Login

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

March 29, 2024, 09:18:49 am

Author Topic: emma's vce journal  (Read 9757 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

r1ckworthy

  • NSW MVP - 2019
  • HSC Moderator
  • Forum Obsessive
  • *****
  • Posts: 279
  • Respect: +305
Re: emma's vce journal
« Reply #15 on: December 02, 2019, 06:10:30 pm »
+5
Hey! I would not say that learning stuff over the holidays is pointless. While you might forget some stuff, it will eventually come up again in class and get strengthened again in your brain. And when you’ve got a good grasp of the basic concepts, you can unpack it a bit more in class and retain a greater understanding. I would highly encourage studying over the holidays, at least becoming familiar with the basic concepts. This has worked for me, so hopefully you should have the same experience!

HSC 2019: English Advanced || Mathematics || Mathematics Extension 1 || Physics || Chemistry || Science Extension || Ancient History ||

Bachelor of Physiotherapy @ ACU

The Yr12 journey- a diary I "hope" to update... || Halfway through Year 12... lessons I've learned so far. || Check out my youtube channel!

Erutepa

  • VIC MVP - 2019
  • Forum Leader
  • ****
  • Posts: 721
  • evenin'
  • Respect: +775
Re: emma's vce journal
« Reply #16 on: December 02, 2019, 09:28:29 pm »
+7
Hey guys! Year 10 is officially over and it's so strange to not have any pressing homework on my mind. I don't finish school officially until Wednesday, but we've just got activities in the city for the rest of the week. After that, I'm going to tackle my huge amount of holiday homework - we've already got our first sac for chem to do over the holidays (research poster) :( I also want to get a headstart on my 3/4 subjects, and I was thinking of trying to learn the majority of the Unit 3 coursework for both. I'm planning on just making notes and doing flashcards so it's not as much new information to take in during class time and I get ahead of my cohort. I've seen a lot of atarnotes posts saying this is worthwhile, but on the other hand some people say it's pointless because you'll just forget it all, so I'm not sure. If anyone did something similar, let me know if it worked well! I also can't wait to get back into my hobbies that I didn't have time for during term, like photography and reading!
As r1ckworthy has said, learning the content over the holidays will make it easier for yourself when you encounter the content again in class through the year, however I personally didn't find it neccasary. I personally found that there was plenty of time throughout the year to cover the content and learn it well. I also often did pre-readings (i.e. reading the content from the textbook a week before doing it in class) which also helped learn the content. As such I found myself able to get good with the content despite not doing much over the holidays other than doing the homework given by teachers - instead I tried to enjoyed my holidays, relax, catch up on hobbies and spend alot of time on atar notes  ;) .
I think whether you study on the holidays or not comes down to personal preference. I would recomend enjoying your holidays and taking a break from the books (maybe starting a fun project that you couldn't do throughout the coming year?), however others may enjoy studying over their break. Its important to note that while it may help for some people, its not neccasary for you to cover a heap of content before school starts as there will be adequate time to cover the content through the year and still get excelent marks (given you are hard working (i.e. by doing your own pre-readings through the year)). Don't force yourself to spend your whole holidays studying becuase you think you should - perhaps do a bit of pre-reading here and there across the holiday period, but try to relax and enjoy your time away from school spending plenty of time on photography and reading (and any other hobies)!.
Good luck with those last few days of school!
Qualifications
 > Have counted to 227
 > Can draw really good spiders
 > 2 Poet points
 > 6.5 insanipi points
 > 1 Bri MT point

Bri MT

  • VIC MVP - 2018
  • Administrator
  • ATAR Notes Legend
  • *****
  • Posts: 4719
  • invest in wellbeing so it can invest in you
  • Respect: +3677
Re: emma's vce journal
« Reply #17 on: December 02, 2019, 10:31:07 pm »
+7
As Erutepa alluded to, I think it can be dependent on the situation and person. For example, over they year 11-12 holidays the most useful study I did by far was for eng lang and that's largely because I was doing eng lang by distance ed and without units 1&2. For my year 10-11 break I only studied for my 3/4 (bio) which was plenty sufficient and mostly helped me due to increased confidence + being able to study without pressure or expectation was nice.

In general, I would say it's good to do a bit of studying and preparing for school but definitely don't make it your whole holidays

eemmaa

  • Trailblazer
  • *
  • Posts: 43
  • Respect: +37
Re: emma's vce journal
« Reply #18 on: December 04, 2019, 08:25:08 pm »
+4
Hey! I would not say that learning stuff over the holidays is pointless. While you might forget some stuff, it will eventually come up again in class and get strengthened again in your brain. And when you’ve got a good grasp of the basic concepts, you can unpack it a bit more in class and retain a greater understanding. I would highly encourage studying over the holidays, at least becoming familiar with the basic concepts. This has worked for me, so hopefully you should have the same experience!

