Year 12: Trying To Stop Procrastinating

[zoharreznik]

Hey everyone,
Just wanted to try jump on this trend and see what it’s about!

Subjects:

Year 11: Hebrew 3/4, Methods 3/4, Chemistry 1/2, English 1/2, PE 1/2, Spec 1/2

Year 12: English 3/4, Chemistry 3/4, Further/Spec 3/4, Tertiary Hebrew

Having done 2 difficult (at least for me) 3/4 subjects, I can definitely say that the experiences I had were somewhat different to what I would have expected.

Some of my year 11 experiences:

I had to work a lot harder in Year 11 and I found that the standard of the subjects (especially Hebrew) increased dramatically.

If you are doing a language, definitely speak and write lots and try to enrich your vocabulary whenever you are granted the opportunity to do so. Also, even though the exams are not for a while, it is necessary to at least try to do different sections of the exam even in earlier months (exam technique is key).

I personally tended to put more effort into Methods throughout the year, Methods is a subject I enjoyed, and also one that requires a significant amount of time to be dealt to it. I still worked somewhat hard in Hebrew but I was less motivated for it as I don’t enjoy languages as much.

Some things I found I need to improve on in year 12:

Having a study timetable:

One thing I failed to perfect (or even properly focus on) was not having study timetable- I wouldn’t expose myself to enough material in Hebrew early on, and I didn’t always work consistently and thoroughly before the SACs. It is best to plan out what you are doing every day on a calendar and something I should have considered earlier. I recommend this to everyone- it will decrease how stressed you are prior to SACs and exams and if you manage to follow it, you will gain confidence exponentially.

Consistency:
One thing that I tended to do in Year 11 was cram everything in last-minute (whether this was a SAC or a test). Similar to the previous point, if you are doing a language make sure you do portions of each part every day (eg. grammar, listening, reading comprehension  and speaking). I was told to do an hour a day in Hebrew, but I didn’t always manage to do that- something I regret. In Methods, having the Work Requirements (the Cambridge book) definitely helped me remain up to date and ensured I understood the given material properly. Indeed, it is vital to do practice questions- if your school provides past SACs, definitely use them to revise for each SAC (whether it is Calculus, Functions and Relations or Probability). Doing many exams is useful but exam technique is of superior importance.

Using the Study Design:

Another thing I didn’t really consider in Year 11 was actually using the VCAA study design to guarantee I have covered and understood every point of each subject. This would have been useful in Methods as a revision tool, and can also help you if you want to get a head start in the holidays (you can chronologically progress through the study design). Looking through the study design/ examiners’ reports in Hebrew would have ensured each task I do and essay closely matched the required guidelines. If you do a language, I recommend checking the examiners’ reports and seeing what they are looking for and find what points you tend to cover and what you need to improve on.

Exam technique:

I cannot stress how important exam technique is to ensuring you perform to your desired standard in each subject you complete. Coming from someone who gets easily anxious, even though both my Hebrew and Methods teachers provided us with instructions about how much time to
dedicate to each section in the exam and how to approach each respective part of it, I panicked and did not perform as well as I would have desired in the exams (there was a disparity between my SACs and exams). Make sure to perfect your exam technique before the exam (it doesn’t matter how you prefer to complete it, as long as you feel prepared utilising it).

Some hopes for Year 12:

Firstly, you may notice that I have put Further/Specialist as one of my subjects. This is because I am undecided as to which subject to choose (I will choose within a few days). On the one hand, Further will ensure I have an easier workload and the maths is intended to be easier. I also tend to enjoy classes which are less competitive- while a lot of students are doing Further in my school, I will have a better experience as I will be with some of my friends and the environment will likely be more laid-back. However, I am someone who makes a lot of silly mistakes, and so I worry that I may not get an amazing study score as Further is ridiculously competitive and you can’t afford to drop marks. I also don’t feel as comfortable doing almost English-based maths, and I may find it hard to interpret certain details. On the other hand, having did Spec 1/2 I found some parts difficult but overall it was relatively reasonable. The class next year will be extremely competitive (many high-achieving Methods kids will be doing it) and I may struggle to keep up with the standard and may be concerned by this. However, it is a small class, which may be helpful if I require 1-on-1 assistance. The subject scales highly and I enjoy it more (purely because it is more similar to Methods compared to Further), but it does appear complicated just looking at recent exams and having begun the curriculum. Any advice about what to choose is greatly appreciated!

