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March 28, 2024, 07:10:10 pm

Author Topic: 2020 Academic Reflections Thread  (Read 4112 times)  Share 

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Joseph41

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2020 Academic Reflections Thread
« on: November 07, 2020, 12:40:31 pm »
+6
2020 honestly has been a year like no other.

In this thread, let's take osme time to reflect. You can copy the code below to answer the questions/prompts, or you can just reflect more on things more freestyle. :) The more perspectives, the more we can learn!

Code: [Select]
[b]How would you rate 2020 out of 10?[/b]

[b]What was your biggest academic accomplishment in 2020?[/b]

[b]If any, what's your biggest academic regret for 2020?[/b]

[b]If you had your time again, what would you change from 2020?[/b]

[b]What's your funniest story/moment from school/uni in 2020?[/b]

[b]If you've had them, were your exams as expected? If not, what do you expect?[/b]

[b]What's your best advice for younger year levels studying in 2021?[/b]

[b]Outside of school/uni, what were the best and worst parts of 2020?[/b]

I also started a similar thread the last two years. You can find those here (2019, 2018) for inspiration. :)

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Geoo

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Re: 2020 Academic Reflections Thread
« Reply #1 on: November 07, 2020, 01:48:31 pm »
+11
How would you rate 2020 out of 10?
4/10
What was your biggest academic accomplishment in 2020?
Only dropping two marks in the entire year for food studies.

If any, what's your biggest academic regret for 2020?
 Not putting more effort into methods. I kind of gave up in lockdown, and with the lack of support from my teacher, I just kind of gave up, and it's backfiring for exams. So I do wish I tried a bit more to understand what was being taught, but at the same time I don't think there was alot I could do when I simply didn't understand the textbook. For others, the Cambridge textbook is better for methods than jacaranda!

If you had your time again, what would you change from 2020?
I wish I did food studies in year 11 with biology, so that I only had 3 subjects to worry about in year 12. I think doing 4 subjects was a bit much of an ask of myself this year. So whilst I have managed, I think I would have been alot better just doing 3 subjects in year 12. It would have allowed me alot more time to dedicate to my other subjects as well. So yeah, wish I did food studies earlier!

What's your funniest story/moment from school/uni in 2020?
Well since lockdown went on for so long, there wasn't many funny moments. However the tech difficulties throughout the year were gold. There was a school wide livestream for GAT preparation, and peoples usernames could be seen. Whilst most people had them as their real names, alot of usernames were like "this is a waste of time" or "i'm bored." There were other incidents of people playing inappropriate songs on online lessons. Someone played WAP, and lets just say the teachers faces were priceless when they heard the lyrics. Oh this wasn't so funny as much as it was annoying, but my chemistry teachers didn't understand how to use technology, so there were often times we had to wait 45 minutes for them to turn on their mics, the back and forth between the teachers working out what was wrong was hilarious until we reached the 20 minute mark.
If you've had them, were your exams as expected? If not, what do you expect?
I haven't had them yet, so I may come back and update this. However, the GAT wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I think the art interpterion tasks were quite difficult in some questions, often using words my dictionary didn't have.

What's your best advice for younger year levels studying in 2021?
Don't take it too seriously. I know it is the most generic, bland and over repeated advice, but please consider it. I have spent so much time this year obsessing's over SAC scores, and ATAR calculators and just being plain stressed over not doing anything, but at the end of the year, I really have learnt that in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter. Try your best, put effort in, and learn to be okay with mistakes. Most importantly however, health above grades!

Outside of school/uni, what were the best and worst parts of 2020?
Best parts....... um, not much has happened since i've been stuck inside. My 18th birthday was pretty great though all things considered. I got a pot plant, and went shopping at Bunnings Warehouse for a pot to put the pot plant in.  Whilst I couldn't go and do anything or invite friends over, my family made sure I had a great day.
Oh, I also was able to buy my first car this year, so that was super exciting!!!

