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March 28, 2024, 07:08:50 pm

Author Topic: Evolio's VCE Journey  (Read 69420 times)

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whys

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Re: Evolio's VCE Journey
« Reply #270 on: May 09, 2020, 10:41:25 am »
+4
Lately, I really have not been feeling it. As soon as I go to sleep, I tell myself 'you're going to be so productive tomorrow. It's going to be a good study day'. But so far, that hasn't happened. As soon as I wake up, studying is so unappealing to me. So, throughout the day, I just sit at my desk doing random stuff, procrastinating, trying to avoid studying. In fact, I'm doing that right now, but I need to write this down so I'm aware of it. I think I'm using this *situation* as an excuse not to study, when I shouldn't. I should be more productive now, since I have so much time. I should be as productive as I was on the holidays. Right now, all I feel is emptiness, no emotion and numbness. I don't really care about anything right now. Nothing seems worth caring about.
Hey Evolio, I can totally relate to this! It's really hard to study and keep yourself accountable, so I too end up procrastinating. Then I look at the time and it's already 9pm and I haven't studied anything. It's okay, we can get through this :'(

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Plot twist: I actually got 38/40. My heart was beating so fast when I heard this. I smiled so big and it was the greatest achievement ever. Literature is the subject that's most appealing to me now, probably because of that score. Our next SAC is creative which I'm super excited for. I've always been stronger at creative writing.
I AM SO PROUD OF YOU! That is an AMAZING achievement! Please give me your English prowess, I'm currently struggling :(. My creative SAC is coming up too, which I'm not worried about since I absolutely love writing creatively. It's funny because I say I hate English but there are a lot of things that I do enjoy about it.

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I have my SAC in 19 days and it's a 10 marker. When we get back to school, we'll be doing the second part of the SAC. I need to start spamming 10 markers and asking my teacher to mark them but she's already given us 2 10-markers which is great. Oh, also I got my Research Methods- Stress 10-marker back and I got 5/10, which was absolutely devastating lol.
Hey Evolio, don't worry! I did so bad on my first 10 marker too. That's a great score to work with for your first 10-marker. They're very difficult to do well in, but once you figure out how it gets better, I promise. :)

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I thought it was going good. But, it's going bad. Very bad. I did 2 mini-mocks recently (finally) and it was so bad. It was like I hadn't even done any preparation for it (when I had). I've really got to work hard if I want anything even in the 90s.  :-\
What sucks about UCAT is that your results can vary so much no matter how much practice you do! Don't take it to heart and keep ploughing through. You can definitely do this!!! Mini-mocks don't really capture your skill, since they could be much harder than normal or you might have just had a bad day. Anyhow, don't give up and keep going!

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We had a meeting this week and we looked at Patient Assessment which was basically revision. We've gone through it so many times but it was good to go over everything because it's really important. Also, we played this hospital simulation game thingy and it was super cool!! You needed to assess the patient in ICU and there was all this medical jargon which made it even more fascinating!  :D
Woah, that's cool! We've been having St John meetings over zoom, and we looked at choking and communication when on duty. I'm glad St John is still continuing - it's really hard to do it when it's not face-to-face because first aid is very hands-on, and I can't wait to go back to normal. It's a great break from the stress of school, but it sucks that everything is online because I'm going to have to pull my eyes out by the end of this.

Have a great weekend!
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Evolio

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Re: Evolio's VCE Journey
« Reply #271 on: May 09, 2020, 10:59:14 am »
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Hey Evolio, I can totally relate to this! It's really hard to study and keep yourself accountable, so I too end up procrastinating. Then I look at the time and it's already 9pm and I haven't studied anything. It's okay, we can get through this :'(
Yes, hopefully it gets better for both of us.  :'( It's just so frustrating because it's my last year and I want to do well, but I can't because of this problem.

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I AM SO PROUD OF YOU! That is an AMAZING achievement! Please give me your English prowess, I'm currently struggling :(. My creative SAC is coming up too, which I'm not worried about since I absolutely love writing creatively. It's funny because I say I hate English but there are a lot of things that I do enjoy about it.
Aww, thanks whys! Although, we were allowed to bring a double-sided page of notes so that's probably why I did well. Haha, if I didn't have those notes I would've bombed the sac so I don't think I'm that great at English unfortunately. YESS, creative writing is so fun! I've been thinking about writing a story for fun in my spare time. That's the same with Literature! I sometimes hate it and I sometimes love it, depending on whether I'm doing well or not (lol).

