Katie's Year 12 Journey

[KatieWolf]

I had never done a proper journal regarding my school studies before, but I think it will benefit me especially now that I am entering Year 12!
I'd love to share my experiences with my readers, so I welcome you to my journal!
My name is Katie and I have just finished Year 11. I had recently received my 3/4 Biology raw study score of 39 which I am told scales up to a 40.
I was aiming for at least a raw 40 all year so that 1 point off did make me a tiny bit annoyed but nevertheless I am happy with my result as it scales to 40 anyways!
The subjects I take next year are English, Chemistry, Health and Human Development, Mathematical Methods and Specialist Mathematics. I'm not feeling too confident about English and Chemistry next year, so I'll definitely be looking into a tutor anytime soon (if you offer tutoring in these subjects near the far northern suburbs, please dm me!)
I've always loved math and I am really hoping Methods and Spesh will be my highest raw study scores. It's probably a little unrealistic as I'm not really familiar with how next year will go, but here are my goals prior to beginning Year 12!
English: ~37
I can do really well in English sometimes, I always manage to smash the exam for some reason since I am really good at time management while under stress and I seem to just write whatever is on my mind and it happens to work! I always struggle when it comes to SACs though, I've never been that good at essays (particularly comparative essays) and language analysis pieces since I haven't had much practice. I dropped unit 1 literature so I hadn't developed those key skills and I had only done one LA and comparative in year 10 prior to unit 2, so I haven't received much feedback!
HHD: ~40
I know for a fact HHD would most likely be one of my bottom 2 because of scaling and how ridiculously hard it is to achieve high 40s in this subject! I'd love to at least receive a raw 40 so I'm still in the high 30s though! HHD isn't a very hard subject in my opinion and I absolutely smashed unit 1/2 with an average of 98% in both units with barely any study, so I'm hoping I will do even better next year!
Spesh: ~34
I am aware of how ridiculous spesh scales up by, so I'm not going to aim too high here. Unit 1/2 was pretty good for me; I achieved 90s regularly and only ever really gotten one high 70 because I couldn't be bothered studying LOL. Even if I get mid 30s hopefully scaling will put me up near the high 40s and that would be fantastic!
Methods: ~36-37
Methods has always been my favourite subject. There are a lot of instances where I don't do particularly well on a SAC but majority of the time I will achieve 90s throughout the whole semester. Last year my averages were in the low-mid 90s and I'm pretty sure I topped the class a lot during the first semester, so I'm hoping with a bit more dedication and study I can get even higher! I'm aware sometimes I'll probably have a bad SAC since I really struggle on topics such as differentiation and probability, but hopefully I can make up for that most of the time, especially when it comes to exam time!
Chemistry: ~35
I've also always had a passion for Chemistry. Units 1/2 I did struggle on some instances but I'd say 70% of the time I was up to date with the content and I did really well. I don't know why, but for some reason a lot of the mathematics in chemistry trip me up in spite of loving math so much. I find theory work really easy and enjoyable and I practice questions frequently involving math, however I still lose all of my marks on those sections! It's definitely an area I need to work on.

Overall I am aiming for over 90 ATAR, but I'd be absolutely thrilled if I can achieve a 95 (which is probably a long-lost dream!)

I am aiming to do a lot of work these holidays and work a little bit ahead so I am already prepared in class. I'm hoping this year I don't get lazy again and remain consistent with my work ethic since I tend to procrastinate very often! Let's hope the start of the year I kick off amazingly!

Thank you for tuning in!

[Joseph41]

Awesome to have you here, Katie. What did you take most out of doing a 3&4 subject in Year 11, do you reckon?

[KatieWolf]

Awesome to have you here, Katie. What did you take most out of doing a 3&4 subject in Year 11, do you reckon?

Hi Joseph41!

I definitely think I slacked off a little when it came to exam time. I started studying around 1 month prior to my exam but that definitely stuffed me up since I wasn't 100% confident on some topics which happened to be in the exam, so I think that definitely cost me! I didn't take the whole "the exam is the most important" phrase from everybody else and I relied on myself to achieve really high as reflected from my SAC scores and practice exam scores, but I definitely walked out of the exam feeling really nervous! I think it might've scaled down my Unit 3 SACs too since I averaged a 97% but I only received an A 
So yeah, the biggest thing I got out of that was that exams ARE REALLY IMPORTANT and I should do my absolute best that I can throughout the entire year to revise for the exam instead of leaving things last minute!

[Evolio]

Hi Joseph41!

I definitely think I slacked off a little when it came to exam time. I started studying around 1 month prior to my exam but that definitely stuffed me up since I wasn't 100% confident on some topics which happened to be in the exam, so I think that definitely cost me! I didn't take the whole "the exam is the most important" phrase from everybody else and I relied on myself to achieve really high as reflected from my SAC scores and practice exam scores, but I definitely walked out of the exam feeling really nervous! I think it might've scaled down my Unit 3 SACs too since I averaged a 97% but I only received an A 
So yeah, the biggest thing I got out of that was that exams ARE REALLY IMPORTANT and I should do my absolute best that I can throughout the entire year to revise for the exam instead of leaving things last minute!

