ATAR Notes: Forum

VCE Stuff => Victorian Education Discussion => The VCE Journey Journal => Topic started by: ArtyDreams on October 26, 2019, 07:31:00 pm

Title: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on October 26, 2019, 07:31:00 pm
Hi! I've been contemplating on making a VCE journey journal for a while, but wasnt really sure how to go about it. So I guess I'm just going to wing it ha ha. (A metaphor for my life lol)

Anyway, I guess I'll introduce myself. I'm fairly new to AtarNotes, but I LOVE it. I love the community, as I feel like I can relate to most of the hardworking students here. I love helping people, so I hope I'll be confident enough to answer questions soon too.

Some Random Facts about Me:
- I'm a strong Maths & Science Student, Chemistry being my Favourite! 
- I like to organise and clean (sometimes)
- I have nice handwriting, and I love writing things down, hence why all my school notes are handwritten.
- My biggest goal in life is to help others, be happy and form good relationships with those around me  ;D
- After I finish school, I want to go in the science direction, and I'm thinking of doing BioEngineering, as it combines my love of design, maths, science and helping others all into one! I'd love to do tutoring one day, and MAYBE even teaching if Bioengineering doesnt work out.

Anyway, lets see how much I decide to update this. I'd love to get to know more people here!

And if anyone reads this - THANK YOU - I appreciate anyone that acknowledges my boring life haha.
Title: Re: My Journey to the "Top"
Post by: Bri MT on October 26, 2019, 07:52:35 pm
Hi!

As a bio student I assure you that no life is boring.

Love that you love the community - it'll be great to see more of your posts in future :) Never forget that all the big names of the forums start off with 1 post.

What subjects specifically are you studying? Do you have any plans for after highschool? Seems like there's a fair few directions that could suit you.

Good luck with methods!
Title: Re: My Journey to the "Top"
Post by: ArtyDreams on October 26, 2019, 08:02:59 pm
Hi!

As a bio student I assure you that no life is boring.

Love that you love the community - it'll be great to see more of your posts in future :) Never forget that all the big names of the forums start off with 1 post.

What subjects specifically are you studying? Do you have any plans for after highschool? Seems like there's a fair few directions that could suit you.

Good luck with methods!

Hi! I really appreciate the reply!!!!! Thank You!!!

Apart from methods, am doing Chemistry, Physics, English, Spec, Art (almost a bad choice ha ha)
I'm actually leaning into a biomedical engineering side - not sure how this will work since I'm not doing biology (definetely a regret ha ha). I feel like its a good option as it ties into my love of helping people, creativity, maths and science all into one!

VCE wise, I'd love a 90+ atar.

Anyway, will end this post with my favorite quote because why not.
'Dont let someone dim your light, simply because its shining in their eyes.'
Title: Re: My Journey to the "Top"
Post by: Bri MT on October 26, 2019, 08:17:44 pm
Hi! I really appreciate the reply!!!!! Thank You!!!

Apart from methods, am doing Chemistry, Physics, English, Spec, Art (almost a bad choice ha ha)
I'm actually leaning into a biomedical engineering side - not sure how this will work since I'm not doing biology (definetely a regret ha ha). I feel like its a good option as it ties into my love of helping people, creativity, maths and science all into one!

VCE wise, I'd love a 90+ atar.

Anyway, will end this post with my favorite quote because why not.
'Dont let someone dim your light, simply because its shining in their eyes.'

No worries at all!

Doing art might be good to give you a bit of variety from your other subjects and expose you to more breadth - I hope it's been working out well for you

After years of being told I wouldn't get a job as a marine biologist (which I'd been aiming for since grade 1-ish) I strongly considered biomedical engineering when I was in year 12. In the end I decided I'd stick with my passion but it does seem like a really interesting field with high potential for impact. Not doing VCE bio might make first year uni a little more challenging but there's bridging programs etc. and I definitely wouldn't worry about it holding you back in the long run :)
Title: Re: My Journey to the "Top"
Post by: ArtyDreams on October 27, 2019, 06:49:17 pm
Thank you! Art's definetly my strongest subject ha ha .

I remembered to update this journal today! Whoop go me.

Well, I can say I'm procrastinating. I did some methods study today and now ATTEMPTING to do some english study. I have a SAC tomorrow on language analysis - comparing two texts. I'm fairly strong in English but I just dont 'get' language analysis. Anyone else?
Title: Re: My Journey to the "Top"
Post by: tigerclouds on October 27, 2019, 08:17:35 pm
Hi! I've been contemplating on making a VCE journey journal for a while, but wasnt really sure how to go about it. So I guess I'm just going to wing it ha ha. (A metaphor for my life lol)

Anyway, I guess I'll introduce myself. I'm fairly new to AtarNotes, but I LOVE it. I love the community, as I feel like I can relate to most of the hardworking students here. I love helping people, so I hope I'll be confident enough to answer questions soon too.

I'm in Year 11 and I'm a strong maths & science student. Chemistry being my favourite. I'm doing Methods 3&4 this year - the exam is too soon!! My motivation hasnt been that high for that exam either (another reason for making the journal). Who else is feeling the feels about the Methods exam? I'm curious to know. My biggest passion in life is art though. I just love the feeling of creating, and drawing anything, making a bland sheet of paper come to life.

Anyway, lets see how much I decide to update this. I'd love to get to know more people here!

And if anyone reads this - THANK YOU - I appreciate anyone that acknowledges my boring life haha.

Ayy! A fellow chem lover! I'm also in year 11 doing Methods 3/4 and I get what you mean. My motivation is really weird right now. I feel like I'm finally liking maths again but then all kinds of self-doubts kick in haha. How are you feeling about the exams? Lovely having you on the forums!
Title: Re: My Journey to the "Top"
Post by: caffinatedloz on October 28, 2019, 04:35:00 pm
So exciting to see another VCE journal!! I'd love to see some of your art if you'd be keen to share! Are you glad that you chose to do methods early? Have you found it difficult?
Title: Re: My Journey to the "Top"
Post by: Joseph41 on October 28, 2019, 04:36:51 pm
Great to have you here, rr28. :)
Title: Re: My Journey to the "Top"
Post by: ArtyDreams on October 28, 2019, 06:03:32 pm
Great to have you here, rr28. :)

Thank you so much!! I'm excited to share my journey and hopefully inspire others too :)

So exciting to see another VCE journal!! I'd love to see some of your art if you'd be keen to share! Are you glad that you chose to do methods early? Have you found it difficult?
Would love to share some art! Will I be allowed to link my art social media page? If not, I'm definetely happy to post a few as pictures here :)  In some ways, I am definetly glad I chose to do methods early, as I feel like it will free up a big load next year, as I wouldve hated doing all maths & science subjects next year. I did have the time to spend on it this year. I have found a few areas slightly difficult, I generally understand everything thats been taught, but find it difficult to apply the basics into harder problems. There are still a few areas that I'm not perfect with (hopefully can solve them in a week!). I also found a new love for probability this year yay! Methods is a subject that I understand quite well, but I just make the WORST silly mistakes and have a horrible attention to detail!

Ayy! A fellow chem lover! I'm also in year 11 doing Methods 3/4 and I get what you mean. My motivation is really weird right now. I feel like I'm finally liking maths again but then all kinds of self-doubts kick in haha. How are you feeling about the exams? Lovely having you on the forums!

HI! So lovely to meet you! I agree - I really want to do well in methods but at the same time, do I really have the motivation to study? I'm not feeling toooooo bad about the exams, particulalry because I'm not aiming for a super high score or whatever, I dont really want to pressure myself as my other subjects are a lot stronger than methods ever was. I guess I'm just hoping for the best! How are you feeling about it!


Anyways, thank you all so much for showing interest in my forum, I really appreciate it! ALso, does anyone know how I can change the name of this thread to something more interesting, could I have really chosen something more cliche  ::)

Anyway, I really better start some work. I have two poster pracs to complete and then I'm pretty much done with my unit 2 subjects (apart from exams which are in 2 weeks, after methods) and I guess its just full on Methods until its over!

Have a lovely night everyone, and hopefully a productive one!
Title: Re: My Journey to the "Top"
Post by: tigerclouds on October 28, 2019, 08:59:30 pm
HI! So lovely to meet you! I agree - I really want to do well in methods but at the same time, do I really have the motivation to study? I'm not feeling toooooo bad about the exams, particulalry because I'm not aiming for a super high score or whatever, I dont really want to pressure myself as my other subjects are a lot stronger than methods ever was. I guess I'm just hoping for the best! How are you feeling about it!


Anyways, thank you all so much for showing interest in my forum, I really appreciate it! ALso, does anyone know how I can change the name of this thread to something more interesting, could I have really chosen something more cliche  ::)
I'm not sure how I'm feeling to be honest haha. There are points where I feel like I'm on top of everything but then my marks on the practice exams start fluctuating and that bugs me. Oh well, only 8 more days to go. Btw, to change the title of your thread, just click 'modify' at the top of your first post and you should be able to change it from there :)
Title: Re: My Journey to the "Top"
Post by: ArtyDreams on October 29, 2019, 09:37:23 pm
Hiiiiiiii


7. Days. Until. Methods.

I honestly dont know how to feel. I honestly feel like I havent taken methods seriously enough - its actually a bigger deal than I'm thinking. Anyway, did some light revision today after finishing my physics poster practical. I completed the 2017 VCAA Ex 1, did surprisingly decently. I've been ntrying to train myself to do maths in pen, I guess I'm progressing in that term :)

I really wish I had something exciting to share, but I guess life has just been borinnggggggg. I cant wait until exam period is over, so I can finally work on some personal projects.

Well........because I feel like I should share something non - school related - I started growing a dahlia plant because those I some of my favoruite flowers! I sprout appeared today after like a month, I'm so excited!!

Also in a productive mood lately because Melbourne has finally blessed us with some hot weather!!

Anyway, will sign off for today, thank you to anyone who has read my journal so far!!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on November 01, 2019, 08:24:31 am
Back at it again with another journal post - I'm trying to be somewhat consistent with it so I dont completely forget about it haha.

Soooooooo.

5. Days. Until. Methods.

I'm trying to start going over content again, as I feel like I've done so many practice exams and am not really improving from them.
In particular, I'm going over composite functions and transformations again. Tbh at this point I cant wait until the end of Thursday, when methods will officially be over.

ALso, I'm super glad its a long weekend just before the exam. I'm hoping to do some valuable study over the next few days. I've saved the 2018 VCAA exams, for this weekend, well see how I go.

Also, my methods teacher told be I should be aiming for 37/40 on Ex 1. Oh no.

Anyway,  guess thats enough about methods - well thats all my mind has been hinking about the last few days though ha ah.

I've pretty much neglected my Unit 2 subjects though - def not a good thing as my English exam is just the Monday after methods.

Also took the day off school today as I'm not feeling too good - edrolo binging it is today! I didnt really want to stay home as its my last school day before my methods exam, but oh well.

Oh, just to end off, do you know if we have to remember our VCAA number? Or will it be on our desks (was like this for the GAT). And the VCAA number is the only thing we need to write on our exam paper right?

Anywayyyyy - good luck to anyone else whose taking exams these days! I believe in you!!!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: caffinatedloz on November 01, 2019, 09:10:29 am
Also took the day off school today as I'm not feeling too good - edrolo binging it is today! I didnt really want to stay home as its my last school day before my methods exam, but oh well.
Edrolo binging sounds like the perfect start to an extra long weekend. Best of luck with all your preparation!!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Bri MT on November 01, 2019, 09:40:51 am
It's like the GAT but you're supposed to remember your number so you can double check it. At my school our numbers were also used to see what our seats would be before we walked into the room.

I think you might also write your name but I can't remember
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on November 03, 2019, 06:31:51 pm
its sunday. thought I'd give a little update.

3 days until methods.

how am I feeling?? Soooooo excited to get it over with ha ha. I really cannot be bothered doing any more practice exams though. Planning on doing an Ex 2 tomorrow but thats about it. I'm feeling alright ish - just hoping vcaa doesnt throw a curveball.

Since I really didnt want to start studying for my other exams in the midst of methods, I decided to start working on my art folio for next year - am so excited with how it is turning out! I cant wait to start my finals soon. I'm trying to get a lot of it done before the holidays as I have a lot of personal projects I want to work on during the holidays.

I'll end this post talking about the weather - why not haha. I've actually been liking the rain - It feels really cozy to sit at my desk studying, but listening to the sound of the rain.
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on November 06, 2019, 11:08:59 am
Needed to vent after my methods exam........

So, EXAM ONE IS OVER!!!! Am I happy with my performance? Not really. I felt good during reading time but started it and everything went down hill.....

1. Stuffed up a question regarding the max of the triangle - am so annoyed at myself because I could not think of how to diff it properly. My mind was running so fast but I found it so difficult to actually get something on the paper.

2. So many domain and range questions - literally my weakest point in methods so I guessed everything

3. Stuffed up the equation of the quartic because once again, my brain was working faster than my hand so I forgot the dilation.....

I'm so frustrated as I did so many practices, yet this exam went horribly.....

I'm honestly just hoping for the best tomorrow........I'm usually better at TA so.......

How did everyone else go?
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on November 09, 2019, 06:36:23 pm
Hi!!! Felt like a jounral post today as I've been in such a lightened mood after methods was over. I dont want to blab on about it toooooo much, but I'll just mention a few things,

Exam 2 went decently well (well, a lot better than Ex 1 did). I'm hoping I managed around a 64/80, which I'll be super happy about if I did. Ex 1 went horribly, but I actually felt like I knew what I was doing in Ex 2, so I'm hoping thats enough to get me a study score of 35+. But anyway - METHODS IS OVER!!!!! I've never felt so relieved in my life!!! Although I wouldve liked to do better in the exams given that I studied so hard for it (made it to 40 exams in total whoop whoop!!) I've learnt so much through the process, and I've learnt so much on how I should tactfully approach all my subjects for next year. It certainly was a learning experience, and I'm glad I can go in too year 12 without being completely clueless on how to sit VCE exams. Anyway, despite how well I did, I'm planning to compile a list of things I've learnt throughout the year, so I can hopefully help future methods students :)

So nowwwwww - Unit 2 exams start next week, and I'm actually excited! No actual classes for 2 weeks yay! I'm feeling alright, kinda rushing through study for the ones earlier in the week as I'm behind on them as I have been doing lots of methods study, but am feeling okay. Currently working on English, then Spec (need to teach myself the last topic on particle equilibrium before Tuesday oops). I am feeling the most confident about my art exam - oh adding to that - I've been working on so many art projects lately, and starting another commission in the coming weeks which I'm super excited for.
I'm also excited to start studying for my physics exam - I didnt really like the subject at first, but am actually enjoying it now as its a combination of a lot of things that I like!

Hope you all have a great week!!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Evolio on November 09, 2019, 06:46:05 pm
Quote
I've never felt so relieved in my life!!! Although I wouldve liked to do better in the exams given that I studied so hard for it (made it to 40 exams in total whoop whoop!!) I've learnt so much through the process, and I've learnt so much on how I should tactfully approach all my subjects for next year.
I know right! One subject done and dusted! Are you excited for next year?

Quote
Anyway, despite how well I did, I'm planning to compile a list of things I've learnt throughout the year, so I can hopefully help future methods students
This is awesome! I'm sure this will be golden advice for future methods students!

All the best for your unit 2 exams!
 ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on November 09, 2019, 08:03:37 pm
Quote
I know right! One subject done and dusted! Are you excited for next year?

This is awesome! I'm sure this will be golden advice for future methods students!

All the best for your unit 2 exams!
 ;D

Thank you so much!! Although a little nervous going into next year - I am super excited!! I love doing things with purpose, so I am glad that every test and everything we do counts towards something important. Year 12 seems like a fun year aside from academics, so I am quite looking forward to it! Also cool knowing we are finally the oldest students in school :))))
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: caffinatedloz on November 13, 2019, 05:20:13 pm
Do you have your exam timetable for next week rr28? ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on November 15, 2019, 08:40:45 pm
Do you have your exam timetable for next week rr28? ;D

yep! super sorry for the late reply! Anyway, I thought I'd give an update about how my first 4 exams went...................

ENGLISH:
Genuinely good. My language analysis has improved a lot, and with text response I feel so much more comfortable in writing about author intent. Only downside in this exam was the comparative - I was so confused with the topics given! I tried my best to brainstorm a little but ended up taking toooo much time, causing me to only write 2 body paragraphs. Oh well. Overall, a pretty good exam :)

SPEC TF
Not a good exam. Did not do well. Over complicated it so much, and the wording of some of the questions confused me a lot. I'll leave this little story about it here:
Due to the exam, I studied statics of a particle very much over the weekend as I really didnt pay much attention in class when it was being taught. I understood it, as was super happy with myself.

Started doing the exam, was disappointed a question on that topic didnt come up.

Kinda stumbled through the exam.

Glanced at the person next to me in the last 30 secs who seemed to be busy working on a question with a diagram.

Where on earth was this?????
Quickly flicked through the exam - only to find the question on THE BACK PAGE. Time was now up, and a 4 mark question I studied so hard for was staring back at me, blank.

You could almost feel my disappointment. Guess I'll never forget to check the back page again.

SPEC TA

Couldve gone better tbh, but was def better than TF. Trig proofs killed me...

CHEMISTRY
Not good. Usually Chems my best subject and I've been doing so well this year, but this exam got me. I feel like we barely learnt anything that was on the exam, and had barely done any practices like this. I was so hoping it would go better.....literally everything I had studied didnt come, and everything that I thought wouldnt come came....geez, galvanic cells...