I hope to improve on my aforementioned mistakes and will be more consistent next year in terms of study, while also being able to having a solidified exam technique and, ultimately, perform how I desire in each respective subject.

One more thing I hope to do next year is complete exams under full exam conditions at an earlier stage of the year. This means using a clock (and not a timer) for each exam, not checking answers at any point and not stopping from start to finish. This is only something I properly focused on in mid-October, and something that came back to bite me.

Year 11, while difficult, has changed my perspective on VCE entirely. I hope to go into Year 12 more prepared and confident for each SAC and exam.

I will try to update this as often as possible. Any replies will be great!

[r1ckworthy]

Not much to say, but you’ve covered just about everything you need to succeed in VCE! It’s great that you know this much stuff- I only learned the majority of this stuff towards the end of Yr12 so you’re one step ahead

As for the decision between further and specialist, I’ll let others more qualified to speak but one thing to say about silly mistakes is that you can certainly reduce them. If you practice enough and begin to recognise when and where you make silly mistakes, you can certainly prevent them from happening. I find that I go too fast through the whole exam and so I commit a ton of mistakes. Going slow, underlining key information and actually reading the question thoroughly helped immensely.

How did you go with specialist 1/2, in terms of coping with competition and workload? Maybe that can help guide your decision.

Whichever subject you choose, I’m sure you’ll be fine . You know the right stuff and you know what to improve on. It’s only a matter of implementation .

Let us know of how you go! Hope to read more updates soon

[KatieWolf]

Hello! It's great to see how keen you are on achieving success in your studies! Congratulations on completing 3/4 Hebrew and Mathematical Methods!
You seem to be very organised and prepared for future challenges. I'm glad to see that you've recognised areas of improvement - doing 3/4 subject(s) early are fantastic for this reason! You've provided some amazing insight to the wider community as well on how to tackle units 3/4!
I admire your determination!
How did Hebrew intrigue you over any other LOTE subject? 

Hope to hear from you soon!

[zoharreznik]

Not much to say, but you’ve covered just about everything you need to succeed in VCE! It’s great that you know this much stuff- I only learned the majority of this stuff towards the end of Yr12 so you’re one step ahead

As for the decision between further and specialist, I’ll let others more qualified to speak but one thing to say about silly mistakes is that you can certainly reduce them. If you practice enough and begin to recognise when and where you make silly mistakes, you can certainly prevent them from happening. I find that I go too fast through the whole exam and so I commit a ton of mistakes. Going slow, underlining key information and actually reading the question thoroughly helped immensely.

How did you go with specialist 1/2, in terms of coping with competition and workload? Maybe that can help guide your decision.

Whichever subject you choose, I’m sure you’ll be fine . You know the right stuff and you know what to improve on. It’s only a matter of implementation .

Let us know of how you go! Hope to read more updates soon

Hey Rick,
I found Spec 1/2 decent- I’d say I averaged somewhere around 75-80% over the year. I obviously wasn’t as focused in Semester 2 in comparison to Semester 1 due to constantly needing to attend to my 3/4 subjects, but the dropoff wasn’t too significant. I’d say most of the concepts over the year were reasonable, some of them I’d either forgot (from learning in prior maths years) like bearings, and some parts of polar coordinates, proofs and triangle of forces were some difficult ideas for me to comprehend (anyone who did Spec 1/2 might know what I’m talking about). Overall though, Spec 1/2 was reasonable and it wasn’t overly-competitive as it was a 1/2 subject, but for 3/4 we will have a new teacher and only about 8-9 students- might be a different experience!

