Class of 2016!!

Actually dont think I'll get an atar over 90..

90% of people dont get above 90. So dont feel bad if you dont.

Now alot of people would argue thats not really helpful because if someone has an aim to get above 90 and if they want to do it you shouldnt undermine their goals. Yes that is partly true but im being realistic. It might be like arguing in a hypothetical situation "I want to be a millionaire and so i started my business and i am working 20 hours a day. Well yes you are working hard but a lot of stuff can go wrong and only very few people actually get there"

You see getting above 90 is not easy. What makes it look easy is that a high proportion of atarnotes users do get above 90, which causes one to think that it is normal to get above 90. It is not. It is for the top 10% of the state.

Just try and do your best, dont swallow up into a hole where you imagine failure. Stay positive, work small goals and soon you will reach your bigger goals.

[babushka818]

Thanks seņor, really not in the mood to argue but I do understand and appreciate what you're saying. Thank you.

Doing rather well in my classes actually. Homework is going alright too and I'm hoping to have some downtime later this week before school begins again. Still stressed af though over the amount of notes I need to write especially for history. I regret not compiling these throughout the term.
I feel you. Glad I'm not the only one feeling this way 

I'm glad to hear that! Definitely take some time to chill out before break! Yeah writing notes is tedious, given up completely on bio and can't be fucked with Chem at all.. Probably won't do spesh or further til exams.. Guess I'll just bludge all of year twelve fuck this shit.
But hey you're doing well, just keep working xx

And you're definitely not the only one..

[HasibA]

90% of people dont get above 90. So dont feel bad if you dont.

Now alot of people would argue thats not really helpful because if someone has an aim to get above 90 and if they want to do it you shouldnt undermine their goals. Yes that is partly true but im being realistic. It might be like arguing in a hypothetical situation "I want to be a millionaire and so i started my business and i am working 20 hours a day. Well yes you are working hard but a lot of stuff can go wrong and only very few people actually get there"

You see getting above 90 is not easy. What makes it look easy is that a high proportion of atarnotes users do get above 90, which causes one to think that it is normal to get above 90. It is not. It is for the top 10% of the state.

Just try and do your best, dont swallow up into a hole where you imagine failure. Stay positive, work small goals and soon you will reach your bigger goals.

agree so much, hahah it makes sound like a 95+ ATAR is only average when it's actually so amazing ahha

[Aaron]

Please keep in mind that your ATAR is essentially just an admissions rank into university. In most cases it will not define how well you'll do at university. There are cases of students who achieved >90 ATAR that do really poor at university in terms of grades, and vice-versa (I think the latter is more important here).

Now, as said above, the aim is not to undermine any specific goal here. If you want 99.95, great! If you want to just get the minimum required ATAR, great also! Your aim should realistically be entry into your #1 course preference. Achieve that and you've done your job.

Your ATAR becomes irrelevant after you complete one semester at uni (because after that, the ATAR doesn't become a consideration for uni transfers anymore), unless you need to distribute it as part of tutoring services or whatever.

If I may state a point - I went to a standard public high school. I didn't get 40+ study scores in every subject, didn't even get a really good ATAR either. What was important was that I got into my course that I wanted (a discipline I have a real passion for). Now i'm following my goal at Monash at Masters level. If I had just finished Year 12, there would be no way I would've been accepted into Monash.

Keep in mind there are many ways to succeed.

[Seņor]

There are cases of students who achieved >90 ATAR that do really poor at university in terms of grades, and vice-versa (I think the latter is more important here).

Thats very true. I know a guy from my school whom i just recently met at Monash. He got a 78 ATAR but his WAM after first year was 84.

On the other hand alot of people need to be pushed in year 12 to do their work. Expectations, parents and a lack of understanding of everyone around them (such as parents exclaiming that you should get a 99 atar when they dont know you will be literally the 1% of, realistically not an overtly unintelligent cohort) can push them to work really hard to get good grades in vce and then in contrast, in uni, just slack off due to the "independence" of the nature.

[Aaron]

Thats very true. I know a guy from my school whom i just recently met at Monash. He got a 78 ATAR but his WAM after first year was 84.