Hey, Katie! Nice to meet you! 
Do you have anything in particular you'd like to pursue in the future, career-wise?

I'm excited to follow your VCE journey!

[KatieWolf]

Hey, Katie! Nice to meet you! 
Do you have anything in particular you'd like to pursue in the future, career-wise?

I'm excited to follow your VCE journey!

Hi Evolio! It's nice to meet you too! I'm glad to hear you're excited to follow my journey, as I am too to see you tag along with me!

I'm not exactly sure what I'm interested in to be completely honest. I think I've always been interested in helping others out in the community through medicine. Although I could go for the bachelor of biomedicine, I am also considering other fields in biology and chemistry where I can do research, so my best bet at the moment is probably a bachelor of science! That way if I am still interested in medicine I can go from there and if not I have other doors open for me!

[Geoo]

Oooo, another journal!
I share a bit of your struggles with chem! I do find the maths easier in chem compared to methods though, physics maths was kind of worse, but I think that was more due to how it was taught. Do you have any hobbies or sports you do as well?

Looking forward to the journal entries.

[eemmaa]

Hi, nice to meet you! I'm doing Bio 3/4 this year as a higher study like you did, so it's nice to hear your perspective! Good luck for the year ahead, excited to read your updates 

[Chocolatemilkshake]

Congrats on the study score, can't wait to follow your journal as we try to survive 2020 year 12 together!

Chemistry's also my favourite subject, it's really cool to meet others with a passion for it too 

[KatieWolf]

Oooo, another journal!
I share a bit of your struggles with chem! I do find the maths easier in chem compared to methods though, physics maths was kind of worse, but I think that was more due to how it was taught. Do you have any hobbies or sports you do as well?

Looking forward to the journal entries.

Hey! I can totally relate with what you're saying, it was a lot of how the chemistry math was taught for me as well that tripped me up a little!
As for hobbies, one thing I absolutely cannot stand doing is staying at home. I have to go out with friends often or take the dog for a walk because I feel so isolated at home doing nothing! Other than that, I play a lot of video games when I am stuck at home (which, I won't lie, does probably take a toll on my studies - something I need to improve on!)
Although I don't like sports in general, I do like to go to the gym from time to time to relieve stress and just improve my overall health I should definitely go to the gym more often and replace that with the immense amount of time I spend on video games!

Hi, nice to meet you! I'm doing Bio 3/4 this year as a higher study like you did, so it's nice to hear your perspective! Good luck for the year ahead, excited to read your updates 

Hii! Nice to meet you too! Good luck on biology next year, feel free to PM me if you have any questions that I can answer! Thank you for tuning in!

Congrats on the study score, can't wait to follow your journal as we try to survive 2020 year 12 together!

Chemistry's also my favourite subject, it's really cool to meet others with a passion for it too 

Hey, thanks so much! It's good to hear there's others out there that have the same passion for science as I do! Best of luck for 2020, I hope to hear from you throughout the year as we get through year 12 together!

[KatieWolf]

So last night I was invited to our annual school presentation evening. I wasn't exactly sure why I was invited as I wasn't aware that I had won any awards.
It turns out I ended up winning academic excellence in 1/2 HHD and Chemistry alongside 3/4 Biology!
As far as I know, 'academic excellence' at our school is defined as the individual who has scored the highest average (or study score, in this case, for biology) throughout the entire year out of the cohort! I'm not exactly surprised about HHD, but I was ecstatic to hear that I topped the cohort in chemistry and biology! I always thought I did horribly in chemistry and that I'd miss out on the award, especially because I scored 61%  such a low mark for the last exam! I didn't expect to excel in 3/6 of my subjects out of our entire cohort (keeping in mind that my peers are EXTREMELY intelligent)!
This has definitely given me a lot of motivation to keep striving forward and to smash my subjects (especially HHD and chem) next year!
I've earned a lot of insight from our dux and valedictorian this year as well, and I have gathered enough motivation to continue my work ethic and do the best I possibly can. I hope year 12 will be a fantastic academic year and I leave my school feeling proud, and I hope I can look back and see how I have evolved as an individual, especially through this journal!