Anyway, I wish I couldve given a more positive recap ha ha. I have physics & art next week which I am feeling pretty good about! And then after that.....no school for like a week until jumpstart starts!! Yay!!!

How has everyone else been doing??


Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: caffinatedloz on November 17, 2019, 06:46:44 am
ENGLISH:
Genuinely good. My language analysis has improved a lot, and with text response I feel so much more comfortable in writing about author intent. Only downside in this exam was the comparative - I was so confused with the topics given! I tried my best to brainstorm a little but ended up taking toooo much time, causing me to only write 2 body paragraphs. Oh well. Overall, a pretty good exam :)
That's always my problem in timed English assessments. I just like a really thorough brainstorm.  It sounds like you're really confident with English. Congrats! ;D


SPEC TF
Not a good exam. Did not do well. Over complicated it so much, and the wording of some of the questions confused me a lot. I'll leave this little story about it here:
Due to the exam, I studied statics of a particle very much over the weekend as I really didnt pay much attention in class when it was being taught. I understood it, as was super happy with myself.

Started doing the exam, was disappointed a question on that topic didnt come up.

Kinda stumbled through the exam.

Glanced at the person next to me in the last 30 secs who seemed to be busy working on a question with a diagram.

Where on earth was this?????
Quickly flicked through the exam - only to find the question on THE BACK PAGE. Time was now up, and a 4 mark question I studied so hard for was staring back at me, blank.

You could almost feel my disappointment. Guess I'll never forget to check the back page again.

SPEC TA

Couldve gone better tbh, but was def better than TF. Trig proofs killed me...

Oh my goodness- that would have been so frustrating! Definitely done that before.
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on November 21, 2019, 09:53:49 am
Exams are overrrrrrr (well they were over a few days ago but I finally decided to stop being lazy and update this now ha ha. I'm honestly feeling so relieved - I can only imagine how it will feel like to finish exams at the end of next year!

Heres a quick rundown of how my other two exams went:

PHYSICS
Surprisingly easy! Thought I did pretty well, did make some silly errors which I know of, as I complicated things too much during the exam - but think I did pretty well.
We get our marks back on Wednesday, which I'm super nervous for, and then we start our next years subjects - I'm actually so excited!!

I dont have school for a couple of days, so I'm excited to work on some of my personal projects, and draw lots! Also this hot weather is making me feel super productive  8)

Hope you all have a lovely day :)

Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Joseph41 on November 21, 2019, 03:44:12 pm
Awesome work on getting through your exams! ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: caffinatedloz on November 21, 2019, 05:32:56 pm
Enjoy your freedom! It really is a fantastic feeling. If you ever feel comfortable, I'd love to see some of your drawing or art.
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Bri MT on November 25, 2019, 08:37:24 pm
If you're going to copy-paste in the url you need to make sure the only thing on the page is the image :)

is this what you meant?
(https://i.imgur.com/zQoNv3G.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/mbCUsSR.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/lQyGbXI.jpg)

These images look incredible!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: caffinatedloz on November 26, 2019, 06:27:33 am
Oh my goodness! That artwork is beautiful! (@J41, I think AN needs a heart eyed emoji for moments like this.)

Are you still going to your old subjects until Friday? Is there work to do or is it just having fun? ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on November 26, 2019, 08:27:50 am
Oh my goodness! That artwork is beautiful! (@J41, I think AN needs a heart eyed emoji for moments like this.)

Are you still going to your old subjects until Friday? Is there work to do or is it just having fun? ;D

Thanks Laura!
We've actually had days off school - I'm making the most of it ha ha.

Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: tigerclouds on December 03, 2019, 10:06:52 pm
(Really wanted my Year 10 teacher again, coz she was great!! We had a great connection and I literally just missed her class based off a 50/50 chance. Shes teaching in my spares  :'( )
Would you be able to ask if you can change classes? If she's teaching during your free periods, you can transfer and then have your current English classes become your spares. Is that possible at your school? I know some people who did that for a class at my school. If you can do it, then why not, it's your last year :)
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Snow Leopard on December 04, 2019, 06:43:57 pm
Yeah I really really want to, but I feel like I wouldnt be allowed as I havent experienced my new teacher before and dont have a valid excuse for changing. A few people have but it was mainly because they had issues with the current teacher.

I was seriously considering though, but am kind of scared too  :-[
If I were you I'd ask a friend to come along with you if you go to ask if you can change, as it'll be a less daunting task if you know you've got a mate beside you + you can't back out of asking if you want to change as they'll keep you accountable.
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: tigerclouds on December 06, 2019, 12:14:29 am
Yeah I really really want to, but I feel like I wouldnt be allowed as I havent experienced my new teacher before and dont have a valid excuse for changing. A few people have but it was mainly because they had issues with the current teacher.

I was seriously considering though, but am kind of scared too  :-[
Maybe sit through the first few classes and see how it goes? If you don't like it, change classes. I get you, I'd be a bit nervous too but I'm sure it'll pay off in the end :)
Title: Re: Finding Myself Through VCE | My Journey.
Post by: tigerclouds on December 10, 2019, 01:20:49 am
Anyway, I finallyyyyyy spoke to my old teacher and she'd love to have me in her class :) I'm now trying to get a change done - I guess its worth trying!
Thanks so much for giving me some confidence
That’s so good to hear! We also happen to be reading nine days! As for Methods... oh boy.
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Snow Leopard on December 12, 2019, 04:17:35 pm
Well done on the awards!
Also, good luck for your Methods SS :)
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: yesh.weerakkody on December 12, 2019, 09:49:18 pm
Congrats on ur awards!!!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: yesh.weerakkody on December 15, 2019, 12:07:56 am
Happy Saturday!

Well this is probably going to be my last proper journal post until next year, as its time to enjoy the holidays! Yay!

So just doing this to quickly to do an update on results day!

12/12/19
So....I didnt set any alarms to wake up at promptly 7, but managed to wake up in time to check my results at around 10 past anyway. I literally did not feel anything, which was quite unusual for me. No butterflies, no happiness, no nothing. I usually get so stressed to receive results, but I was not feeling anything. So just quick backstory, at the start of the Year, I was aiming for a 38+ for Methods. Throughout the year, this goal seemed pretty reasonable, but after doing practice exams, I thought that I may just be able to scrape through with a 40!

During the exams, I changed by expectations. Exam 1 did not go well for me, I made so many silly errors that I shouldve not. Exam 2, however was decent! I therefore made up my mind to be happy with anything above a 35, to avoid dissapointment  :) Like with my score now I'm happy, but kinda disspointed at the same time if you know what I mean.

Anyway, looking at my result, I achieved a B+, A, A! I was NOT expecting an A for GA2, but was quite dissapointed to see a B+ for GA1. I really thought I may get a better SAC mark.

Anyway, so i managed a 37!! Although it is not the highest score, judging my performance on the exams this was expected, so I am happy! Methods was never my strong subject. I am so proud of how far I've come - from being chucked into the Advanced Maths Program in Year 9, and not having a clue, to a 37 this year......I am so happy. More than the score, I'm going to take away so many tips into next year! I'm also planning on create a Methods Guide these holidays, stay tuned.

But WAIT.......the BEST news comes now.

I got an email from one of the principals at my school, and I almost got a HEART ATTACK. (excuse the hyperbole......) It was an email saying that myself, and 3 boys in my year level DUXED methods. LIKE WHAT??? (Girl power yay). This was NEVER expected. I even had to sign a form last year to allow my school to publish my name and stuff if I duxed, and I remember laughing as I did it, as I thought it was IMPOSSIBLE!! I am SO happy!

But I'm surprised as I think its quite a low methods score for a dux....... think its lowest my schools had in a long time! But still cool either way haha.

Those other 3 with the same study score as me were all ranked higher than me. Out of curiosity, does that mean I performed the best in the exam out of them?

Anyway, I did my first art market today! It was super fun! I may add some photos of my stall setup soon as it turned out soooooo cute.
I'm also planning to go to some of the AN lectures next month. Anyone coming to a Chem/Spec/Physics one? It'll be so fun to meet!

Anyway....this may be my last post in a while, I dont go back to school until Feb, I may post next years goals on here sometime soon!

Thanks so much to everyone who has supported me over the last few weeks! I'm SO grateful!

Happy holidays everyone!


Oooh ;D that must have felt really nice to see your work finally paying off! Good job!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Sine on December 15, 2019, 12:50:23 am
-snip-
Congrats on getting dux!

37 is a terrific score in methods it should scale quite nicely to around 42.

Those other 3 with the same study score as me were all ranked higher than me. Out of curiosity, does that mean I performed the best in the exam out of them?
Yes, it is most likely you scored better than them on the exam if you came from a lower rank to get the same study score.
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on December 16, 2019, 06:17:00 pm
Congrats on getting dux!

37 is a terrific score in methods it should scale quite nicely to around 42.
Yes, it is most likely you scored better than them on the exam if you came from a lower rank to get the same study score.

Thanks so much Sine!  ;D

Oooh ;D that must have felt really nice to see your work finally paying off! Good job!

Thank you! I appreciate the support  ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: rkjthguakj on December 16, 2019, 06:28:47 pm
Happy Saturday!

Well this is probably going to be my last proper journal post until next year, as its time to enjoy the holidays! Yay!

So just doing this to quickly to do an update on results day!

12/12/19
So....I didnt set any alarms to wake up at promptly 7, but managed to wake up in time to check my results at around 10 past anyway. I literally did not feel anything, which was quite unusual for me. No butterflies, no happiness, no nothing. I usually get so stressed to receive results, but I was not feeling anything. So just quick backstory, at the start of the Year, I was aiming for a 38+ for Methods. Throughout the year, this goal seemed pretty reasonable, but after doing practice exams, I thought that I may just be able to scrape through with a 40!

During the exams, I changed by expectations. Exam 1 did not go well for me, I made so many silly errors that I shouldve not. Exam 2, however was decent! I therefore made up my mind to be happy with anything above a 35, to avoid dissapointment  :) Like with my score now I'm happy, but kinda disspointed at the same time if you know what I mean.

Anyway, looking at my result, I achieved a B+, A, A! I was NOT expecting an A for GA2, but was quite dissapointed to see a B+ for GA1. I really thought I may get a better SAC mark.

Anyway, so i managed a 37!! Although it is not the highest score, judging my performance on the exams this was expected, so I am happy! Methods was never my strong subject. I am so proud of how far I've come - from being chucked into the Advanced Maths Program in Year 9, and not having a clue, to a 37 this year......I am so happy. More than the score, I'm going to take away so many tips into next year! I'm also planning on create a Methods Guide these holidays, stay tuned.

But WAIT.......the BEST news comes now.

I got an email from one of the principals at my school, and I almost got a HEART ATTACK. (excuse the hyperbole......) It was an email saying that myself, and 3 boys in my year level DUXED methods. LIKE WHAT??? (Girl power yay). This was NEVER expected. I even had to sign a form last year to allow my school to publish my name and stuff if I duxed, and I remember laughing as I did it, as I thought it was IMPOSSIBLE!! I am SO happy!

But I'm surprised as I think its quite a low methods score for a dux....... think its lowest my schools had in a long time! But still cool either way haha.

Those other 3 with the same study score as me were all ranked higher than me. Out of curiosity, does that mean I performed the best in the exam out of them?

Anyway, I did my first art market today! It was super fun! I may add some photos of my stall setup soon as it turned out soooooo cute.
I'm also planning to go to some of the AN lectures next month. Anyone coming to a Chem/Spec/Physics one? It'll be so fun to meet!

Anyway....this may be my last post in a while, I dont go back to school until Feb, I may post next years goals on here sometime soon!

Thanks so much to everyone who has supported me over the last few weeks! I'm SO grateful!

Happy holidays everyone!

Congrats on your SS and your DUX!! That's so amazing!!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: caffinatedloz on December 19, 2019, 09:14:36 pm
Congratulations! Great work! Would love to see photos of your craft market. The only 3/4 lecture I'm going to is the bio one, but maybe I'll see you around at some point! ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on December 21, 2019, 07:30:34 pm
Hii! I hope everyones been having a good holiday season!! I decided to update this journal today as I thought I'd share some of the things that I've been getting up to on the holidays!! I might start updating this next week as I've been in such a procrastinating mood - I have so much homework and have not touched any of it (well......I attempted to do Chemistry...lasted about a solid 20 mins and stopped as nothing was going into my brain.) I'm usually never like this, I'm usually the one who gets their homework done within the first week.

I have so much to do though. I'm going on a small trip over the next two days.....so I've PROMISED myself that I WILL get a solid start on homework after I come back!!

Also......I posted my VCE Methods guide! (Can be found here: https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=189449.0)
Its not the best, but I do hope that it will be able to help some of you! I might add to it, I thought of more things I should add that may be of help  ;D

Also, I was looking back at some of my first journal posts, and I cant even explain how badly I expressed myself in those posts! I've updated the first one so it sounds better and explains a little bit more about me.

Well.....I will sign off nowww! I'll probs update this next week as a way of keeping my self accountable for doing homework! I do hope that everyone has a good week, Christmas and holidays in general!  :D ;)

Side Note: 100th Post!!!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ashmi on December 31, 2019, 05:06:54 pm

Anyway.....thought I'd share these two pictures, the first one is of my Art Market stall (I'm so in love with how it all came together) and the seocnd one is of a gingerbread house I made! Its he first time I've ever decorated one, and I made the entire thing from scratch!! I think it looks so cute and festive.

Art Market Stall
(https://i.imgur.com/KnqhE9v.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/KaPcUys.jpg)
Gingerbread House
(https://i.imgur.com/2G8fqLf.jpg)

The Art Market Stall is absolutely gorgeous!! It is so aesthetically pleasing and I'm in love just looking at a picture of it😍. How long does it take for you to make and produce the stuff you sell? You have done such an amazing job! I literally just found your journal and I'm in love with it
*Watch me come on over next time just to admire all your stuff*
Do you have any plans to do another one in the future? (If so, watch me dash straight over) ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ashmi on December 31, 2019, 08:53:11 pm
Heyo Arty!

I have the cutesttttt pet cat

This was the first thing I saw and I absolutely love where this is going. What type of cat do you have? (Do you think we can get a picture sometime? :P). Also, if you have time next year, can we see your notes? It must be super pretty and I do wonder how aesthetic they are😆.

I love your goals for 2020, especially the Art one! (The folio subject and STEM gang is the best). I'm rooting for you and Top Arts! *Pom poms are ready for support action*😂

In terms of uni, my *plan* is to go to Melbourne Uni and do Bsci/Master of Engineering. I’m thinking of Bioengineering, as it combines my love of helping others, design, maths and science all into one. If this doesn’t work out, I’m probably going to go into secondary school teaching :).

I love this so so much Arty! It is sort of funny because I've got the same mindset if engineering doesn't work out for me too. (I was also planning to do teaching if things didn't work out🤣). I really do feel like we are long lost buddies or something! (We have quite a lot in common and quite a lot of similar goals😆).

I'm really excited to see more of your journal in 2020! Let's make sure that we stick to our goals and make a good start to the new decade! ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Chocolatemilkshake on December 31, 2019, 09:38:46 pm
Wow I read the whole post, great to see your goals Arty!  :) A picture of your cat would be adorable (my sister loves cats, but she’s allergic).

Also, I love making my notes pretty too, can totally relate  :)

Can’t wait to hear from you more in 2020!!!!  ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on January 01, 2020, 11:04:08 am
Heyo Arty!

This was the first thing I saw and I absolutely love where this is going. What type of cat do you have? (Do you think we can get a picture sometime? :P). Also, if you have time next year, can we see your notes? It must be super pretty and I do wonder how aesthetic they are😆.

I love your goals for 2020, especially the Art one! (The folio subject and STEM gang is the best). I'm rooting for you and Top Arts! *Pom poms are ready for support action*😂

I love this so so much Arty! It is sort of funny because I've got the same mindset if engineering doesn't work out for me too. (I was also planning to do teaching if things didn't work out🤣). I really do feel like we are long lost buddies or something! (We have quite a lot in common and quite a lot of similar goals😆).

I'm really excited to see more of your journal in 2020! Let's make sure that we stick to our goals and make a good start to the new decade! ;D

Cat photos coming rightttt up!! Thanks for the support Ash! Lets conquer Year 12 with no regrets :)

Wow I read the whole post, great to see your goals Arty!  :) A picture of your cat would be adorable (my sister loves cats, but she’s allergic).

Also, I love making my notes pretty too, can totally relate  :)

Can’t wait to hear from you more in 2020!!!!  ;D

Thanks Chocolatemilkshake!! Pretty notes are so fun to create ha ha. Do you have any pets?


Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Evolio on January 01, 2020, 06:08:29 pm
Hello Arty!

Quote
I’m a really quiet, shy, socially awkward person, and I’m so bad at starting conversations. But ironically, I also loveeee talking .
Wow! Are we twins? I have a hard time trying to talk to people and feel like people don't understand what I'm saying when I talk because well, I'm me.

Quote
To eat healthier (at least one fruit a day), drink a lot of water and at least 15 minutes of active movement a day
Same. I've started carrying my drink bottle with me wherever I go and try to take random sips whenever I can. What activities are you thinking of doing/do to keep active?

Quote
Anywayyyy I’ll stop this super long post, I really hope it didn’t bore you too much!!
Nah, it was pretty enjoyable to read! So, keep those posts coming!

 :)
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on January 03, 2020, 09:00:07 am
Hi Evolio!! Thank you!!  ;D

Wow! Are we twins? I have a hard time trying to talk to people and feel like people don't understand what I'm saying when I talk because well, I'm me

Ah ah maybe?? I totally agree!! I sometimes feel like I talk in a completely different language to others ha ha.