[zoharreznik]

Hello! It's great to see how keen you are on achieving success in your studies! Congratulations on completing 3/4 Hebrew and Mathematical Methods!
You seem to be very organised and prepared for future challenges. I'm glad to see that you've recognised areas of improvement - doing 3/4 subject(s) early are fantastic for this reason! You've provided some amazing insight to the wider community as well on how to tackle units 3/4!
I admire your determination!
How did Hebrew intrigue you over any other LOTE subject? 

Hope to hear from you soon!

Hey Katie,
I chose to do Hebrew simply because I come from a Hebrew-speaking family (my dad speaks fluent Hebrew and my mum has learnt Hebrew and can speak as well), so that obviously made my decision quite easy. I can still say despite speaking Hebrew doing a LOTE was actually a lot harder than I would have recognised.

[zoharreznik]

Hey guys!

Just wanted to quickly ask to everyone did you have specific goals for the year (like getting into a certain course) and did it help motivate you? I don’t really have an ATAR/ course in mind so I’m kind of stuck about how I should take on next year :3

[caffinatedloz]

Hey zoharreznik! Great to see a new journal. Can't wait to see your thoughts on a study timetable. I always like the idea but sometimes find them frustrating. Will you schedule in specific subjects to study or just study in general?

What do you like to do outside of school?

[Ionic Doc]

Hey guys!

Just wanted to quickly ask to everyone did you have specific goals for the year (like getting into a certain course) and did it help motivate you? I don’t really have an ATAR/ course in mind so I’m kind of stuck about how I should take on next year :3

I think most people do have certain courses or fields they are interested in, and therefore have an idea of what ATAR they need to achieve. I know for me personally, that motivates me, and I'm sure it does for a lot of students (e.g: students who want to study law generally need a high 98+ ATAR at Monash, and hence would put in those extra hours and work harder to achieve entry into that course).

Although like you there are literally tons of people who don't have an ATAR/Course in mind, and that's perfectly fine. For me personally, I think it's harder to find motivation if I don't have a goal, however, do you have a certain number you want to achieve
( 95+)?

I think if you want to find the motivation you could think about it in this way,  the more your ATAR increases the more access you have to a variety of different courses at different institutions.   

I'm sure over the span of this year you will find something that will motivate you even further.

I hope that helped but remember, don't overstress and put in a decent amount of effort so that when you look back at Year 12 you can say to yourself that you have no regrets and are proud of yourself. 

[ArtyDreams]

Hi!!

Was lovely to read your journal post!

It looks like you have a great set of subjects 
For your Spec/Further decision, I think its best to do what you are going to enjoy and get the most out of next year from 

For your question about setting goals, (I'm going to Year 12 next year too) I like to keep my goals broad and realistic (i.e. attempt to get a 90+ ATAR). By setting goals, it gives me purpose in what I'm doing, and keeps me motivated throughout the year, knowing that everything I do will count towards something. I also roughly know what course I want to pursue, just so I have a reasoning behind why I'm doing what I'm doing.

What are your hobbies? What do you like doing outside of school?

Good luck for Year 12!!

[sweetiepi]

Hey guys!

Just wanted to quickly ask to everyone did you have specific goals for the year (like getting into a certain course) and did it help motivate you? I don’t really have an ATAR/ course in mind so I’m kind of stuck about how I should take on next year :3

Hey!

In year 12, I was still kinda uncertain on what I wanted to do after year 12 at first. From mid term 2, I was determined to get into pharmaceutical science, and I made that my goal, and it helped to motivate me throughout my studies.

It's okay if at this stage you don't know what your goal is or what course you have in mind- some people take years and/or different pathways to find what they eventually want to do! Perhaps if you're finding it hard to find an ATAR or course goal, maybe setting smaller goals such as "getting through term 1" or "understanding naming organic compounds by x date" would also help as well!