On the other hand alot of people need to be pushed in year 12 to do their work. Expectations, parents and a lack of understanding of everyone around them (such as parents exclaiming that you should get a 99 atar when they dont know you will be literally the 1% of, realistically not an overtly unintelligent cohort) can push them to work really hard to get good grades in vce and then in contrast, in uni, just slack off due to the "independence" of the nature.

Having been in uni now for quite a number of years (and being a tutor for first year students in computer science/IT), it was really interesting to see the students that did really well and those who didn't. ATAR was irrelevant. The important thing is that those who succeeded either put in the hard yards or genuinely had an interest in the discipline they entered. You'd be surprised at the amount of people who drop out (or change/transfer) during their degree (especially during the first year).

I don't think I would've been able to get through the three years of my Bachelor's without a genuine and continuing interest (since the content is full on, especially in a practical discipline such as IT).

[Glasses]

I can vouch for the statement that one's ATAR doesn't = uni performance.
A past student from my school (graduated a couple of years ago) got an ATAR of 93, which is perceived to some as 'average' (certainly not me for the record), and they recently got accepted to study at both Oxford and Cambridge.

[Seņor]

Having been in uni now for quite a number of years (and being a tutor for first year students in computer science/IT), it was really interesting to see the students that did really well and those who didn't. ATAR was irrelevant. The important thing is that those who succeeded either put in the hard yards or genuinely had an interest in the discipline they entered. You'd be surprised at the amount of people who drop out (or change/transfer) during their degree (especially during the first year).

I don't think I would've been able to get through the three years of my Bachelor's without a genuine and continuing interest (since the content is full on, especially in a practical discipline such as IT).

Could you define hard yards a bit more? Im trying to see how much work is required for a HD because sincerely i do not know. From my experience i definitely DID NOT study efficiently in vce. For my top subject, i did past exam papers alot, but i didnt fix my mistakes, hell i didnt even do a single one timed haha! Im starting to slowly learn what efficient study means. Im gonna get my marks back for a couple of assignments i have completed but honestly i do not know what i am gonna get. I am edging towards 90%? As that is what i got on my english exam/essays but everyone says expect your marks to drop.. so i dont know.

[Aaron]

Could you define hard yards a bit more? Im trying to see how much work is required for a HD because sincerely i do not know. From my experience i definitely DID NOT study efficiently in vce. For my top subject, i did past exam papers alot, but i didnt fix my mistakes, hell i didnt even do a single one timed haha! Im starting to slowly learn what efficient study means. Im gonna get my marks back for a couple of assignments i have completed but honestly i do not know what i am gonna get. I am edging towards 90%? As that is what i got on my english exam/essays but everyone says expect your marks to drop.. so i dont know.

"How much work is required for a HD" really depends on the discipline and the unit level (e.g. first year, second year etc). It's difficult for me to tell you what is expected because I'm unaware of your discipline, and mine was very applied and practical (e.g. programming, mathematics).

I would suggest that once you get your assignments back and their results, review over them and build on that feedback for your future assignments. Make sure that you get detailed feedback for where you went wrong (if you lose any marks anywhere). The first assignment at a new university is really difficult because you don't have anything to go off (e.g. you don't know how they mark). Usually your tutor will mark your assignments all throughout the unit (unless it's an exam or there's an alternative arrangement in place) - so once you get one assignment back, you know their marking style and can adapt to it then.

Some students can score HD's without doing much work at all, whilst for others, it can take quite A LOT of work. It all depends on you. Seek feedback and ask questions - tutors are paid to help you.

The good thing is that most subjects mark you and give out overall marks based on merit, rather than what you're traditionally used to in VCE (scaling and moderation). However I do note that whilst most follow the merit-based approach, there are some which scale still.

[HopefulLawStudent]

Personally, once I manage to survive the trauma of VCE and get my ATAR (and get into my dream course hopefully), I will never speak of my ATAR ever again because I fully intend to put this year behind me as soon as possible.