Same. I've started carrying my drink bottle with me wherever I go and try to take random sips whenever I can. What activities are you thinking of doing/do to keep active?

Thats a really good idea!! I generaly manage to drink a lot of water on school days, and I always have a drink bottle on me (I sometimes drink water to avoid talking to people ahha) but when I'm at home its another story...
Not really sure yet!! I want to start playing tennis again, go on bike rides, light walks and probably some mini-at home workouts that you can find on Youtube  ;)
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ashmi on January 18, 2020, 07:29:11 pm
Good on you Arty for getting through most your work! That's impressive!!

Read 9 Days (I have no motivation to start this. Not really sure why but the book does not really attract me. Its seems so dull, and I really dont like learning history (and never understand it) so so far learning the context has been a struggle for me. I'm hoping I'll change my mind after I read it.

I literally had the exact same thought process a few weeks ago with my English books, don't worry it's not as bad as it seems! Try reading it not as homework, rather as a relaxing activity, and sooner or later you will finish it ;D. Read it for fun and then get into the hardcore analysis later, trust me it will be 1000% better.

I'm so looking forward to more updates with your folio! Your artwork on IG is looking amazing and you can see so much detail already :D.
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on January 19, 2020, 10:21:51 pm
SHORT UPDATE: (Because I really want to express myself ha ha)

Holiday homework is finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And go me.....I finally read Nine Days  ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: caffinatedloz on January 22, 2020, 06:08:14 pm
Homework done! And new glasses! How very productive you've been! Have you enjoyed your holidays? ;D

Good luck adjusting to them btw. <3
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on January 22, 2020, 06:43:10 pm
Homework done! And new glasses! How very productive you've been! Have you enjoyed your holidays? ;D

Good luck adjusting to them btw. <3

Thanks Laura!! Holidays have been good - had so much other plans/things I wanted to get done these holidays, and barely any have happened ha ha. Nevertheless, holidays have been super relaxing, went fast, but I guess I'll be able to go back to school feeling fresh.

Hope you've had a great holiday too!!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: caffinatedloz on January 22, 2020, 09:24:51 pm
Thanks Laura!! Holidays have been good - had so much other plans/things I wanted to get done these holidays, and barely any have happened ha ha.
I feel like that is always the way! Glad you had fun regardless! ;D

And yes, I've had a wonderful break!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Geoo on February 03, 2020, 09:24:51 pm
Holidays flew by superrrrrrrr fast, I don't even know what I did. I was never bored, but yet I feel like I did nothing.
Haha, I did the exact same thing! I wasn't bored either and did literally nothing! Although I can claim that I finished a few series.

I'm nervous for Year 12. My subjects are difficult, spec is killing me, and uhhhh.....I did not do nearly enough schoolwork on the holidays. At the beginning of the holidays, I had so many plans. Plans to learn as much Chem as possible, start my spec logbook, go thorugh all my spec mistakes from last year, prep for my first Physics SAC....I havent done any of this. Apart from holiday homework, I've done nothing. Half of me feels unprepared. I haven't even thoroughly read my English text.

I'm feeling the same about methods, so know that your not alone. Where in the same boat in terms of not getting holiday study plans, so don't feel too bad about not getting anything done. I feel nervous too about some of my subjects as well if that helps. Try not to feel to worried about it, and you'll have plenty of time to catch up throughout the year!

I finally feel like my goals are valid, and I'm not aiming toooooo high. I finally feel like I'm not being a 'try hard' if I study extra, and allowed to love studying and learning. I'm feeling motivated, supported. Thank you.
I think that is one of the greatest things about the forms. I always felt like a wannabe/ overachiever by aiming high, so it is awesome to feel that it's okay to have high goals.

Enjoy your last first day tomorrow!

BTW, I hope we get to see some of your portfolio work  ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ashmi on February 03, 2020, 09:28:25 pm
Hey Arty! ;D

It's so good to see how positive you are about going into Year 12! (And school too)
You have done an amazing job with what you have achieved these holidays (especially your Art pieces :D) and be really proud of that. 3 SACs in Term 1 sounds amazing! You will have plenty of time to study so don't stress too much.

THE PLAN: (so I can be kept accountable - please send me a reminder if I seem to have not done these things!!!)
I will spam remind you to do this worst-case scenario don't worry🤣.

PS: I'm loving my pretttyyyyyy blue banner!! Its such an honour, thank you all  :D
Your blue banner so suits your account Arty! Super proud of you and your amazing contribution to the AN community ;D
I'm excited to see an update soon on your adjustment to school life again and also keep us updated on your art folio!
Enjoy your first day back at school tomorrow!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Chocolatemilkshake on February 04, 2020, 07:28:25 am
Hi Arty,

Like Ash said it's great to hear about your positive outlook for year 12, I hope you have a magnificent first day! Congratulations on Motm as well, totally totally deserved! Have the best week!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on February 04, 2020, 08:26:13 pm
Haha, I did the exact same thing! I wasn't bored either and did literally nothing! Although I can claim that I finished a few series.

I'm feeling the same about methods, so know that your not alone. Where in the same boat in terms of not getting holiday study plans, so don't feel too bad about not getting anything done. I feel nervous too about some of my subjects as well if that helps. Try not to feel to worried about it, and you'll have plenty of time to catch up throughout the year!
I think that is one of the greatest things about the forms. I always felt like a wannabe/ overachiever by aiming high, so it is awesome to feel that it's okay to have high goals.

Enjoy your last first day tomorrow!

BTW, I hope we get to see some of your portfolio work  ;D

Thanks so much Geoo!! I really appreciate your support  ;D Wishing you the best year possible too!!

Hi Arty,

Like Ash said it's great to hear about your positive outlook for year 12, I hope you have a magnificent first day! Congratulations on Motm as well, totally totally deserved! Have the best week!

Thanks Choco!! I real appreciate it! Hope you have a great week too!

Hey Arty! ;D

It's so good to see how positive you are about going into Year 12! (And school too)
You have done an amazing job with what you have achieved these holidays (especially your Art pieces :D) and be really proud of that. 3 SACs in Term 1 sounds amazing! You will have plenty of time to study so don't stress too much.
I will spam remind you to do this worst-case scenario don't worry🤣.
Your blue banner so suits your account Arty! Super proud of you and your amazing contribution to the AN community ;D
I'm excited to see an update soon on your adjustment to school life again and also keep us updated on your art folio!
Enjoy your first day back at school tomorrow!

Thanks Ashmi  :D I'm super grateful for your support! Hope you have the best year too  :D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on February 22, 2020, 07:35:39 pm
22/02/2020

Some random updates:
Thought I'll pop in with some random updates that happened (and are going to happen) :)

- Had a spec quiz on Friday - on trig. Dont think I did toooooo well, but I did feel a bit better afterwards than some tests I did last year. I dont really blame anyone else but myself for it though, I've kinda neglected the subject and havent been doing much textbook questions. I really need to find motivation and do work for spec so I dont suffer later.

- My English creative SAC is 3 weeks from now, and stressed is an understatement.

- I've been unnessecarily studying chem - I'm already ahead, my other subjects need much more attention.

- I think I'm getting sick..... :(

- I'm experimenting with a vegetarian diet 

- I've found a new obsession with rose-gold-foil stickers.

I thought I had more stuff to update with.....but clearly not ha ha. I'll add to this list if I htink of anything else exciting. My first SAC is English which is 3 weeks away, so I've kinda been chilling, trying not to stress. Its actually fun studying like this, without the pressure of SACs!

Have a lovley night  ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ashmi on February 22, 2020, 08:36:43 pm
Hi Arty! ;D

WOOOHOO It's another update!!

Sounds like you have been having a good time so far. :D

Some random updates:
- Had a spec quiz on Friday - on trig. Dont think I did toooooo well, but I did feel a bit better afterwards than some tests I did last year. I dont really blame anyone else but myself for it though, I've kinda neglected the subject and havent been doing much textbook questions. I really need to find motivation and do work for spec so I dont suffer later.

- My English creative SAC is 3 weeks from now, and stressed is an understatement.

- I've been unnessecarily studying chem - I'm already ahead, my other subjects need much more attention.
These are like the 3 biggest moods😂
Don't worry Arty, you will be fine. I'm absolutely positive! You are going to smash that creative SAC for English and Spesh will definitely get better. (You and Chem must be best buddies right now)

- I've found a new obsession with rose-gold-foil stickers.
Rose-gold-foil is something to die for. It is so gorgeous and so much fun to play with. Do you plan to use it for your Art folio?

I'm so happy to see that you are going so well Arty! Keep up the amazing work and I can't wait for the next update~
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Geoo on February 22, 2020, 09:57:55 pm
Yes, fountain pens are so cool! I don't own one but I have played around with them and they change your writing game so much.
Thats so cool you got to meet the author! She is coming into my school as well, do you think she helped give you perspective on her writing?

Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on February 23, 2020, 09:39:34 am
Yes, fountain pens are so cool! I don't own one but I have played around with them and they change your writing game so much.
Thats so cool you got to meet the author! She is coming into my school as well, do you think she helped give you perspective on her writing?

It was a fairly good talk, she did come some good points, although, we had kinda already discussed most of the things she had said. I think what you'll benefit the most from is writing a few questions down and asking her afterwards, this will really help (I hadnt prepared anything, and this was a bad idea oops)
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: mi-xao-14 on February 26, 2020, 05:28:19 pm
Hi everyone!! Thought it would be fitting to post today since its the last day of 2019!! I can’t even believe how fast the year went by!! I’ve been thinking so much about my goals for the upcoming year, and decided I’ll share them - after all, I really need people to keep me accountable!! I thought it will also be nice for me to look back at this post at the end of next year and see how far I’ve come…

Warning: A longggggggg post ahead!!

Considering I didn’t do too much of a good job at introducing myself at the start of this journal, I thought I better do it now :)
- Next year, I’m going to be in Year 12, VCE, and I’m undertaking Chem, Spec (whyyy), Physics, Art and English.
- I used to play piano and tennis, but stopped mid 2019.
- Art/Drawing is my biggest passion in life, and hobby. I also love baking!!
- I’m a really quiet, shy, socially awkward person, and I’m so bad at starting conversations. But ironically, I also loveeee talking .
- I love making my school notes look pretty, and its literally my only motivation to study. 
- I have alotttttt of stationery
- I have the cutesttttt pet cat
- Purple is my favourite colour and has been for a longgggg time
- I love dark chocolate and ice coffee!!
- I started using AN properly around mid 2019, and I’m questioning how I lived life before then.

Anywayyyyy I’ll outline my goals now!! They’re broken into a few categories to make it easier to read

ATAR/ACADEMIC GOALS:
So with my academic goals, I’ve outlined the SS I’d be happy if I get (i.e the minimum I’d like) and then the study score I’ll be superrrrr happy if I get (i.e. what will have me jumping around screaming on results day lol).
In 2019 I completed maths methods, at the start of the year I wrote down I’d be happy with a 38+, but super happy with a 40. I managed to achieve a 37 (which after exams I expected even lower so I wasnt really disappointed :) )

ENGLISH - I don’t mind English - I really have a strange relationship with this subject - one minute I love it and the next minute I don’t. Although, I do find it a good break from my maths/science ones. I’ll be happy with a 37+ and super happy with a 40+

CHEM/PHYSICS - I guess I can say I like both these subjects the same (maybe Chem a tadddd bit more). I would love a 38+ but would be super happy with a 40+.

SPECIALIST - The subject that literally makes me want to cry, and the subject I also have a love hate relationship with. Nothing much else to say here, except I’m going to needdd a lotttt of help from AN. I’ll be happy with a 32+, but super happy with a 35+.

ATAR GOAL: Will be sooooo stoked with anything above 90 :) (But a 94+ will be greatttt!!)

ORGANISATION GOALS:
Next year, I want to make sure that I am doing constant revision for my subjects, rather than cram before a SAC. This was a big mistake I made this year, and it did not go too well!

But my main goal is to have ROUTINE.

Ever since I quit my co-curriculars, I have been developing some lazy habits. I find that without routine, I end up 'overstudying' for SACs, and not doing enough self care.

So my main goal is to form a routine, mainly for after school, and try my best to stick to it. I'm not really the type of person that will ever listen to a timetable that is like: from 6-7 study maths, as an example, but I just want something general that will ensure that I dont forget about my life outside of school.

FUTURE GOALS:
As soon as school finishes, I reallllyyyyy need to find a job!! I applied for a lot throughout Year 10, and Early Year 11, and didn’t receive any. I kind of gave up looking since school was getting super busy, and now I’m just waiting until school finishes. I’m thinking tutoring/retail :)

In terms of uni, my *plan* is to go to Melbourne Uni and do Bsci/Master of Engineering. I’m thinking of Bioengineering, as it combines my love of helping others, design, maths and science all into one. If this doesn’t work out, I’m probably going to go into secondary school teaching :). I also want to have a business running on the side.

GENERAL GOALS:
To be happy, always be kind, help others, and make the most of my last year in highschool :)
To eat healthier (at least one fruit a day), drink a lot of water and at least 15 minutes of active movement a day


Thats it for my goals!! Hope it wasn’t too boring. I just wanted to end this post with one more thing, as I finally discovered what the meaning of the name of my journal meant!! I was struggling so hard to find a name for this, and settled on ‘a journey on the yellow brick road.’ Although I knew it was a Wizard of Oz reference, I never really knew what it meant, as I really haven’t watched the film properly (oops).

So I did a little bit of googling and found this for the meaning of it:
'a course of action that a person takes believing that it will lead to good things'

I’m hoping that every action, everything thing I do this year will have meaning, and will help me to achieve my goals, and live a positive, and happy year :). I couldn’t have found a better title for my journal than this - I find it so fitting.

Anywayyyy I’ll stop this super long post, I really hope it didn’t bore you too much!! I’ll probably update this next week because I’ve still not touched anyyyy homework.

Happy New Year!!!
I wish you all the best 2020 and year it could ever possibly be. I believe in you. You’ve GOT THIS!!!

Hello there!!

Darn, it's been so long since I last posted a reply on AN. Yayyyyy, finally found someone who's interested in bioengineering!!!! I'd love to do bioengineering cuz it's a diverse major, where it involves various areas of STEM, including maths, chem, bio and physics, which is so cool!!!! I did psych 3 & 4, tho I cooked it, but it's aight, got my other subjects anyway. I'm doing chem, bio, methods, spesh, and mainstream English. I'm from a Catholic school, so I have to do RE, but I'm choosing to not have it contribute to my ATAR.

I've decided to major in bioengineering at UoM since yr 10, but now, as a final year kiddo who's still thinking about what to do in uni, I'm between bioengineering and pharmacology at UoM. I rlly wanna do different areas of sciences, including bioengineering, where I can create new medical devices, such as sensors and sustainable prosthetics (not getting involved in surgeries tho thanks, can't handle with gore). However, I also wanna do research on drug addiction, and I've been wanting to do that since yr 9 cuz I'm passionate about mental health, and I want to help ppl who are struggling with their lives. I've sent a question about doing double majors at UoM, and they've said that I can do subjects for two majors, but only one major will be featured in my transcript.

In summary, I wanna use science to improve the world overall cuz rn it has countless problems to the point where it needs so many more ppl, like us, to alleviate them. Happy late new year to you and everyone here, and good luck with yr 12!!!!

From mi-xao-14 ^^

EDIT: Oooooooo, I love how the meaning behind the name of your journal, very deep and meaningful!!!!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on March 09, 2020, 08:20:49 pm
9/03/20

Hi AN!! Its been a while since I’ve updated this! Yes I’ve been lazy - and also times been going super fast!! I CANNOT believe its already nearing the end of term 1!! I don’t feel like writing a lot today, so I’ll just outline a few things that have been happening.

1. I have an English SAC this week!! Its a creative response - and nil I’m kinda nervous. I’m actually starting to like English, but I like analysing things, not so much creative writing. I’ve written 4 practise essays (whoop whoop) but I still feel like I’m not at the standard I could be at. My teachers been great though. Also, I uploaded a practise essay on An for the first time! Hopefully I can get some much - needed feedback. I feel like all I’ve done is English lately, so I’m really ready for a break.

2. I have a chemistry and physics sac on the last week. (Fingers crossed they’re not on the same day!!) I’m feeling okay about them - although I say this then I look through my note and nothings in my head lol. I really need to get a move on with studying for these. I just feel like textbook questions are super easy - then I look at exam questions and I get so confused….

3. Specialist Maths - why did I choose this subject again!! I’m desperately trying to find motivation for this but its not working. I’m trying to tell myself that I will be rewarded though if I do well. I didn’t do well at all on our first quiz (well…nor did anyone) so I need to pick up my game. Its just textbook questions are so repetitive.

But anyway - Year 12s been good so far! I do feel like I’m not properly in Year 12 yet since I’ve been pretty chill and not studying much - I hope this won’t come back to bite me! Still scares me that before I know it, the year will be done…

Well…..I better get back to some English study - I hope everyone had a great long weekend!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Chocolatemilkshake on March 10, 2020, 05:18:36 pm
Nice to hear an update Arty! I agree, year 12 is so busy it's so hard to find time to update journals. All the best for your creative SAC (you'll ace it!!)

9/03/20
3. Specialist Maths - why did I choose this subject again!! I’m desperately trying to find motivation for this but its not working. I’m trying to tell myself that I will be rewarded though if I do well. I didn’t do well at all on our first quiz (well…nor did anyone) so I need to pick up my game. Its just textbook questions are so repetitive.