Worst parts outside of school is definitely a toss up of getting my wisdom teeth removed and not being able to leave my 5kms. Living slightly region means my local supermarket is 5kms away, so it was a real pain when I wanted to get stuff and it being out of reach. And yes, in retrospect i'm glad I got those pesky teeth removed considering the crazy wait list with covid, but I really hated it at the time, and the recovery wasn't great either. Oh actually I just realised what was worse..... VICROADS weren't open practically all year, and since i've reached all my hours, I just wanted my licenses and couldn't get it :/
2020: VCE 93.2
2022: BSci/Arts (Chemistry/Pharmacology and French)@Monash

lm21074

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Re: 2020 Academic Reflections Thread
« Reply #2 on: November 07, 2020, 02:44:02 pm »
+11

How would you rate 2020 out of 10?
At the beginning of the year, I would've said 2/10 for that period of time. Now, maybe a 6.5. Things have been looking up.

What was your biggest academic accomplishment in 2020?
Academic-wise, completing two 3/4 subjects in Year 11. Not a huge thing compared to the mammoth achievement of completing Year 12 in the year of a pandemic, but still something. I didn't do exceptionally well this year (my grades dropped a bit from previous years of HS, to be expected), and am not expecting to end up with amazing study scores. But I learnt an awful lot from this - how much effort I have to put in to do well (or decently), trying not to obsess over grades, the importance of consistency, organisation, sleep, study and coping strategies, asking for help from teachers, picking the right subjects. Hoping that I will take these lessons in with me to Year 12 (and beyond).

If any, what's your biggest academic regret for 2020?
As I alluded to above, the position I put myself in as a student really hindered my productivity and therefore grades. Some detrimental factors included the amount of sleep I got sucked, spending way too much time procrastinating, having a massive fear of failure (still do) and as such, I wasn't consistent with studying.

If you had your time again, what would you change from 2020?
Taking better care of myself and my mental health, studying better and smarter and lowering my expectations a bit would have really worked better for me in the long run.

What's your funniest story/moment from school/uni in 2020?
Hmm... this is a hard one!
Maybe my chem teacher saying, "I love you" to someone who answered a question she posed to the class correctly? Or the fair share of people who didn't turn their mics off during remote learning while doing some questionable things. One time, my methods teacher unmuted someone who looked half asleep and they were blasting music.

If you've had them, were your exams as expected? If not, what do you expect?
TBD :-\

What's your best advice for younger year levels studying in 2021?
Work on your study habits and find what works for you. What study strategies work for you? What strategies for coping with stress work for you? Also, try to be consistent with your revision for exams and start early. Putting in work to revise throughout the year saves you from relearning everything right before the exams.

Outside of school/uni, what were the best and worst parts of 2020?
Best: having some amazing friends and meeting amazing people (albeit mostly online), spending more time with my doge, finally getting a job
Worst: I'd rather not pick one haha
2021: VCE
2022: Science / Arts @ Monash

K.Smithy

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Re: 2020 Academic Reflections Thread
« Reply #3 on: December 24, 2020, 11:25:47 am »
+6
How would you rate 2020 out of 10?
Right now, I would give it a 6/10 - but this would have been much lower at the beginning of the year. Things are starting to look up.

What was your biggest academic accomplishment in 2020?
Last year I would have brought up an individual assignment that I did well on, but this year I feel accomplished by the fact that my academic performance was consistent throughout the year. This ultimately helped me achieve the ATAR that got me into uni (getting into uni is another big accomplishment I'd say).

If any, what's your biggest academic regret for 2020?
Burning out in the middle of the year. While I am happy with my end of year results, they could have been better if I studied more for the externals. I didn't reach out and talk to teachers or anyone about it and I crashed.

If you had your time again, what would you change from 2020?
Two things:
1) reaching out and speaking up when I needed help
2) pushing harder to do more for my school. I felt very disheartened as a leader this year because we were so limited with what we could do (because of COVID). But I really wish that I pushed harder to get things going. The entire leadership team was feeling a bit unmotivated and down because of everything that was happening - but I wish I could have done something to encourage them to not give up and remind them that we were still leaders whether or not we were in a pandemic.