[zoharreznik]

Hi everyone, a quick update from this week

English: I didn't have too many English lessons this week, but we covered a bit of Language Analysis and started on our Creative piece (SAC is in a month time). Not too much to say here except that I need to finish my books soon!

Chemistry: I've had a lot of Chem lessons so far, and this has taken up the majority of my time. We've covered the first 2 chapters already and should be starting Chapter 3 next week. Our SAC is in early March on the 1st 3 chapters, so I should have a reasonable amount of time to revise! Quick question to any former Chem students: How did you revise for a Chem SAC? I've been told by my teacher rewriting notes is not the best method of revision in this subject as it is very application based. Any tips?

Spec: Currently I am doing Spec (looks like I'll be doing it but I should be trying Further next week) and I'm finding it decent. Covered Chapter 1 and 3 and while I've been making an unfortunate number of silly mistakes, so far majority of Chapter 3 (Trig) has been fine. Sometimes those application q's and inverse functions can be tricky though!

Tertiary Hebrew: not much for this, our first "assignment" is due in over a month's time- a 350 word essay.

Hope to write again soon! Nice to be back

[Evolio]

Hey zoharreznik! Nice to meet you! 

English: I didn't have too many English lessons this week, but we covered a bit of Language Analysis and started on our Creative piece (SAC is in a month time). Not too much to say here except that I need to finish my books soon!

Which books are you doing for English?

Chemistry: I've had a lot of Chem lessons so far, and this has taken up the majority of my time. We've covered the first 2 chapters already and should be starting Chapter 3 next week. Our SAC is in early March on the 1st 3 chapters, so I should have a reasonable amount of time to revise! Quick question to any former Chem students: How did you revise for a Chem SAC? I've been told by my teacher rewriting notes is not the best method of revision in this subject as it is very application based. Any tips?

Wow, that's so good! Our class hasn't even started any 3 4 content because we've just been revising important 1 2 concepts.  I'm not a former Chemistry 3 4 student, but my teacher has said to do as many practice questions as you can because that way you'll consolidate and reinforce your knowledge of the chemistry concepts, especially because the first few topics involve some calculations which require practice.

Spec: Currently I am doing Spec (looks like I'll be doing it but I should be trying Further next week) and I'm finding it decent. Covered Chapter 1 and 3 and while I've been making an unfortunate number of silly mistakes, so far majority of Chapter 3 (Trig) has been fine. Sometimes those application q's and inverse functions can be tricky though!

Yeah, I got so annoyed last year in Methods when I kept doing those silly mistakes! Even in SACs, which was not good. I'm currently doing those application, extended-response style questions and they are taking me a really long time to do. You're not the only one.

Looking forward to your next update! 

Also congratulations on your Methods score! 

[zoharreznik]

Hey everyone,
Wanted to write a few things because this week has been exhausting me   .

Let me start by saying I’m not finding content overly hard. Yes, I find Spec annoying at times and there’s little details I miss, but rn all my subjects (content-wise) are relatively fine.

This is not where the problem seems to lie though... it’s organisation! I constantly feel like I’m falling behind even though I work in my frees, do work after school and keep a journal. Nothing’s helping. I just have really poor time management and my subjects are so frustrating for me (I prefer Methods wayyyy more than Spec for some reason!  )

Perhaps I’m just tired, getting used to Year 12 or who knows what, but I really need some organisation tips . Anyone who’s feeling ahead on their schedule help me out!!!

Also, what’s the best way to study for:
- English?
- Chem?
- Spec?
 
I need some new study habits!! I’m so lost on how to revise 

Any tips would be appreciated

[zoharreznik]

Hello again, finally found time to make another update!! Let me go through my different subjects and tell you what's happening 

English

So far, I've actually been enjoying English- we're doing the Lieutenant, and I think it's a really interesting book. I have the creative SAC on March 6, and while I've done maybe 5 or 6 paragraphs' worth of writing so far, I'll need to remain consistent and do more throughout the next week or two. We haven't gone through all the book yet but we should finish it within the next week I'd guess.