Actually describes me. I stare at circular functions and I simply can't make myself understand  :'( We can cry in spesh together (but I believe in us, we can do it (eventually and hopefully).)
Have a great week! - CM
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on March 12, 2020, 09:06:31 pm
I never have to write a creative response for English ever again.
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Ionic Doc on March 12, 2020, 09:19:25 pm
I never have to write a creative response for English ever again.

Congrats!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Evolio on March 13, 2020, 09:30:37 am
I never have to write a creative response for English ever again.
Yes, go Arty!  ;D
CONGRATULATIONS! It's done!  ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on March 13, 2020, 07:00:19 pm
Congrats!

Yes, go Arty!  ;D
CONGRATULATIONS! It's done!  ;D

Thanks Evolio & Ionic Doc! In short terms, it went okay. I know I could've probs done a bit better (my written response was a bit rambly) but the prompt was fairly easy and I'm hoping for the best.
Also, I kinda asked if I could get a 40+ in English by any chance, and it was a bit of an unsure response. Now I'm seriously thinking my goals are too high! I usually get anywhere between 80-95% on SACS, and pulled an 88% on my exam last year without much study - what do you guys think? Either way, I'm super determined to try my best in English, and hopefully wil be lucky with it this year. I'm also feeling motivated for it too which is good!

-

Now, I'm focusing on Chem & Physics as I have a SAC for them on the last week of term!

- In other news, I'm curious to see how the next week will fair with the virus and stuff. My school is taking preventive measures, but theyre all saying it will only be a matter of time before well get a few days off. Ngl, I think its def needed! Also, we were told that VCAA should release an official statement over the next couple of days. Still - I'm paranoid. I've been taking all my books home everyday, santising and doing all that. Stay safe everyone, look after yourselves!

 ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: whys on March 13, 2020, 07:14:36 pm
Your teacher probably has a good idea of where you're at. But they definitely can't tell you that you can't get a certain study score; there are just too many factors out of their control that determines this. With effort and perseverance, you can definitely do this! My friend's accounting teacher told her she couldn't get above a 25 study score. Guess what? She got 41 :P.

You've got a great goal and I believe in your ability to achieve this! The most important thing is you believe in yourself - if you think you can do it, then you can do it. And I'm not sure why your teacher gave you an unsure response when you seem to be doing quite good. I know scores exactly aren't a good indication of how good you are because difficulty varies from school to school, but scoring that high is a great start. With more study, you'll definitely improve.

Good luck for chem and physics!

And yeah, the coronavirus stuff is all getting very real and I can't help obsessively washing my hands as frequently as possible for much longer than I need to. We have posters around our school that tell us to wash hands to prevent infection now haha. I'm interested to see what VCAA will actually publish, and what they can do in this situation. I think the most likely thing the actual government will do is extend the school holidays, but even then you never know when the outbreak will suddenly get worse. I should probably start taking my books home everyday too! Our school has just told us to do this, but I haven't started doing it yet. I share your paranoia!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on March 14, 2020, 10:03:31 pm
Your teacher probably has a good idea of where you're at. But they definitely can't tell you that you can't get a certain study score; there are just too many factors out of their control that determines this. With effort and perseverance, you can definitely do this! My friend's accounting teacher told her she couldn't get above a 25 study score. Guess what? She got 41 :P.

You've got a great goal and I believe in your ability to achieve this! The most important thing is you believe in yourself - if you think you can do it, then you can do it. And I'm not sure why your teacher gave you an unsure response when you seem to be doing quite good. I know scores exactly aren't a good indication of how good you are because difficulty varies from school to school, but scoring that high is a great start. With more study, you'll definitely improve.

Good luck for chem and physics!

And yeah, the coronavirus stuff is all getting very real and I can't help obsessively washing my hands as frequently as possible for much longer than I need to. We have posters around our school that tell us to wash hands to prevent infection now haha. I'm interested to see what VCAA will actually publish, and what they can do in this situation. I think the most likely thing the actual government will do is extend the school holidays, but even then you never know when the outbreak will suddenly get worse. I should probably start taking my books home everyday too! Our school has just told us to do this, but I haven't started doing it yet. I share your paranoia!

Thanks so much for the reply whys. I do agree with everything you've said. I guess I'll just see what happens after my first SAC and re-evaluate my goals after that  :) We've got handwashing memes around too lol. I'm super wondering whats going to happen in the upcoming days - perhaps we wont get any days off like everyone is hoping? Overall, I think we just all need to keep moving forward, without forgetting studies and stuff (lots of people felt like Friday was the last day of term for some reason..)
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on March 16, 2020, 04:59:23 pm
Its been so hard for me to concentrate on things lately.  I was coping with the virus fine for a while and wasn't too worked up on it, but now some personal things have come up amidst everything and everything is so hard to concentrate on. So. Many. Distractions.

That fact that I dont know whats going to happen next is kinda making me feel weird for some reason.

I have 2 SACs next week and I'm trying ever so hard to be prepared, but motivation and concentration is at a 0.

Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Ionic Doc on March 16, 2020, 05:20:16 pm
Its been so hard for me to concentrate on things lately.  I was coping with the virus fine for a while and wasn't too worked up on it, but now some personal things have come up amidst everything and everything is so hard to concentrate on. So. Many. Distractions.

That fact that I dont know whats going to happen next is kinda making me feel weird for some reason.

I have 2 SACs next week and I'm trying ever so hard to be prepared, but motivation and concentration is at a 0.
I.Feel.You

So many distractions right now in life, but I guess it's important we stay centred/calm and just focus on our health and those around ours and performing to the best of our ability at  school.

I hope you find your motivation and concentration very soon as well. I've recently found mine after some of my SAC's scheduled for next week, was rescheduled to this week. :(
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on March 23, 2020, 09:51:32 pm
23/3/2020 - Last Day of Term One!

Well…..um…..happy last day of Term 1?? Well….not so happy though lol. Feels super strange to be saying this tbh.

Anyway, just felt like doing a short journal post to recap this term, a very strange term indeed. There was meant to be so much to look forward to, but everything got cancelled in the end :(  Not entirely the term I was expecting.

I started off good, fairly motivated, and managed to keep decent study habits throughout the term (but def not as productive as I should’ve been though. The last few weeks felt so strange, as it was so difficult to predict what was going to happen next, so study habits def dropped. I only completed two SACs this term, (chem got cancelled), which makes me kinda anxious….whats going to happen next term? All we be forced to cram a ton into a few weeks, or will we be let off the hook? Only time will tell….

ENGLISH
Oh, I got my English creative mark today, and um….I’m not satisfied. I wrote 4 creative pieces, 3 written explanations, got feedback on all, only to receive an 80 :( Not quite happy with this considering how much I tried. Ngl, it was pretty disappointing to receive this as my first SAC mark back. I’m just so so hoping that this will be the lowest I get, considering creatives are not my strong point, but at this point, nothing feels certain. I’m going to start reading next terms texts on the holidays, and really get a move on.

PHYSICS
Today I did my Physics SAC, I’m satisfied. I do feel like some of my explanations lacked however, as I was running out of time, and I wanted to get all the questions done. Hopefully I did enough! We’ve just finished most of motion, but I do feel behind as we’ve not started relativity/gravity yet. I’m going to try get ahead on this though. (May I add: Physics is super interesting!!!!)

CHEMISTRY
We good. SAC is postponed but I think I’m doing okay (and fairly enjoying) this subject. AOS1 is DONE, time to move on!

SPECIALIST:
Oh goodness. Lets just say that this week is going to be dedicated to: CATCHING UP. (Vectors. Vector Proofs. WHY?)

Overall, my schools testing online learning this week. I think I should be good, as I do work pretty well on my own. As inconvenient as this time is, I’m trying to stay positive and make the most of everything. I’m going to try get a bit ahead/back on track with my subjects, but also knock off a lot of my folio. Stay safe everyone, look after yourselves!

Also……huge shoutout to
angrybiscuit for giving me very detailed and great feedback on one of my practise English essays, I appreciate it SO MUCH.
ashmi - for literally saving me in physics and giving some super detailed information and teaching me about momentum - I’m so thankful.
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ashmi on March 25, 2020, 09:55:13 am
Hey Arty! ;D
So good to see another update!

23/3/2020

ENGLISH
Oh, I got my English creative mark today, and um….I’m not satisfied. I wrote 4 creative pieces, 3 written explanations, got feedback on all, only to receive an 80 :( Not quite happy with this considering how much I tried. Ngl, it was pretty disappointing to receive this as my first SAC mark back. I’m just so so hoping that this will be the lowest I get, considering creatives are not my strong point, but at this point, nothing feels certain. I’m going to start reading next terms texts on the holidays, and really get a move on.
Totally understand that feeling when you try really hard and then it doesn't come out the way you want. It's alright to feel disappointed but don't worry too much! (Plus that's the last creative you will be writing in your life). I believe you are absolutely going to smash the second SAC for English 8). It can only be improvements from this point and I BELIEVE in you!! ;D

PHYSICS
Today I did my Physics SAC, I’m satisfied. I do feel like some of my explanations lacked however, as I was running out of time, and I wanted to get all the questions done. Hopefully I did enough! We’ve just finished most of motion, but I do feel behind as we’ve not started relativity/gravity yet. I’m going to try get ahead on this though. (May I add: Physics is super interesting!!!!)

WOOHOO! Good on you for getting through your Physics SAC! (Super proud of you :D).
Physics is so interesting right now and once you get to Special Relativity, oh lord your brain is going to explode (In a good way).

I’m going to try get a bit ahead/back on track with my subjects, but also knock off a lot of my folio.
How is your folio going Arty?? The progress pictures on your Instagram look beautiful by the way! ;D

ashmi - for literally saving me in physics and giving some super detailed information and teaching me about momentum - I’m so thankful.
Here to help anytime! ;D I love getting Physics questions so if you have any more in the future, just give me a buzz~ Hope it helped you for your SAC :D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Evolio on April 04, 2020, 12:57:55 pm
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(And keeping sane staying at home!)
I think I've been going INSANE lol. Being cooped up in my house all day is really getting to me now.

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I’ve personally had a decently productive week - with a good balance of rest I’d say. I even managed to do 6-ish hours of school work on Tuesday miraculously!
That's great! I'll be using you as inspiration to work productively this coming week.  8)

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Chemistry’s been pretty easy so far, but flipping through the rest of the textbook…..I’m scared…..
Haha, yes, I'm so scared for organic chemistry. Looking at the structural formulas makes me want to drop the subject.

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SPECIALIST: Oh goodness. Well…..I spent a fair bit of time catching up on Vectors this week, as I did like no Spec work late last term oops. (Still haven’t done Vector proofs though…..I’ll save that torture for another time.) Spec takes SO LONG to do, and so much brainpower! I’m understanding vectors more now, as it was my worst topic last year, but I’m slowly getting the hang of it. Our SAC won’t be till late next term (super scared!!!) but I’ll probably start going over early topics next week as light revision. Next is calculus and I’m so looking forward to it!! I know its fairly different and harder than calculus in Methods, but I’m actually looking forward to it….and honestly will be fairly relieved ha ha. I never thought I’d say this, but I actually kinda miss methods. Like although I didn’t get a good study score…..it was actually easy and straightforward? I understood it well, but just wasn’t good at questions ha ha. Anyway…….
Vector proofs are the bane of my existence!  :o Fortunately though apparently they don't come up as often in the exam...but  we still need to do it. *Sigh*. It's good that you're understanding vectors more, doesn't that sense of achievement feel great?  ;D SUPER SCARED AS WELL!!! I mean, it's Specialist. It's okay, we're all in this together (lol) and we can conquer this monstrous sac. Although, it's really good you have your SAC late next term, giving you plenty of time to prepare. Yes, the calculus is different but also cool at the same time!  :D I found implicit differentiation hard to grasp at the start but once you get into it, it's really satisfying! I feel like I'm doing uni maths lol, but that's obviously not the case...

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Oh……also……after 6 Months, my Dahlia plant FINALLY bloomed! The flowers are so beautiful - this made me super happy this week! Its always the little things :)
Aww, that's so sweet! What colour is it? I always get so excited when I see a little baby leaf growing and then gush about it to my parents who don't find it interesting at all, lol.

Have a great rest of the holidays and can't for your next update, ArtyDreams!  ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Chocolatemilkshake on April 17, 2020, 05:51:34 pm
Anyway, I don’t really have much to do on the weekend as we’ve just started topics / I’m ahead / homework and schoolwork have just mushed up into one category / my teachers are going easy on us. I will create a to do list though of things I feel like doing and maybe start getting ahead on things. I’m so curious to see how long this will all last!


That's so good Arty! Looks like the online learning is working well for you, I certainly agree that it has its advantages and is more productive in many ways :) Hope you have a great weekend
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: mi-xao-14 on April 23, 2020, 01:17:28 pm
Hi! I've been contemplating on making a VCE journey journal for a while, but wasnt really sure how to go about it. So I guess I'm just going to wing it ha ha. (A metaphor for my life lol)

Anyway, I guess I'll introduce myself. I'm fairly new to AtarNotes, but I LOVE it. I love the community, as I feel like I can relate to most of the hardworking students here. I love helping people, so I hope I'll be confident enough to answer questions soon too.

Some Random Facts about Me:
- I'm a strong Maths & Science Student, Chemistry being my Favourite! 
- My biggest passion in life is art. I just love the feeling of creating, and drawing anything, making a bland sheet of paper come to life.
- I've played piano in my childhood, as well as tennis. I love following the tennis tour throughout the year!!
- I like to organise and clean (sometimes)
- I have nice handwriting, and I love writing things down, hence why all my school notes are handwritten.
- My biggest goal in life is to help others, be happy and form good relationships with those around me  ;D
- After I finish school, I want to go in the science direction, and I'm thinking of doing BioEngineering, as it combines my love of design, maths, science and helping others all into one! I'd love to do tutoring one day, and MAYBE even teaching if Bioengineering doesnt work out.

Anyway, lets see how much I decide to update this. I'd love to get to know more people here!

And if anyone reads this - THANK YOU - I appreciate anyone that acknowledges my boring life haha.

UPDATE: I had completely forgotten that I replied to you last time LOL SORRY. I thought that I did, but I wasn't sure about it lmao. Let's pretend that I haven't HAHAHAH. I sound like an absolute idiot here 😅😅

Ooooooo hello!!!!! Another potential bioengineering student!!!!! I might be one of them if I do end up going for UoM instead of Monash, and that is the EXACT reason I want to go for bioengineering, but I'm still unsure of my uni pathway. Damnnn, we're similar to each other! Why does this sound like me 🤣. I'm a strong maths student (and relatively at science) too, and I do similar subjects to you, except I did psych 3 & 4 last year, and I'm currently doing chem, bio, methods, spesh and English (no physics unfortunately :( ). I play a bit of tennis as well, and I used to take piano lessons. Idm art, but I'm not the best at it hahah. I like to help ppl too, so I'm aspiring to become a bioengineer and a researcher in drugs and mental health.

I rlly hope everything is going well for you, especially during this pandemic, and everything does change just in a click! I'm a lazy person, so I tend to wake up at 8, then sleep in for a bit lmao. Oooft, online SACs for you, good luck with them, thankfully I don't have any.

Anyway, good luck with Yr 12 and your future endeavours, and I look forward to seeing your updates in your journal!

From mi-xao-14 AKA Tofu ^^
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on April 23, 2020, 01:34:11 pm
UPDATE: I had completely forgotten that I replied to you last time LOL SORRY. I thought that I did, but I wasn't sure about it lmao. Let's pretend that I haven't HAHAHAH. I sound like an absolute idiot here 😅😅

Ooooooo hello!!!!! Another potential bioengineering student!!!!! I might be one of them if I do end up going for UoM instead of Monash, and that is the EXACT reason I want to go for bioengineering, but I'm still unsure of my uni pathway. Damnnn, we're similar to each other! Why does this sound like me 🤣. I'm a strong maths student (and relatively at science) too, and I do similar subjects to you, except I did psych 3 & 4 last year, and I'm currently doing chem, bio, methods, spesh and English (no physics unfortunately :( ). I play a bit of tennis as well, and I used to take piano lessons. Idm art, but I'm not the best at it hahah. I like to help ppl too, so I'm aspiring to become a bioengineer and a researcher in drugs and mental health.

I rlly hope everything is going well for you, especially during this pandemic, and everything does change just in a click! I'm a lazy person, so I tend to wake up at 8, then sleep in for a bit lmao. Oooft, online SACs for you, good luck with them, thankfully I don't have any.

Anyway, good luck with Yr 12 and your future endeavours, and I look forward to seeing your updates in your journal!

From mi-xao-14 AKA Tofu ^^

Aye thats okay! (I think I forgot to reply last time oops) - Thanks for stopping by!
So awesome to see someone else interested in bioengineering - I literally get so excited when I see someone interested in it too - as its not a very common field I think! Looks like we have a lot in common too. - Yay!

Hope online school is going well for you too - have a lovely rest of the week!

That's so good Arty! Looks like the online learning is working well for you, I certainly agree that it has its advantages and is more productive in many ways :) Hope you have a great weekend

Thank you Choco!  ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: mi-xao-14 on April 23, 2020, 01:53:17 pm
Aye thats okay! (I think I forgot to reply last time oops) - Thanks for stopping by!
So awesome to see someone else interested in bioengineering - I literally get so excited when I see someone interested in it too - as its not a very common field I think! Looks like we have a lot in common too. - Yay!

