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March 30, 2024, 01:13:38 am

Author Topic: What to Expect: Differences Between Year 10 and Year 11+  (Read 1996 times)

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brenden

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What to Expect: Differences Between Year 10 and Year 11+
« on: September 24, 2018, 05:06:06 pm »
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Hey there, frienderino!

It's the same every year from about Grade 6.

"Holy shit, high-school is going to be crazy!"

"Holy shit, being a Year 8 is going to be crazy!"

"Holy shit, Year 9 soon... What will I do with my career?!"

"Holy shit, Year 10 next year... things are really heating up!"

"Holy SHIT, I start VCE next year?!"

That's how it is for young Victorians everywhere, and it's probably been that way for as long as VCE has existed. Now, the other side of the coin I've described is that, you get to the year you were worried about the year before... and you realise it actually isn't so bad, and it's honestly not that much different. Going from Year 10 to Year 11 can be similar to that, but there may be some more notable differences compared to your other yearly transitions. Here's what to expect:

The Social Differences

I think there's a marked social difference between Year 10 and Year 11.

Year 8 through Year 10 is a bit of an awkward time... People are making the transition from "awkward teenager who is still almost a kid" to "literally a super young adult". Those years are socially difficult and pretty similar in the sense that everyone's figuring things out, and some people seemingly STILL haven't outgrown primary school.

By Year 11, things feel "separate" from that "very young" time, and a lot of people are feeling comfortable with who they are, comfortable with their friends, and a lot of the primary-school type immaturity/bullying has largely subsided. Parents are starting to give people a bit more individual freedom, people start having 16th birthdays, and the option to go and watch a sporting game or a movie with your group of friends (no parents) gets put on the table.

All in all, finally being more of a senior in your high-school brings with it a better social environment - one that only continues to get better going into Year 12!

The Academic Differences

This one can vary a lot depending on how your school structures their Year 9 and 10 programs... For example, the introduction of regular SACs might come as a surprise to some people if that's not what happened in Year 10... But other students will be quite familiar with the regular testing.

I'm sure the big question on everyone's mind is, "Will Year 11 literally murder me with difficulty?" and the answer is, well... no.

Year 11 is a step up, for sure, but the jump in conceptual difficulty is no different between the jump you make from Year 9 to Year 10.

The expectations, though, are a little bit higher. You’re expected to take more responsibility for yourself and show some independence in your study. In Year 10, every so often you can’t be bothered doing some homework and hit up your faithful excuse from Year 8 about leaving it in your locker etc.

Testing will be a little bit more regular, and teachers will move swiftly from topic to topic. You’ll study on, learn the content, revise it a little bit as you prepare for an assessment, and once that assessment is done you will move onto the next topic. That cycle repeats itself for the remaining two years of high-school with more defined regularity than in previous years, where the teacher might push back assessment dates if the whole class isn’t feeling prepared.

So, while Year 11 is not exceptionally conceptually difficult, you should be prepared to be a little bit more disciplined and ‘serious’ about your studies. 

The Teacher Difference

Once you filter into Year 11 and Year 12, you may find that the relationships you have with your teachers start to evolve. Teachers often enjoy teaching their Year 11s and 12s. After all, they can’t talk about the latest Game of Thrones episode with their Year 7s.

With the added seriousness of VCE on your plate, people start to look at you less as ‘some high-school kid’ and more as a young adult undertaking their VCE studies. Teachers aren’t immune to this phenomenon, and as such, students start to develop more individual student-teacher relationships, which can be quite rewarding not only in a general sense, but in an academic sense, too.

Having a good relationship with your teachers will allow your learning to flourish, and if you feel comfortable utilizing your teachers as an academic resource, you’re sure to do better than you would have. In VCE, teachers are a bigger resource than ever, so make sure to use your improved relationship with them to benefit your learning.

These are the three main differences as I see them between Year 10 and Year 11, but it's been a few years now since I went through that transition. Who can name some other differences that might benefit the students about to go through this change?! :D
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DBA-144

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Re: What to Expect: Differences Between Year 10 and Year 11+
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2018, 05:18:46 pm »
+5
I'd say that people you see more/less of could change.

With some friends having picked subjects different to my own, I've felt that, this year, I've only been able to talk to them at lunch/recess, if I don't see them outside of school. For example, if you do VCE, and one of your friends does VCAL, don't expect to see them as often as you did in Year 10 :(

However, if you do VCE and pick subjects similar to your friends (Don't pick subjects because your friends do them, but I found that some of my friends had picked subjects that were quite similar to my own), that you will actually see them a little bit more. This helps because you know some of the people in your class; I knew only my own friends in all my classes.

However, I think that the social side of things will have settled down a bit by Year 10/11; the real change is how different things become academically. In Year 10, I only cared about the 'main' subjects I had to do, now I have to care about twice as many subjects with even less time!  :P

Hope this helps! Good luck everyone completing Year 10 this year/next year.  :)
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Joseph41

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Re: What to Expect: Differences Between Year 10 and Year 11+
« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2018, 01:20:24 pm »
+3
Looooove this thread. 😍

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brenden

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Re: What to Expect: Differences Between Year 10 and Year 11+
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2018, 12:16:49 pm »
+3
I'd say that people you see more/less of could change.

With some friends having picked subjects different to my own, I've felt that, this year, I've only been able to talk to them at lunch/recess, if I don't see them outside of school. For example, if you do VCE, and one of your friends does VCAL, don't expect to see them as often as you did in Year 10 :(

However, if you do VCE and pick subjects similar to your friends (Don't pick subjects because your friends do them, but I found that some of my friends had picked subjects that were quite similar to my own), that you will actually see them a little bit more. This helps because you know some of the people in your class; I knew only my own friends in all my classes.

However, I think that the social side of things will have settled down a bit by Year 10/11; the real change is how different things become academically. In Year 10, I only cared about the 'main' subjects I had to do, now I have to care about twice as many subjects with even less time!  :P

Hope this helps! Good luck everyone completing Year 10 this year/next year.  :)
Awesome, so true! Thanks for the reply!

Looooove this thread. 😍
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