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Hey Evolio, don't worry! I did so bad on my first 10 marker too. That's a great score to work with for your first 10-marker. They're very difficult to do well in, but once you figure out how it gets better, I promise. :)
That makes me feel better, coming from you whys! Thanks for that!  :D

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What sucks about UCAT is that your results can vary so much no matter how much practice you do! Don't take it to heart and keep ploughing through. You can definitely do this!!! Mini-mocks don't really capture your skill, since they could be much harder than normal or you might have just had a bad day. Anyhow, don't give up and keep going!
Yeah, that's true. It's just there's like 68 days left until my UCAT, 2 months, and I feel like I'm not going at the pace I wanted to.  :'( Maintaining time and accuracy is really hard to do and I keep fluctuating with my strengths and weaknesses which is not ideal. Hopefully, I see some growth somewhere soon! Like, I used to be good at VR with time and accuracy and now I'm failing at it so hopefully that picks up soon. I saw your Journal update and it was really good that you did a full mock though! That's great!!  ;D

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Woah, that's cool! We've been having St John meetings over zoom, and we looked at choking and communication when on duty. I'm glad St John is still continuing - it's really hard to do it when it's not face-to-face because first aid is very hands-on, and I can't wait to go back to normal. It's a great break from the stress of school, but it sucks that everything is online because I'm going to have to pull my eyes out by the end of this.
Yeah, the simulation was super cool! I'm still in awe. Yeah, we've been having meetings over zoom as well!! Oo, cool. Yes, I do agree though about the high practicality of it. In the actual face-to-face meetings, we used to do at least one scenario every week where some people act as patients and the other people are first-aiders and we have to go through DRSABCD and treat them. Yeah, I also wish we were able to go on duties because I haven't been on that many and I need more experience.

Have a great weekend too whys!!  :D

Evolio

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Re: Evolio's VCE Journey
« Reply #272 on: May 30, 2020, 04:21:56 pm »
+10
Hey everyone!  Long time, no see. I think this is only the second time where I've disappeared for an extended period of time. To explain my uncalled for absence...I wasn't in a great position. I was demotivated, jaded and feeling very sad because of that. I wasn't putting any effort whatsoever into studying and it was disgusting. I really hate that feeling. Although, in these past couple of weeks, I've lifted myself up and I don't think I'll fall into that unproductivity spiral again.  8) Fingers crossed.
Anyways, how have you all been?

Literature 📜
Very chill right now. Our creative piece is due in 2 weeks and it's more of an assignment rather than an actual sac. BUT, that means, I have enough time to work on this creative and get it polished so that's good.  :D After we submit that, we have the second part of our SAC: which we're 'suprise surprise' allowed to bring notes for. Don't get me wrong: I love how we get to bring in notes to help write our commentary, but...it's not really preparing us for the final exam so that sucks a bunch.  I'm really lovin' 'A Room of One's Own' because I actually understand it lol. Basically, my thinking is that, whatever I understand, I'll find it interesting. Give me any boring topic: I'll be interested in it if I actually understand it.

Psychology 🎭
Excellent as always. I'm not feeling as confident as I was for my first SAC, but hopefully after some time, I'll feel better prepared. I mean, there are still 12 days left. We've finished all the Unit 3 content!! I've been doing some light reading on Unit 4, and I'm really excited for the Mental Health portion! Also, it feels like I'm in 1 2 Psychology again because I have that same teacher again. It's like I'm being transported back in time. I keep forgetting to ask my teacher but I want to go through my SAC with her because I want to see what unnecessary, irrelevant things I wrote so I'll keep that in mind for the next sac because really, I could've gotten 100% on that SAC if I had more time. But, I didn't. Literally, when I left that room after the SAC, I already knew all the marks I lost.

Specialist Mathematics 🧮
Ahhh, my long lost friend. I've rekindled my passion for Specialist over the last couple of weeks due to my SAC in 12 days. 😤. I've done a lot of preparation so far: by my standards anyway. WAY MORE, compared to Methods last year when I only did Checkpoints. I've nearly completed all the chapter reviews and I can actually do the questions! 😄 Which is nice to know, because ya know...it's SPEC! Although, whenever I'm studying for this subject, I always have this feeling leering in the back of mind about how no matter how much preparation I do: I'm still not going to be satisfied by my performance because of 2 reasons. 1. It's SPEC, for GOODNESS SAKE. 2. I don't know whether I'm actually understanding everything. BUT, I still have 12 days to prepare, so hopefully, I reach SPEC Enlightenment during that time, so I can smash that SAC! Also, Part B of this SAC's on the same day as Psychology and Part C of this SAC's on the same day as Literature. 😐

Chemistry 🧪
When we got back to school, we've just been doing BORING revision. In yesterday's lesson, the fact that we were just revising Electrolysis and Fuel cells, sucked the energy from my soul. AND IT WENT FOR 70 MINS?!! Like, why ? Anyways, we'll be starting the Practical Investigation this week! Yay! And our report's due in Week 11. Another chill sac, like Literature. So, basically, this 'SAC' is the least of my worries. Organic Chemistry is ehhhh. I hated it last year but I reckon it's alright right now because I actually know how to name compounds. 😌 BUT, the reactions are a bit difficult to understand.