Lmaooo, it's all g. Hahahah yeahhhh ikrrrr, we have a lot of things in common woooo!!!! Online learning's fine for me actually, and for my school, we're only doing two tutorials per subject, which means I'll get a lot of spares over the week, so I better be productive lmao. Also, thanks a lot, hope you'll have a good week too!! ^^
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on April 26, 2020, 05:24:25 pm
Heyoooo AtarNotes!! Thought I’d do a short post with some subject updates today since tomorrow Week 3 of Term 2 starts whoop whoop!
In regards to online school, I’m liking it, because I’ve been much more productive. It does help though, that pretty much all my teachers are doing live online classes where our normal class would be scheduled, so essentially I have a normal school day. I’m so grateful for that though - really helps me stay productive!

Anyway, onto some subject things.

PHYSICS:
Motion has officially been finished! As much as I enjoy motion, I really exited to move on and get into some harder/interesting things. Magnetic fields here I come! Physics has been good so far - I finally got my mark back for the SAC we did last term, and considering the stress I was on those days, I’m happy with my score. (3% off the highest mark yay!) Anyway, I like Physics and I’m excited about whats to come.

ENGLISH:
Been quite slow. Just been working on the oral presentation. Haven’t done much for this subject et and I really need to start writing practise essays in my spare time (language analysis I’m looking right at you). I think well start our next text soon which will hopefully keep me motivated to study for English.

CHEMISTRY:
OMG I just want to get the first SAC out the way - we are doing it this week and it was delayed from last term. I really want to finish AOS1 and move on!! We’ve started equilibrium too and I’m just slowly working my way thorough it - it does seem pretty tricky though :(

SPEC:
Been going good! For the first time this year Im actually up to date and have been doing all the assigned textbook questions. Doing diff has been such a relief (Makes me miss methods…) and its surprisingly been easy so far. Also, our SAC is coming up in like 3 weeks and OMG I literally forgot we had to do a SAC for this subject!! I am improving in spec though thankfully, and I’m enjoying it a lot more than last year.

Other random things:
- I’ve nearly finished my art final!! I CANT wait to finish it because I’ve been working on it for wayyyyyy too long.
- Ive got 2 SACs this week, English Oral Due and 2 quizzes.
- The sunshine this week made me happy
- I’ve been vegetarian for over 2 months now and its been the best 2 months ever.
- I need to start doing more physical movement…..
- I like having my cats company during the school day :)

Anyway, thats it from me today! I hope everyone has a wonderful week!!!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Geoo on April 26, 2020, 05:46:36 pm
It's nice to hear from you again Arty!
Glad to see that you are enjoying online schooling, there really are so many benefits with all the free time left over. Have you been doing much in your spare time?
I remember when I did some physics in year 9, magnets was the one topic I could never get my head around, no matter how hard I tried. So good luck!

That happened to me with my chem SAC, it was delayed from last term so we only really did it the first week back. Yeah equailibrium, has been interesting to say the least. It does appear to be the hardest concept wise, and some of the practical elements are quite tricky, it took me a little while to get ICE under my belt.

I would love to see your art piece once you have finished it (only if you're comfortable sharing it), I think it's great to see more of the creative subjects and projects of the forums.
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I need to start doing more physical movement…..
If that isn't a relatable quote I don't know what is!
And your another cat person, yay. I swear it is split pretty even on atarnotes with people being either a cat or dog person. Although they are cute, I find I am getting less work done when they are around, they have a tendency to sleep on my work, or laptop. How about yours?
Good luck for you chem SAC this week!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Coolgalbornin03Lo on April 26, 2020, 06:49:23 pm
I get the feeling of a sac being pushed back! I have my second AOS1 bio sac and honestly I just wanna move on! Good luck for chem I’m sure you’ll do great! I also have a Chem sac this week but on electrolysis (for some reason our school did AOS 2 backwards so we’re learning dates of reaction and equilibrium this week). Woah is your school up to language analysis already?!?!? Our school is having the text response sac this week. It’s amazing that your up to date with spesh....wish I could say the same for methods
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on April 26, 2020, 07:12:38 pm
It's nice to hear from you again Arty!
Glad to see that you are enjoying online schooling, there really are so many benefits with all the free time left over. Have you been doing much in your spare time?
I remember when I did some physics in year 9, magnets was the one topic I could never get my head around, no matter how hard I tried. So good luck!

Aww thanks so much for replying Geoo! Tbh I haven't really been doing anything extra in my spare time, apart from the usual, watching Youtube and doing activities with family. I did however do a bit of crochet, baking and drawing. The main thing however, is I'm not falling behind in my subjects, as this happens during school whoops.

And I'll def need the good luck ah ha!

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That happened to me with my chem SAC, it was delayed from last term so we only really did it the first week back. Yeah equailibrium, has been interesting to say the least. It does appear to be the hardest concept wise, and some of the practical elements are quite tricky, it took me a little while to get ICE under my belt.

Oh no.....I feel so behind since we've barely started it! Its been pretty bad having our SAC pushed back so much since I've been studying for that without learning new content.....

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I would love to see your art piece once you have finished it (only if you're comfortable sharing it), I think it's great to see more of the creative subjects and projects of the forums.
I'll def share it when I'm done! I'll just hold off until the end of the unit because no one from school has seen it yet - thank you!!

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And your another cat person, yay. I swear it is split pretty even on atarnotes with people being either a cat or dog person. Although they are cute, I find I am getting less work done when they are around, they have a tendency to sleep on my work, or laptop. How about yours?
Good luck for you chem SAC this week!
Honestly....my cat is such a scaredy cat! She usually comes when I'm doing work but she rarely stays for long. After a few pats shes satisfied/tries to come on my lap. I really wish she'd just sit on my table and wait but she never does lol (maybe coz its glass)? Shes suh a scaredy cat and never comes when online classes are on because shes scared of the peoples voices ah ha. Cats are the best though!

Thank you!! Hope you have a great week Geoo  ;D

I get the feeling of a sac being pushed back! I have my second AOS1 bio sac and honestly I just wanna move on! Good luck for chem I’m sure you’ll do great! I also have a Chem sac this week but on electrolysis (for some reason our school did AOS 2 backwards so we’re learning dates of reaction and equilibrium this week). Woah is your school up to language analysis already?!?!? Our school is having the text response sac this week. It’s amazing that your up to date with spesh....wish I could say the same for methods

Good luck for your chem SAC too! Oh thats strange ah ha - how are you finding electrolysis? My school is no where near language anaylsis - its just the area I struggle with the most and need the most practise with . We havent even started learning our text for text response!
**Sending lots of good vibes for methods!!** Reach out if you ever need help/motivation  :D

Have an awesome week!!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Coolgalbornin03Lo on April 26, 2020, 07:21:07 pm
Wait I just realised we did AOS 2 backwards because electrolysis relates better to galvanic cells which was the last topic in AOS1.
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ashmi on April 26, 2020, 08:09:17 pm
Hey Hey Arty!! ;D

Amazing to hear from you and that you are doing such a wonderful job :D.

PHYSICS:
Motion has officially been finished! As much as I enjoy motion, I really exited to move on and get into some harder/interesting things. Magnetic fields here I come! Physics has been good so far - I finally got my mark back for the SAC we did last term, and considering the stress I was on those days, I’m happy with my score. (3% off the highest mark yay!) Anyway, I like Physics and I’m excited about whats to come.
I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!! You did a spectacular job Arty and congrats for finishing motion! Oh yeah time to move onto Fields 8).
Let's keep that motivation going! :)


Other random things:
- I’ve nearly finished my art final!! I CANT wait to finish it because I’ve been working on it for wayyyyyy too long.
- Ive got 2 SACs this week, English Oral Due and 2 quizzes.
- The sunshine this week made me happy
- I’ve been vegetarian for over 2 months now and its been the best 2 months ever.
- I need to start doing more physical movement…..
- I like having my cats company during the school day :)

How on earth have you nearly finished your art final already... *insert shocked face*
That is a MASSIVE achievement and I'm so excited to see the final product. Make sure you show us what it looks like at the end! Having your pets around all day is a great feeling too (I did a cat pet day with my friend during a class and it was absolutely hilarious).

Good luck for your upcoming SACs Arty and I hope you have a great week! :)
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on May 01, 2020, 08:21:22 pm
**MINI UPDATE** - May 1st!

Hi everyone!! Thought I'd pop in with a small update today :)

So I had my Chem SAC this week on AOS1- and I'm not happy. (we got given the questions sent to us and had a 45 minute time frame to answer the questions on paper and send it back.) It was a really long SAC for the time frame, literally less than 1 mark a minute, and I dont think I breathed that entire time. I had studied so hard, and trust me, I knew all the content on the SAC, but it was not good. I managed to answer all-ish of the questions but I know that there was so much I got wrong. (Such as the fuel cell question.....which I completely looked over the fact that it was a ceramic electrolyte....) I am also not feeling good about it at all since I had NO time to check over my calculations - which scares me so much. Worst thing is, I literally have the answers to my SAC in the same room as me. Scary! I thought I could manage a 90 after the SAC, then realised I had no chance at that and was hoping for an 80, but now, I'm literally thinking itll be like 70 or something. And worst thing is, this SAC is worth MORE now!!!

Okay, enough ranting about that SAC.

Kinda disappointed in some of the study design changes tbh. English oral was one of my hopes in redeeming myself, and its worth barely anything now! Not to mention, I literally submitted that today….also……the language analysis SAC that I have in just over a week is worth more now. Why? WHY?
With Spec, I’m sad that statistics was taken out as I really enjoyed it in methods last year and it literally SAVED me in the exam!
With Chemistry I’m sad because most of the food chem stuff was taken out and it was what I was looking forward to the most - but I’ll probably just learn a bit of it anyway.
Physics I’m not tooooooo fussed. At least its one less topic to study (kinda)

Anyway, I’ve got no SACs for next week so I’ll work on getting a a bit ahead in Chemistry and Physics. The good thing about me being at home is I’m not behind in anything…and I’ve actually been doing the textbook work for spec rather than skipping over most of it…

Im going to chill now and create some art for fun….its been a while since I drew something that wasn’t for my folio!

Hope everyone has a good weekend! (And stay warm….winters coming and I’m not sure how I feel about that)
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Geoo on May 01, 2020, 10:50:26 pm
Are, are we the same person!
Hey Arty,
I am right with you there; food chem was arguably one of the most interesting aspect's of 3/4 chem that I was really looking forward too. It is such a shame that it will no longer be included, but we still have the textbook, and can take a quick peak at everything which is good at least!
It's a bummer what happened with your chem SAC, I am in the same position, except it was the teachers that kind of ruined mine. You can strike back next time, and try to make the most out of unit 3, and lets hope for the best in unit 4,
i'm sure you nailed your calculations!
What was your oral on? It's sad that it won't be worth as much, it was also my chance at redeeming myself, so I totally feel your frustration! Good luck on you language analysis, i'm sure you will do great!!!

To be honest, it feels like winter already and we haven't even finished autumn!!
Stay warm too, and enjoy your week free if SACs.
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ashmi on May 02, 2020, 07:58:55 am
Hey hey Arty!! ;D

First of all, congrats for making it through your Chem SAC! Big achievement right there and just like geoo has said above, I think we are all the same person 🤣.
I think you did an amazing job I'm sure the SAC is a lot better than you think it is! (Plus I'm 100% sure your calculations are all good)

Good luck for your language analysis SAC! You can do it and try not to think about how much it's worth now due to new study design changes.
Have a good week Arty ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on May 15, 2020, 12:10:42 pm
I almost forgot this journal exists! So sorry for not replying!

Thanks for the support Geoo and ashmi! It really means a lot to me. Yes - we've got this! We will get through the year on a high!

**MINI UPDATE** - May 15th
Hey AN! Long time no see! Thought today would be fitting for an update.

 I've got 2 SACs next week, Physics and English. The physics one is a test on fields and honestly I'm not the biggest fan of this topic. I think I understand it fairly well but I do need a lot more practise. I can already tell this weekend will be a weekend of smashing out countless amounts of questions!

My language analysis SAC is now this week and I'm feeling meh about it. Language analysis and I aren't the best of friends, but we are slowly building our relationship. Hopefully we'll be best friends by the end of the year! I've done 2 practise essays and I'll try get 2 more done before the SAC, as I really want to get 80 or above.

So.......the specialist application task is a thing. In LESS than 2 weeks. And we still have to cover half of chapter 7 and all of 8. I'm trying to get ahead but its kinda difficult when excercises take forever and I have other things to do! Its SO soon!!! Also its the week we get back to school so I'm not really happy about that. Honetsly this was the one SAC I wouldve love to do at home, as I feel so stressed in spec class lol. But all in all, I'm kinda enjoying spec to an extent which is a good thing. Diff was really easy and fun and made me feel good about my capabilities in spec lol.
But I hate trig functions so much......

Anyway, about going back to school. At first I was really disapointed as its SO SOON! I was kinda expecting another week though. Online schooling has been super good to me, as I feel like I've done quite a lot of work at home, and have been motivated. Not to mention, having spare time has made me more focused during my schoolwork? Because I get to sleep in I'm more ready for the day too. I like being able to work at my own pace, and SACs at home are chill! At school everyone talks about the SAC as soon as its done making me stressed ah ha. I'm also not tired 'after school,' so I get more done then too.
But that being said, I'm also feeling okay about school starting now. I think it'll be nice to finish off Year 12 with a bang, rather than thinking you were home for most of Year 12 if you get what I mean. Also, sometimes I like the fast paced nature of school. Being at home can sometimes feel like a drag, and that all the days have been merged into one big clump. Also, isnt it crazy to think we've been home for longer than our summer break? I kinda feel like it went fast!

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great weekend (and enjoy the sun we have!)

Spoiler
One more thing...
I've finally finished Unit 3 ART!!!!!!!
All done.
Finished.
!!!

Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on June 02, 2020, 05:21:04 pm
**WINTER is here! - UPDATE** - JUNE 2nd
Okay wow its been WAY too long without an update! Almost forgot this existed oops. Anyway I hope everyone has been doing well he last few weeks, and enjoying being back at school!

Anyway, I’ve got a lot on my mind so lets see how this goes.

I loved being at home to a point that I was so sad I had to go back to school, but now that we’ve started I’m glad to be back! I love all my classes and my teachers so its been fun to reconnect with the classroom environment!

Some subject updates…….
SPECIALIST:
Application task is officially FINISHED!! The first part of the SAC was accessible and I think I did well, but when it got to the open ended ones I think I completely bombed it whoops. Luckily I wasn’t the only one who struggled! I’m actually feeling good about spec though and I’m enjoying the subject, and kinda finding it easy?

PHYSICS:
Did super super good on my fields SAC but now prepping for my SAC on AOS2 which is next week. I haven’t been focussing well in physics class lately so I have a LOT of work to do!

CHEMISTRY:
Yeah, lets not talk about this. I received my mark back for the AOS1 SAC, and my mark is atrocious. It almost doesn’t feel right. I’ve aced chemistry the past few years and enjoyed it so much, but this result just makes me feel so mad inside. I understood all the content but somehow managed to pull out a SAC so badly! I don’t really have much motivation for chemistry anymore, but I am determined to ace the next sac on equilibrium and electrolysis which will be on the last week of term.

ENGLISH:
Yeah….not feeling satisfied with English at the moment. We started Women of Troy and I HATE it. I do not understand anything and it doesn’t make sense to me at all. Not to mention, its fairly a new text so there's barely any resources on it. I’m hoping I will be able to get past the TR SAC and then I’ll never have to do it ever again!

In other terms, it doesn’t feel like Year 12. I’ve been super chill about my studies, not staying up late to study, haven’t had weeks full of SACs (although this will probs change next term ahaha) and everyone around me seems to be taking year 12 lightly too. I can’t decide if its coz I’m finding it easy or I’m not studying enough? Like I’m on top of everything/slightly ahead so I’m not sure. Its almost like I feel stressed about the fact that I’m not stressed.

Anyway, I hope school has been treating everyone else well! Have an awesome evening.
P.S. How is it already JUNE?? Winter, I'm not looking forward to your coldness. But I am looking forward to excessive amounts of hot chocolate, candles and blankets.

Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Chocolatemilkshake on June 03, 2020, 06:50:59 am
Yes an update from Arty  8) I can't believe winter is here already either, I feel like we were only just starting year 12 a moment ago.
 
SPECIALIST:
Application task is officially FINISHED!! The first part of the SAC was accessible and I think I did well, but when it got to the open ended ones I think I completely bombed it whoops. Luckily I wasn’t the only one who struggled! I’m actually feeling good about spec though and I’m enjoying the subject, and kinda finding it easy?
YES! Congrats, this is amazing! (I just finished mine too so I know the relief you feel!) Also finding spec easy?? Can you lend me your brain haha

PHYSICS:
Did super super good on my fields SAC but now prepping for my SAC on AOS2 which is next week. I haven’t been focussing well in physics class lately so I have a LOT of work to do!

CHEMISTRY:
Yeah, lets not talk about this. I received my mark back for the AOS1 SAC, and my mark is atrocious. It almost doesn’t feel right. I’ve aced chemistry the past few years and enjoyed it so much, but this result just makes me feel so mad inside. I understood all the content but somehow managed to pull out a SAC so badly! I don’t really have much motivation for chemistry anymore, but I am determined to ace the next sac on equilibrium and electrolysis which will be on the last week of term.
In other terms, it doesn’t feel like Year 12. I’ve been super chill about my studies, not staying up late to study, haven’t had weeks full of SACs (although this will probs change next term ahaha) and everyone around me seems to be taking year 12 lightly too. I can’t decide if its coz I’m finding it easy or I’m not studying enough? Like I’m on top of everything/slightly ahead so I’m not sure. Its almost like I feel stressed about the fact that I’m not stressed.
Great work on your physics sac and good luck for your next SAC! And of course, one bad mark in chemistry does not indicate how good/bad you are at chemistry and I love your attitude for AOS 2 (you'll do great). You should be super proud about finding the balance between taking your subjects seriously but also not over stressing, this is something a lot of people really struggle with and in my opinion it will definitely help you in the long run.

