Chapter 12: Results 04/01/21Okay so I haven’t posted for ages but here goes again! First of all a massive congratulations to the class of 2020 and also all those doing 3/4 subjects this year. I hope that you are proud of yourselves for getting through such a difficult year
So, then there were results. I went to sleep absolutely fine but woke up at 4:45am and my mind was buzzing too much to be able to go back to sleep. And then that email arrived at 6:38… (some of you may already have seen my results posted but here they are again anyway.)
BIOLOGY: 50 A+ A+ A+
From last year
ENGLISH: 49 A+ A+ A+
A FORTY-NINE in English! This was a very big surprise and I never expected this high (maybe a 45 but never so close to a 50). I duxed English at my school which I’m super proud of. Also if any of you are doing Station Eleven this year I’m happy to read essays and give feedback (the text response was definitely my best part of this exam). I think SnowLeopard asked me to do an English guide? Not sure how helpful I would be but I might try to put one together after I get back from holidays.
CHEMISTRY: 43 A+ A+ A+
So I’m definitely disappointed with this but it was expected after I didn’t do so well in the exam. I still duxed the subject at my school which is nice but for my favourite subject last year I wish I hadn’t thrown the exam so bad. Especially since it ended up being in my bottom two (and the whole year I was certain it would make it into my primary four).
METHODS: 41A+ A A+
I’m very happy with this. After exam 1 I certainly did not expect to get above that magic 40. It ended up being in my bottom two like I predicted so that wasn’t a surprise (although maybe a surprise that my lowest scaled score was methods at 45.86, that was a surprise).
FRENCH: 37 A A+ A
Some part of me wishes that I could have hit that 40 in French, but I’m still quite happy with this score. It scaled really nicely and made my primary 4 which was a surprise (and I duxed this subject too
). I’m actually quite keen to continue with French next year (which is weird considering I was certain in 2019 that I would stop it after year 12). It probably has been the most useful class and I’m eager to keep improving my skills.
SPECIALIST: 36 A+ B+ B
Again expected and I'm satisfied with it. I think I did my best with this subject. It certainly wasn’t my passion or anything (not like bio and chemistry) and I certainly didn't put as much work into it as I put into English, but I did what I could and the scaling was very beautiful (ended up being my 3rd best subject after scaling so that makes it worth it).
ATAR: 99.70 (whoops almost forgot to put this in). Completely surpassed expectations. At the start of the year my real hope was to achieve 99.50+ and to do better than this, despite feeling horrible after many of my exams, was incredible. I think I would have liked a few more subjects over 45 but my English result boosted my ATAR and made up for my disappointing chemistry score.
So there it is, my results. Oh, and another thing, I ended up getting a MONASH MED INTERVIEW OFFER! Am I expecting to get into Medicine? Probably not, no. My UCAT score is very low compared to a "competitive" UCAT score (it was my ATAR that really saved me here - in fact it was English that saved me) and thus, I would say that I’m at the “bottom” of those receiving an interview. Given I haven’t done too much preparation, I’m not expecting to do incredible or absolutely ace the interview (which is probably what I would need to do to get an offer into the course). Regardless I’m just going to try my best. I’ve left the next three days entirely for practice and at the end of the day, I am really proud of myself for receiving an interview offer (even though I probably won’t quite cut it for the course itself). I figure that it is really good practice for my interview skills (especially since I’ll have to do such interviews 3 years later if I still would like to enter graduate Medicine.) Although any general advice for the MMI would be welcomed, I'm super nervous!
Okay and for some non-school related stuff, I’ve gone back to work recently which has been fantastic and I also trained all through exams which was AMAZING. I highly recommend to the class of 2021 participating in extracurriculars even during exams. It was a really great way I could clear my head and go into the exam the next day a littler "fresher." I’m also going away (after my interview which is in a few days) to spend some time with my extended family which will be great to get my mind off uni preferences.
To close, thank you all so much for your support this year through my journal and a massive shoutout to all you wonderful people that have commented and helped me get through the year. A 99.70, wow, I couldn’t have done it without AN
I’ll probably do one more post after preferences are offered to officially “close” this journal journey. Whilst Medicine is obviously my first preference at the moment I’m expecting that I’ll probably do Biomedicine at Monash. Evidently my ATAR will get me clearly into the course so at least I don't have to worry about that. I am super excited about study this year and I can’t wait to have the uni experience.