The HSC Marathon: Stride by Stride

[kauac]

Hi, I am Katie...

I am finally in my last year of school! Thought I might try this journal. (Also, so sorry if this is long!) As mentioned in my thread title, I really wish I could skip to the end of this year and go straight to university - it would sooooo much easier and wayyyy more fun.

About me:
- I am a pretty active person: fav sports are x-country running and netball
- I also enjoy playing piano, cooking and photography
- Favourite book: UAC Guide


School:
So pretty much, I go to a really, really and I mean really small private school. As in, there are currently a total of two people in my grade! To allow more subject choices, our school runs the compressed model - doing some of our HSC subjects in year 11, as well as year 12, so composite classes can be run. Here's a sort of schedule for my subjects over the two years:

2017
Adv Eng (prelim)
Maths 2U (prelim)
PDHPE (prelim & HSC)
Chem (prelim & HSC)

2018
Adv Eng (HSC)
Maths 2U (HSC)
Bio (prelim & HSC)
Food Tech (prelim, undecided whether I will drop it for HSC or keep it as a safety net)

I was really happy with my results for PDHPE and chem - they were pretty much what I expected them to be. It feels good to have them out of the way now, especially chem, as it was arguably my most important subject for uni.


Uni:
For years, I have had my heart set on becoming a dietician. My dream course is the B Nutrition and Dietetics (Hons) at UOW. The atar cutoff is 93, which I think could be achievable, but I will have to work really hard this year to keep my marks on track for this goal.

Also, thanks to the UAC guide, I have spent so much time perusing its pages that I turned my stable career path into about 10 other options! I guess I use this time to remind myself of why I need to work hard for the next year - it will all (hopefully) pay off at the end.


Not sure how regularly I will update.. (And sorry for the essay  )
See you around!

[Natasha.97]

Hi, I am Katie...

I am finally in my last year of school! Thought I might try this journal. (Also, so sorry if this is long!) As mentioned in my thread title, I really wish I could skip to the end of this year and go straight to university - it would sooooo much easier and wayyyy more fun.

About me:
- I am a pretty active person: fav sports are x-country running and netball
- I also enjoy playing piano, cooking and photography
- Favourite book: UAC Guide


School:
So pretty much, I go to a really, really and I mean really small private school. As in, there are currently a total of two people in my grade! To allow more subject choices, our school runs the compressed model - doing some of our HSC subjects in year 11, as well as year 12, so composite classes can be run. Here's a sort of schedule for my subjects over the two years:

2017
Adv Eng (prelim)
Maths 2U (prelim)
PDHPE (prelim & HSC)
Chem (prelim & HSC)

2018
Adv Eng (HSC)
Maths 2U (HSC)
Bio (prelim & HSC)
Food Tech (prelim, undecided whether I will drop it for HSC or keep it as a safety net)

I was really happy with my results for PDHPE and chem - they were pretty much what I expected them to be. It feels good to have them out of the way now, especially chem, as it was arguably my most important subject for uni.


Uni:
For years, I have had my heart set on becoming a dietician. My dream course is the B Nutrition and Dietetics (Hons) at UOW. The atar cutoff is 93, which I think could be achievable, but I will have to work really hard this year to keep my marks on track for this goal.

Also, thanks to the UAC guide, I have spent so much time perusing its pages that I turned my stable career path into about 10 other options! I guess I use this time to remind myself of why I need to work hard for the next year - it will all (hopefully) pay off at the end.


Not sure how regularly I will update.. (And sorry for the essay  )
See you around!

Hi Katie, welcome to the journals

I also wish to become a dietician too! Not a lifelong dream but a recent one did you choose uon because of location or the shorter duration?

[kauac]

I also wish to become a dietician too! Not a lifelong dream but a recent one did you choose uon because of location or the shorter duration?

Yay! A fellow aspiring dietician!  I haven't come across many...

I really liked that the UOW course gives accreditation as an APD in the one degree. A bit different to the undergrad/masters program as it ends up being a year shorter. Also really liked the look of the campus and facilities.

[Natasha.97]

Yay! A fellow aspiring dietician!  I haven't come across many...

I really liked that the UOW course gives accreditation as an APD in the one degree. A bit different to the undergrad/masters program as it ends up being a year shorter. Also really liked the look of the campus and facilities.

Neither have I

Aha whoops, I meant uow :3 seems like we’ll be finishing in the same year! I’m doing the UG —> M pathway

[DoubleZo7]

What a wonderful goal! Since you're interested in diet and nutrition, perhaps you should research the McDougall diet. Watch Forks over Knives and What the Health on Netflix, and look up some of Dr McDougall's presentations on YouTube. It's really worthwhile and will change your whole perspective.