UCAT 😫😭
I did a mock a few weeks ago and it was off the charts horrible. Today, I did another mock, and it was horrible. Just when I got back on track with my other subjects, this screws me over. I'll persevere, though. I have to. There's no coming back. I just need to work out how I'll do it on weekdays with all the school subjects chaos, and all will be well. 40 days left.

St John 🚑
This week, we looked at asthma and the meeting went for like 30 mins. To be honest with you, I like having meetings at home, because that way I can go to the meeting AND do my work rather than my dad having to drive me for a total of 1 hour and him having to wait to pick me up. Either way, I said I'd stop when I turned 18 BUT due to this new situation, I might continue.

School 🏙
Our school allows us to wear casual clothes from Term 2 so that's what I've been wearing, which is G R E A T, because those blazers were so heavy and uncomfortable and the tie was always choking me. Glad I don't have to put up with that again until later in the year. When I entered school for the first time on Tuesday, it felt like I'd never left. We've had 9 weeks of holidays essentially...which I've realised is the longest break I've had in like 13 years of schooling. 😱
« Last Edit: August 23, 2020, 10:41:03 am by Evolio »

Geoo

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Re: Evolio's VCE Journey
« Reply #273 on: May 30, 2020, 05:02:51 pm »
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I wasn't in a great position. I was demotivated, jaded and feeling very sad because of that. I wasn't putting any effort whatsoever into studying and it was disgusting. I really hate that feeling. Although, in these past couple of weeks, I've lifted myself up and I don't think I'll fall into that unproductivity spiral again.

I know that feeling so well, and I can tell you you're not alone, not matter how cliche it sounds. Super happy that your feeling more productive again, and don't be so hard on yourself that you've ended up in that spiral, it happens to the best of us. Being the middle of the year, I think alot of people are feeling that productivity go down the drain, it's the equivalent of the Wednesday of the year!

Wearing casual clothing to school is the best! Even though it;s been a while since i've been to mainstream, I always loved how "fancy" and "professional" I looked in the blazers, but they were always so heavy and bulky.... Enjoy it whilst it lasts!

Looks like school and getting back to school is going pretty well, and I know you'll do fine in the UCAT! You have been doing so much prep throughout the year, that once the day arrives, you'll do great.
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ArtyDreams

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Re: Evolio's VCE Journey
« Reply #274 on: May 30, 2020, 06:03:25 pm »
+4
Hi Evolio! Awesome to see another update! And I'm super glad you're feeling motivated again!

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Ahhh, my long lost friend. I've rekindled my passion for Specialist over the last couple of weeks due to my SAC in 12 days. 😤. I've done a lot of preparation so far: by my standards anyway. WAY MORE, compared to Methods last year when I only did Checkpoints. I've nearly completed all the chapter reviews and I can actually do the questions! 😄 Which is nice to know, because ya know...it's SPEC! Although, whenever I'm studying for this subject, I always have this feeling leering in the back of mind about how no matter how much preparation I do: I'm still not going to be satisfied by my performance because of 2 reasons. 1. It's SPEC, for GOODNESS SAKE. 2. I don't know whether I'm actually understanding everything.

Ahhhhhh Spec. A subject that can be loved and hated at the same time. I'm glad you're feeling a bit more motivated for your SAC, I'm sure you'll do GREAT!! So I'm sending lots of good vibes. I'm in the middle of my SAC right now too, so I know the feeling!
Its so hard to know how well you're doing in spec. Honestly when I find it easy it doesn't feel right because I feel like its meant to be hard lol.

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When I entered school for the first time on Tuesday, it felt like I'd never left. We've had 9 weeks of holidays essentially...which I've realised is the longest break I've had in like 13 years of schooling. 😱

Totally agreed! Those weeks went by quite slowly, but when I went back to school it felt like it never happened. OMG I had the SAME realisation the other day!! Its crazy how much time we spend at school tbh, so in a way a break was nice? But I do feel like I wouldv've preffered it in another year, but oh well.

Hope you have a great week Evolio! And good luck for your upcoming SACs.