As r1ckworthy has said, learning the content over the holidays will make it easier for yourself when you encounter the content again in class through the year, however I personally didn't find it neccasary. I personally found that there was plenty of time throughout the year to cover the content and learn it well. I also often did pre-readings (i.e. reading the content from the textbook a week before doing it in class) which also helped learn the content. As such I found myself able to get good with the content despite not doing much over the holidays other than doing the homework given by teachers - instead I tried to enjoyed my holidays, relax, catch up on hobbies and spend alot of time on atar notes  ;) .
I think whether you study on the holidays or not comes down to personal preference. I would recomend enjoying your holidays and taking a break from the books (maybe starting a fun project that you couldn't do throughout the coming year?), however others may enjoy studying over their break. Its important to note that while it may help for some people, its not neccasary for you to cover a heap of content before school starts as there will be adequate time to cover the content through the year and still get excelent marks (given you are hard working (i.e. by doing your own pre-readings through the year)). Don't force yourself to spend your whole holidays studying becuase you think you should - perhaps do a bit of pre-reading here and there across the holiday period, but try to relax and enjoy your time away from school spending plenty of time on photography and reading (and any other hobies)!.
Good luck with those last few days of school!

As Erutepa alluded to, I think it can be dependent on the situation and person. For example, over they year 11-12 holidays the most useful study I did by far was for eng lang and that's largely because I was doing eng lang by distance ed and without units 1&2. For my year 10-11 break I only studied for my 3/4 (bio) which was plenty sufficient and mostly helped me due to increased confidence + being able to study without pressure or expectation was nice.

In general, I would say it's good to do a bit of studying and preparing for school but definitely don't make it your whole holidays

Thank you all so much for the amazing advice! I'm glad to know my planned work won't all be going to waste  :) I'll definitely be sure to maintain balance as you guys mentioned, and I'll probably only study ahead for my 3/4 subjects. Thanks again <3

Deliaaa454

  • Adventurer
  • *
  • Posts: 9
  • Respect: +5
Re: emma's vce journal
« Reply #19 on: December 08, 2019, 10:17:24 pm »
+3
Thank you so much! You went/go to Princeton? That's so incredible, how did you find the application experience? Also I've been getting so many ads for Crimson Education, was it worth using the program? Is the financial aspect of US schooling much more difficult to manage? :,)

Ooops, sorry for the late reply! Yes I'm currently in my first year at Princeton. The application process was well... a lot (lol). For US universiites, the easiest part is the SAT (the academic component). If you can get above a score of 1500 (out of 1600) then you'll have a pretty solid chance. The harder parts are accumulating tons of extra curricular (mostly sport and/or music), community involvement, volunteering and leadership experience. Then theres also the admissions essay of roughly 500-650 words which is a huge decider in whether or not you get in. AFAIK in UK universities there's far less focus on this and much more on academics. The financial aspect is definitely more difficult than Australia! Hecs isn't a thing over here unfortunately :-( Luckily there are countless scholarships that students are eligible for, including many which are specifically for international students.

Yes Crimson was honestly a great help! I I might be just a bit biased lol as I work for them now. But I truly found their program helpful and they pointed me in the right direction lots of times which made my application process a lot smoother.

VCE: 99.3 ATAR - Methods [47] Spec [50] Chem [50] Physics [42] Music [49]
Current: BSE - Computer Science @ Princeton

Selling methods resources

eemmaa

  • Trailblazer
  • *
  • Posts: 43
  • Respect: +37
Re: emma's vce journal
« Reply #20 on: December 26, 2019, 11:00:04 pm »
0
Ooops, sorry for the late reply! Yes I'm currently in my first year at Princeton. The application process was well... a lot (lol). For US universiites, the easiest part is the SAT (the academic component). If you can get above a score of 1500 (out of 1600) then you'll have a pretty solid chance. The harder parts are accumulating tons of extra curricular (mostly sport and/or music), community involvement, volunteering and leadership experience. Then theres also the admissions essay of roughly 500-650 words which is a huge decider in whether or not you get in. AFAIK in UK universities there's far less focus on this and much more on academics. The financial aspect is definitely more difficult than Australia! Hecs isn't a thing over here unfortunately :-( Luckily there are countless scholarships that students are eligible for, including many which are specifically for international students.

Yes Crimson was honestly a great help! I I might be just a bit biased lol as I work for them now. But I truly found their program helpful and they pointed me in the right direction lots of times which made my application process a lot smoother.

