vans' VCE Journal! (Class of 2020)

[vans]

Hey all!

As VCE is approaching (Year 11 at least), and after reading a few VCE journey journals, I thought that I should start my own to document my experiences over the course of the next two years of hell. Feel free to follow me along my VCE journey and question my decisions, if necessary!

I'd also like to make this thread a place where I can be completely honest with myself anonymously, and occasionally rant about the issues of being a teen .

As a bit of an introduction,

My VCE subjects:
- English
- Global Politics [Units 3&4]
- Mathematical Methods
- Chemistry
- Japanese SL
- Music Performance

I hope to get into the Bachelor of Arts @ UniMelb, or Monash.
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28-11-18
I have one more of my Year 10 exams tomorrow, how exciting!  I'm mostly glad that the bulk of my exams are over, and that the holidays are almost here. We got our timetable for 'step-up' today, and to be honest, I'm a little disappointed over the way my timetable is structured.

Monday: Exam Feedback
Tuesday: English, Music Performance, Japanese SL
Wednesday: Mathematical Methods, Chemistry, Global Politics
Thursday: Japanese SL, Music Performance, English
Friday: Chemistry, Global Politics, Mathematical Methods

All three of the most content heavy/ heavy workload subjects on the same day!! (Wednesday and Friday)
I guess it should be alright, I'd rather look at it in a positive light. Having those subjects on the same day means that my Tuesdays and Thursdays are much less demanding.

On a good note, most of my teachers for 'step-up' seem pretty decent (besides one), so it should be enjoyable!

Overall, I'm definitely looking forward to VCE and trying my best to do well. I'm aiming to prioritise my english and hums subjects, do decently in LOTE and music, and to at least pass Chem and Maths.

[AngelWings]

Nice to see you join in! You have a really broad range of subjects there, which I think is fantastic.
Do you do any extracurriculars? What do you like to do in your free time?
Hope to read more of this journal soon!

[vans]

Nice to see you join in! You have a really broad range of subjects there, which I think is fantastic.
Do you do any extracurriculars? What do you like to do in your free time?
Hope to read more of this journal soon!

Thank you!! I tried to choose subjects that would be beneficial for courses (i.e. Methods, Chem) along with subjects that I'd enjoy, just to take the pressure off my VCE years. Most people question why I chose subjects I didn't need (i.e. Glopol), but ultimately, I'm interested in the content and it'd make VCE more enjoyable. A lot of people I know are taking the Asian 5, I wish them a lot of luck with that!

In regards to extracurriculars, I'm involved in two leadership programs at my school, and I play the piano (and occasionally guitar) in the school concert band. I enjoy playing instruments, watching food videos, messing around with my dog and writing calligraphy in my spare time.

[vans]

Hey Vans! Awesome to see you jump on the bandwagon! Our subjects are very similar - I also do methods, chem, and global, and I nearly did music performance as well. And I also play the piano. Honestly felt like I was reading a description of myself for a second. What instrument are you doing for Music? Can’t wait to follow you along your VCE journey Looking forward to your future updates!

Oh yeah! Our subjects are really quite similar, it's nice to see someone else who has similar subjects to my own! I initially chose literature - like you, but the school decided to not run the class next year for a number of reasons, so I'm a little disappointed. I was looking forward to doing something different from mainstream english. For music performance, I'm thinking of doing piano, but since we focus on group work in Year 11, I'll play around with both piano and guitar and see what I like.

[vans]

29-11-18

I finally finished my last Year 10 exam! I'm a free woman until the work from 'step-up' piles up.
I studied the bare minimum for this exam, and surprised myself as I was able to finish 15 mins early, whereas most people did not complete it.

After my 1.5 hr exam, I had a 2 hr band practise session, and managed to secure myself an electric guitar part for one of the songs. We're sounding great for the concert next week!

Overall, a really uneventful day, but the weather was great and I'm feeling ok.

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It's a bit of a boring start to my VCE journey journal, but I promise that it'll be more enjoyable when Year 11 begins. (:

[vans]

28-01-19

So... I kinda forgot about my VCE journey journal. But I guess I'm back, two days before Year 11 begins. We were given our confirmed timetable and teachers earlier this week, and honestly, I'm not going to complain - my teachers are decent. Except for one.

One of the teachers for my 3/4 isn't teaching this year, which leaves my desired 3/4 teacher (and occasional VCAA assessor), and a random teacher who's apparently had teaching experience in this subject prior to working at my school. But here's the catch. He's never taught this subject at our school. According to my friends, he's not a very good teacher, and I'm slightly worried about what to expect from his teaching, especially for a 3/4 subject.

Nevertheless, I shouldn't be so quick to judge. If I have to self teach at any point this year, I'm prepared. And I'll be pleasantly surprised if he's good. The other 3/4 teacher did mention that she'd happily help us out of necessary, but it's honestly VERY difficult to find her. Oh well!

