HSC Stuff > The HSC Journey Journal

The Yr12 journey- a diary I "hope" to update...

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r1ckworthy:

--- Quote from: Pearlmilktea on April 30, 2019, 10:15:42 pm ---Wow that's amazing! Seriously don't discount yourself, I'm sure you totally deserved that 100% - good job for crushing the exam!
Also congrats on maths X1! Legit have so much admiration for you judging numbers and random triangles stress me out haha. I still have fond memories of my teacher saying my circles looked more like ovals and taking off marks (even though I needed every mark I could get) XD.

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Yeah, I guess so for the physics. It was a good encouragement to keep going!!!  Hahaha, wow, I get what you mean about getting every mark possible. But taking marks off for a seemingly oval seems a bit too much ;D ;D ;D.


--- Quote from: Pearlmilktea on April 30, 2019, 10:15:42 pm ---I really felt your heavy thoughts section. Since I'm also in Year 12 doing the HSC, I totally relate to having stress come over me sometimes and having this exacerbated by the subsequent lack of work due to stress (funfun). Technically I actually should be doing a bio depth study now haha exhibit A of my lack of productivity and super procrastination skills (thankyouthankyou i try  :) )
I find that it's good to write to do lists. Sometimes I use Microsoft To Do so I can add and remove tasks easily. Feeling stressed? Maybe do an essay plan, another subject or take some time out today to reframe your mind. Feeling like you can slay the syllabus? Essay if you want or difficult homework but still pace yourself. Talk to your teachers! I legit love hitting up my teachers to destress and reframe my mind.

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I've recently started to use Joseph 41's method of organisation. At first I did waaaay too much, but then started to just have to-do's for 3-4 subjects a day. Yeah I do talk to teachers at times, but still, year 12 is way too stressful!!! I guess I should try to approach it differently rather than stress, because it might not actually be at all!!! It is what we make of it.


--- Quote from: Pearlmilktea on April 30, 2019, 10:15:42 pm ---Sorry for keeping it brief (well for me as I write wayyyy to much alllll the time XD) because I have bio to do. Feeling inspired to set up a year 12 journal now because of you. Thanks mate - you rock!

Good luck with this week and I'll be back soon!

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You should definitely start your own journal!!! That would be pretty sick!! I started this journal just to track where I am going, but it sort of became a place where I just re-organise my attitude and all that inside stuff. Pretty solid if you try!

Nah, don't worry about keeping it brief, that advice was pretty sick!!!

mango8:

--- Quote from: r1ckworthy on April 30, 2019, 09:14:38 pm --- Reviewing what I have written in this journal so far, I feel as I have written some good advice, to be honest, and I think I need to keep reminding myself of these things so I can stay on track. The past few days, I have been panicking so much, and I feel the stress getting to me. So, after each entry, I am going to write myself advice, tips and messages, just to keep myself going. I feel like by writing this, it will not only provide benefit to me but to everyone else reading this journal as well.


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Hey! I just read through your journal, and enjoyed it thoroughly! I guess it was because I saw a lot of myself in you, and resonated with a lot of your thoughts and feelings, and finding someone like that makes reading all the more fascinating since I identify with a lot. I definitely agree reminding ourselves of things is key, we tend to forget a lot of the helpful advice and motivation and writing to yourself will only only benefit you but others so props to you, especially for your marks thus far, they are amazing!! I loved that piece of advice too! Lol my journal itself is titled: 'ephemerality' since vce is going to be over so soon, and what feels like the centre of everything now, is not going to matter.

I find your advice so wise and inspirational. As Pearlmilktea said, your heavy thoughts section was incredibly relatable. When you get so worked up and panicked, there really is no way to calm yourself.  And I'd agree, while writing stuff down sounds so generic and simple, it works, because you transfer all the mess into something that resembles coherence and you can take it step by step rather than being overwhelmed by too much.


--- Quote from: r1ckworthy on May 04, 2019, 11:56:34 am ---I started this journal just to track where I am going, but it sort of became a place where I just re-organise my attitude and all that inside stuff.

--- End quote ---

Can totally resonate!

You'll achieve wonderful things, I can already tell! You are really inspiring! Can't wait for more, really.

r1ckworthy:
Hey everybodyyy, hope you all are going swell ;D

Haven't updated in a long time. Finished my half-yearlies. Not sure if I mentioned this, but unlike other schools my school has half-yearlies around the start of term 2 instead of being at the end of term 1. This period was a huge learning experience. Like, man, there are no words to express how much I've learned about what effective study is. I've posted it in this thread, so check it out.

I have also got some exam marks back:

Chemistry: 57.5/67- 85.5%
I expect this to be even lower, as my teacher discounted the organic chemistry section as everyone did pretty bad. This exam hurt so much. The teacher gave us so much guidance on what the questions were going to be. What she did was give us the basics to make us pass, but left out details that would otherwise separate a band 5 student from a band 6 student. Can't say I agree with this practice, but she did say that she will not be this kind during the trials. I think what my brain did was assume that the teacher told the question word for word, so me in my great wisdom sped through everything and basically regurgitated everything I had memorised the day before. This resulted in me losing a lot of, if not all, 0.5-1 marks in every question.

This really hurt. I came out of the exam room feeling pretty good, and was expecting a mark higher than 95%. The day before she revealed our marks, she told us that we didn't do quite so well in organic chemistry section. I was pretty disappointed. I went home and was about to take a shower but just laid in bed staring up at the ceiling. I went to sleep for some time, but yeah. When I found out about this mark, yes, I was pretty devastated. But looking at the positives, this was a huge wake-up call just to study consistent everyday. Hope I'll get better next time.