[fantasticbeasts3]

hi!!

it's really exciting to see a new journal writer, and i'm so excited to read about your hsc journey! i was exactly the same with the uni thing - all i wanted in year 11 and 12 was to go to uni without doing the hsc. as cliche as this sounds, this year will fly, and before you know it, you'll be at uni. :-)

just out of curiosity, what made you want to be a dietitian? anyway, best of luck for the rest of this year, stay motivated, and you'll reach your goals!

[kauac]

what made you want to be a dietitian? anyway, best of luck for the rest of this year, stay motivated, and you'll reach your goals!

I have been interested in the health scene for a while, but I'm not good with gore! So it kind of just made sense to me to choose dietetics, as it combines my passion for food + physical activity, and it compliments the way I have been brought up.

Thanks! Hope uni goes well for you! 

What a wonderful goal! Since you're interested in diet and nutrition, perhaps you should research the McDougall diet. Watch Forks over Knives and What the Health on Netflix, and look up some of Dr McDougall's presentations on YouTube. It's really worthwhile and will change your whole perspective.

Sounds intriguing! I will check it out.   

[kauac]

20/01/18

For the holidays, I made a conscious decision to limit my holiday school work load. I just needed to find a balance between relaxing + studying to put me in the right place for the start of term 1 - avoiding feeling burnt out and over-stressed. And I guess, doing the compressed model means I am actually only doing two HSC subjects this term, so I'm not going to feel like I am that behind from the holidays...
 
Anyways, with my extensive spare time, I think I have finally created a draft UAC preference list. (Yes, I know, I am super early hahaha)
1. B Nutrition & Dietetics               - UOW
2. B Nutrition & Dietetics               - UON
3. B Science (majors undecided)  - USYD
4. B Nutrition Science                   - UOW
5. B Biotechnology (Medical)        - UTS

I was kind of annoyed that they shortened the applications to 5 preferences last year - as narrowing it down to five courses is extremely difficult for me! I also added the biotechnology course as I thought it sounded really cool and futuristic (I didn't really look into it that much, and I'm not sure if there is many jobs outlooks for it outside of research...) Also interested to see how much I will end up changing the list as the year goes on - and whether I will have a career epiphany... (low-key always thought I'd really enjoy architecture because I liked using sketch-up and taking photos of buildings  )

On a HSC note, pretty nervous to get my marks back for my English AOS creative assessment. I put a ton of effort into it and I definitely think it was  unique, but I wish I had a better understanding of the discovery concept when I wrote it. I have to wait the whole holidays for the marks. 

Hope this will be remotely interesting to read - if not, it is a good progress reflection for me!

[fantasticbeasts3]

hi!!

first, good on you for trying to find the balance between school and holidays - this is probably your last real break (although who am i kidding, half yearlies were a killer and i took a break in the april holidays).

about the early UAC preferences, i was the same hahaha. i went through mine around march-ish and had a decent list by the end of april. on the subject of career epiphanies, you might have them because lots of people find something they really love unexpectedly.

as for your english marks, it's done and dusted now, and you'll know what to improve on when you get them back. don't be disheartened with a mark that mightn't be that great, because there's always room for improvement.

best of luck for the rest of this year!

[kauac]

as for your english marks, it's done and dusted now, and you'll know what to improve on when you get them back. don't be disheartened with a mark that mightn't be that great, because there's always room for improvement.

Hi....
Yeah, that's so true about the marks! English had been a bit shaky after having a sub teacher for most of term 4, but from the bit of revision I have done over the holidays, I've felt my understanding for the concept is a lot better! Plus my new English teacher has been super helpful! I'm excited to really push myself to improve in English this year!

[kauac]

Hi...

I'm back again! First week of school done and dusted... I totally forgot that it was my last first day of school on Monday oops  ... This year is going to be full of 'lasts', so I have to make sure to remember them when they come haha.  As for the holidays, I am actually pretty satisfied with my relax + study balance. I felt like I had a pretty chill time, and I even managed to complete my list of holiday homework (some of it self-appointed), which was good! A quick recap of my subjects this week:

English: Got my creative writing assessment back! Pleasantly surprised with my results, but there is definitely heaps of room for improvement - might post in the marking section when I have tweaked it some more (and I have the guts to see what you guys think of it  ). Also learnt some helpful tips in attacking past paper questions...

Maths: Things have been pretty sweet, just cruising through the chapter without any major issues... I have actually been really enjoying doing my maths homework haha. (Must be the satisfaction of getting tricky question right!)

Biology: Pretty intense, but we are getting through the content pretty quickly. On a side note, fiddling with my sister's camera has actually helped me in learning how the different types of microscopes work! Active procrastination at its finest.