J_Rho

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Re: Evolio's VCE Journey
« Reply #275 on: May 30, 2020, 06:43:54 pm »
+3
Hey everyone!  Long time, no see. I think this is only the second time where I've disappeared for an extended period of time. To explain my uncalled for absence...I wasn't in a great position. I was demotivated, jaded and feeling very sad because of that. I wasn't putting any effort whatsoever into studying and it was disgusting. I really hate that feeling. Although, in these past couple of weeks, I've lifted myself up and I don't think I'll fall into that unproductivity spiral again.  8) Fingers crossed.
Anyways, how have you all been?
YAYYY an update! It's super-duper awesome you are feeling more motivated (my fingers are crossed for you)

School 🏙
Our school allows us to wear casual clothes from Term 2 so that's what I've been wearing, which is G R E A T, because those blazers were so heavy and uncomfortable and the tie was always choking me. Glad I don't have to put up with that again until later in the year. When I entered school for the first time on Tuesday, it felt like I'd never left. We've had 9 weeks of holidays essentially...which I've realised is the longest break I've had in like 13 years of schooling. 😱
OMG! Your school is letting you wear casual! That's so cool I love that for you! It is definitely crazy to think that that was the longest not-holiday holiday we've ever had during our schooling and I hadn't even thought of it like that😱
With reference to UCAT stuff, from what I've seen you've been really consistent and I'm sure it'll pay off
Good luck for your SACS (you don't need the luck tho you're gonna smash it!)
— VCE —
English 30, Further Maths 33, Biology 33, Legal Studies 27, Psychology 32

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Bachelor of Nursing @ Monash
Bachelor of Counselling & Psychological Science @ ACAP

Evolio

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Re: Evolio's VCE Journey
« Reply #276 on: June 17, 2020, 09:45:48 am »
+9
Thank you so much for your replies everyone!! 😊 Your support means so much!

I know that feeling so well, and I can tell you you're not alone, not matter how cliche it sounds. Super happy that your feeling more productive again, and don't be so hard on yourself that you've ended up in that spiral, it happens to the best of us. Being the middle of the year, I think alot of people are feeling that productivity go down the drain, it's the equivalent of the Wednesday of the year!

Wearing casual clothing to school is the best! Even though it;s been a while since i've been to mainstream, I always loved how "fancy" and "professional" I looked in the blazers, but they were always so heavy and bulky.... Enjoy it whilst it lasts!

Looks like school and getting back to school is going pretty well, and I know you'll do fine in the UCAT! You have been doing so much prep throughout the year, that once the day arrives, you'll do great.
Thank you Geoo! Yeah, it's the worst when we lose our motivation, isn't it? But we've just got to keep pushing and we'll get there in the end!

Yes, about the UCAT, well I have more time to focus on it now which is G R E A T, since all my sacs are done for the term and I won't be having any anytime soon! Fingers crossed I pull myself together and see some improvement soon! 🤞
I hope you have a great rest of the week!

Hi Evolio! Awesome to see another update! And I'm super glad you're feeling motivated again!

Ahhhhhh Spec. A subject that can be loved and hated at the same time. I'm glad you're feeling a bit more motivated for your SAC, I'm sure you'll do GREAT!! So I'm sending lots of good vibes. I'm in the middle of my SAC right now too, so I know the feeling!
Its so hard to know how well you're doing in spec. Honestly when I find it easy it doesn't feel right because I feel like its meant to be hard lol.

Totally agreed! Those weeks went by quite slowly, but when I went back to school it felt like it never happened. OMG I had the SAME realisation the other day!! Its crazy how much time we spend at school tbh, so in a way a break was nice? But I do feel like I wouldv've preffered it in another year, but oh well.

Hope you have a great week Evolio! And good luck for your upcoming SACs.
Thank you ArtyDreams!
Hope your Spec sac went well as well! Yeah, Spec is weird. I mean it's so painful to do but once you get the hang of it and do bucketloads of questions, I think it gets a bit easier, which is such a relief. Totally agree! Especially when I'm 100% sure I've got the correct answer but I check the solutions and it's wrong lol.

Yeah, that was a very looooong period that we were away from school, but I think it was refreshing in a sense.
Hope you have a great rest of the week ArtyDreams!

YAYYY an update! It's super-duper awesome you are feeling more motivated (my fingers are crossed for you)
OMG! Your school is letting you wear casual! That's so cool I love that for you! It is definitely crazy to think that that was the longest not-holiday holiday we've ever had during our schooling and I hadn't even thought of it like that😱
With reference to UCAT stuff, from what I've seen you've been really consistent and I'm sure it'll pay off
Good luck for your SACS (you don't need the luck tho you're gonna smash it!)
Thank you J_Rho! Yes, hopefully I don't fall into the unproductivity slump.

