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March 29, 2024, 04:16:13 am

Author Topic: my 3/4 in year 11 isn’t great, what to do when you rely on your other 5?  (Read 829 times)  Share 

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babie

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okay! so I’m doing biology as a 6th subject, doing the 3/4 in year 11 right now, but I don’t think I’m going to do amazingly in it. of course, I don’t know that because my school tends to do SACs a little harder, but also I’m not very confident in it. if I hopefully do well in my 5 other subjects (english, methods, chem, french, vet music) I’m hoping to get a 95+ atar.

has anyone been in a similar situation where their sixth subject didn’t go as well, and they had to rely on their other 5 to bring their atar up? if so, do you have any tips?

K888

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Honestly your 6th subject contributes so little to your ATAR it doesn't really matter too much if it doesn't end up being the best score! It still gives you a bit extra so just take any bonus you can get! Just make sure you apply yourself in your remaining 5 subjects :)

My 6th subject was one I did in year 12 (Methods) so not the exact same situation as you, but the way I ended up looking at it was to take anything it contributed to my ATAR as a bonus - lots of people only do 5 subjects, so you do get a small boost. But again, no sweat if it isn't the highest score. I ended up getting like a 29 raw or something like that for Methods.

Sine

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okay! so I’m doing biology as a 6th subject, doing the 3/4 in year 11 right now, but I don’t think I’m going to do amazingly in it. of course, I don’t know that because my school tends to do SACs a little harder, but also I’m not very confident in it. if I hopefully do well in my 5 other subjects (english, methods, chem, french, vet music) I’m hoping to get a 95+ atar.

has anyone been in a similar situation where their sixth subject didn’t go as well, and they had to rely on their other 5 to bring their atar up? if so, do you have any tips?
I have linked a thread at the bottom of the post but before your read it you should realise you are still studying biology it is still possible to get a relatively good score if you can score well in your last few sacs and the exam. Plus, having difficult sacs isn't necessarily a bad thing. You may have lower raw scores but sac scaling makes sure that difficult and easy sacs are comparable.

Additionally, it is very possible to get a 95+ atar with just 5 subjects so if you don't do too well in your 6th subject it still helps you reach your goal.

Quite an old thread by Orb but I think it is relevant: https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=158277.msg800898#msg800898


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I got 31 raw in HHD last year (probably scale to 27 or something  :( ) and am this year doing only four subjects. Thus, really aiming for ALL my subjs. to be in my top four (because having a goal of 90+ ATAR myself, and that HHD score in my top four, would be a little sad.). Therefore, I'm studying for every SAC etc., because I need 'em for the ATAR. So I guess balance is a good idea, and also don't forget: this isn't the end of the year. Still got time to pull it up. If it isn't going as well as you want. I guess what I'm saying is study. :)
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nekoeater

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Don't worry it's all fine!! I'm a bit different because I did 2 3/4s in year 11- methods and physics.

I'm in a really strong cohort (selective school) and I did pretty bad in methods throughout the year, our SACs were really hard as well. In terms of ranking, I think I placed below average in my first SAC and just scraped past average in the second. But then I had a term 3 crisis and managed to get myself together before SAC 3 and miraculously nearly got a 100. In the end I managed to get a 44 raw. It really comes down to learning from your mistakes and not catasrophising, obviously don't set yourself incredibly high goals like a raw 50 at this stage since you haven't been happy with SAC results so far. you still have a lot of time to get yourself on track, and I'm assuming you still have a couple of SACs left.

Even if you don't get the study score you want- it's totally achievable to redeem yourself with 5 subjects  :) My brother got a 28 in biology in Y11 and was upset about it for months, but he ended up with a 96 ATAR by figuring himself out, developing good study habits and balancing his mental health with school work. It's really common to get burnt out from studying, and I think once you're able to overcome that you're fine.
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kat05

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Don't worry it's all fine!! I'm a bit different because I did 2 3/4s in year 11- methods and physics.

I'm in a really strong cohort (selective school) and I did pretty bad in methods throughout the year, our SACs were really hard as well. In terms of ranking, I think I placed below average in my first SAC and just scraped past average in the second. But then I had a term 3 crisis and managed to get myself together before SAC 3 and miraculously nearly got a 100. In the end I managed to get a 44 raw. It really comes down to learning from your mistakes and not catasrophising, obviously don't set yourself incredibly high goals like a raw 50 at this stage since you haven't been happy with SAC results so far. you still have a lot of time to get yourself on track, and I'm assuming you still have a couple of SACs left.

