HSC Stuff > The HSC Journey Journal

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

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r1ckworthy:
Yeet, let's update ;D


Okay, so I left with writing about my drama club experience. Well, I did not go to the production as I was working on my science project for science extension, so I am hoping to buy a DVD of it at the end of the year, but the reception was pretty good. Everyone came up to me and congratulated me, so I'm glad everyone liked it. My family went to drama club and they loved it, so that's nice too :).

Let's get some marks out of the way first.

Advanced English: 75. I am so worried. This year's CSSA paper was also easy in my opinion so I am very worried about my HSC mark for english. I have been thinking of my problem, and I think I just need to bring more complexity and more control over language in my essays. That's why for the past week of holidays I have been working on essay plans, as I am redefining my ideas to make it more refined, complex and nuanced. This next week I am hoping to write some essays with some practice exams I have obtained from my tutor, so that should go alright. My rank is 4 or 5 out of 15 so it's alright.
Science Extension: 38/50. Honestly, feel pretty okay about this mark since I did not fully study for this exam. First rank out of two students, so yeah.

To be honest, I am trying to put these marks aside and just focus on studying. Below is what I am doing for each subject right now:

Advanced English: Essay plans and summarising scholarly articles for mod b. Honestly, I feel that this is what I should be doing now. Get my ideas to a complex and organised level without everything being all over the place. I have been rewriting, rewriting and thinking of paragraphs for my module essays, especially mod A. My goal is to finish refined and final essays plans for each of my modules by monday. Afterwards, I am going to work on past papers. I have obtained some trials from my tutors as well as tons of questions from my teacher so I should cover that. I am thinking of having an english session with my physics tutor, who scored pretty well in English and said he could help me with english so that's that. I have been focussing way too much on module A so I hope to get that finished by tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

Maths (2U+3U): Right now, I would just begin a past paper and do questions that initially I am doubtful off. Every other question I would usually verbalise on how to do in my head and so I skip over that. If I could not do that question, I would look back at the answers, see the first step of the solution and then go back and try to do the problem myself. This is working good for me right now, so I plan to finish from 2010 to 2018 for all papers doing that method. I should do two fully timed papers next week for each subject. I am also going to review every question I got wrong or had no idea on what to do during the weekend, so that I don't forget. These questions I miss would also form as a question bank that I would do before the HSC so that should be that.

Physics + Chemistry:I have done two full papers in the past two days and it has been really beneficial, but it really has been taking a toll on my energy. For example, yesterday I completed a chemistry paper in the morning with full energy, only to be slumped and dead whilst doing a physics paper in the afternoon. So, I have adopted the approach I have for maths and do papers while checking the answers. I am now remarking my paper and it has been so helpful. Learning from a band 6 answer has been so useful, as I could see straightway how to structure answers and what band 6 students answer questions to gain full marks. What I did today is see the mistakes I made the previous day when I did the exam and do the question again, checking to see if the answer has really stuck. If not, I review the answer again and learn off of it. Whilst I have a desire to complete as many papers for science, I feel there is absolutely no point if you attempt a whole bunch of papers and not review them in detail. The last two days I have frantically tried to attempt full papers and try to mark them in detail in the same day, but it just didn't work. The approach I am taking right now not only makes me learn the content but also see straightaway my mistakes and what I am doing that is keeping me from getting a good mark. I hope to work hard and complete as many papers in this way over the next few weeks.

Ancient History:My teacher is a HSC marker and so knows how to get a good mark. She has given us a timetable where we summarise a given amount of content per day and answer questions. Honestly, I have tried doing this for the past few days but it hasn't really worked for me. I know it would be fully ingrained in my brain due to a past experience. Last year, I spent a tonne of time summarising preliminary biology, using pretty colours and working really hard on my notes. But by the time the exam rolled around, I got a 70-80 mark because I had not used my time to answer past paper questions. So from now, I am going to fully dedicate my ancient history study time to just writing up answers, open or closed book. I would first attempt the question without any reference, and then look back on the book and craft my answer again. I think this will be the best approach to take now.