Yeah, casual's great!! It's so weird to travel to school in these clothes on public transport because it feels like we're adults sort of? Because we're not in school uniform, so they just assume we're adults. 😄

Yeah, it's very strange to think about, isn't it?
Haha, UCAT is the bane of my existence but hopefully I pull through and do okay in the real thing because if I mess up, it's going to get very ugly. 😬

Thank you J_Rho for your encouragement! Haha, I think I would've needed the luck for spec though because that sac was a monster!
Have a great rest of the week!

Ahh, time for an update! It’s been so busy with sacs and all, the last two weeks were pure agony!! 😣 BUT, I barely survived conquered them in the end so hopefully it paid off!

Literature
So, let me break this down for you, I wrote my creative piece in 1 day and I wrote my commentary in 1 day as well when it was supposed to take us 3 weeks to write. I really hope it's not too bad but judging by my teacher's feedback, my creative is okay so hopefully I get a decent mark. Basically, last week, I had Specialist and Psychology on the same day (30 mins apart) so I literally started on the Friday, the day after. BUT, that wasn't even my final draft, which I wrote on Saturday. We did the commentary in class yesterday and we were allowed notes. I wrote everything I wanted to but my expression definitely suffered so that's going to bring me down. 😥 I really need to work on that.

Specialist Mathematics
So, I had my first ever SPEC SAC last Thursday and it went terribly. To be completely honest, I thought I wouldn’t be able to do any of the questions because I’m not exactly at that level of Math Smartness to do Spec questions, added onto the fact that my school’s sacs are so hard...and weird (apparently). It was a modelling task and not questions you would expect to see on the exam, like some questions weren’t even math related but required you to use your common sense lol. Like, what? There was this giant 5 marker at the end, and I completely failed that. I ran out of time!! I didn’t have time to cry and yell and scream and collapse into an ocean of tears because I had to quickly rush to my Psychology SAC which was right after.

Anyways: all jokes aside, I don’t feel sad? Like, I should be crying and being very sad, but I sort of felt numb after it happened? since I’m pretty sure I failed. But, I did so much prep: the Atar Notes topic tests, all the extended response from the chapter reviews, checkpoints. But that still wasn’t enough. What’s it going to take for me to get a 41? Like, I hadn’t ever studied so hard for a sac anymore and this went badly. What do I do now? Yeah, I know I can’t give up, but it’s so scary because all that hard work went to waste. But then again, I shouldn’t be anticipating great results, when I just realised what went wrong last year. But then again, I DID try to UNDERSTAND rather than quickly finishing the questions and remembering the formulas. I DID spend much more time, desperate to achieve the impossible. But, it still wasn’t enough. People say it’s not the end of the world, but for me, it is. Like, IT REALLY IS. If I don’t get the study score I want, I’m afraid I’ll actually break. And that’s just who I am and I can’t change that.

Then, I had my last part of the SAC yesterday and it was so easy lol. I'm saying this now but when I get my marks back, it'll be terrible. Really though, it wasn't even application?!? They were questions you'd find in the exercises. And half the questions were multiple choice...I was able to check over the whole thing 2 times but I'm unsure of these 2 MCs so that was saddening but I'm over it now. BUT, I didn't make any silly mistakes so hurray for that!

I'm actually really starting to like Spec! I don't know if that's because my remaining brain cells are fried but like, it's actually fun?! Also, I did the 4 recent VCAA Exam 2s and they were better than expected! I mean, I didn't get everything right, but they were actually okay! I found the questions waaay better than methods exam 2 questions. Like, the questions are very straightforward and they ask you directly whereas in methods (in my opinion), they were much less straightforward and there was so much writing and deciphering required.

Psychology
Yeah, after Spec SAC Part 1 ,I rushed to Psychology and it was in the hall so I was late. Anyways, it went excellently. It was pretty chill to be honest. I have no regrets about it, as in I think I answered every question adequately which is a major plus because our teacher’s a very harsh marker and if you don’t add something, then you’re done for lol. ALSO, I didn’t run out of time!! That’s probably because of the fact that it was ONLY out of 27 marks and we had 5 mins of reading time. For some of the questions, we had to write a full on essay, and while I was answering the questions, I was like ‘Is this Literature or Psychology?!’. I’m aiming for 90% or above so fingers crossed I’ve achieved that! 

Chemistry
Haha, LOL. Is this even a subject? The only chemistry I’ve been doing is in class. We’re just working on our practical investigation and we're conducting the experiment in groups so it’s pretty fun as we’re literally just chatting the whole time as we wait for our experiment to blow up run it's course. We just need to submit a logbook each week but the real fun begins when we need to write our report, which won’t be that hard ( I don’t think) anyway although I will be annoying my teacher for feedback lol so I can get FULL marks!

