Update - 07/02/2020 - First Week Back*Warning for a very long and odd ball post!
If I could summarise this week in one word, it would be tiring. I was not prepared for that workload omg, and they said this was the easy week! Like how! So for me, school started on the 29th of Jan, and it was kind of just orientation week, however, there where a few pretests involved. This week for me has just been quite overwhelming to say the least. The whether is really doing a good job at making me sleepy all the time, and the brain fog/concentration has just been at an all time high. I felt like I was running at 20% capacity, and I just didn't have enough energy supply to keep up.
I got to meet all of my teachers over the phone which is nice. They all sound really lovely, and I feel that they were really sincerer that they are ready to help me (except my maths teacher, she will help me, but she just kinda came across a bit cold and disinterested. I did have her last year though). They seem alot more invested in students this year than they did last year, which I think has to do with the fact that this is year 12. I swear that the amount of pre warnings of everything they expect of you felt like a supervillen laying out their evil plan. Now this may have just been me, but hearing about all the SAC deadlines, what will happen to you if you don't get your work in on time, how this year is worth everything, and all the lesson I have to attend was just so overwhelming. I have never felt like that before when being told similar stuff, not even when I was told this for bio last year. Other than that, everything was pretty good.
I don't have my first SAC until March 13 which is for English as an argument analysis. I also have a FS and chem SAC on the last week of term one. So it is nice to know I don't have any off the bat.
EnglishSo, I don't think english will be that much of a challenge this year as the workload is really manageable. However what will be hard is finding the motivation and interest in completing the work itself. I struggled to get through this week out of sheer boredom that was this weeks content. One thing I have found weird however, is the really political topics they have chosen when we have to read articles to analyse. I guess that because it is a relevant issue that it's fine, but I found it quite odd that they would take that approach. My english texts currently remain in a corner at the edge of my room. I still haven't read them.... Which is a good and bad thing as a, I was going to read them in the wrong order over the holidays, and b, we won't be doing any work on them until mid March. However, I will get onto reading Nine Days this weekend. We also had our first online lesson, and we ended up breaking the record with over 54 students attending...
Food StudiesSo surprisingly the workload has doubled from 1/2. It is still not as much as chem or maths but I was not expecting it. I will say that food is kinda hard to study for. A lot of it is common sense, but there are parts where you need to know how to answer well to please VCAA. I think the biggest thing that had me stuck this week was whether or not I take notes or not. Notes are really time consuming as I like to handwrite, but I honestly think I am just regurgitating the textbook onto a page, and I don't really think it is efficient. There are barely any practice questions for this subject compared to others so I can't really consolidate knowledge like that, but I don't want to just rewrite everything especially with a health condition that makes me have less time then the average person. So I am at a bit of a loss. I think I am going to at least transfer to typing my notes, as it takes 1/2 the time, and honestly I am running out of it. On a positive not, I am having a blast with this subject. It is so easy that it doesn't hurt my brain, but the topics are alot of fun. As a bio and chem student as well there is quite an overlap of knowledge as well. The online food studies lesson went ahead on Thursday and the teacher made an awesome effort to make it fun and interactive (unlike other subjects...). I also hate webex!
ChemistrySo far it is alot more interesting than last year by a mile, but fuck the workload was not what I was expecting. It has tripled since last year. So many notes to write, so much to read, so much to consolidate. I feel like I have missed alot of smaller things this week, as I just ran out of time. At the time of writing I still haven't completed week one. There is so much content with so many little details that can easily miss. I think i'm just really tired this week, as I was having so many dumb moments.
Here is the story of me learning about fraction distillation. So you know how larger hydrocarbons get trapped in the liquids near the bottom of the cylinder and the small hydrocarbons get trapped up the top. It took me so long to get why that happened, all because I mixed up melting points and boiling points, and that it is hotter in the bottom compared to it being cooler up the top. I sat there for about 2 hours wondering why the smaller hydrocarbons go to the top when I thought they should go to the bottom because it was cooler at the bottom and hotter at the top (because heat rises to the top normally so that was my logic.). I just misread the info, so that led to me being confused! But yeah other than that, I am having the same problem with food studies with note taking. It takes so much time and I am now going over to typing except for the maths portion. I feel like I am writing to much, but then worry that I have missed something etc. Anyway, really looking forward to keep going, as I am enjoying the content much more than 1/2.
MethodsAh my old nemesis is back! So I had to do a pretest week to see if I could do the course, and this really caused me so much stress. The test was out of 16, if I scored under 7, it was advised I dropped out, if it was between 8-12, it said I would need to work really hard throughout the course, and if I scored over 13 you where a okay. This sent me into a major panic, and i'm not gonna lie I kinda cried before it. When I opened the pre test and did it, I couldn't do 3/4's of the sums. I had seen them before, but just couldn't remember. So I answered all the questions I could by working out, and the rest I guessed using my rusty knowledge of algebra and good old fashion deduction. I SCORED 9/16!!!!!!! I guessed 6 of them and got them right so I am still allowed to do the course. It was such a relief but I felt so bad as I barely new anything and guessed so much of it. I know I am going to have to work very hard at this subject just to pass but i am willing to put in the effort. However, since chem has taken up SO much time this week, I still haven't started on this weeks work, so looks like someone is working on the weekend. On a quick side note, I have been looking for a maths tutor, and it is so hard to find one with where I live. And some of the online find tutor sites have been terrible!
Other Random StuffI don't know if I told anyone on here, but my mum got me a plant for my room about a month ago, and it is STILL ALIVE! I haven't killed it yet. I also took my cat to the vet this week and as too put it lightly, she is a very fat cat. She is quite a small cat but weighs 8Kg. So we where all worried that she may have diabetes, and it turns out she doesn't. She had a glucose level of 4.6, and the normal range is 4-6(maybe
. So that was awesome news! We are now putting her on a diet, which she hates by the way, so we shall wait and see how she goes.
So wow, this was WAY longer than I expected, but there was just so much that went through my mind this that I just blurted it out on here, so sorry for the word vomit. I know what I have written sounds kinda negative, but I actually had a great week, but it was a little overwhelming, and I was questioning my study methods.
Hope everyone had a great week!
Sorry for any errors, but I was honestly too tired to edit this, I may later though.