Science Extension: This subject. No past papers, no resources, NOTHING since this is a new course. My plan is to just write notes. Since it's a computer exam, I am going to write notes underneath the syllabus dot-point on a computer. I am just going to try and understand everything as much as possible, especially the statistics module and apply my knowledge to scientific papers. My teacher had suggested that I write notes and see how scientific research reports apply all the knowledge I have learned. I have not done any study for this subject so I hope to get started tomorrow or as soon as possible.

So that's my plan for each of my subjects. It's a lot, but I have been getting it done. Ever since Monday, I have been on a routine where I begin at 8AM no matter what and work in 50 minute sessions with a ten minute break in between. After four sessions, I take a 30-45 minute break eating lunch, watching TV and so on. I have been slacking off during the evening though, ending up in me not accomplishing as much for subjects like ancient history and science extension. I hope to get on board pretty quickly. I have been studying at least 8 hours per day which to my standards is amazing. I have never been as studious before this holidays, where I meticulously record my time. I have been using the app forest as a timer and it is pretty solid. I hope to become more productive in the next few days. I don't think I will burn out since I have those ten minute breaks, but I have been feeling slumped in the evening and night. I think I will walk my dog or do some sort of exercise to fix that issue though ;D.

Mannn, that's long!

Let me update y'all on what has happened since trials. My science extension project was due so I had that done. I first made a full science report without the word limits that science extension requires, and entered that into a competition known as Young Scientist. My school is known for entering and winning many places in that competition, and I had won a sponsored award back in year 10 for a science project I did so my teacher required these projects to be entered as well. That took some time, and it dragged on. It was pretty hard and ate up some of my study time which was not good. I had finally gotten that done and uploaded before 12 PM (got it in at 7PM). I reached a stage where I was just so tired with the project that I just uploaded it and finished it off. It was a similar experience to what martinstran had with his PIP (check out his journal!) and so that was that. I then worked in the next few days to cut it down to the 3000 word limit (I had 6000 words!) so got it down to 3200 words. My teacher and I didn't bother much with it because we thought the word limit would be flexible :), so I finished it up the day before it needed to be in. However, at night while I was getting started on some english work, I received a call. It was an unknown number so I was a bit hesitant but picked it up and guess who? My teacher! He said I had to come back to school as well as the other science extension student to cut it down to 3000 words. It was a small job, but I eventually cut it down to 2800 or something words. We then got it out of the way.

What else? I also submitted my JCU application for medicine. I put a lot of heart into this application as I really like the rural focus of JCU's medicine program. I sent it to my headmaster (my school is small so my headmaster acts as our career advisor), and he said he really liked my application as well. I had been procrastinating on it for some weeks, but I sat down one sunday night (week before it was due) and smashed it out. I also got some letters of recommendation from my principal and two teachers. One teacher was my drama club teacher whom I had worked with in drama club and film club (that is a story for another time!) and the other teacher was my science extension teacher, whom I had worked with all year on my project. I had chosen these two teachers to show my extracurricular and academic side, so that was that. I got it all checked by my headmaster, and posted it last Friday via express post. I do not expect at all to get an offer as my ATAR prediction is too low (95.95). I also don't want to go interstate as well so I am hoping in a way to not get an interview offer. In fact, I know I won't since my ATAR is too low ;D, but it was nice writing that application though ;D.

Another thing is my graduation experience. Over the past two weeks, we as a yr12 class had been filming for our final Yr12 ceremony video. I was going to be the primary editor, but as you all know, me and the two other guys behind this project left it all to the last minute. So in a final rush to get it done, I came to my friend's house on wednesday (graduation was thursday- we had to get it done!) after school. We discussed a lot about the film and edited through the whole night. The main main guy (the director of the film, as it were) left at 12 AM and I stayed up until 3 with my friend chipping it away. We had done all the main sequences, but he was too smashed and so went to bed. I kept going, frantically trying to get it done until 5 AM. It was a thrilling experience though, I had never been so awake during 3 AM as much as that night ;D. I finished off the video and my dad came and picked me up at 5 AM. He wanted me to be at home since this was going to be my last day of school and so I edited till the morning. I ran it off the director when we all came together in the morning, and we showed it to the class. They seem to like it, I am not too sure. I had two strong coffees by the time we showed it to the class, and even then I was way too tired. We then started to go off to classes, but then I had to stay back to setup up the whole video presentation, so I ended up not going to all the classes. Now that I look back, I kind of wish I did but someone had to stay back, or otherwise the video would not work, and that someone had unluckily had to be me. Even though I had missed out on what some would call the graduation experience, since I was rushing back and forth to get this video off my back, I am kind of glad because I had never been involved in something so much. I don't know, but that was the year 12 experience.