UCAT
Yeah, this doesn’t exist so let’s move on, thanks.

Thoughts
Another edition of Evolio’s repetitive reflections about how horrendously last year went! Who’s excited? Feel free to ignore this if you get bored easily.

Methods
Studying for Specialist has made me realise how if I had studied how much I did for this spec sac, I actually would’ve gotten higher. I strongly believe that, however presumptuous that sounds. I know Methods is DONE, but it hurts so much knowing that I could have done way better. That 38 hurts so much that it makes me want to travel back in time to Year 11 or Year 9 even where I could have started studying for my VCE subjects. This may be a bit dramatic but that's what I'm feeling every. Single. Day. Call me crazy, but these are desperate times and this is how I roll. Spec is so much harder than Methods,sometimes I wonder why oh why did they make this a VCE subject? Like, it’s that hard. But then again: I shouldn’t give up just because it’s hard, ya know. That sucks so I need to keep fighting even though I know I may fail Spec.

Biology
Same. This could have gone way better. Biology was easier than Methods last year but I got a pretty similar score for methods.


Where was my mind at last year? Sometimes I wonder whether I have a small brain, because I feel so slow compared to EVERYONE else around me...they understand things much more easily.

Year 12
Year 12 being so stressful is an understatement. It’s like holding up the sky for the entire period, afraid that you’ll be crushed under the pressure, but you still need to hold it up to achieve what you want.

Not a smooth transition, but have a great rest of the week everyone! 😊
« Last Edit: June 17, 2020, 10:19:29 am by Evolio »

Chocolatemilkshake

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Re: Evolio's VCE Journey
« Reply #277 on: June 17, 2020, 02:37:37 pm »
+4
Hi Evolio,
A MASSIVE congratulations on finishing an entire spec application task (and smashing a literature creative and psych SAC in one week, that's incredible.) Was the spec SAC just two parts? It's funny how the second one was easier than the first (usually they do it the other way round? haha). Anyways, don't worry, I'm sure that you did better than you think, especially after all the hard work you put in! I hope you have some time to celebrate and relax this week before starting up the study again  ;D

Chemistry
Haha, LOL. Is this even a subject? The only chemistry I’ve been doing is in class. We’re just working on our practical investigation and we're conducting the experiment in groups so it’s pretty fun as we’re literally just chatting the whole time as we wait for our experiment to blow up run it's course. We just need to submit a logbook each week but the real fun begins when we need to write our report, which won’t be that hard ( I don’t think) anyway although I will be annoying my teacher for feedback lol so I can get FULL marks!
Nice. We are doing the chemistry poster in class at the moment too  :) What is your investigation on?

Spoiler
Also, it sucks knowing you didn't do as well as you could have last year but keep using it as motivation! The work you put in will definitely pay off at the end of the year 8) Plus you DEFINITELY do not have a small brain, believe me! You are incredibly talented, smart and hard-working!! You've got this (literally only a term and a bit to go!)
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Evolio

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Re: Evolio's VCE Journey
« Reply #278 on: June 17, 2020, 04:10:29 pm »
+4
Hi Evolio,
A MASSIVE congratulations on finishing an entire spec application task (and smashing a literature creative and psych SAC in one week, that's incredible.) Was the spec SAC just two parts? It's funny how the second one was easier than the first (usually they do it the other way round? haha). Anyways, don't worry, I'm sure that you did better than you think, especially after all the hard work you put in! I hope you have some time to celebrate and relax this week before starting up the study again  ;D
Nice. We are doing the chemistry poster in class at the moment too  :) What is your investigation on?

Spoiler
Also, it sucks knowing you didn't do as well as you could have last year but keep using it as motivation! The work you put in will definitely pay off at the end of the year 8) Plus you DEFINITELY do not have a small brain, believe me! You are incredibly talented, smart and hard-working!! You've got this (literally only a term and a bit to go!)

Hey Chocolatemilkshake! 😀
Thank you so much for your kind words!! Technically, the SAC was 3 parts so it was comprised of Part A, Part B and Part C. Part A was a modelling task and we were allowed to collaborate with others and take it home. Apparently, they'll be marking that with a rubric. We had one week to do it and it was due last week on Thursday, when we had to do Part B (the hard one). Yeah, I know right?! I was thinking the same thing. Like, easing into the hard one would've been better than giving us a heart attack and then giving us baby questions a week later, lol. Haha, yes!! I didn't do any work yesterday and watched a movie and today ( we have a day off), I've just been binge-watching a tv show on Netflix!