I've done so much prior preparation for this subject, so I should be ready to tackle anything that comes my way - hopefully!

Anyhow, I've set some goals. I hope that I can still achieve a 35+ study score in my 3/4 (hopefully 40+! I'll try), and to improve my skills in all my subjects overall.

The homework for my 3/4 is so tedious, I keep putting it off. Mind you, I've finished it, but I've been wanting to refine it for a few weeks. Instead, I'm preparing for the texts that I'm studying in english, and they aren't even looked at until Unit 2...

Since I'm doing music performance, I found the need to work on rebuilding my skills after not routinely practising the piano for a while.

Current songs I'm playing/learning:
I Giorni - Ludovico Einaudi
La Campanella - Liszt (wish me luck)
Comptine d'un autre été - Yann Tiersen (one of my favourites)

And a few more, which I randomly play little bits of from time to time.

Overall, I'm not worried for year 11. Just a little reluctant to leave the summer holidays behind and start a new year of schooling. I've spoken to a few of my friends who're starting year 12 this year, and they said that they felt the same way. A little unbothered.

My LEAST favourite subjects as of 28-01-19:
1. Maths Methods
2. Chemistry

I'm hoping that'll change.

Oh well, I guess I'm ready for this year to come. See ya'll when I next update.

-Vans (:

[mango8]

Hey there,

I am really liking the sound of your subjects, the variety is great! What are your favourites?

On another interesting note, I see you initially chose Lit which I love, seem to enjoy humanities which I also love, we have the same two least favourite subjects, play piano, thoroughly enjoy the passive art of watching food videos and never actually making them, spending all my time with my precious dog and have started calligraphy!

The thing about teachers is that they have the power to make you love or loathe a subject, and yeah the possibility of getting teachers that aren’t great to say the least for 3/4 subjects is not the best feeling, but you can still succeed with not so great teachers. Anyway let’s see how it goes! I hope it works out! But I’d advise you to always try and maintain a good relationship with your teachers, they are one of your most valuable resources and are there to help you achieve the very best you can!

And ahh oh my gosh I love Comptine d'un autre été SO MUCH!!! Listened to it countless times over my very long lifespan because it’s simply exquisite.

Enjoy the last few days and update soon!!

[vans]

I am really liking the sound of your subjects, the variety is great! What are your favourites?

Thank you! I quite like my variety of subjects, although sometimes I get told by others that it's quite an odd choice.
Honestly, my 3/4 subject - Global Politics was my favourite last year as the 1/2 component had many interesting concepts and case studies!

On another interesting note, I see you initially chose Lit which I love, seem to enjoy humanities which I also love, we have the same two least favourite subjects, play piano, thoroughly enjoy the passive art of watching food videos and never actually making them, spending all my time with my precious dog and have started calligraphy!

I initially chose Lit just to deviate away from the norms of regular english, as I really wanted to try something new. Plus, the prospects of having one of my favourite teachers for an interesting subject, sounds good to me! Funnily enough, I never enjoyed humanities in years 7-9. Taking humanities as a 1/2 in year 10 was a really impulsive decision, and I have Z E R O regrets. (:

It's amazing to see someone else in this community with such similar interests to myself!

The thing about teachers is that they have the power to make you love or loathe a subject, and yeah the possibility of getting teachers that aren’t great to say the least for 3/4 subjects is not the best feeling, but you can still succeed with not so great teachers. Anyway let’s see how it goes! I hope it works out! But I’d advise you to always try and maintain a good relationship with your teachers, they are one of your most valuable resources and are there to help you achieve the very best you can!

I completely agree. I'm willing to put in more effort than I need if required, and (unfortunately) willing to pester my teacher for tips, tricks and markings quite often. My friends probably lost count of how many times I unsuccessfully attempted to locate my 1/2 teacher last year!  I find that with adequate help from your teachers, and taking in whatever feedback they provide allows one to really excel in the subject. I'll let you know how it goes (:

And ahh oh my gosh I love Comptine d'un autre été SO MUCH!!! Listened to it countless times over my very long lifespan because it’s simply exquisite.

It's my absolute favourite! I discovered it a while ago, forgot the name, and promised myself I'd eventually learn it. Found it again about 4/5 days ago and learnt it in half an hour. I'm probably pestering my parents by playing it countless times every day hehe (:

[Joseph41]

Hey vans! Love the aim to study Arts. 😍 Haha. Obviously still have a fair while to think about it, but any ideas of what you might study within that degree if it were to eventuate?

[vans]

Hey vans! Love the aim to study Arts. 😍 Haha. Obviously still have a fair while to think about it, but any ideas of what you might study within that degree if it were to eventuate?

I might consider (if at unimelb) taking a double major in politics and another subject. I'm quite interested in the prospect of teaching though, so maybe I'll specialise in english and politics! We'll see (:

[vans]

01-02-19

Well, the first 'week' of Year 11 is officially over. Wasn't too bad, I must say!

