Bianca3016's VCE Journal

[emonerd]

hey !! so did you do biology 1/2 in year 10? I'm currently in year 9 and I'm thinking of doing vce bio next year, did you find it extremely difficult? was the workload harsh or was it tolerable? thank you so so much and I wish you all the luck for vce !

[bianca3016]

So, I graduated in 2012. But I enjoyed English Language so much that I ended up studying Linguistics at uni for four years.

10/10 would recommend. #nobias #somebias

Oh, wow! It must have been amazing then!! hahaha
I love learning languages, so English Language is kind of a compromise for me (I thought the workload of LOTE would be insane in VCE but EL is basically learning the English language in more depth, I guess).
Four years of it though... wow haha what was that like?

[bianca3016]

hey !! so did you do biology 1/2 in year 10? I'm currently in year 9 and I'm thinking of doing vce bio next year, did you find it extremely difficult? was the workload harsh or was it tolerable? thank you so so much and I wish you all the luck for vce !

Hey
So my school only offered bio in year 10 as a unit 1 subject, because unit 2 has little/no correlation to the 3/4 course, but I imagine unit 2 would be of similar demand to unit 1.
If you're considering it as a 3/4 option for year11, definitely go for it! My school is select-entry so they push us really hard, but regardless, it was a really enjoyable subject (if you're a science-y person, of course).
And if you're tossing up between bio and another subject for yr11 3/4;
I personally didn't find it extremely difficult, and the workload was tolerable to say at the least, but I think this depends on your own style of learning. I'm sure you've heard this, but bio is a very content-heavy subject (much alike psych and legal) so if that suits you, go for it, if not, maybe consider other subjects, or take a look at a 1/2 textbook/past students' work/idk and you might actually be fascinated by it (and I think that the most important factor to consider when choosing subjects, apart from prereqs).

I think that year 10 VCE subjects are all about finding a decent study routine, getting used to the VCE style classes, and learning what you enjoy at school. If you take bio1/2 and decide it's not your thing, you can just swap it in year 11, but at least you know what it's like
Hope it helped a little bit, good luck for next year (and tell me how it goes )
Thank you so much!!

[Joseph41]

Oh, wow! It must have been amazing then!! hahaha
I love learning languages, so English Language is kind of a compromise for me (I thought the workload of LOTE would be insane in VCE but EL is basically learning the English language in more depth, I guess).
Four years of it though... wow haha what was that like?

It was actually really great! Slightly tangential - don't want to sidetrack your thread too much haha. But the units I studied were:

Spoiler

The language game: why do we talk the way we do?
Describing and analysing language and communication
Language across time
Sociolingustics
Structure of English
Psycholinguistics and child language acquisition
The analysis of discourse: texts, narrative and society
History and sociolinguistics of English

And then I wrote my thesis for Honours, which was on the linguistic portrayal of Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd in the media. More than happy to answer any questions about Linguistics if you're considering it, or uni in general!

[emonerd]

Hey
So my school only offered bio in year 10 as a unit 1 subject, because unit 2 has little/no correlation to the 3/4 course, but I imagine unit 2 would be of similar demand to unit 1.
If you're considering it as a 3/4 option for year11, definitely go for it! My school is select-entry so they push us really hard, but regardless, it was a really enjoyable subject (if you're a science-y person, of course).
And if you're tossing up between bio and another subject for yr11 3/4;
I personally didn't find it extremely difficult, and the workload was tolerable to say at the least, but I think this depends on your own style of learning. I'm sure you've heard this, but bio is a very content-heavy subject (much alike psych and legal) so if that suits you, go for it, if not, maybe consider other subjects, or take a look at a 1/2 textbook/past students' work/idk and you might actually be fascinated by it (and I think that the most important factor to consider when choosing subjects, apart from prereqs).

I think that year 10 VCE subjects are all about finding a decent study routine, getting used to the VCE style classes, and learning what you enjoy at school. If you take bio1/2 and decide it's not your thing, you can just swap it in year 11, but at least you know what it's like
Hope it helped a little bit, good luck for next year (and tell me how it goes )
Thank you so much!!

thank you so much !! this is really helpful, thanks again !!