Cool! We're investigating how different amounts of current affects the electroplating process! Our teachers limited it so that we were only allowed to do our experiments on electrolysis, so as a result, literally the whole year level's investigating the same thing! 😂 What are you investigating for your practical?

Thank you for your encouragement! 😊I'll be sure to put in the hard yards and achieve the goals! Yes, as you said, there's still time so hopefully I get there in the end!!

Thank you for your reply Chocolatemilkshake and have a great rest of the week!!
« Last Edit: June 20, 2020, 10:56:01 am by Evolio »

Chocolatemilkshake

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Re: Evolio's VCE Journey
« Reply #279 on: June 17, 2020, 04:29:16 pm »
+4
Ahh yes my specialist application task was similar although we weren't supposed to collaborate for the bit we could do at home.

Our teachers limited it so that we were only allowed to do our experiments on electrolysis, so as a result, literally the whole year level's investigating the whole thing! 😂 What are you investigating for your practical?

Thank you for your encouragement! 😊I'll be sure to put in the hard yards and achieve the goals! Yes, as you said, there's still time so hopefully I get there in the end!!
Funny...I'm ALSO investigating how different currents affects electroplating  ;D At our school we were allowed to pick any variable to change (so some people are doing temperature, distance between electrodes, concentration of electrolyte, etc). Haha I'm sure you'll do great... have an awesome week too!
2021-2025: BMedSci/M.D @ Monash

Evolio

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Re: Evolio's VCE Journey
« Reply #280 on: June 25, 2020, 07:59:53 pm »
+9
Hey everyone!  ;D Time for an update!

Psychology
Pretty great but I can see myself losing interest because of the content. Consciousness is alright but I’m really looking forward to the Mental Health part. Also, our teacher has given us so much homework, I am not even kidding! Like, so much!! But that’s alright, I’ll get it done. I’m still aiming for a 45+ study score for this subject. I think I have the potential to achieve it with the support I’m receiving but let’s see whether I actually achieve it.

Chemistry
Handed in my SAC 2 Practical Report today! Really glad that’s over because I can focus on the next sac now. Technically, I finished all the preparatory materials I wanted to complete, but I did that a long time ago, so I need to go back over those questions and do them again. Also, apparently, everyone in our cohort did BAD in SAC 1. Eeeek. I mean, we haven’t gotten them back yet but if the teachers say we didn’t do great, then you know we did horrible. Fingers crossed I got above average. My study score goal is still 45+.

Literature
I received my SAC 1B mark today and I got 38/40. My teacher said I was so close to the 39-40/40 range which was a bit disheartening but I’ll try harder for the next essay. The main feedback I’ve been getting is that my expression isn’t that great and the fact that I need to flesh out my ideas more. My goals for these holidays are improving in those weak areas. Also, we’re watching Othello in class and just annotating our plays so that’s really relaxing and fun. I’m still aiming for a 40 study score but right now, that has maybe increased to a 43 due to my decent marks, but then again, they’re not a true reflection of my lit ability and who knows maybe everyone got 100% on the sacs. 😶

Specialist Mathematics
Ever since I finished the last part of the sac, my fears of making extremely dumb mistakes are growing larger day by day...I really hope I did decent otherwise I can wave goodbye to the 40 study score. Anyways, I’m hoping to finish Differential Equations and Kinematics/Mechanics on the holidays so that I’m in a good position for my next (and last!) sac. Apparently the first SAC will just be on DEs so that’s going to be fun. I need to get my foundations down pat for these so that I can tackle those more difficult application questions. I was aiming for a 45+ study score in the beginning of the year but that’s dropped to a 40.

UCAT
These holidays + the 3 weeks after the holidays, I’ll just be doing UCAT. It is my sole focus until I actually do it. I think I am improving. I really hope I am because if I don’t get that 90+ percentile, that’s going to be really bad. On the first mock, I got 44 percentile, the second, I got 77 and the third one I did yesterday, I got 82. Yeah, it’s bad. I’m still a long way away from the 90s so I’ve really got to work extremely hard and achieve that score otherwise I’m doomed.

Verbal Reasoning:
- My weaknesses are sometimes not finishing on time, especially near the end, resulting in me frantically guessing the questions.
- I also misread/misinterpret/misunderstand information which results in me getting questions wrong.