Afterwards, I came back home with my family. My sister was really disappointed that I could not come to her class (since I was busy with the video) so we ended up talking. I think we bonded so much during that afternoon that, in a way, makes me kind of glad I was busy with the video since I could have that experience, if that makes sense. Afterwards I took a nap, woke up, changed into a suit and went to my yr12 formal. My school's formal was pretty fancy, and I had a really good discussion with some teachers that night. We did not dance or anything like that, we ate dinner, talked a lot, and then each of us stood up to give a present to a teacher and talk about our experiences with the school as a whole. The teachers also talked, and they said that they were going to miss it. Thinking about it now, it is kind of weird to think that I will go no longer go to the classroom, yell good morning to my chemistry teacher (who is always there in the morning), sit down at a computer and just do random stuff as my classmates walk in. But anyways that was that ;D.

The Saturday afterwards was a birthday party for one of my friends. I first went to the english ATARNotes lecture in the morning, where Emily gave us some amazing advice. Unfortunately, I was a bit zoned out as a result of that all-nighter but it was a pretty valuable experience. I will not forget the peptalk Emily gave us of why she worked hard during the holidays. It was really inspiring, and if anyone from the ATARnotes lecture or tutesmart team is reading this, please convey on how that peptalk really changed the way I view work and HSC. Doing it for myself instead of my parents, ambition or that kind of stuff and just purely doing it for myself is a viewpoint I had not really thought about, and it really did change my game. That was awesome, and I am glad I attended the lecture!

Anyways, that night was the birthday party. I was initially not going to go, but later during the day I thought it would be rude if I did not show up. The party started at 6 and ended at midnight. I thought that I would do some sort of study and go at 8 PM, stirring up an agreement with my parents that I will spend 1.5 hrs there. At first it was a bit boring. I danced here and there, talked with one of my friends, and just roamed around. I then started talking to a particular girl, and then we decided to go dance. Some other girls joined us and it was so much fun. It was kind of breaking my comfort zone, since I would not have imagined dancing a few years back. But now dancing and that too with anyone had shown me that I had actually grown as an individual, as strange as that may sound. Back then, I was alway shy, especially of girls, as embarrassing as that sounds ;D. But to actually be relaxed, not shy and be an actual grown up is a remarkable achievement in terms of my personal growth, and I am so glad I did it. We danced the whole night, with little to know breaks. Some classmates of mine were kind of surprised at my doing so, as I would be reserved at school. But they all embraced it, and I embraced it, and I had a hell of a night ;D.

So there's an update. There's some stuff going on right now dominating my thoughts, so I'll do a braindump tomorrow or in the next few days just to get it out of my system. Almost 2800 words this update, probably my longest post yet!

I'm gonna go bed, and I'll update tomorrow with some stuff dominating my thoughts. Hope y'all enjoyed it!

Peaceeee,

R1ckworthy.

Bri MT:
Any updates? :)

r1ckworthy:

--- Quote from: Bri MT on November 03, 2019, 03:44:47 pm ---Any updates? :)

--- End quote ---

Haha, will update tomorrow after my maths X1 exam ;D.

Teeeny update: I have been procrastinating. A lot.

r1ckworthy:
Hey all,

Feeling a bit crushed by the maths extension 1 exam (not anymore), so I'll do a full in-depth update next week monday :).

So I have chemistry on thursday and physics on monday. My plan is to go through the Atarnotes topic tests first in depth and then do as many trials as I possibly can for both subjects. However, I have been procrastinating so much the past 2 weeks, so we'll see how that goes.