Turns out my reply is significantly later than yours haha! That's incredible, well done for surviving what sounds like an incredibly rigorous process. Seriously helpful info, thank you so much  :D I'm definitely going to look into Crimson because I don't think I could handle it all on my own lol thanks again!!

eemmaa

  • Trailblazer
  • *
  • Posts: 43
  • Respect: +37
Re: emma's vce journal
« Reply #21 on: February 05, 2020, 09:04:56 pm »
+8
First Week of School ☆

Hey guys! Yesterday was my first day of Year 11, and today was my first day of classes! After an eventful holiday it's almost a relief to be getting back into the school routine. I've only had three of my classes so far (plus religion) but it looks like it's shaping up to be a really exciting year, although daunting. Speaking of daunting, I have my first Legal 3/4 sac in only 13 days...and counting. After going to both the legal and bio atarnotes lectures, I'm feeling very aware of just how much content there is to get through in the next several months. Anyway, I'll have more to update once I've had more classes, I just felt like I should acknowledge the beginning of school in my journal! Hope everyone else has had an amazing start to the year : ) I'll now get back to the chem homework I have been procrastinating!

eemmaa

  • Trailblazer
  • *
  • Posts: 43
  • Respect: +37
Re: emma's vce journal
« Reply #22 on: February 18, 2020, 10:15:48 pm »
+7
Term 1, Week 3 ☆

My plan of updating weekly has already failed...

The workload so far has been a lot less than I anticipated, I've been averaging less than 2 hours of homework a night. That's a relief, but I'm nervous that it's going to increase before I know it.

Legal Studies
I had my first sac for this subject (and this year) today and... it was a nightmare. I'm so disappointed because I feel like it's the most prepared I've ever been for a sac - I did 3 practice sacs, and knew every relevant piece of legislation, but the questions completely threw me. They were so different from the 2019 sac, and unlike anything I'd really seen. To make matters worse, it was only 18 marks, which means every single mark is worth almost 6%. I feel like my hopes and dreams of a 45+ for this subject have already been destroyed. I know that's just me overreacting, since this sac is only worth 5% of my study score, but it doesn't seem like a good sign to have stuffed up my first 3/4 sac so badly.

Biology
As much as I disliked this subject last year, I'm really beginning to develop an appreciation for the way everything links together so beautifully. I just hate constantly feeling like I'm falling behind and should be revising at all times - the amount of content scares me a lot. My main struggle is understanding rather than just memorising. My first sac isn't til March, and I'm hoping to get into a better routine of studying very soon.

Chemistry
I'm so glad I ended up choosing this subject! I know it's only going to get harder, but everything is so enjoyable at the moment. I also got my results from the Unit 1 AOS 3 poster sac we did over the holidays, and somehow I managed 100%! Our first sac is next Thursday, which is unfortunate because I have a concert the night before, but I'm feeling confident with the content so far.

History
This subject would be so dry if it wasn't for the teacher (the main reason I picked the class) but I'm really enjoying it. It's such a different atmosphere from my other classes, and it's almost like a relaxing break. The workload is so light - the only homework we get is things like 30 word summaries and it's assigned rarely, and we've also only got one sac a term. I've decided I'm not going to do Revs next year though, because I don't want the stress of such a hard workload. I've been debating over picking up English, GloPol (distance) or Psych 3/4 next year, but at the moment I'm thinking English. It'll be useful as it means if I do badly in Lit due to how competitive it is it won't be forced into my top 4, and my strength has always been English.

Literature
Absolutely love the atmosphere of this class, we only have 10 people and we typically spend classes reading Streetcar as a class, then answering questions for homework. We had our first sac on the first week, a poetry analysis, and I got 100% on it! Not a huge achievement as it was only a small task, but I'm proud all the same.

Methods
So far the class I've been dreading hasn't been as difficult as I expected, surprisingly, but I'm sure it's only going to get worse. We have our first sac on March 2, and I feel like my shaky understanding is going to be tested. Our class at the beginning of the year was 18 or so people, but it's already down to 8 because so many have switched to General. On the one hand, this is great because it means we have more one-on-one time with the teacher and asking questions is less intimidating, but it scares me to be one of the few remaining. We've also not had much homework, which is great but it worries me because it seems like we're not doing any of the hard questions.

Favourite Subject: Chemistry
Least Favourite: Methods

I'm still working out how to structure my journal to make it interesting, so thank you if you've stuck with me so far!  :)

Joseph41

  • Administrator
  • Great Wonder of ATAR Notes
  • *****
  • Posts: 10823
  • Respect: +7477
Re: emma's vce journal
« Reply #23 on: February 19, 2020, 05:00:24 pm »
+2
Nice work on the updates! :)

Re: Legal, that's a bummer! But try not to lose hope. As you've mentioned, each SAC individually won't make or break your study score, and presumably everybody in your cohort was in the same boat if it was super different to what was expected. 45+ is absolutely not out of the question! ✌️

P.S. Congrats on getting through your first SAC.

Oxford comma, Garamond, Avett Brothers, Orla Gartland enthusiast.