Even if you don't get the study score you want- it's totally achievable to redeem yourself with 5 subjects  :) My brother got a 28 in biology in Y11 and was upset about it for months, but he ended up with a 96 ATAR by figuring himself out, developing good study habits and balancing his mental health with school work. It's really common to get burnt out from studying, and I think once you're able to overcome that you're fine.

Hey! How did you improve/do so well in methods? I am not averaging that great either on SACs so I would love to hear what you did, especially during exam time :D

nekoeater

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Hey! How did you improve/do so well in methods? I am not averaging that great either on SACs so I would love to hear what you did, especially during exam time :D

This isn't very relevant to the thread I guess so I'll spoiler it  :)

Spoiler
I know this is repeated a lot but you have to make sure you understand the content, not just memorise it

The changes I made were:
- doing ALL the textbook questions (was constantly stressed out, because I was behind in the class) -> doing enough SA questions to understand the topic, then focusing mostly on extended response questions (cut study time down by over an hour, and these are the types of questions that you will need to focus on most for exams and SACs, while also practising your basic skills.)

- doing NEAP/company topic tests a week/few days before the SAC -> starting the NEAP topic tests around 2-3 weeks before the SAC, bookmarking the questions I got wrong+reading through their solutions (even if they were silly mistakes) and calculating a total score, then revising textbook questions/chapter reviews, then going back and repeating the topic test a 1/1.5 weeks later and seeing how much my score changed (this totally boosted my mood- because you will definitely do better second time round! I do this in my 3/4s this year as well, and it totally lifted the anxiety/pressure I experience during SACs, making me more calm and cool-headed). I know a lot of people think once you've done a practice test/exam, it's over, but I found it was unlikely I remembered the questions in the topic tests after a week or so, so don't be afraid to repeat the tests. It's also a good way to check that once you come across a problem you can't do, you've learnt how to do it the second time around

- stopped using tutor 'cheat methods' or 'shortcuts', there is nothing wrong with this but I realised half the time I didn't properly understand where they come from and I was just memorising them -> watching YouTube videos whenever I couldn't solve a problem, developing my own understanding of how to do the problem, eventually with practice you'll make your OWN shortcuts and be much more likely to remember them since they're your own. And you'll actually know how you derived them too, so if you get a question that requires you to explain you won't be stuck on what to write. (this is really important, I completely fked my transformations and functions SAC because I memorised all of my friends' tutor notes without understanding how they got them)

- I never ever wrote notes during methods. I don't even do it for specialist. I don't really know how you write notes for maths, I see a lot of people doing it. unless you think it genuinely works for you, then go ahead, but I'd leave notes to subjects like chem or humanities. math is really all about practice for me. another thing: don't get pressured by other people's study habits! I get really stressed when I see people take notes or go to tutors or do 50 tests/exams, it doesn't matter  ;) Do what works for YOU only!

during Exam time:

- I dropped the textbook completely. I know a lot of people in term 4 who already have a good understanding of methods, but they waste time by thinking they HAVE to go back, do all the chapter reviews in the textbook etc. By the time you've finished the course, you should know all the content well enough to immediately start exam questions. If you don't, definitely brush up on the things you think you need to revise so you can start exam papers ASAP

- What helped for me was using the checklist that the school gave us of all their practice exams, and modifying it so I could write my results on each practice exams, and the topics that I lost marks on. After finishing two exams, I'd go back to the topic that I lost the most marks on and revise that. (Beware, doing this checklist method you might get caught up in the idea of having to check off every single exam! Quality > quantity! I did around 18 exams, which is still quite a lot, but ended up performing better than some of my friends who did around 40 practice exams. You HAVE to learn how to learn from mistakes.) It's also really nice to write down scores because you need to remind yourself in exam period that you are progressing to stay in check with your mental health. It's also a good way to track which areas you need to work on

- I set myself a "lights out" time. I didn't study past 8:30. Not only so that I'd sleep on time and have some time for myself, but when you allow yourself to stay up past a certain time, you're essentially enabling yourself to procrastinate because you can justify it with studying later at night when your brain's probably begging you to go to sleep. This is one of my brother's tips that he gave me which massively saved us both, because we were both serial procrastinators  ;D


I suppose some of these are really obvious, but I hope they help you! you have plenty of time to bump up your score  :)
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