Food Tech: We learnt about microbial food spoilage...It's actually pretty interesting and goes hand-in-hand with our bio unit at the moment. Also spent 3 hrs whipping gelato custard over a stove for a gelato fundraiser this week! Fun! I think I earned a PhD in using a whisk!

I've actually been feeling strangely energised to do school work lately (hehe, we'll see how long that stays for!). I'll milk it while it lasts...

[kauac]

Hi...

I haven't really written for a while because honestly not a lot has been happening lately (school-wise).

I am feeling a bit more confident with AOS for English. Especially short answers, as they were my biggest downfall last year in English. I am actually really enjoying editing my creative, it's just really time consuming.... And the essay, well, it's an essay. They tend to be fairlyyyy straight forward for me (most of the time). The annoying thing about English seems to be, there's always more you can work on, editing your writing, doing past papers, memorising quotes etc. As a perfectionist, it can be pretty hard to know when enough's enough, especially since I don't want to neglect my other subjects...But then I remind myself, two of my subjects are still prelim, Maths is going ok, and English will be the only subject guaranteed to go on my ATAR... So my concentration on English is somewhat justified...

Have a maths test on Tuesday...Not too worried about it because it only has a 10% weighting, but it is a bit of a milestone, because its my first HSC assessment for the subject (My maths teacher doesn't believe in doing a 4th term assessment, because apparently everyone never does well in it  ). Anyways, I'll see how I feel about it after it's done.

It always seems like I have 20 periods of bio (actually have 10 a week), even though I'm really enjoying the subject... Perhaps because a lot of the content we are doing now I already covered last year in my biochemistry option for chem... Food Tech has been pretty interesting... I've decided that my only reason to drop it will be if I can't handle the workload of an extra subject, so I'll see how things go...

Ooh, and I had a 'last' photo day last week.

Spoiler

It was really funny because I didn't know we had a year 12 muck up photo until we got to school. So, because there are only two of us in year 12 (yep, mind-blowing!), we went into the principal's office and did a reverse role photo. Our teachers and principal pretended to be scared students, and we pretended to be the teachers and sat behind the desk and 'yelled' at them.
Hopefully the photo will turn out well!

I am really trying hard to balance my stress, and not get overwhelmed, and so far it's been working out pretty well... (I think early morning runs have been a saviour  ). I hope that when I look back over these journals, I will able to see that I have been able to reduce my natural stress-head tendency...

[kauac]

Hi...
Last few weeks have been pretty hectic...

I cooked a lemon meringue pie for my Food Tech prac assessment yesterday! It didn't actually look too bad, especially since my practice one at home was a flop!

Also pretty surprised to get MotM!

My maths test went alright, and I am content with my mark... It was just one of those tests that threw you off a bit, no matter how little or how much you studied... Anyways, have been focusing more on English lately (I mean, when have I ever not put more a lot more time into English than necessary? ), and hoping to be able to have my polished creative done soon. I have actually been enjoying English a lot, lately. 

The eternal struggle is trying to work out whether I like maths or english more (and which one I am better at)... Whenever I have a bad day in maths, it switches to English... Then switches back to Maths when English is just too confusing and overwhelming. This should be my goal for the rest of this year - work out which one I enjoy/ am better at. But knowing me, I will probably pick after doing each of their HSC exams, and then the results will be opposite to what I was expecting  .

[kauac]

Hi...

A bit of a short one for today...

This term has gone pretty well so far, but I feel like its a bit of a 'calm before the storm' moments...  I just have a few more assessments to complete and a 4 exam coming up in week 10 and 11. I'm really hoping I will be able to smash them, because I have been/will continue to prepare for them vigorously - well, for Maths and English, at least.

Does anyone else have an 11 week term (because it seems really long, as Easter is in the middle of the term)?

In other news, I made it to 100 posts! I was going to post here for my 100th, but then forgot and accidentally made another post.  Oh well! 

On a side note,

Spoiler

I wonder if there is a way to change the name of this thread? When I orgiinally named it, I was trying to think of something cool and witty,
but ended up settling on what I have now, because I couldn't think of anything else.... It low-key looks like it's supposed to be in the university journey journal board  .

A few weeks done, closer to the HSC, closer to finishing. Mixed feelings, for now!

[jamonwindeyer]

In other news, I made it to 100 posts! I was going to post here for my 100th, but then forgot and accidentally made another post.  Oh well! 

Congrats on 100 posts!! Definitely en route to win one of our end of year awards, you are such an awesome member of the community

I can change the name of your thread, if you like?

Best of luck for exams!!