2010 VN COHORT THE '11 NEED YOUR ADVICE!!!!!

[Slumdawg]

There is still a clear difference between some schools and others in terms of the calibre of teaching on offer, regardless of student work ethic.

+1.

I reckon it's not just teachers, it's the whole environment of going to a low performing school. It really wasn't helpful having classes filled with only 2 people (on average) who cared and were working hard. Because you usually gauge how well you're doing in a subject by looking at how you compare with those around you if they're not doing much it can put you in a false sense of security. I know this year I had to be EXTREMELY independent. I was not told to do past papers or look at VCAA assessor's reports or all the other important things for most of my subjects. You have a lot of responsibility placed on you to do a whole heap of extra work to give yourself a chance to compete with those who're getting more support. Although you can definitely do well at a bad school, (there has been many cases of this) be prepared to work beyond what your teacher expects of you.

I think VN is so great because those who go to a low performing school can see the real competition and what level is expected for a 40+ score. If you can understand most of the posts in the forums for your subjects and can answer most of the questions posted in the forums then you're probably on the right track.

[flash36]

There is still a clear difference between some schools and others in terms of the calibre of teaching on offer, regardless of student work ethic.

+1.

I reckon it's not just teachers, it's the whole environment of going to a low performing school. It really wasn't helpful having classes filled with only 2 people (on average) who cared and were working hard. Because you usually gauge how well you're doing in a subject by looking at how you compare with those around you if they're not doing much it can put you in a false sense of security. I know this year I had to be EXTREMELY independent. I was not told to do past papers or look at VCAA assessor's reports or all the other important things for most of my subjects. You have a lot of responsibility placed on you to do a whole heap of extra work to give yourself a chance to compete with those who're getting more support. Although you can definitely do well at a bad school, (there has been many cases of this) be prepared to work beyond what your teacher expects of you.

I think VN is so great because those who go to a low performing school can see the real competition and what level is expected for a 40+ score. If you can understand most of the posts in the forums for your subjects and can answer most of the questions posted in the forums then you're probably on the right track.

Agree with all that. In all my classes with the exception of English, there was probably 3-4 at most, in some cases me and one other person who were genuinely striving for a 40+ for the subject. And the resultant environment of the class being happy with mediocre SAC results throughout the year and distracting behaviour in class clearly has an impact.

[Christiano]

There is still a clear difference between some schools and others in terms of the calibre of teaching on offer, regardless of student work ethic.

+1.

I reckon it's not just teachers, it's the whole environment of going to a low performing school. It really wasn't helpful having classes filled with only 2 people (on average) who cared and were working hard. Because you usually gauge how well you're doing in a subject by looking at how you compare with those around you if they're not doing much it can put you in a false sense of security. I know this year I had to be EXTREMELY independent. I was not told to do past papers or look at VCAA assessor's reports or all the other important things for most of my subjects. You have a lot of responsibility placed on you to do a whole heap of extra work to give yourself a chance to compete with those who're getting more support. Although you can definitely do well at a bad school, (there has been many cases of this) be prepared to work beyond what your teacher expects of you.

I think VN is so great because those who go to a low performing school can see the real competition and what level is expected for a 40+ score. If you can understand most of the posts in the forums for your subjects and can answer most of the questions posted in the forums then you're probably on the right track.

Spot on. At my school, around less than 15 students (out of a cohort of about 250 year 12 students) manage to get 40+. Going beyond what the teacher expects at these schools is a must if you want to achieve a high study score and VN provides students like myself the ability to gauge the performance of other students around Victoria to see what level you're at, instead of relying on your cohort. This misconception that I was doing excellent compared to other students in my school this year lead to a relatively low score of 34.

[s2penguin]

There is still a clear difference between some schools and others in terms of the calibre of teaching on offer, regardless of student work ethic.

+1.

I reckon it's not just teachers, it's the whole environment of going to a low performing school. It really wasn't helpful having classes filled with only 2 people (on average) who cared and were working hard. Because you usually gauge how well you're doing in a subject by looking at how you compare with those around you if they're not doing much it can put you in a false sense of security. I know this year I had to be EXTREMELY independent. I was not told to do past papers or look at VCAA assessor's reports or all the other important things for most of my subjects. You have a lot of responsibility placed on you to do a whole heap of extra work to give yourself a chance to compete with those who're getting more support. Although you can definitely do well at a bad school, (there has been many cases of this) be prepared to work beyond what your teacher expects of you.

I think VN is so great because those who go to a low performing school can see the real competition and what level is expected for a 40+ score. If you can understand most of the posts in the forums for your subjects and can answer most of the questions posted in the forums then you're probably on the right track.

Spot on. At my school, around less than 15 students (out of a cohort of about 250 year 12 students) manage to get 40+. Going beyond what the teacher expects at these schools is a must if you want to achieve a high study score and VN provides students like myself the ability to gauge the performance of other students around Victoria to see what level you're at, instead of relying on your cohort. This misconception that I was doing excellent compared to other students in my school this year lead to a relatively low score of 34.

I always have a chuckle at your Mick McCarthy avatar.

[Streaker]

Once again congratulations to the VN 2010 cohort what amazing scores!!
Now that many of you have completed VCE quite successfully, what are your tips and advice for the 2011 cohort??
VN is a invaluable resource and the advice you give in this thread will again be very beneficial for all of us.
What are your regrets?
What were your study habits?
What is required to get a 95+ ATAR (well for you personally as it's different to each individual)
Any other advice or tricks that you have learnt this year which will help us??

Thanks and congratz again
To the 2011 cohort we have a big task ahead of us...