Ancient History- 48/50- 96%
Damn. This one, however, I was really proud of. This was the one exam that caused me so much stress. I remember feeling so empty while I was studying for the exam, thinking of how much content I had yet to memorise. Luckily, I picked up the hints the teacher gave us during the revision session and focused on building up my knowledge of those areas. This worked out great, and I was fully in the zone. I was surprised that it was not as difficult as I thought it was. This was also a huge wake-up call, as I now I know that I should work everyday.

This exam period was rocky, but full of lessons to learn. I expected a shit storm at the beginning of this week due to receiving marks back, but after ancient history I am a bit more happy. I don't expect to do so well for my other subjects, but I have glad I had this experience.


Due to wanting to be consistent, this is my daily routine. It is in the spoiler:
Daily RoutineWeekdays
1st hour: HWK
2nd hour: Review for any subject I had for the majority of the day.
Dinner
3rd hour: A specified subject.
4th Hour: UCAT practice
I really need to start my UCAT preparation, since I haven't done it at all. I'm using medify at the moment, and it's working out great. So far, I haven't done any questions, but have taken extensive notes from their videos about advice.

Saturday
Tuition review and major assessments. Not really any self-study, just need to get shit done.

Sunday
Past papers, exams, tests, that kind of stuff.
I am going to do a past paper under time for both 2U maths and 3U maths. I have started this last weekend, but gave up around halfway. I hope by doing more and more papers I will develop the perseverance and grit to continue and finish the time.
For English and Ancient History, I am just going to practice writing essays/ responses under time.
For science subjects, I think I will use the ATARNotes topic tests. I've been holding back on these tests, as I have plenty of resources, but seeing from how they provide you with questions that will build your foundation, I think I will get this. I will, of course, do these under time.

Obviously, I will try to follow this as much as I can but if sometimes come short. For example, today I came back from school at 5:45, and tried to study but felt too tired. Had a bit of a nap, studied a bit but definitely not as productive as the past few days. I think I will allow this kind of thing to happen, although I will never try to repeat it consecutively, otherwise it would become a bad habit.

Except for the weekend, it should be pretty chill. I now have specific strategies for all my subjects, except Ancient history. I am trying to figure out how to maximise long term memory retention, but I think just doing practice questions will do the trick, as well as summaries and so on. Any tips for this???

Super long post, I know, but it was good to get everything out of the system. Hope I'll keep posting more!

Daily reflectionOver the weekend, I have been reflecting on marks and the ATAR in general. This was prompted from watching the Netflix show street-food (great show, highly recommend), in particular the Singapore segment. In it, they had a scene dedicated to this old man known as Master Tang, a noodle making extraordinaire. They describe how he was a "kitchen slave" for most of his life, and then he himself reflects on how he loves his work. There was this one wide shot of him, just making noodles on the side and focussing on his work. I don't know why, but that shot in particular motivated me so much. It showed me how life is not this mix and match of ups and downs. It is instead a straight calm line, with a bit of ups and downs. That shot just showed me how we often make out life to be bigger than it is, but in fact it is not really that bad or good as we expected, if that makes sense. With that, I have recently had a lot of anxiety over my marks and ATAR. After watching that show and that one segment in particular over and over again, I quickly realised that the ATAR is not life defining. If I just put in a lot of effort and get a mediocre ATAR, I realised by that one wide shot that I will be fine. No matter what happens, I will be fine. The ATAR I will get will (hopefully) be a reflection of my effort, and if not, then it is certainly not the end of the world.

Here's a little story. Back when I was in India, I was not really a good student. I received mediocre marks until year 5 hit and I received three D's. A 'D' for English, maths and science. Obviously I hadn't put it in the effort, and I vaguely remember feeling so shit when I had to tell my marks to my parents. When I came to Australia in year 6, obviously my marks weren't amazing. They kept improving, bit by bit each year. While some were amazing, others were a disappointment. Whatever it was, I am still here, being the same, if not a bit improved, person that I was five years ago. Whatever happens, after remembering that wide shot of the man just calmly making his noodles with such concentration reminds me that I will be fine, and I will find that one job where I will be like that man. I don't know, just something to think about!

Pearlmilktea:

--- Quote from: r1ckworthy on May 28, 2019, 10:05:33 pm ---Whatever happens, after remembering that wide shot of the man just calmly making his noodles with such concentration reminds me that I will be fine, and I will find that one job where I will be like that man. I don't know, just something to think about!

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Man I love your journey journal! It really pushes me to keep going and find the motivation to do my work!
I totally relate to finding inspiration from pop culture and TV shows. I think finding someone with a lot of passion and drive for their work helps me to keep going.

Congrats on your results too! You seem like you've absolutely smashed your exams ! Hard word pays off and studying smart definitely shows :D

Have a great week!
-Gracie

r1ckworthy:

--- Quote from: Pearlmilktea on May 29, 2019, 03:14:40 pm ---Man I love your journey journal! It really pushes me to keep going and find the motivation to do my work!
I totally relate to finding inspiration from pop culture and TV shows. I think finding someone with a lot of passion and drive for their work helps me to keep going.

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Thanks for the kind remarks! Yeah, pop culture and TV shows can sometimes be super motivating. What shows have motivated you the most?


--- Quote from: Pearlmilktea on May 29, 2019, 03:14:40 pm ---Congrats on your results too! You seem like you've absolutely smashed your exams ! Hard word pays off and studying smart definitely shows :D

Have a great week!
-Gracie

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Thanks! I mean, the teachers gave us big revision hints, so that might be part of the reason why I did so well. Mostly, it was just a huge lesson in that I found I needed to balance out work between assessment tasks and study. But you're right, hard work AND studying smart can lead to amazing results ;D ;D ;D

You too have a great week!!

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