Right now, I'm procrastinating on chemistry by reading up the wiki article on string theory. Pretty cool stuff, but as you can see, not relevant to the course at all :)

I have a ton of plans after HSC. First is to read some books, learn advanced physics and chemistry, learn LATEX and make mock exams for physics and chemistry (maybe maths!), using latex to write these exams. I probably will prepare on tutoring stuff for chemistry and physics as well, such as notes, module tests (hopefully to upload on atarnotes as well for all!!!). I also want to write some science extension exams, so we'll see how that goes. Also want to go to the gym daily, been eating too much junkfood in this exam period :P

Tutoring is inclined on what marks I get, so we'll see how I go. Honestly, I can understand why, but I am going to go for it anyways since I love to teach. Especially maths, I hope to relearn a whole lot of stuff at a deeper level in the holidays for tutoring and making practice exams. I think without the pressure of the hsc, I will be able to relearn topics at a deeper level, and so be able to teach other students. I hope to tutor students that are not high achievers but rather students who are struggling a lot, especially in maths + sciences.  As well as that, I would like to go out with friends, watch movies, all that jazz :).

I'll probably use this journal for updates in the holiday as well (why not ;D) until results day. Right now, I hope to achieve a 90 ATAR, which I am confident on gaining, as I have procrastinated a lot in the HSC period. With a 90 ATAR, I'll get 8 extra atar points from Australian Catholic University ( 3pts for a band 5pts in physics, chem or english + 5 for being located in the area!), from which I'll hopefully get into physio. From there, I hope to solidify good habits and earn a solid GPA, using that to either transfer to undergraduate medicine in the next couple of years (provided I do well on my UCAT) or attempt to gain a place in postgrad med. Either way, getting into physio will be great ;D. I am not too happy with the ATAR I will achieve, since I had placed high expectations on myself. But I am glad to have gone through year 12, or else I would never have learned such valuable lessons. University is going to be really hard but if I can set myself up in good habits (which I did not do in yr12) then hopefully I can start the path to good grades.

Overall, unhappy that these HSC exams are not going too well for me :(. But now I understand why, and how I can prevent future exams from going awry ;D.

Like I said, all of this will be explored much further next week (probably in a video)!!!

Peaceeeee,
R1ckworthy ;D

r1ckworthy:
Hey y'all!

Procrastinating on studying for physics so why not a journal entry ;D

So, what's new, you ask?

I now want to go to Western Sydney University to study physiotherapy, for a couple of reasons. Mostly that I am more attracted to a larger uni, while ACU is a smaller uni. As well as that, I would also like to transfer into wsu medicine in the next couple of years (if I get a good UCAT!) so I guess it would be easier?

But alas, due to these HSC exams, I might not be able to get an ATAR > 95 and thus be unable to get into physio at all. This freaked me out one night (night before chemistry!), and put me on edge. However, I quickly reminded myself that physio is not my goal at all. The end goal of all this is to become a doctor, so whatever I do, I should put in the hard work and see what happens ;D

My backup choice would be advanced science at UNSW (or USYD, but unlikely). While it requires a 95 ATAR, I'll get some extra ATAR points that would allow me to get into the course (due to my subjects). Majoring in neuroscience is a real possibility, looking at the different subjects and everything has really attracted me to this major. All subjects sound so interesting, and is the kind of thing that captures my attention. We'll see how it goes!

Also made some plans after HSC. Below is what I would like to do (in decreasing priority):
(1) Join the Gym and go everyday (made a bet with my sister so I have to go everyday!)
(2) Make HSC revision videos. This is what excites me a lot. I hope to get an iPad pro with apple pencil in the upcoming weeks for uni, so I will use that to teach particular concepts that are hard to understand EG. Back and precipitation titrations, gravimetric analysis calculations, spectroscopy questions in chemistry etc. etc. As well as that, I hope to use this channel as a way to document my university journey, so think of it as a study/ revision youtube channel. Got a lot of plans to execute, which I will do in the holidays ;D
(3) Make a game plan for university. Now having gone through year 12, I now understand how I can learn most effectively. I'll probably talk about it in a post after the physics exam.
(4) Read some books. Will let you know which ones!
(5) Hang out with friends and stuff. Explanatory.

Obviously there are more, but I will go into each one in more detail in the next few days (after the physics HSC). Honestly, no matter what degree I choose or what ATAR I get, I am so excited for the future!

Be back after the physics hsc ;D

Peaceeeee,

R1ckworthy.

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