Consistency was the key for me. I probably worked on average 2 hours a night for the entire year (with some nights where I did zero and other nights I would do 4-5 hours if I had a SAC on). Term 3 holidays are crucial to your exam preparation, the couple of weeks between term 3 holidays ending and swatvac starting were quite strange to me...I only did about 2 hours a night in that period of time but ended up doing a lot during swatvac. I ended up with 99.00 as my atar.

I did relatively easy subjects (such as PE and Further, as well as Psych in Year 11) but spent a lot of time on them, and it sure reaped rewards (got 48 in both). Don't underestimate and hence spend less time on easier subjects because you will probably be disappointed with your score in the end, particularly if you were hoping for a high score in them.

With English, not only should you be writing a lot of essays in the lead-up to exams, but try to perfect each essay you do. For example, let's say three weeks away from the exam you focus entirely on context that week. Write out a context essay and give it to your teacher to mark. Get some feedback from him/her and then write a new and improved essay the next day. Keep doing this over and over until you're entirely satisfied with your mark and feel that you can pull off a quality essay on the exam. You might be reading this and thinking 'crap...that's a lot of essays' but trust me, when you're less than a month away from exams then you will want to write heaps of essays - I never stopped and thought 'wow I have to do lots of essays' - just achieve your short-term goals and eventually your long-term goal will be reached. Another small tip: for context, make sure you have somewhat of a template or format to your essay that can be easily adapted to the prompt they give you. I had a fully memorised piece that could be adapted to any prompt and that saved me SO much time on the exam. Ended up scoring 10/10 for it.

There is such thing as studying for English without writing actual essays, such as practicing introductions, explaining quotes and writing up character profiles. I used the York Notes Advanced study guide for text response, seriously the quality of stuff in there is guaranteed to get you a 45+ if you read it thoroughly and jot down useful phrases that you could incorporate into any essay. Try to have a memorised introduction to your text response too, but of course one that can be adapted to the question given to you. I got 9/10 on my text response in the exam.

I'll be honest and say I did zero study for language analysis, matter of fact I probably did 5 language analysis essays for the whole year, I still pulled off a 10/10 for it on the exam but personally I found it to be easy (DO NOT DO WHAT I DID FOR LANGUAGE ANALYSIS - every person has their own strengths and weaknesses so this may not apply to you). I did end up getting 46 which I was happy with, but my teacher marked SACs very harshly. I'm not too fussed now though.

As for maths, I did both further and methods and the key is definitely consistent work. Aim to get ahead in your maths subjects over the holidays (and I mean WAY ahead) then do about 30 minutes per night on normal school nights - this seems easy but remember it would stressful if you didn't put in the hard yards during holidays. Complete a plethora of practice exams in the lead up to the real exam, and make sure you know where you make mistakes. I know one guy who kept a notebook of every mistake he made in his exams and kept updating it after every exam he did so that he didn't make the same mistakes. He was by no means acing his SACs throughout the year but nevertheless he ended up getting 50 in methods due to very strong exam results.

As for regrets, I have none whatsoever. I was very happy with the year because I managed to balance my life out  with sports, going out on weekends and working shifts twice a week every week of the year (apart from two or three due to the exam period). Just give it your best shot and leave everything in that exam room at the end of the year.

If anyone needs help with more specific questions about study habits in particular subjects or tips in English essays etc then feel free to PM me anytime. Best of luck class of 2011

[Streaker]

4) Someone who has done good in all their subjects will get a lower atar than someone who has done exceptionally well in four and not so well in two. Remember that. If you're after a really high atar you'll take into account the top 4 rule. I know I personally prioritised my subjects so that 4 subjects would be a lot higher than the other two and I sure did beat all my friends who spread out their effort evenly.

Might I also add: so true.

Remember, to get a high ATAR then you need to be tactical about things. It's not like primary school where if you do well in every subject then you get a distinction for the year and lift your nose up in arrogance to the other kids. It's all about your top 4 in VCE. All the subjects in my top 4 were 'easy' ones that scaled down (I was lucky to get high enough in all of them so they just stayed the same i.e. 48,48,46,43) and my bottom two were subjects that scaled up heaps (42 and 37 both scaled) so I knew I could put less effort into those and focus on the ones that actually count.

[flash36]

4) Someone who has done good in all their subjects will get a lower atar than someone who has done exceptionally well in four and not so well in two. Remember that. If you're after a really high atar you'll take into account the top 4 rule. I know I personally prioritised my subjects so that 4 subjects would be a lot higher than the other two and I sure did beat all my friends who spread out their effort evenly.

Might I also add: so true.

Remember, to get a high ATAR then you need to be tactical about things. It's not like primary school where if you do well in every subject then you get a distinction for the year and lift your nose up in arrogance to the other kids. It's all about your top 4 in VCE. All the subjects in my top 4 were 'easy' ones that scaled down (I was lucky to get high enough in all of them so they just stayed the same i.e. 48,48,46,43) and my bottom two were subjects that scaled up heaps (42 and 37 both scaled) so I knew I could put less effort into those and focus on the ones that actually count.

Definitely. By about term 2, I realised I hated Further Maths and that it was going to be my 10% subject, so I neglected it entirely for the rest of the year and concentrated on the subjects I thought would be in my top 4, which proved to be correct. As a result, my Further score added 3.1 onto my aggregate; had I put the effort in and say got a 39 or something, it would have added 3.7 onto my aggregate. So there was no point doing the work for Further. You must take this into account; it is much easier concentrating on 4 subjects that 5, obviously.