Spoiler
Its nice to hear your thoughts and it makes your journal feel so genuine. Whilst I don't really have any advice as such, you should be proud that you've stuck at it! There will always be opportunities to make more friendships in the following years and it does not mean you are any less important than anyone else ;) Choosing subjects that you enjoy is always the best way to go and I'm sorry that you don't have too many friends in your classes. Just remember you've got this and you're not alone no matter how much you feel it. (ah sorry if that paragraph wasn't helpful at all but I really wanted to reply. I love this journal so much:))   
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on June 03, 2020, 02:43:44 pm
Yay a reply from Choco!

Quote
Also finding spec easy?? Can you lend me your brain haha
Trust me my spec brain is not very good ah ha. I think its because we havent moved onto much difficult things yet as we didn't have much time to cover everything before our SAC. (i.e. applications of integration, etc) But I'm glad I'm enjoying it to an extent!
Also how good is it that probability has been removed?

Thank you so so much for your kind words Choco. You've really lifted my spirits and I'm forever grateful. It means a lot to me that I have such great support here. And I'm totally honoured and confused that someone enjoys reading my rants ah ha that you love really my journal! Right back at ya  :D

Have a great week!

Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on June 11, 2020, 04:53:56 pm
A Small Rant ~

Just wanted to pop in today with a mini rant because I’m just feeling so frustrated and bored.

I’m not finding school interesting at all. The pace we’re moving at is so slow, and makes me feel so disengaged. I try go ahead in my subjects, and then I find myself sitting in class, bored out of my mind. No one around me studies much, making me feel even less motivated.

At the same time, because I don’t have much work to do, I feel like I’m not studying enough. Like, I literally do 1 hour of study at night. Its not that I even procrastinate, it just feels like I’m doing everything with no purpose. And its not like I start anything else either, I don’t actually do much else besides studying. Its Year 12, yet I feel like its not, as it doesn’t feel ‘busy.’ Not to mention, I’m feeling so lonely :(

Also in other terms (not as negative ahah) I’m feeling bored because there was non-academic things I was meant to be doing, but got cancelled because of COVID. I was meant to tutor younger year levels after school this year for maths, and I’m so disappointed I can’t anymore. I absolutely love teaching and helping people, and I actually can’t wait until school finishes so I can finally get a job in tutoring. At the moment, helping my friends with the occasional methods problems will just have to do.

Anyway, thats my mini rant over. I’ve got 2 more SACs this Term and then UNIT 3 is OVER!! Like how crazy is that?? It went by quite quickly actually and was nothing like I would have ever imagined. Believe it or not, I’m actually excited for the hustle and hectic nature of Unit 4!

Also I feel like the weekend just came and its nearly here again (def not complaining though!) - hope everyone has a nice evening :)

Arty x

Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ashmi on June 11, 2020, 07:13:27 pm
Hey Arty! ;D

So glad to see another update ;D (Oh boy you wouldn't believe how loudly I just screamed)
I do agree with you on the slow pace of things here and there, especially with the new study design changes where there is not much to do. Don't worry, it's alright to feel demotivated every once in a while and there is definitely not a set restriction of how much you should be studying in a day (just whatever works for you and you feel comfortable with :D). It's a bit of a weird time because I sort of feel the same way? Like, it doesn't feel busy enough where I'm constantly having to run around? (We need to go out together for food or something sometime in the future. When the Physics lecture starts again you must come with me muhaha).

(Can I just also add, tutoring people has such a rewarding feeling). I think we are all so ready for Covid to be over and get on with our lives again. I would also love to see your art stall when it gets back in business too

Two more SACs?! That's such good news and good luck for them! I know you will smash it as always and do an amazing job Arty 8). Have a good day tomorrow and enjoy your weekend :)
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on June 26, 2020, 04:59:00 pm
Update - END OF UNIT 3

Anddddddddd Unit 3 is officially OVER! (Apart from one SAC postponed to next term but ah well). It’s been the strangest term ever, but kind of good at the same time? I think because of the home learning period, I don’t feel as tired which means: lots of work must get done these holidays!!
Unit 3 has gone okay overall. Its honestly crazy to think that we are essentially half way through year 12 - only one full term and bit to go! Honestly kind of scary tbh. I had one very dodgy SAC score this term, but all the rest were above 80 so I’m happy!

Also this will probably be a very long post so enjoy!

Subject Recaps

Chemistry:
Well………achieved a very, very dodgy score for the AOS1 SAC. Luckily, everyone else did bad, but still. I somewhat redeemed myself on the second one - still wasn’t the best but I’m still happy and relieved! I really want to pick up my game for this subject because I do enjoy it so much and I’m hoping to pursue it to a great level in the future. I’m so excited for next semester when we do O-Chem and Food Chem, as it seems super interesting and relevant! Right now we’re working on our Investigation, but I’m looking to get ahead on at least the next AOS on the holidays. I feel like most of Chem is me teaching myself, and just consolidating my learning in class. My teacher hasn’t noticed this yet, but I do struggle to understand concepts in class, but I do love teaching myself things.

Physics:
I’m enjoying this subject a lot too! Some concepts are a bit of a drag, but I’ve had a good run with Physics this Unit. Imo our SACs were fairly easy, but I did super well on them so I’m happy. There’s not many girls in my Year Level doing Physics, making me want to try harder to make my teacher proud. I’m excited yet terrified about what’s to come with this subject.

Specialist:
Honestly felt like dropping this for Further at the end of last year, but I’m SO glad I kept it!! I’m really not exceptional at this subject or anything, but it has made so much sense to me this year compared to last year. Most of ½ feels so irrelevant! I feel like spec has a lot of concepts relevant to real life, so it does excite me. Next terms spec has a big physics flavour – not sure if I like that or not but we’ll see. Also, I did fairly decently on my Application Task! I managed to get an 80 which is a good score according to my teacher, and although not the highest in the class, I’m hoping it’s a good rank. The good thing is though, I essentially lost all the marks I did on the open-ended bit on the SAC. Makes me feel okay as I managed to get all the ‘exam style,’ questions right 

English:
Yeah, let’s not go into detail. This subject is such a bore and my scores have been reflecting it – mid 80s. My TR SAC is first week back, and I have so, so much work to do before then! I do have high hopes for that and the comparative though, as they were my strongest last year. English is boringgggggg but I really need to focus more in class next term and gte more done.

Art:
We all good. Need to knock off a lot of my folio on the holidays. I worked on my last one for 6 months and now I have 2 months to finish this one. Save me!

Study Score Goals
As inspired by all the other awesome journey journals, here are some study score goals and dreams! They haven’t changed tooooo much from the start of the year.

Reasonable Goals:
Chem: 38
Physics: 38
English: 36
Art: 46
Spec: 34
Approx Atar: somehow gives a 96…….no clue how its so high though….

The dream:
Chem: 40
Physics: 42
English: 40
Spec: 37
Art: 48
Approx Atar: 98……yeah not much chance……

Future Plans
So I’ve been thinking more lately about what I want to do next year – as applications will probably open sooner than ever. So I have two options I think, but they’re not veryyyyy good. So I really want to go to UniMelb, as it seems pretty good for Science, and also the most convenient Uni travel wise. Monash seems like a good Uni to, but it’ll take almost 2 hours commute each morning by car, I don’t have a ride for it, and train takes too long too.

Anyway, the Plan:
1.   Bachelor of Sci @ UniMelb
-   Major in Bioengineering
-   Masters of Engineering
Possibly become a biomed engineer. This job seems awesome and something I’ll enjoy doing, as I love design, physics, chem and helping people. The only thing putting me off is the fact that there aren’t many jobs available, and from what I’ve heard, people have struggled when they’ve entered this field. What do you all think? Do it because I have an interest in it, or don’t because there’s no jobs?

The backup plan:
1.   Bachelor of Sci @ UniMelb
-   Major in Chem
-   Masters of Science (I think this exists)
-   Lecturer/Academic
I do like teaching and I do like the prospect of becoming an academic/professor so I think this is a good option for me as well 
-   Doctor of Philosophy (at some stage)

Random Thoughts
I’m writing this at lunchtime on the last day of Term 2. By myself. Friends have left me and these are the times I feel that I cannot wait for school to be over. Tbh it kinda sucks, being left alone on a day that should be a happy day full of celebration. (Well not entirely a celebration but you know what I mean.) Its been a stressful week for me, with a few highs and many lows. I just felt so lost and lonely, with no one to confine in. I always seem like I'm always put together, understanding everything going on around me, working hard.

So I guess I’ll stop this post here. I have soooooooooo much work to do these holidays, so I’ll pop in with a holiday update sometime soon. 
And thanks everyone for tuning into this semester. I’m addicted to reading everyone elses journey posts too, and I’m so grateful for this community.

Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ashmi on June 27, 2020, 05:16:54 pm
Hey hey Arty!  ;D
(One of my fav journals to read on AN 8) )

I absolutely love this new journal update and it's great to see that you are enjoying it! I'm so happy that Unit 3 is done and dusted woohoo and now we are nearly on our way to getting through Yr 12. Congrats on getting so far in your folio already! That is a big achievement alone and the pain of getting a folio together let alone getting it done is something to be proud of. (I'm so proud of you and the progress you have made with your folio!)

By the way, I 100% believe in you that you will achieve your goals! I see a very passionate and hard-working person in this journal and your efforts will definitely pay off :D.

Spoiler
I'm putting this bit into a spoiler because I have so much to say🤣

I can't believe applications are going to open up really soon too. Your preferences are great Arty and it's so well thought out! (Yay to UniMelb for convenience whoop whoop). Bioengineering sounds so good for you Arty and my personal opinion is that you follow what you are passionate in. You never know where you are going to get a job in the future and also by doing engineering, you learn a lot of other skills so there will definitely be something out there coming your way ;).

(We are totally going to be best buddies in uni if we end up going to UniMelb hands-down! Also, I think we must be living parallel lives or something because I was also planning on teaching as a back-up plan)


Spoiler
Same though you are not alone when you say you want school to be over. If you ever want someone to talk to give me a buzz anytime! Yeah sometimes people think you are so well put together and ok with life that no one asks how you are going. It is alright to feel like that and in the end, we only have a few more months to go. (plus as stated above, we are defs going to be best buds in uni if we both go to unimelb) ;D
Thanks Arty for the update and have an amazing weekend!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on June 27, 2020, 08:40:10 pm
Hey hey Arty!  ;D
(One of my fav journals to read on AN 8) )

I absolutely love this new journal update and it's great to see that you are enjoying it! I'm so happy that Unit 3 is done and dusted woohoo and now we are nearly on our way to getting through Yr 12. Congrats on getting so far in your folio already! That is a big achievement alone and the pain of getting a folio together let alone getting it done is something to be proud of. (I'm so proud of you and the progress you have made with your folio!)

By the way, I 100% believe in you that you will achieve your goals! I see a very passionate and hard-working person in this journal and your efforts will definitely pay off :D.

Spoiler
I'm putting this bit into a spoiler because I have so much to say🤣

I can't believe applications are going to open up really soon too. Your preferences are great Arty and it's so well thought out! (Yay to UniMelb for convenience whoop whoop). Bioengineering sounds so good for you Arty and my personal opinion is that you follow what you are passionate in. You never know where you are going to get a job in the future and also by doing engineering, you learn a lot of other skills so there will definitely be something out there coming your way ;).

(We are totally going to be best buddies in uni if we end up going to UniMelb hands-down! Also, I think we must be living parallel lives or something because I was also planning on teaching as a back-up plan)


Spoiler
Same though you are not alone when you say you want school to be over. If you ever want someone to talk to give me a buzz anytime! Yeah sometimes people think you are so well put together and ok with life that no one asks how you are going. It is alright to feel like that and in the end, we only have a few more months to go. (plus as stated above, we are defs going to be best buds in uni if we both go to unimelb) ;D
Thanks Arty for the update and have an amazing weekend!

Haiiiiii Ash!!
I'm so honoured you read this journal ah ha ~

Your kind words mean so so much to me, and I'm so grateful for your support! We are so old lol.

And yesssss UniMelb gang! I'm excited! Hopefully we'll get to catch up soon!

Thanks so much for everything Ash :)

Have an awesome holiday!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on July 24, 2020, 06:30:03 pm
Hi everyone! Long time no update, but I hope everyones had an awesome start to term 3! I can't believe its already term three - feels like it came so fast yet so slow!

I just thought I'd pop in with a mini update today ~ My SACs are kinda spread out across the term so I'm happy, but still got so much work to do all the same! I'm enjoying what we're learning in all my subjects (except Spec - I dislike kinematics very, very much) and for the first time ever I'm excited about english ah ha. I love comparing texts!

Note to self (written before this term started)
So, in general, apart from giving my all for all my SACs, I have some other things I need to work on.
I’m making it my intention to be happy no matter what, and try and be smiley and talkative with everyone around me.
And here’s the important one. I want to finally be myself and be an independent person. I am doing Year 12 for myself and no one else, and for once, I will STOP caring about what others think. I will study without caring about me doing more than others (big habit…need to stop), stop feeling bad because other people aren’t working as hard as me, and conquer the rest of the year as MYSELF. No one else. ME. If I don’t make this change now and don’t stop being self-conscious, I’m going to end this year with too many regrets. I can and I will.

Anyway, I’m ready to conquer this term.

English SAC disappointment
Well….I thought I was good at text response and ready for this SAC after all the preparation I had done. I was enjoying my text by the end of it, and I was ready to conquer this SAC. Like, I did SO much work for this!!

And then the SAC came.

The prompt I chose was fairly straightforward – this first issue though it was a ‘How’ question. I do generally know how to address these questions, but I hadn’t done any practices with how questions. So that screwed me up a bit – I started over complicating all my ideas, and ended up with three, very messy body paragraphs.
So I essentially thought of my three paragraphs, wasn’t too convinced with my third one but I thought I’d start writing. I seriously under estimated the time I had, didn’t have time to change my last idea, and everything just turned into a big mess. I was literally trying to chuck in quotes in my essay because I needed too, didn’t analyse in depth, didn’t mention all the characters even though I really wanted to, and ended up with a big messy essay with 3 ideas that weren’t even clear. And I don’t even think I talked about author intent enough. I love text response essays, and this was just hopeless. I’m so disappointed – I wasn’t entirely planning on writing on this text for my exam, but with the amount of work I put in I’m so disappointed it ended like this. I had so much good vocab I wanted to use, so many key analyses I had thought of, but it really didn’t work out.

I’m disappointed – hoping for the best but seriously not expecting much. I usually feel like this after most English SACs, but this time – I really, really, really mean it. 

Anyway, thats all I have for today. COVID seems so so scary and I really hope it gets better soon! I feel so worried going to school (but yes, do applaud the school and children trying their best. Mask use was quite good this week, everyone's slowly getting used to it now)
Stay safe everyone!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: whys on July 24, 2020, 09:46:28 pm
Hi ArtyDreams!
I love comparing texts!
Me too! Comparing texts is honestly quite fun, and I prefer it over text response (mostly because I'm not the biggest fan of Shakespeare).

I want to finally be myself and be an independent person. I am doing Year 12 for myself and no one else, and for once, I will STOP caring about what others think. I will study without caring about me doing more than others (big habit…need to stop), stop feeling bad because other people aren’t working as hard as me, and conquer the rest of the year as MYSELF. No one else. ME. If I don’t make this change now and don’t stop being self-conscious, I’m going to end this year with too many regrets. I can and I will.
A great initiative - everyone often gets caught up with what the world thinks and expects of them, consequently neglecting their own feelings/goals/dreams. You've got this Arty! Go on and conquer the rest of the year and beyond. Now that I know it's not just me who's having a random bout of motivation in term 3, I feel a little less weird. I was expecting to be more demotivated at this time, but it seems that getting closer to exams, my drive to do well is unexpectedly increasing. Anyways, best of luck for everything - and do it for YOU.

So I essentially thought of my three paragraphs, wasn’t too convinced with my third one but I thought I’d start writing. I seriously under estimated the time I had, didn’t have time to change my last idea, and everything just turned into a big mess. I was literally trying to chuck in quotes in my essay because I needed too, didn’t analyse in depth, didn’t mention all the characters even though I really wanted to, and ended up with a big messy essay with 3 ideas that weren’t even clear. And I don’t even think I talked about author intent enough. I love text response essays, and this was just hopeless. I’m so disappointed – I wasn’t entirely planning on writing on this text for my exam, but with the amount of work I put in I’m so disappointed it ended like this. I had so much good vocab I wanted to use, so many key analyses I had thought of, but it really didn’t work out.
This bears an uncanny similarity to my own text response sac... are we the same person?!?! Either way, all you can do now is push on. It's over, and you prepared to the best of your ability. But sometimes, things don't always go the way we want it to, and that's okay. You've been given an opportunity to identify and learn why it went this way, and you won't do the same thing on the exam. Although the failure of being unable to reach your expectations may weigh down on you, remember that it's the small failures that lead up to big successes. It's easy to get caught up about what you think you didn't do well on, and forget about celebrating everything you DID do well and succeeded in. Don't lose sight of that! And I bet you didn't do as bad as you think, because we often tend to exaggerate things. Even if you didn't do too well, it's all a learning experience for the exam at the end of the day. Keep at it!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on July 25, 2020, 10:15:20 am
Aw thanks so much whys!! (and I'm seriously honoured you read this journal ah ha)

I guess theres no better time than to have motivation in term 3 right? We've got this! Fingers crossed it lasts ah ha.