Here is a recap:

English: Lovely teacher. Is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Told me to not put myself down when I told her my drafts were terrible, and was excited to read it.

Chemistry: Wonderful teacher. VERY enthusiastic. Although, my distaste of the subject makes me more inclined to fall asleep in class and zone out. Nothing against the teacher, once again, extremely knowledgable (main year 12 teacher and assessor).

Methods: Our school does this thing where the first day back of the year, we have 'extended homegroup', in which homegroup/homeroom stretches into period 1 for the day. In this session, we looked at goals for the upcoming year. However, this makes everyone one period behind in a certain subject, which in my case happens to be methods. And knowing our luck, we miss a session next week as there's a VCE presentation from our assistant principal; DURING methods, and we had a pre-test this afternoon, which once again, sets us back. Loving it. Nevertheless, great teacher, who when mistakes are made actually acknowledges her mistakes and doesn't say 'I was just testing you'.

Global Politics: Now this one caught me by surprise. The teacher is actually quite knowledgable! Helps to not listen to your friend's opinions prior to starting a class. However, my only criticisms are that when he writes on the board, the information is very unorganised and all over the place. If you weren't listening and depended on the board, you'd be a little screwed. Has an interesting sense of humour, and I suppose, enjoys information overload. Very organised though!

Japanese SL: Love this class. Only 10 kids, and the teacher, who's also the year 12 teacher is amazing. Best Japanese teacher by far. Really knows how to convey new information and sentence structures, whilst also incorporating educational games, flashcards and mini quizzes for us to retain information.

Music Performance: All the music teachers are legends. Small class of originally 8, now increased to 10. However, that makes our groups 3-4 members each. Oh well! I have a solo performance to do next week, and guess what! I'm playing 'I Giorni'.

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Overall, a solid (half) week. I'm looking forward to what this year will bring.

[kauac]

Hey Vans, glad your first week was smooth sailing! Sounds like you have an awesome bunch of teachers! Good luck for your performance next week. 

[Bri MT]

Glad to hear that your teachers seem to be great so far!
I hope that your future classes are as high quality or even better


Do you know how your class will be making up for the lost time?

[vans]

Hey Vans, glad your first week was smooth sailing! Sounds like you have an awesome bunch of teachers! Good luck for your performance next week. 

Thank you! (:

Glad to hear that your teachers seem to be great so far!
I hope that your future classes are as high quality or even better

Do you know how your class will be making up for the lost time?

Hoping that my teachers for Year 12 will be just as excellent. (: On the topic of catching up, I'm not too sure about that. According to my friends, they've said that my teacher can probably make up for lost time quite quickly in the upcoming sessions. It'll just mean that we don't have any working periods, and have to go through the work a little faster. Some of the other classes have had to stop where they're at to allow us to catch up. However, it shouldn't be too bad! It's only the beginning of methods and the content is manageable.

[vans]

15-02-19

I don't exactly know how well this whole 34 in Yr11 thing is working out for me. Honestly, it's such a different environment to 12. I know when I mention that, someone's bound to say 'well of course, its a 34 wth vans', but I'm well aware of the differences between the coursework of 12 and 34. I think the only reason I enjoyed 12 so much, was that the class was engaging, the teacher was extremely knowledgeable and supportive, and I had a great network of peers within the class.

Honestly, the teacher really makes or breaks a good class, right?

I know that I've been scared for assessed coursework before in 12, but it was manageable because everything was explained well and I could get the relevant advice I needed to excel in the subject. However, I don't think I was ever prepared to be this uncertain about 34.

It's week three, and I don't think we've learnt anything. It's just all been constant information overload on irrelevant topics, and nothing on the information we really need to know. I normally understand this subject, but I'm far from understanding it at the moment. We spend whole lessons going through textbook question answers, instead of learning new concepts relevant for the AOS. Thats 1.5 hours on TEXTBOOK questions. The teacher just sets the questions and expects us to know how to answer them. Then, follows it with more information overload.

Today, we spent an entire double period/lesson on presenting information on the UN. The task was not meant to be big, and surely could've taken less than 45 mins all together. Again, another unproductive lesson.

I do not wish to sound dramatic, it's just that I'm a little frustrated with the class atm.

We asked our teacher what would be on the first SAC and he said 'I can't tell you.'
Global actors? "Maybe" Sovereignty? "Maybe".

How do we then know what to study? Its such a broad term. At least let us know the actors we have to focus on and the case studies that we must analyse in regards to the SAC.

I'm not the only one confused about the direction of this class. Most of us are confused, unmotivated and questioning why the class is being run in this manner.

However, I don't want to leave it on a bad note. This teacher isn't terrible. I commend him on his ability to have an extensive vocabulary and knowledge on global actors, plus the UN. It's just that his delivery lacks a little in terms of relevance to the AOS.

I can only hope that It'll get better soon.

Oh well, thats a rant for today.
please don't roast me its merely my opinion and a reflection of my class' opinions as well ):