[K888]

Really looking forward to reading all of your updates, Bianca! Welcome to the forum

Non-academia; the parents want me to quit volleyball because I "might break a finger and ruin my chances of becoming a good surgeon" ughh *does something to take my mind off of school for 2 secs and parents bring me right back yay* *writing this bc I wonder if yr12 me will read it with a broken finger and shattered dreams*

Just wanted to address this - doing physical activity is super important and awesome for your health and wellbeing, and I'd encourage you to keep on playing volleyball if you enjoy it!

Even if you get injuries, it doesn't necessarily have to stop you from pursuing your career of choice
I've broken a few fingers, had a shoulder reconstruction, and have had hip surgery, and it hasn't stopped me from doing physiotherapy! I realise that there are different demands on your body and different requirements, but even if you were to break a finger - it wouldn't spell the end to your potential career.

[bianca3016]

It was actually really great! Slightly tangential - don't want to sidetrack your thread too much haha. But the units I studied were:

Spoiler

The language game: why do we talk the way we do?
Describing and analysing language and communication
Language across time
Sociolingustics
Structure of English
Psycholinguistics and child language acquisition
The analysis of discourse: texts, narrative and society
History and sociolinguistics of English

And then I wrote my thesis for Honours, which was on the linguistic portrayal of Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd in the media. More than happy to answer any questions about Linguistics if you're considering it, or uni in general!

Ah! No worries about sidetracking this thread - it's going to be a mess by the end of 2018 anyway, may as well start now
Linguistics sounds so cool (and a lot like the current EngLang curriculum, even better!).
What a thesis!! That would have been so fascinating to write & read!! There are so many subjects I wish I could take with my med degree (econ for one) but I've only heard of breadth subjects at Melb Uni (out of the med schools I've toured so far)
Hmph... maybe I could just stay at uni my entire life hahaha

(And also, thanks for all of your help and replies I really appreciate it)

[bianca3016]

Really looking forward to reading all of your updates, Bianca! Welcome to the forum
Just wanted to address this - doing physical activity is super important and awesome for your health and wellbeing, and I'd encourage you to keep on playing volleyball if you enjoy it!

Even if you get injuries, it doesn't necessarily have to stop you from pursuing your career of choice
I've broken a few fingers, had a shoulder reconstruction, and have had hip surgery, and it hasn't stopped me from doing physiotherapy! I realise that there are different demands on your body and different requirements, but even if you were to break a finger - it wouldn't spell the end to your potential career.

Hey
Thanks for the welcome
Re the sport thing- I am also doing tennis and rowing so I guess what my parents are worried about is me trading a little bit of fun for an injury that ~~coulddd~~ have long term effects (dw I'm definitely not letting go of volleyball hahaha I'm way too stubborn for that)
Your injuries are crazy!! Haha what kind of sport were you playing? :O
And we'll done for physiotherapy - that sounds like an awesome degree too!!

[Joseph41]

Ah! No worries about sidetracking this thread - it's going to be a mess by the end of 2018 anyway, may as well start now
Linguistics sounds so cool (and a lot like the current EngLang curriculum, even better!).
What a thesis!! That would have been so fascinating to write & read!! There are so many subjects I wish I could take with my med degree (econ for one) but I've only heard of breadth subjects at Melb Uni (out of the med schools I've toured so far)
Hmph... maybe I could just stay at uni my entire life hahaha

(And also, thanks for all of your help and replies I really appreciate it)

No worries at all!

I have a friend doing med at Monash. They took a "year off" to do a Diploma of Liberal Arts, in which they studied Linguistics for a year. Sounded pretty sweet! There are always options.

[bianca3016]

No worries at all!

I have a friend doing med at Monash. They took a "year off" to do a Diploma of Liberal Arts, in which they studied Linguistics for a year. Sounded pretty sweet! There are always options.

Ooh that's a cool idea! Like a bit of a gap year haha

[bianca3016]

Finally reaching the end of a very unproductive three days.
Friday (1/9/17) I attended a conference at another school, unrelated to anything remotely academic and a tad boring... yay
And my weekend was 80% me complaining about having been struck down by a cold, 10% trying to finish chem questions and failing, and 10% celebrating father's day. Why doesn't life have a rewind button >.< hahaha

This coming week is relatively busy, but mostly with extracurriculars. Lots of early mornings (5:20am leave on Wednesday ooph) and late nights. Crows are playing on Thursday so I'm hoping teachers are lenient with hw on Friday (yes, my priorities are intact). Oh, and a bio SAC on Tuesday which I just wish would come and go already...