Chemistry

I've actually been finding Chemistry surprisingly enjoyable- the mole/gas questions are pretty interesting and satisfying to do!
I'm not a big fan of all the big theory-based questions, and also the biodiesel/ triglyceride questions. I always write the biodiesel in the wrong order (for a semi-structural formula) or forget something  .
Overall though, Chemistry has been pretty good so far- nearly finished all 3 chapters for the SAC on March 3 and 5.

Specialist Maths

Honestly, I've been neglecting Spec a lot so far. While we are actually ahead of our schedule so far and I'm still pretty much up to date, I have so much Chemistry to do constantly (Chem students surely feel that rn) and I never find time to do Spec. Maybe that's just because I'm really inefficient when I work, but some people are already going ahead, while I am always trying to just keep up to the pace of the class. Soooooo yeah 

Tertiary Hebrew

Literally have done like no work for this apart from any spare class time we've had. This subject has pretty minimal work, and I don't do much for it (at least not right now).

That's about it for now... I would really love to see some replies! Till next time y'all 

[zoharreznik]

UPDATE 6/03/2020

Back for another edition of my journal!! So excited to be able to keep sharing my experiences with you all

Before I go into each subject, I wanted to reflect generally on Year 12 so far. Coming into this year, I honestly didn't know what to expect (both independence and academic wise) and I still don't feel prepared to be leaving school this year. Yet, Year 12 so far has been really interesting and while not so much has changed compared to Year 11, having more frees and being able to just chill has been a really nice change, I just feel a lot calmer than last year (weirdly because I'm an anxious person) 

In terms of being the top year level, I've been doing a bit here and there with student leadership and it's so cool having the VCE jumpers!!

Also, one thing I never really got around to mentioning were some of my hobbies. I'm a big sports guy (I love soccer and basketball)- if you're interested I support Man City and Oklahoma City Thunder. I enjoy listening to music, travelling, and hanging out with mates  .  I also enjoy learning about literally anything- I love being exposed some interesting and random facts 

Anyways, moving onto my subjects:

English

Had my first English SAC today- so I won't be getting the marks back for quite a while. Most people found the creative prompt rather accessible and similar to practice tasks we wrote, so it was actually pretty decent. We are moving on to Language Analysis now- hopefully that will be decent! Not my favourite part of English as it can be tricky to extrapolate the underlying ideas but at least English has been pretty chilled so far.

Chemistry

Honestly, I consider myself to be a maths person, and I wholeheartedly expected that firstly, I would focus significantly more on Spesh then Chemistry, but I've really been enjoying Chemistry lately- the class environment is really nice and I find the content really interesting!!   
Also, I had 2 Chemistry SACs this week, I think it went good- the first 3 chapters are officially DONE . We've also finished Redox (Chapter 4) and are going to presumably move on to batteries and galvanic cells now- I'm a bit scared, some of my friends who have tutors (so they have gone ahead) have said these chapters are really hard! Anyone who's done Chem have anything to say about this?

Specialist

Surprisingly, I just can't be that bothered with Spec- I really enjoy maths but Spec feels a bit draining. I've been told it's meant to be really interesting but I don't feel exactly that way yet. It comes as a bit of a shock as I really loved Methods, but this might just be because I feel behind and less motivated for Spesh. I have to catch up a LOT of notes and work. The class is actually not too bad, and the teacher is also quite good, I just feel a bit out of sorts in Spec- I don't love calculus stuff (didn't really either in Methods) but I know there's interesting stuff here and there like implicit differentiation and more. I just hope that when I catch up and fix my notes, I'll feel a bit more excited for Spesh.

Tertiary Hebrew

I can't really explain what this subject is, but it's basically taking a language and reducing the workload. Like a lot. I have an essay due March 18th that I've pretty much finished, and then one for April 6th and 24th. Otherwise, there's literally nothing I can talk about for this subject.

That's pretty much a wrap for today. Feel free to reply