimately though, it will be cheaper than getting tutoring every week for every subject
Explain questions you don't get ~	ask your teacher in class or at lunch or stay back after school
Teach ahead~	teach yourself.. personally i can finish a textbook in a few hours
Sit next to you and watch you work ~	get a cat if you really want this
Take your money~	donate it to charity if you really don't want it

A tutor cannot give you the drive you need to succeed. They can try, but ultimately it comes from within yourself

Also the skittles and cup-noodles Brenden mentions sound pretty tempting

EDIT: If you don't believe me, and you might have a reason not to (?) , look at private schools can compare them with public/selective schools. Why do MHS and McRob always pwn private schools? Coz the students have something no amount of money thrown into education can give, personal determination and motivation
Good luck shadows and anyone else reading this!

Alwin, as a tutor, I think you are 100% correct... You don't need a tutor to get a great score. But, it's a shame that not everyone has the same mentality of hard work, independence and dedication.

Independence is such an important skill to learn, and in some ways I think that tutoring defeats the purpose. For example, I ALWAYS get my students to mark their essays before handing them in, but this is done very rarely... Putting in the work is important, because the more incompetent you are, the less likely you are to realise your incompetence (double curse theory).