I'm considering doing a uni extension subject next year, anyone have any experience with them they wish to share?

[Joseph41]

Finally reaching the end of a very unproductive three days.
Friday (1/9/17) I attended a conference at another school, unrelated to anything remotely academic and a tad boring... yay
And my weekend was 80% me complaining about having been struck down by a cold, 10% trying to finish chem questions and failing, and 10% celebrating father's day. Why doesn't life have a rewind button >.< hahaha

This coming week is relatively busy, but mostly with extracurriculars. Lots of early mornings (5:20am leave on Wednesday ooph) and late nights. Crows are playing on Thursday so I'm hoping teachers are lenient with hw on Friday (yes, my priorities are intact). Oh, and a bio SAC on Tuesday which I just wish would come and go already...

I'm considering doing a uni extension subject next year, anyone have any experience with them they wish to share?

How bad are colds, Bianca? Hope you feel better soon!

What sort of uni extension program are you looking at? I'm sure there'll be heaps of people here who could contribute; I didn't do one myself, unfortunately.

P.S. I hope Adelaide wins the premiership now that Melbourne are done.

[bianca3016]

How bad are colds, Bianca? Hope you feel better soon!

What sort of uni extension program are you looking at? I'm sure there'll be heaps of people here who could contribute; I didn't do one myself, unfortunately.

P.S. I hope Adelaide wins the premiership now that Melbourne are done.

ughhh awful haha But it could always be worse, I guess...
I'm looking at Chemistry at Monash Uni but I'm not sure how I'll go because I'm also required to take 5 subjects in yr12.

(I was sad to see Melbourne get kicked out of top 8 -thanks to our performance against WC oh my goodness- but hey, thanks for the support haha it's nice to finally have a chance at the flag, has been way too long)

[bianca3016]

🎉I finished my last bio SAC ever yayayay

5/9/2017
Last bio sac finished, it was reallllly weird (11 marks in total, 6 for an 'essay' describing the social, biological, and ethical implications of a chosen topic we were to research two weeks in advance, and 5 marks for writing two multiple choice questions for a hypothetical exam). I completed this during a free period, before the rest of the school, which was sooo nice because I could get it over and done with without the cohort's collective stress-vibes.
I'm kind of scared about said SAC, however, because losing a single mark means losing almost 10%... eek! Has the potential to bring my average and possibly ranking down, but I'm not sure on either of those because I've been avoiding looking back on my rather average grades all year.
Today I only had two other classes; HHD and EngLang. We're beginning AOS2 in EngLang and I loooove it (definitely my favourite topic, to date, as it involves more languages than just English). HHD was boring... as per usual. I find out on Friday whether or not PE will be running in 2018 (quite often isn't - my school struggles to find the numbers for a single class, fingers are crossed though).
Got home late today because of rowing, was freezing the entire day, and now I have to go to bed so I can wake up at 5am for volley tomorrow haha 😴

[Joseph41]

🎉I finished my last bio SAC ever yayayay

5/9/2017
Last bio sac finished, it was reallllly weird (11 marks in total, 6 for an 'essay' describing the social, biological, and ethical implications of a chosen topic we were to research two weeks in advance, and 5 marks for writing two multiple choice questions for a hypothetical exam). I completed this during a free period, before the rest of the school, which was sooo nice because I could get it over and done with without the cohort's collective stress-vibes.
I'm kind of scared about said SAC, however, because losing a single mark means losing almost 10%... eek! Has the potential to bring my average and possibly ranking down, but I'm not sure on either of those because I've been avoiding looking back on my rather average grades all year.
Today I only had two other classes; HHD and EngLang. We're beginning AOS2 in EngLang and I loooove it (definitely my favourite topic, to date, as it involves more languages than just English). HHD was boring... as per usual. I find out on Friday whether or not PE will be running in 2018 (quite often isn't - my school struggles to find the numbers for a single class, fingers are crossed though).
Got home late today because of rowing, was freezing the entire day, and now I have to go to bed so I can wake up at 5am for volley tomorrow haha 😴

Congrats for getting through Bio - that's great! Re: ranking, it seems unlikely to me to have too big an impact considering there were only 11 marks.

Really stoked you're enjoying EngLang. Hope you continue with it! #nobias #somebias