What's your funniest story/moment from school/uni in 2020?
I'd say there were a few entertaining things that occurred this year.
- my fellow college captain and I would get up on the stage at the end of whole college assemblies and we would sing and dance along to our school song (there are 1500 students and a few hundred staff at my school, so yes, it was embarrassing)
- during online learning one of my teachers would make some videos at the beginning of the week that were really entertaining and kept the mood light. They were certainly a highlight of the few weeks of online learning
- on the physics mock exam, I was the only person to get one of the questions correct. My teacher wrote a lovely note on my exam paper thanking me for actually listening in class and remembering what she tells us (it was adorable and kind of funny)

If you've had them, were your exams as expected? If not, what do you expect?
No they weren't. But that being said, this was QLDs first year through the system it was hard for us to accurately guess what the exams would be like. They were very different from the mocks which I wasn't prepared for. However, the examiners marked a lot easier than I thought they would. I was definitely expecting them to be much harsher.
Results wise, I certainly didn't expect to do as well as I did in psychology, physics, methods or English.
Psychology --> because I didn't know any of the case studies in the depth that was required for the exam (I must have bullshitted really well ;D)
Physics --> electromagnetism and graph analysis aren't my strong points, and the entire thing was electromagnetism and graph analysis. So I was expecting to get 30 something out of 50, not 42/50
Methods --> I got a solid 16/50 on the mock so I was prepared to fail. I actually didn't even do that bad on the exam, I didn't do great but I didn't do bad ;D
English --> the questions were shit. My essay was not my best work but it did the job

What's your best advice for younger year levels studying in 2021?
Prepare early. That's it. Get started early so, in the case that you burn out, you have given yourself the best chance for success.

Outside of school/uni, what were the best and worst parts of 2020?
Best:
- I've started making uni friends :)
- being able to watch my friends succeed
Worst:
- COVID
- my closest friend was in hospital for 2 months at the beginning of the year and missed most of the school year.
- my uncle passed away during the easter holidays. Due to the fact that COVID numbers had really begun to increase at this time, my family weren't allowed to go to the hospital to say our last goodbyes so that was pretty hard
« Last Edit: December 24, 2020, 11:50:04 am by K.Smithy »
QCE 2020: Physics (92) || Psychology (96) || Biology (93) || Methods (79) || English (98) || SOR (91)
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2021-2024: Bachelor of Advanced Science (Honours) @ UQ

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The Cat In The Hat

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Re: 2020 Academic Reflections Thread
« Reply #4 on: December 24, 2020, 04:10:31 pm »
+2
How would you rate 2020 out of 10?
6/10

What was your biggest academic accomplishment in 2020?
Completing year 12 despite recovering from spinal surgery.

If any, what's your biggest academic regret for 2020?
Not balancing time sufficiently and spending enough time on Methods.

If you had your time again, what would you change from 2020?
...Not having surgery to recover from? Apart from that, probably working harder during lockdown (a bit of a slump there in Methods).

What's your funniest story/moment from school/uni in 2020?
The brilliant Methods class where we spammed the chat (online) with word play - I can't recall how it started, but it went the entire lesson until one student who hadn't been doing it (it was mainly three of us, myself included) jumped in with a truly hilarious pun on the teacher's name (she was also laughing and the rest of the class too). It was very funny and I have no clue what we were meant to be learning.

If you've had them, were your exams as expected? If not, what do you expect?
They were easier than I expected (especially English, comprising of A- the easiest essay question possible, B- two questions my class had studied, C- a pretty decent AA with nothing to compare!) except Methods, which was a weird exam (but good fun all the same).

What's your best advice for younger year levels studying in 2021?
School/studying ≠ life. Don't focus completely on school.

Outside of school/uni, what were the best and worst parts of 2020?
Worst - recovering from surgery. Best - nothing stands out, but it's been a pretty decent year anyway. Actually, I know - interactions with a child. :)
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