Thanks for your kinda words about english - I really truly appreciate it  :D

Have an awesome weekend !!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ashmi on July 26, 2020, 06:38:34 pm
Hey Arty!! 😊

(Why am I so late seeing journal updates from my fav journalers on AN?)

Spoiler
You know when you start seeing things in a spoiler it's going to get juicy. 8)

First of all, YOU GO ARTY! You got this and I love your determination to better yourself without worrying about what others think. You are definitely going to smash this year and your efforts are not going unnoticed. I believe in you and I'm pretty sure anyone that reads your journal also has your back!!

Second, English. As whys has said above, I think we may all be the same person spiritually. I know that feeling when you have so many ideas before a SAC but as soon as you get in your mind goes foggy and everything becomes a mess you can't save. It is alright Arty because as whys has already said (fantastic advice), it's a learning experience! (Plus everything gets moderated by exams but lets not go there... ). You will be fine in the end Arty and I'm pretty sure you will do exceptionally well in the end of year exams!

Thanks for the update Arty and enjoy the rest of your weekend and get pumped for another week of school!💖
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Bri MT on July 26, 2020, 08:15:26 pm
Hi everyone! Long time no update, but I hope everyones had an awesome start to term 3! I can't believe its already term three - feels like it came so fast yet so slow!

I just thought I'd pop in with a mini update today ~ My SACs are kinda spread out across the term so I'm happy, but still got so much work to do all the same! I'm enjoying what we're learning in all my subjects (except Spec - I dislike kinematics very, very much) and for the first time ever I'm excited about english ah ha. I love comparing texts!

Note to self (written before this term started)
So, in general, apart from giving my all for all my SACs, I have some other things I need to work on.
I’m making it my intention to be happy no matter what, and try and be smiley and talkative with everyone around me.
And here’s the important one. I want to finally be myself and be an independent person. I am doing Year 12 for myself and no one else, and for once, I will STOP caring about what others think. I will study without caring about me doing more than others (big habit…need to stop), stop feeling bad because other people aren’t working as hard as me, and conquer the rest of the year as MYSELF. No one else. ME. If I don’t make this change now and don’t stop being self-conscious, I’m going to end this year with too many regrets. I can and I will.

Anyway, I’m ready to conquer this term.

English SAC disappointment
Well….I thought I was good at text response and ready for this SAC after all the preparation I had done. I was enjoying my text by the end of it, and I was ready to conquer this SAC. Like, I did SO much work for this!!

And then the SAC came.

The prompt I chose was fairly straightforward – this first issue though it was a ‘How’ question. I do generally know how to address these questions, but I hadn’t done any practices with how questions. So that screwed me up a bit – I started over complicating all my ideas, and ended up with three, very messy body paragraphs.
So I essentially thought of my three paragraphs, wasn’t too convinced with my third one but I thought I’d start writing. I seriously under estimated the time I had, didn’t have time to change my last idea, and everything just turned into a big mess. I was literally trying to chuck in quotes in my essay because I needed too, didn’t analyse in depth, didn’t mention all the characters even though I really wanted to, and ended up with a big messy essay with 3 ideas that weren’t even clear. And I don’t even think I talked about author intent enough. I love text response essays, and this was just hopeless. I’m so disappointed – I wasn’t entirely planning on writing on this text for my exam, but with the amount of work I put in I’m so disappointed it ended like this. I had so much good vocab I wanted to use, so many key analyses I had thought of, but it really didn’t work out.

I’m disappointed – hoping for the best but seriously not expecting much. I usually feel like this after most English SACs, but this time – I really, really, really mean it. 

Anyway, thats all I have for today. COVID seems so so scary and I really hope it gets better soon! I feel so worried going to school (but yes, do applaud the school and children trying their best. Mask use was quite good this week, everyone's slowly getting used to it now)
Stay safe everyone!

response to 1st spoiler
Happiness is an emotion, so like other emotions I don't think it's possible or good to be that all of the time but there's certainly nothing wrong with adopting a positive mindset! (Sorry if that was me being overly pedantic I'm just a bit cautious about the expectation to always be happy - whether that's self-imposed or not.)

Best of luck with relying more on yourself for how you view your actions & for practicing new perspectives!

You dislike kinematics?? Noooo that wounds the physics part of me :'(

I found using a disposable mask fairly annoying but now I have a reusable one which is much more comfy :)
Luckily I don't really need to go outside much anyway.
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on July 26, 2020, 09:31:41 pm
Hey Arty!! 😊

(Why am I so late seeing journal updates from my fav journalers on AN?)

Spoiler
You know when you start seeing things in a spoiler it's going to get juicy. 8)

First of all, YOU GO ARTY! You got this and I love your determination to better yourself without worrying about what others think. You are definitely going to smash this year and your efforts are not going unnoticed. I believe in you and I'm pretty sure anyone that reads your journal also has your back!!

Second, English. As whys has said above, I think we may all be the same person spiritually. I know that feeling when you have so many ideas before a SAC but as soon as you get in your mind goes foggy and everything becomes a mess you can't save. It is alright Arty because as whys has already said (fantastic advice), it's a learning experience! (Plus everything gets moderated by exams but lets not go there... ). You will be fine in the end Arty and I'm pretty sure you will do exceptionally well in the end of year exams!

Thanks for the update Arty and enjoy the rest of your weekend and get pumped for another week of school!💖

Heyooooo Ash!! My fave physics buddy
Thank you so much for your kind words Ashmi! You're always so supportive to me and I've forever grateful <3

Hope you have an amazing week too Ash!



Heyo Bri!! I'm smiling so big right now
Quote
Happiness is an emotion, so like other emotions I don't think it's possible or good to be that all of the time but there's certainly nothing wrong with adopting a positive mindset! (Sorry if that was me being overly pedantic I'm just a bit cautious about the expectation to always be happy - whether that's self-imposed or not.)

Best of luck with relying more on yourself for how you view your actions & for practicing new perspectives!
Ahh I probably should've worded that a bit better oops - I totally understand what you mean - its so normal to feel different emotions!
I guess I meant that I don't want to be sad for no reason - sometimes I go to school being down and quiet for no reason - I think I just want to break out of that and show my happy side more often. Of course, I feel so many different feelings over a week and I will not feel bad about it.  ;D

 
Quote
You dislike kinematics?? Noooo that wounds the physics part of me :'(
Ah ha yep - I love everything else in Physics but kinematics ah ha. Fields and electricity make me happy but kinematics just doesn't oops.

Lets see if I can grow to love it more  ;)

Thank you so much for the reply and have an awesome week Bri!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on August 02, 2020, 06:18:15 pm
Life Update:
I wasn’t planning on doing a journal post today, but my motivation for doing school work tonight just plummeted so here I am…

Well…tomorrows the last day of face to face (and I guess the last day of term 3?) and just, what a year it has been. The restrictions were very much necessary, and I think the school closures were the best way to go, seeing as lots of schools have closed too. Tomorrows only my seventh day of school….
I’m happy with the decision to online learn, it’s a lot less stressing as I don’t have to constantly think about sanitising etc and I can concentrate on school work better. I am quite good at learning independently so I’m not worried about my learning. I just wasn’t expecting a full six weeks of this – fingers crossed this lockdown works and we can get back to school sooner! I'm going to make sure I have a proper routine this time - when I'm at home I feel like I only study, so I'm probably going to start more projects to keep my mind on other things. Also I'm dreading online SACs again....
But I can’t help feeling a bit sad about this – all our special year 12 events are pretty much cancelled and I guess it’s not the way anyone would have thought of finishing school. I think our teachers are sadder than us tbh – we are a great year level and I do think they wanted to spend more time with us! Anyway….

I’m just going to try and stay as motivated as I can, and use this as motivation to work even harder. I think it’ll be awesome if we can come on top of this – so I’m going to continue to work for my goals and dreams, and make everyone around me proud!  :D I’m also so grateful for AN and this awesome community – I seriously don’t know what I’d do without it! I feel less alone and so supported ~

Class of 2020, we CAN do this! If anyone needs help or just wants to chat, I’m here <3 We’ll get through this together!

And everyone else, please stay safe ~ and don’t forget to look after yourselves!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: homeworkisapotato on August 05, 2020, 08:01:53 pm
Hi ArtyDreams! I've enjoyed reading your journal updates to the point where I wish it just kept going hahah!
I hope your last day of face to face went great and I totally feel you with the only studying in quarantine...I'm also finding it really difficult to draw the line!
I’m just going to try and stay as motivated as I can, and use this as motivation to work even harder. I think it’ll be awesome if we can come on top of this – so I’m going to continue to work for my goals and dreams, and make everyone around me proud!  :D I’m also so grateful for AN and this awesome community – I seriously don’t know what I’d do without it! I feel less alone and so supported ~
I love your positive attitude in these trying times it's very inspiring! Stay safe in these safe times and I'm excited to read more updates  ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on August 17, 2020, 02:05:54 pm
Hi AN! Thought I’d pop on for an update today since it’s been 2 weeks since my last update and a lot has happened since then! I’ll keep this short though, I’m lazy to type ah ha.

So…….my plan was to come back today with a positive update as I had a pretty good start to online learning and was happy with my progress. But today for the first time in a while I seriously feel down and a bit unmotivated and disappointed with myself as the dodgy SAC marks just keep coming…

I did a fair amount of work last week, and I think I’ve disciplined myself to do work without getting too distracted! I was so happy with my progress – online learning suits my learning style as I feel like I’m much more productive at home, and as I get less tired, I’m able to stay working for longer!

Okay now for the disappointing stuff….
For context, I was doing prettyyyyy well in my subjects by getting roughly above 80 (A) in all my SACs. So first annoying thing was my text response SAC (ranted about it in an earlier post if anyone remembers.). I studied SO hard for that SAC, I thought I’d do well as I’m usually good at text response. Then SAC came and everything fell on my shoulders. Ended up with a sad 75% and my rank has def fallen as it seems people did really well on it……just why. As I get motivated for English everything just seems to fall down again…so now I don’t have much motivation for this. Our comparative SAC is in the last week of term (which is reasonable.) I’m really stressed because the English Exam is so soon and I haven’t even started prepping and the text I’m planning to do for text response was the one we did for creative which means I pretty much need to re-learn all of it and write a ton of practise essays and I don’t feel like I have enough time…. Arghhhhhhhhh……

Okay next annoying thing. I’m so done with physics and its killing me and I’m not enjoying it and its hard. I loved Unit 3 but Unit 4 is just bad. So I did well in Unit 3 Physics with an A+ average. Last week I had an online SAC and I did study so much but I just found it so hard to manage online with lots of typing questions. It was my first completely online SAC and it just didn’t work out for me. I got my mark back today to see a 80%. I can’t even express how bad I feel. The average was quite high which means everyone would’ve done well and I didn’t do as well as I usually do. I did so many stupid mistakes and overcomplicated things….just WHY????? I feel so doomed right now :(

I have my Spec SAC next week and Chem a bit later on. I was feeling good about them but now I’m just nervous and Chem feels so so rushed as we haven’t even finished AOS1 and I have so much to revise and I want to do well but nothing seems to stick in my head and I’m nervous because I cannntttttt screw up another SAC!! If I do reallllyyyyyyy well on my exams (which I am capable of seeing that I understand stuff but need to stop making stupid mistakes) will these SAC marks even matter? Did anyone manage to get high SS with a few odd SAC marks? Like I know SACs get scaled and in the end it doesn’t matter too much, but I just cant help feeling deflated with the amount of effort I’m putting in.

Anyway sorry for this update. It was probs really all over the place but I just had a lot of feelings on my mind. Everything seems so far out of reach atm and I’m getting so nervous about the next few weeks. I work so so so so hard but it just doesn’t seem to be paying off anymore. Like, what more can I even do.
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Evolio on August 17, 2020, 02:31:04 pm
Hey Arty! Very nice to see an update from you, I really love reading them!!  ;D

Quote
I was so happy with my progress – online learning suits my learning style as I feel like I’m much more productive at home, and as I get less tired, I’m able to stay working for longer!
OMG, I'm so glad someone feels the same way!! I thought I was the only one who preferred online learning to face to face. I prefer online learning as well as I have so much more time to do everything I want! It's great that this is working for you! Good job on staying disciplined and working hard!

Spoiler
I'm sorry you're feeling this way. It's a very very tough & stressful situation to be in, but you still have time to redeem yourself (even though it seems there is little) and get the results you want for your upcoming sacs and of course, the exam. Keep practising and doing whatever you can, even when it might feel demotivating to even try. I feel this with spec a lot, and well the way I like to think about it is to just keep doing everything you can, that is, looking at your mistakes and trying to improve, even when it feels like it doesn't seem like enough. Just try your best and you will definitely be greatly rewarded! I believe in you!
Yeah, silly mistakes suck, don't they? But, you are definitely NOT doomed. You still have the exam and that's what counts the most as you've said.

Good luck for your chem and spec sacs! Go and smash them!
Quote
I’m nervous because I cannntttttt screw up another SAC!!
I feel this in my soul as well. There's a really big burden but I'm sure you can pull through.

And no need to apologise, these are your raw thoughts and it's your journal, so you can express whatever you're feeling right now.
YOU'VE GOT THIS, ARTY!! 💪💪Just keep trying and you'll see the light at the end of the tunnel even though it feels like there's no light left.
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on August 18, 2020, 08:17:56 am
Hi Evolio! Thanks for the reply!

Yesssss from a learning point of view, online learning is really working for me - and I'm glad I have someone else too! I feel like its more chill, and we have freedom to do what we want! Thank you!

Thanks for you kind words Evolio - they def made me feel a bit better! Yes, I guess I just have to get over it and concentrate on the next ones  :D Thankfully Unit 4 SACs weigh veryyyy littleee... I think I just got so disspointed in the moment but I feel a bit better now.

Thanks so much Evolio, hope you have an awesome week!  ;)
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on September 17, 2020, 01:21:45 pm
END OF TERMMMMM

Its been exactly a month since my last update – ooopssssssssssssss!!! But anyway, I thought it would be a fitting day for an update as I’M DONEEEEEE WITH SACS!! Forever!! Never again!!
I seriously feel so relieved right not (even though the work only begins from here lolol) and I can’t even imagine how finishing exams will be…

So this term went alright! I had some dodgy SAC results – I def did better in unit 3 than four but I’m still waiting on a few more SACs result which I think I did well in. I’d write some study score goals here but they haven’t really changed from the start of the year so I think we’re good! Also, its so weird, I have moments where I feel like I can achieve 45+ in my subjects because I’m actually doing well (and someone has to get these results right?!) and sometimes I feel like wow…I don’t think I can even manage a 35. I think practise exams will give me a better gauge on where I’m at.

So: some subject specific deets:

Chemistry: I loveeeee chemmmyyyyyy and surprisingly my love for it developed greatly in Unit 4 – Organic Chem is so much better than all that redox stuff. After a dodgy first SAC, I picked myself up well as the year went on, so I do have big plans for this subject. I haven’t forgotten too much from the year, but I need to go over redox/equilibrium the most.

Physics: Got so so bored with this subject towards the end, waves were just not fun. Had a great run in Unit 3 but Unit 4 turned out pretty disastrous. Exam questions seem fairly easy for physics so I’m hoping I’ll enjoy doing practise exams for this.

English: Yeah, nah. Lets not go into details here. I’m getting worse as the days go by. Text Response SAC was horrible and I’m hoping I did somewhat decently on Comparative to make up for this. Kinda hoping exams will be friendly and I’ll get lucky tbh. Also, my expectations for this has lowered dramatically.

Spec Maths: Tbh, its been my chilliest subject all year as theres not much content and we’ve only had 2 SACs. I’ve done 2 exams for this subject and they weren’t toooooo bad. However, I need to practise SO MUCH for this exam – otherwise I can easily mess it up. First SAC was good and the second SAC was horrible (made SO SO many STUPID mistakes). I like doing practise exams for maths so hopefully I can pick myself up. Also…I really need to revise complex numbers.

So anyway, I’m probably just going to chill today and tomorrow and do some smaller tasks (like cleaning) that I’ve been putting off for a while. I’ve done so much school work being at home so I think I deserve a mini break. I have a Practise GAT and Exams (online at home) at some stage so that’s good. In terms of school, I really need to read my English texts again, start my Physics cheat sheet and create a revision planner. I’m actually so excited to get a start on practise exams! I’ve enjoyed being at home this term but I really hope we will be back next term. I think it’ll be awesome to reconnect with my friends and teachers again and get the farewell we deserve. My motivation is still existent and hopefully will continue to grow! I’m just visualising the amount of things I will be able to do after exams, and using that as motivation. I do know that I will not fully enjoy this time if I don’t give my all for exams, so LETS DO THISSSS!!

And for all other Year 12s – we have nearly made it. Another term is over and we barely have one to go. Enjoy every moment, do your best, look after and don’t be too hard on yourself.

We can do this.




Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Chocolatemilkshake on September 17, 2020, 02:04:35 pm
Hey Arty,
First off, CONGRATS on finishing all your SACs that's amazing! You definitely deserve a break after that (plus, cleaning out things is so satisfying)
END OF TERMMMMM
Spec Maths: Tbh, its been my chilliest subject all year as theres not much content and we’ve only had 2 SACs. I’ve done 2 exams for this subject and they weren’t toooooo bad. However, I need to practise SO MUCH for this exam – otherwise I can easily mess it up. First SAC was good and the second SAC was horrible (made SO SO many STUPID mistakes). I like doing practise exams for maths so hopefully I can pick myself up. Also…I really need to revise complex numbers. 
Wow...imagine spec being the most relaxing subject... although you're right only having 2 SACs was a big help! Aha I definitely need to revise complex numbers as well. Anyway, loved the positivity of this update. Have an awesome week  8)
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Geoo on September 17, 2020, 08:44:28 pm
AHHHHH Congratulations on finishing all of your SACs, that's amazing! I can only imagine how crazy it feels to have all of them out of the way, and that you'll never have to do them again!
I hope you give yourself a little bit of a break over the holidays before the long month of crunching practice exams, and wow I can't believe there is only one term to go.

Good luck with the rereading, exam practice and overall just having an epic holidays, even if we are still kinda stuck inside. Do you have any other holiday plans that don't involve study?
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on September 17, 2020, 09:13:03 pm
Hey Arty,
First off, CONGRATS on finishing all your SACs that's amazing! You definitely deserve a break after that (plus, cleaning out things is so satisfying)Wow...imagine spec being the most relaxing subject... although you're right only having 2 SACs was a big help! Aha I definitely need to revise complex numbers as well. Anyway, loved the positivity of this update. Have an awesome week  8)
Thank you so much chocolatemilkshake!! Ah ha I'm def no spec genius but it really helped having 2 SACs! But at the same time, because I didn't do much work throughout the year I need to improve on answering questions quicker. Hope you have an awesome weekend too!

AHHHHH Congratulations on finishing all of your SACs, that's amazing! I can only imagine how crazy it feels to have all of them out of the way, and that you'll never have to do them again!
I hope you give yourself a little bit of a break over the holidays before the long month of crunching practice exams, and wow I can't believe there is only one term to go.

Good luck with the rereading, exam practice and overall just having an epic holidays, even if we are still kinda stuck inside. Do you have any other holiday plans that don't involve study?
Thank you Geoo!! Yes it really feels so good - ngl I didn't know what to do with myself afterwards ah ha - study has become such a big thing in my life lol. I seriously can't imagine we're heading into Term 4!! Like what?? That's crazy!!
Thank you - I don't really have much plans for the holidays, I definetely wanted to go on some drives but I guess we'll have to ait and see when that'll be allowed. Hopefully I'll have some time to do some drawings. What about you?

Have an awesome weekend and holidays too Geoo!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: homeworkisapotato on September 18, 2020, 05:20:52 pm
AMAZING JOB ArtyDreams!! Damn, imagine spec and physics being easy, I could never be that smart ahaha. It's great your motivation is up there, you're so positive and inspirational! All the best for exam revision, you're gonna do great <3

Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on September 20, 2020, 12:43:49 pm
AMAZING JOB ArtyDreams!! Damn, imagine spec and physics being easy, I could never be that smart ahaha. It's great your motivation is up there, you're so positive and inspirational! All the best for exam revision, you're gonna do great <3

Thanks for stopping by potato  :) Your presence on the forums is inspirational too!! Ah ha trust me, I'm not that smart lolol - I'm glad I could inspire you! Thank you so much for the support - have an awesome holiday!  ;D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on October 10, 2020, 05:24:24 pm
Well….I wasn’t going to do a journal post today, but then I saw the date and decided that the date looks cool and therefore I should do a journal post just so I can write the date. Lol.

10/10/2020

So….just a smallllll update today!

General: So I have did a fair amount of work on the school holidays – I think I did about one exam a day. (Not entirely full exams though…….since most content from older exams aren’t relevant). This week as been a bit more chill, as we just had school trial exams. I’m actually looking forward to going back to school – I’ve finally lost a fair amount of motivation and haven’t really been as productive as I should be. So hopefully going back to school will fix this! I love my classes so I’m excited to reconnect with my teachers again.

Subject Updates
English:
Welp. ONE MONTH until the exam. 30 days. Not enough time. Too close. Am I prepared? Absolutely not. I’ve been doing like no English lately, my vocab is dying and I am soooo lazy to write essays. Well…I can rant on English for ages but I’ll save you all from it ah ha.
At this point I’m just hoping for some magic fairy dust to fall on me during the exam and magically make words appear on the paper.

Specialist:
Another subject I don’t want to talk about. My results for this have been going up and down as much as a sine graph does and I’m kinda over this. Like I know what I’m doing to an extent but I’m not getting the results I want. Exam 2 has been so difficult to finish in 2 hours and I’m making the stupidest mistakes. Throughout the year I’ve kinda been putting in the same amount of effort for all my subjects, but I think I’m just going to accept that this will be in my bottom 2 (well….scaling will probs save me though) so rather than stressing on spec I think I will concentrate heavily on physics and chemistry because I have a better chance in those subjects.

Chemistry:
I will forever and always loveeeee chemmyyyyy. Unit four is seriously the best. But anyway, I’ve been doing well and this is the only exam I can go through fairly quickly with minimal frustration. Sometimes I feel like I can get a 45, yet most of the time I feel like a 38 is where I’m sitting at. I guess time will tell – but I do love doing exams for this subject.

Physics:
Not going too bad with this either – but mostly because I’ve just made a pretty and practical and colourful and satisfying cheat sheet lol. Pretty much similar comments to chemmyy….but not as loved ah ha.

Art:
Exams are annoying to do. Too much writing. Can’t finish in time. Not fun.


Anyway… I might update this journal just before exams start with some feelings, but anyway, that’s all from me today! I’m excited to leave the house for the first time in a long time….and I’m actually getting excited to finish school! (even though I am quite connected with my school and love my teachers and the community.) It still blows my mind that if this was a normal year next week would’ve been my last week.
Better go do English now.

Byeeeeeee – hope everyone has an awesome week!!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Coolgalbornin03Lo on October 10, 2020, 08:38:36 pm
Hi Arty!!! It’s so good to see an update from you!
I’ve finally lost a fair amount of motivation and haven’t really been as productive as I should be.

Don’t worry about not being productive I’m sure 70% of year 12s have REALLY done nothing. When I went in for my trial exams everyone had this attitude- the motivation is low. You’ve done so well!


Chemistry:
I will forever and always loveeeee chemmyyyyy. Unit four is seriously the best. But anyway, I’ve been doing well and this is the only exam I can go through fairly quickly with minimal frustration. Sometimes I feel like I can get a 45, yet most of the time I feel like a 38 is where I’m sitting at. I guess time will tell – but I do love doing exams for this subject.

I also feel like that with Chem sometimes I’m on top on the world like I’ll break 40, other times I’m like hmmmm 37-38. But i always remember the only score which matters is exam day, we’ll know after that. Doing Chem exams is soooooo chill I love it so much! Not as mentally draining as English or just demanding like writing subjects in general perfect ratio of maths:theory.

I get what you mean with English I’m also waiting/looking/hoping for that fairy dust. I honestly think the pressure of the exam is M A G I C ! I honestly think it will come to us on that day which is the 10th of November.

I don’t do spesh or physics but the fact that you do and are surviving......that deserves a medal on its own! There’s still a bit of time before exams so the mistakes you make now are ones I’m sure you’ll remember for the exams

Good luck  :D

EDIT: gonna go back and add in quotes
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Joseph41 on November 24, 2020, 02:03:03 pm
Well done. :)
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: whys on November 24, 2020, 02:10:14 pm
Hey Arty,

Your situation with chem sounds a bit like mine with bio - my favourite subject, but one I totally screwed up. Firstly, congratulations on getting through the exam despite not feeling well. I know how hard that is and it’s not an easy thing to do, and shows how persevering you are. I don’t know how to make it hurt less since I’m struggling with the same thing, but hopefully time will heal our disappointment. There will always be other opportunities in the future, and our study scores shouldn’t reflect our worth or how good we are academically.

It’s great that it’s all finally over, though!! Your list of things to do sounds super fun and exciting, and I hope you enjoy your well-deserved break after the stress of exams!!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: angrybiscuit on November 24, 2020, 02:26:42 pm
It is such a shame that everything rests on a 2 and a half hour exam. It's not an accurate reflection on the true knowledge that you have for a subject. But we know how hard you've worked and how much you enjoyed chem so don't let it deter you :)

Congrats! We're so proud of you <33
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Coolmate on November 24, 2020, 03:27:15 pm
- snip -

🎉Congratulations ArtyDreams!!! ;D Enjoy the relaxation time 8)
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: homeworkisapotato on November 24, 2020, 03:58:53 pm
Congratulations Arty! I'm super happy and proud for you and I hope you have an amazing break. I hope you are proud of your perseverance and resilience and your long journey here. Are you planning to have a uni journal?
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Evolio on November 24, 2020, 04:48:35 pm
A massive congrats Arty!  ;D

That's great that you feel that way about English!
I feel the same way as you with Spesh! For exam 1, one of the questions required so much working out/so many steps and the others were just weird for me. I think I made a lot of silly mistakes too.

I'm sorry you were sick before your chem exam but as people have said above, you've done so much hard work for it and you should definitely be proud of that!

I know right! I keep thinking that I have an exam tomorrow or something lol. It hasn't sunk in yet that we're officially finished!! With everything!

Have a good break!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on November 25, 2020, 02:48:40 pm
Well done. :)

Thank you!
-snip-

Thank you so much whys!
Your kind words made me feel a lot better!
Yes, I guess we'll just have to get over it, and just hope for the best  :)

-snip-
Thank you so much for the kind words angrybiscuit! Yes, I guess it does suck sometimes. Oh well.
At least we got through VCE ah hah.
Enjoy your break too!!

🎉Congratulations ArtyDreams!!! ;D Enjoy the relaxation time 8)

Thank you so so much Coolmate!

Congratulations Arty! I'm super happy and proud for you and I hope you have an amazing break. I hope you are proud of your perseverance and resilience and your long journey here. Are you planning to have a uni journal?

Thank you potato, and for following along my journal!
I guess we'll just wait and see! I might  :)

-snip-
Thank you so much Evolio! I'm just so relieved its all over.
Enjoy your break too! xx
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Sine on January 14, 2021, 11:52:30 pm
congrats on your results!

Seems like you got super unlucky with your study scores but great to see that you are happy with your ATAR. Getting 4 scores in the top 10% for four very different subjects is also a massive achievement in itself!

As for tutoring, I don't think it is a complete barrier. Some companies have certain study score thresholds for who they hire but it is still very possible tutor.
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Chocolatemilkshake on January 15, 2021, 06:33:22 am
Hey Arty!
First congratulations on your results and your course offer. To be so close to 40 in so many subjects is disappointing but still a great achievement and your ATAR itself is amazing (thank goodness for specialist scaling). Also, I can't believe that you only lost six marks on the art exam yet only got a 39 - that does seem unfair to me (but also proves how incredible you are at art despite not hitting the 40 - I've loved following all your artworks by the way, you are so talented!). 

All the best for your course at Unimelb and thank you for an awesome VCE journal this year  8)
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: whys on January 15, 2021, 12:05:21 pm
Hey Arty,

Firstly, I'm so proud of you. I understand your disappointment, and I know it hurts, but know what you achieved wasn't a small feat. It's not easy to score so consistently well in all subjects, yet you did! I know you're down about art - but I've said this before and will say it again. A study score doesn't define your knowledge or passion for a subject. Losing only 6 marks on the exam is incredible, and although you wanted a higher study score, I also want you to know that you are such an amazing artist and so many people love seeing your artwork. A study score can never change that. I know it's hard to come out of, but know that we are all so proud and happy for you and what you've achieved last year. You were so hardworking and persistent, and nothing can take that away from you. Secondly, congrats on your ATAR! Amazing work.

All the best for uni and beyond! May 2021 be your year.
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on January 15, 2021, 08:01:24 pm
congrats on your results!

Seems like you got super unlucky with your study scores but great to see that you are happy with your ATAR. Getting 4 scores in the top 10% for four very different subjects is also a massive achievement in itself!

As for tutoring, I don't think it is a complete barrier. Some companies have certain study score thresholds for who they hire but it is still very possible tutor.
Thanks so much Sine - it means a lot! Thanks so much for your help and assistance throughout the year :)

Hey Arty!
First congratulations on your results and your course offer. To be so close to 40 in so many subjects is disappointing but still a great achievement and your ATAR itself is amazing (thank goodness for specialist scaling). Also, I can't believe that you only lost six marks on the art exam yet only got a 39 - that does seem unfair to me (but also proves how incredible you are at art despite not hitting the 40 - I've loved following all your artworks by the way, you are so talented!). 

All the best for your course at Unimelb and thank you for an awesome VCE journal this year  8)
Thank you so much Choco! Congrats to you too, and thanks so much for following along my journey this year!

Hey Arty,

Firstly, I'm so proud of you. I understand your disappointment, and I know it hurts, but know what you achieved wasn't a small feat. It's not easy to score so consistently well in all subjects, yet you did! I know you're down about art - but I've said this before and will say it again. A study score doesn't define your knowledge or passion for a subject. Losing only 6 marks on the exam is incredible, and although you wanted a higher study score, I also want you to know that you are such an amazing artist and so many people love seeing your artwork. A study score can never change that. I know it's hard to come out of, but know that we are all so proud and happy for you and what you've achieved last year. You were so hardworking and persistent, and nothing can take that away from you. Secondly, congrats on your ATAR! Amazing work.

All the best for uni and beyond! May 2021 be your year.
Thanks so much for your kind words Whys! It really means a lot. Yes I do agree although it’s saddening to me at the moment, scores really don’t equate to passion  :)
I’m so grateful you followed along my journal, congrats on your offer too!  :D
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: Geoo on January 15, 2021, 09:02:26 pm
I'm a bit late to the party but.....

Congratulations Arty!!!!!

I can understand how that can be so frustrating and disappointing with being so close to the 40's, however, that amazing atar can hopefully make up for it a bit to show the amazing work and dedication you put in all throughout the year. That really sucks with Art, but as others have said, it should never define your love for the subject, and the amazing art you've done throughout the year and that you'll hopefully continue to do. I'm so happy and proud for all the you have achieved, and i've absolutely loved reading your journal throughout the year.

Best of luck with 2021 and uni!
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: ArtyDreams on January 22, 2021, 09:58:59 am
-snip-

Thanks so much for your kind words Geoo - they mean a lot!
I'm so grateful that you followed my journal this year! xx

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I’m writing this journal post on my new laptop so I’m really excited

So today’s journal post is is just going to be a brief life update, and an official conclusion to this journal!!

I will always be disappointed with my VCE outcome. Every time I think about my scores, I get so so sad with myself and my efforts. The fact that I didn’t get a single 40+ always disappoints me, and honestly, it will remain something I’ll always look back on with so much regret. It was not meant to end the way it did.

But anyway, enough about VCE.
I’m so excited to continue my learning journey!!!! :)

I’ve been accepted into the BSci at Melbourne Uni - my dream and goal from the beginning - and I’m excited to start! I’m not entirely sure where I’m going from there, but right now I’m thinking of things along this lines of Pharmacology/Bioengineering/Chemistry as my majors. I’m a bit lost with all the subject selection stuff ah ha. I want to do something majorly chemistry related - the pharmaceutical side of things does interest me!!

Save me as I attempted to learn biology from the start though.
Why did I do Physics in VCE when I’m not planning on continuing it.


I think my subjects in first year will be chemistry, biology and maths? Honestly I’m not really sure if I really need maths or not, or if I should do one semester. I don’t know who to ask oops.

I’m excited to go to Uni and follow my science passions, and hopefully achieve my goals and dreams. I want to be in a field where I can help others, but also have fun and have balance in life. We’ll see where life takes me I guess!

Anyway, takes me to the end of this journal post, and my VCE journey in general.
I seriously appreciate and I’m so grateful to everyone who read even a tiny bit of my journal in the crazy 2020. All your support, replies and kind words mean so much to me, and I really mean it when I say it got me through 2020! I don’t know what I’d do without AN, and I’m so thankful I found this little corner of the internet. Also, I’ll be around answering so many of your maths and science questions, and I’m so excited to start modding as well!!

To the class of 2021 and beyond, I wish you all the best of luck in your VCE years! Please enjoy school while you can, enjoy yourselves and I’m hope you all reach your goals and dreams. No matter what, if you want to chat, need help or have questions, my PM’s are always open! You’ve got this xx

I’ve made it to the end of the yellow brick road.
Let’s begin another journey.

- Arty
Title: Re: a journey on the yellow brick road
Post by: waterangel82 on January 22, 2021, 01:20:34 pm
Hi Arty!

It's great to see you're excited to start Science at Unimelb! It's a great course!

With regards to your first year subjects, I think you're selection's really good, and will definitely keep your options open. You'll definitely need Calculus 2 if you're doing Bioengineering (more info available here https://study.unimelb.edu.au/find/courses/major/bioengineering-systems/what-will-i-study/), and it's probably good to do the 2 first year engineering subjects for Bioengineering too. I've also heard Calc 2/Linear Algebra is pretty useful for a Chem major, since there's a lot of mathsy stuff in chem.

On a side note, since you did say that you did not complete VCE bio, but will be doing introductory bio this year, I will highly recommend you to self-study cell biology/molecular biology content (including genetics) over this break before uni. I've heard the introductory bio subject covers the exact same content as the normal bio subject for those who did VCE bio, so that means there will be a lot to study! Since the subjects you will be doing are quite intense, I think it would be good to go over some of it beforehand so you'll be less stressed during the semester.

Finally, best of luck for Uni and I'm sure you'll achieve your goals and dreams!