[rkjthguakj]

So last night I was invited to our annual school presentation evening. I wasn't exactly sure why I was invited as I wasn't aware that I had won any awards.
It turns out I ended up winning academic excellence in 1/2 HHD and Chemistry alongside 3/4 Biology!
As far as I know, 'academic excellence' at our school is defined as the individual who has scored the highest average (or study score, in this case, for biology) throughout the entire year out of the cohort! I'm not exactly surprised about HHD, but I was ecstatic to hear that I topped the cohort in chemistry and biology! I always thought I did horribly in chemistry and that I'd miss out on the award, especially because I scored 61%  such a low mark for the last exam! I didn't expect to excel in 3/6 of my subjects out of our entire cohort (keeping in mind that my peers are EXTREMELY intelligent)!
This has definitely given me a lot of motivation to keep striving forward and to smash my subjects (especially HHD and chem) next year!
I've earned a lot of insight from our dux and valedictorian this year as well, and I have gathered enough motivation to continue my work ethic and do the best I possibly can. I hope year 12 will be a fantastic academic year and I leave my school feeling proud, and I hope I can look back and see how I have evolved as an individual, especially through this journal!

Congrats on your achievements and study score!! All the best for next year!!

[ArtyDreams]

So last night I was invited to our annual school presentation evening. I wasn't exactly sure why I was invited as I wasn't aware that I had won any awards.
It turns out I ended up winning academic excellence in 1/2 HHD and Chemistry alongside 3/4 Biology!
As far as I know, 'academic excellence' at our school is defined as the individual who has scored the highest average (or study score, in this case, for biology) throughout the entire year out of the cohort! I'm not exactly surprised about HHD, but I was ecstatic to hear that I topped the cohort in chemistry and biology! I always thought I did horribly in chemistry and that I'd miss out on the award, especially because I scored 61%  such a low mark for the last exam! I didn't expect to excel in 3/6 of my subjects out of our entire cohort (keeping in mind that my peers are EXTREMELY intelligent)!
This has definitely given me a lot of motivation to keep striving forward and to smash my subjects (especially HHD and chem) next year!
I've earned a lot of insight from our dux and valedictorian this year as well, and I have gathered enough motivation to continue my work ethic and do the best I possibly can. I hope year 12 will be a fantastic academic year and I leave my school feeling proud, and I hope I can look back and see how I have evolved as an individual, especially through this journal!

Congrats on everything this year Katie! Good luck for next year and I cant wait to see more of your journey as you head into Year 12.

[Chocolatemilkshake]

So last night I was invited to our annual school presentation evening. I wasn't exactly sure why I was invited as I wasn't aware that I had won any awards.
It turns out I ended up winning academic excellence in 1/2 HHD and Chemistry alongside 3/4 Biology!
As far as I know, 'academic excellence' at our school is defined as the individual who has scored the highest average (or study score, in this case, for biology) throughout the entire year out of the cohort! I'm not exactly surprised about HHD, but I was ecstatic to hear that I topped the cohort in chemistry and biology! I always thought I did horribly in chemistry and that I'd miss out on the award, especially because I scored 61%  such a low mark for the last exam! I didn't expect to excel in 3/6 of my subjects out of our entire cohort (keeping in mind that my peers are EXTREMELY intelligent)!
This has definitely given me a lot of motivation to keep striving forward and to smash my subjects (especially HHD and chem) next year!
I've earned a lot of insight from our dux and valedictorian this year as well, and I have gathered enough motivation to continue my work ethic and do the best I possibly can. I hope year 12 will be a fantastic academic year and I leave my school feeling proud, and I hope I can look back and see how I have evolved as an individual, especially through this journal!

Awesome job, congrats!

[lleeea]

Congrats Katie! Happy for you! Even we had our presentation night yesterday and i was ecstatic to find out i was the top 10 students of year 12 in my school this year. I genuinely thought i would never get the ATAR that i did let alone be elected for top 10 as there were thousand other students in my cohort who were way more smarter and brighter than me. II also won three awards at graduation this year and i was really happy cause i realised how much hard work and dedication i had put towards my studies in the last two years of school. For year 12 next year, i would suggest for you to keep working hard and maintain that positive mindset/work ethic. YOU CAN DO IT and achieve your dream ATAR.

[KatieWolf]

Awesome job, congrats!

Congrats on your achievements and study score!! All the best for next year!!

Congrats on everything this year Katie! Good luck for next year and I cant wait to see more of your journey as you head into Year 12.

Congrats Katie! Happy for you! Even we had our presentation night yesterday and i was ecstatic to find out i was the top 10 students of year 12 in my school this year. I genuinely thought i would never get the ATAR that i did let alone be elected for top 10 as there were thousand other students in my cohort who were way more smarter and brighter than me. II also won three awards at graduation this year and i was really happy cause i realised how much hard work and dedication i had put towards my studies in the last two years of school. For year 12 next year, i would suggest for you to keep working hard and maintain that positive mindset/work ethic. YOU CAN DO IT and achieve your dream ATAR.

Thanks so much for the congrats guys!
@lleeea congratulations on your massive efforts also! It's fantastic to see how your hard work has paid off! I really appreciate your suggestion and I will definitely try my absolute best - my studies are super valuable to me as they must be for you!