Should I do 7 subjects?

[minerva]

Another TLSC on AN. Very rare!

This is my first day on AN and I've already had two former TLSC students reply! I must be blessed. It's nice to hear from you guys.

if the teachers are the same as in 2014, you will need to study extra hard especially in Chemistry.

The teacher you had I believe is now on leave. There's only one Chem teacher in the school now, who I had last semester and he's good. Regardless, I'll have to study really hard in Methods and Chemistry because Maths isn't really my strong point and I don't hate Chem but it's not my favourite science. I thought I did quite well in my mid-year Chem exam but I only received 86%.

I did less than bare minimum and only wrote up my oral the night before my exam and it ended up being in my top 4 subjects (I suspect because of my oral component).

That's really impressive! Do you speak Chinese at home? To be honest, I'm best at translations and I don't do well in orals because I never get the tones right! Because I speak Cantonese at home and never Mandarin so I sometimes use get the tones mixed up. I used to look forward to my VSL classes but once I got to high school, I started to lose motivation and I almost dread Saturdays now.

[Kalopsic]

The teacher you had I believe is now on leave. There's only one Chem teacher in the school now, who I had last semester and he's good. Regardless, I'll have to study really hard in Methods and Chemistry because Maths isn't really my strong point and I don't hate Chem but it's not my favourite science. I thought I did quite well in my mid-year Chem exam but I only received 86%.

Is the Chemistry teacher new or are you guys lucky enough to get the lab technician? In regards to Methods, I found that doing all the homework set helped tremendously however in SACs and the exam, there were mainly worded questions and not straight equations. If you can find worded equations that are relevant to the topic, that would help you tremendously throughout the year because they get more complex than the equations given in the textbook.

That's really impressive! Do you speak Chinese at home? To be honest, I'm best at translations and I don't do well in orals because I never get the tones right! Because I speak Cantonese at home and never Mandarin so I sometimes use get the tones mixed up. I used to look forward to my VSL classes but once I got to high school, I started to lose motivation and I almost dread Saturdays now.

I'm multilingual so I speak a few languages at home. How is your written work? If you start on your oral early in the year, you can pretty much memorise the majority of your answers and can probably even prepare for questions that are unlikely to pop up to be extra prepared.

I dreaded Saturdays as well but I, along with the majority of my classmates, all despised Chinese school but it does pay off. The scaling is well worth it even if you have to sacrifice your Saturdays and stress about your assessments. An extra incentive is that you get a Baccalaureate title on your VCE certificate

[minerva]

Is the Chemistry teacher new or are you guys lucky enough to get the lab technician?

Yep,  it's his first year of teaching. You've had a techie for Chem?!?! HAHA

In regards to Methods, I found that doing all the homework set helped tremendously however in SACs and the exam, there were mainly worded questions and not straight equations. If you can find worded equations that are relevant to the topic, that would help you tremendously throughout the year because they get more complex than the equations given in the textbook.

Thanks for the help. My brother did the 3 maths so I'm sure he'd have some handy resources.

I'm multilingual so I speak a few languages at home. How is your written work? If you start on your oral early in the year, you can pretty much memorise the majority of your answers and can probably even prepare for questions that are unlikely to pop up to be extra prepared.

I dreaded Saturdays as well but I, along with the majority of my classmates, all despised Chinese school but it does pay off. The scaling is well worth it even if you have to sacrifice your Saturdays and stress about your assessments. An extra incentive is that you get a Baccalaureate title on your VCE certificate

That's really cool! Do you have anyone at home who helped you with Chinese? My written work is alright, better than my orals. My teacher this year used to be a VCE Chinese assessor so she likes to chuck in a couple questions every now and then.
The Baccalaureate title sounds very convincing, heh heh.

[Kalopsic]

Yep,  it's his first year of teaching. You've had a techie for Chem?!?! HAHA

I wish! Thought he might've taught if the previous Chemistry teacher was on leave and we didn't have another. The lab technician very intelligent so make sure to ask him for help when he has the time (very rare but definitely during practicals if you need another way for a question to be answered)

Thanks for the help. My brother did the 3 maths so I'm sure he'd have some handy resources.

No problem! We need more TLSC people at UoM; we're vastly outnumbered

That's really cool! Do you have anyone at home who helped you with Chinese? My written work is alright, better than my orals. My teacher this year used to be a VCE Chinese assessor so she likes to chuck in a couple questions every now and then.
The Baccalaureate title sounds very convincing, heh heh.

In the early years my dad would help refining my handwriting but in the later years I did everything myself. You should definitely utilise your parents to read over your written work and suggest some idioms or more complex phrases to improve your writing. Also make sure to speak to them in Mandarin as often as possible. This will help you in the oral part if you need to wing some answers and will help with your pronunciations. Perhaps try make Saturday the day you speak only Mandarin to your parents and sibling(s).

[minerva]

No problem! We need more TLSC people at UoM; we're vastly outnumbered

Yeah, I've heard most TLSC students go to Vic Uni or RMIT. This may change once I get to Yr 12 but my first Uni preference right now is Bachelor of Biomedical Science at Melb Uni. I have thought about doing a double degree at Monash (Clayton campus) but that would mean moving out of home. Both aren't easy to get into. If I remember correctly, the clearly-in ATAR for BioMed at Melb Uni is 98.85 and 95 with Access Melbourne.

Perhaps try make Saturday the day you speak only Mandarin to your parents and sibling(s).

That's a really good idea!

[sjayne]

Yep,  it's his first year of teaching. You've had a techie for Chem?!?! HAHA

Actually I have. I had him for a few 'extracurricular' classes when I was in about year 9 for this science challenge thing. Most productive and fun weeks I've ever had with science in high school.

The Baccalaureate title sounds very convincing, heh heh.

It's literally just the same certificate in a different colour with the world 'Baccalaureate'. They made such a big deal out of it when telling us about it, but you don't get any benefit at all.

No problem! We need more TLSC people at UoM; we're vastly outnumbered

I can attest to this. I'm the only girl from last year's graduates. It's kinda lonely  Come and join us

[minerva]

Actually I have. I had him for a few 'extracurricular' classes when I was in about year 9 for this science challenge thing. Most productive and fun weeks I've ever had with science in high school.

Who would've known a techie could teach science! I'm sure I'll have him someday haha.

It's literally just the same certificate in a different colour with the world 'Baccalaureate'. They made such a big deal out of it when telling us about it, but you don't get any benefit at all.

Aww. Nevertheless, I'll give the Language some thought c:

I can attest to this. I'm the only girl from last year's graduates. It's kinda lonely  Come and join us

I'll try my best! If I get in, I'll make sure I find you guys and thank you for helping my 15-yr-old self figure out what to do.

(I'm now 1000000% certain I know who this is hehe)