[Maz]

Personally, once I manage to survive the trauma of VCE and get my ATAR (and get into my dream course hopefully), I will never speak of my ATAR ever again because I fully intend to put this year behind me as soon as possible.

^^^^ YES! 

[babushka818]

Got my glasses back today.. Slowly trying to do some work but just feeling so depressed about where I'm at.. Kinda feeling like its not worth catching up and I'm destined to be a failure for the rest of my life.. Idk, want this year over so bad.

[Seņor]

Got my glasses back today.. Slowly trying to do some work but just feeling so depressed about where I'm at.. Kinda feeling like its not worth catching up and I'm destined to be a failure for the rest of my life.. Idk, want this year over so bad.

Just because u dont get 100% on a chemistry test in high school does not mean you are a failure Since you stated "failure for the rest of my life" im gonna be entirely holistic in this response.

That statement can mean alot of things. First we define what failure in life is. Does it mean life in prison? Does it mean raising ignorant, selfish and egotistic children?

Get out of your head that if you dont get an A in the spec exam you wont raise good children and responsible adults. Leave the idea that if you dont do your biology homework you will spend the rest of your life in solitary confinement.

Success in vce? Have you seen atar reaction videos? Theres people who are jumping up and down when they got an atar of 60.

Do you want to do law or medicine? If thats the case then yeah it would be good to catch up in biology to get into Monash or Melbourne.. or even deakin for graduate med. Im being realistic, law at monash and melbourne is held in a higher regard to other universities. (Both top 20 law schools.. hmm i love monash..they are 23 but its close enough  )

Otherwise it does not matter what uni you get into. A close friend of mine got an ATAR of below 40, got into teaching at victoria and now has a 70k+ full time job. He loves teaching primary school kids. Is that failure? I dont know, judging from his instagram he flies around the world and u can tell he is having tons of fun. Is that failure? Im pretty sure somewhere along the road he failed a couple of highschool sacs

Please stop thinking that if one doesnt do well in vce then they wont do well for the rest of their life.

[The Usual Student]

Got my glasses back today.. Slowly trying to do some work but just feeling so depressed about where I'm at.. Kinda feeling like its not worth catching up and I'm destined to be a failure for the rest of my life.. Idk, want this year over so bad.

let's put this into perspective,
70 days have passed since the start of school
We have 205 days left until the end of the academic year ( 26th of October signifies start of exam period)
So in reality = around 1/4 of the year is gone
You still have a whopping 3/4s of the year to go. In no way should you be giving up so early,
Also you have 7 days until school starts which should be adequate time to prepare yourself.

[HopefulLawStudent]

Slowly trying to do some work but just feeling so depressed about where I'm at..

Why are you feeling depressed? What is it that is making you feel depressed?

We all have bad days. (Trust me. I spent the week after last year's exam period holed up in my room bawling my eyes out binge-eating chocolate and ice cream.) But if you're consistently feeling bad, I think it's worth getting help be it from your parents, your teachers or your school's wellbeing team.

Kinda feeling like its not worth catching up and I'm destined to be a failure for the rest of my life

No.

What happens in VCE and whether or not you succeed or fail does not determine whether or not you'll succeed or fail in life.

9 months out of your life does not say much about you as a person.

A four digit number you get at the end of the year does not determine whether or not you will "succeed" in life.

Your ATAR does not show the number of times you cried, the number of times you almost quit, the number of times you lost sleep or the number of sacrifices you made in order to study. The only thing your ATAR does show is that in that moment of time when you were being assessed, this is how much you were able to get onto the page and get marks for.

I will reiterate my previous point: Your ATAR does not get to determine the rest of your life.

ALSO: It's totally worth catching up. You still have 200 and something days to turn your game around. What has already happened is in the past; you cannot change it. What you can change is the future and what is yet to happen.

I had a friend who bombed Term 1. I kid you not. She screwed up some of her major SACs in almost every subject and was bawling her eyes out by the end of term (I know because I supplied her with tissues and chocolate). But then she turned around her game. Started studying smarter instead of harder, revising more thoroughly and asking more questions. She ended up getting dux last year and getting into her dream course. It's not too late to turn your game around.