Quantitative reasoning:
- LOL, I actually got 730 on the mock I did yesterday, even though I sort of gave up (not really, but I had the mindset I was going to fail this section) because my parents were talking downstairs at the time and my attention span is trash. So, it was my highest scoring section but that was lucky
- Timing is the main thing I need to work on + those insanely difficult, long stem questions since I don’t really get what they’re asking so I end up skipping them and not even attempting the question (because I don’t really get how to do them)
- I’ve been mixing untimed + timed and I’m praying that it’s working

Abstract Reasoning:
- In the 36-39/55 range, which isn’t good. This section’s sort of a hit or miss for me, because you either get the pattern or you don’t. BUT, the only way I’m going to do great in this section is if I get the pattern or at least a part of it every single time. I was actually getting good at this a while back but I stopped practising, because of SACs, so that ability declined.
- I need to read through the mega document of patterns (I made) daily so that they get ingrained in my brain
I’ve finished all the Medify questions for AR so I really need to do the official questions again because they look harder, in my opinion
- ALSO, can I just say, some of those patterns are impossible to figure out?! Like, you literally need to be a MENSA GENIUS to get those. Like, how?

Decision Making:
- Drawing conclusions (especially the ones with the graphs) + evaluating arguments + probability questions is where I lose the marks. (Logical puzzles are fun lol)
- I’ve been practising ‘drawing conclusions’ but I need to find a way to practise the probability and the graph questions individually as well
- I run out of time during the mini mocks, resulting in me guessing questions, when I shouldn’t have to, because this is the nicest section in terms of timing!!

Situational Judgement:
- Lol, I’m actually pretty good at this now. I used to get literally every question wrong but I’m actually getting like 60/69 questions right which is definitely a mood booster. Let’s keep this up!!

I think the main thing I suck at for all of these sections is misinterpreting, misreading, misunderstanding the question. To combat that, I'm trying to mediate every day because that helped me a few years ago when I was in a similar position.

My goals: 2880 which yields me a 92 percentile (according to last year’s) which is about 720 in each section.
That is my goal as of now. More ambitious goals are reaching a total score of 3000 as in my eyes, that’s a ‘safe’ score because I don’t know how the cohort will do this year.

In the end, I’ll be happy with a 93 percentile

So, right now, I’m aiming for a 93 percentile in the UCAT + a 99+ ATAR. They’re set in stone so let’s go and achieve them!!

ALSO, YAY, HOLIDAYS!!  ;D They've arrived quite quickly but I'm not complaining because no SACs. 😎 Although, next term is going to be really busy and I'm just hoping I don't die during that time.

ashmi

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Re: Evolio's VCE Journey
« Reply #281 on: June 25, 2020, 10:04:36 pm »
+6
Hey Evolio!! ;D

I absolutely love reading your journal and this journal update is so detailed :D
Congrats for the amazing marks in Lit! Give yourself a pat on the back for the amount of effort you put in and I'm pretty positive that when the next sac comes around you will be smashing it ;). I'm so glad to hear that Psych is going so well too! (You know when the teachers say the cohort didn't do great something is up). I totally understand you and the silly mistakes in maths subjects (twinzies🤣) and I must say kinematics in Spesh sounds super fun!

Also, I love seeing your UCAT progress Evolio and your dedication for it is super inspiring🥺🥺. You can DEFINITELY get that 90+ and I absolutely have faith in you. YOU CAN DO IT!

Thanks for the update Evolio and have a relaxing holidays. :D

Evolio

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Re: Evolio's VCE Journey
« Reply #282 on: June 26, 2020, 07:18:10 am »
+3
Yay! A reply from Ashmi!!  ;D

Thank you so much Ashmi!
Haha, yeah, let's hope Psych keeps going well and doesn't spiral into chaos.
Yeah, I'm getting even more scared by the day about the chem sac, but it's okay, that's for future me to deal with.
Yeah, silly mistakes are the worst. Hopefully we find a way to combat them! Yes, kinematics is a nice break from all the other topics so looking forward to it.

Thank you for your encouragement!  ;D Let's put in that effort and achieve that score!

Have an amazing holidays too Ashmi!

blueycan

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Re: Evolio's VCE Journey
« Reply #283 on: June 26, 2020, 12:11:40 pm »
+4
woahh, congratulations on your lit marks!!
it's so interesting to see your UCAT prep, you ARE improving and that's reflected in how you can look back on what you need to improve on. I know you can smash it and get that 90+, so keep at it ~
enjoy your well deserved break, evolio ;D best of luck!!
 

Evolio

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Re: Evolio's VCE Journey
« Reply #284 on: June 26, 2020, 02:35:56 pm »
+2
Hey Jeyda!  ;D

Thank you so much!
I'm improving in UCAT so let's hope it stays that way, and I don't decline in my performance over these few weeks!  8) Just need to grind and hope it pays off in the end.

Have a fantastic holidays as well!