blueycan’s journey through VCE ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

[tiredandstressed]

My initial goal for the exam was 80/100 marks, but now that I've started doing practice exams, I've realised how hard this is gonna be. I have a very vague idea of what will get me a 45 but at this point I don't really care about the numbers game and want to answer the questions as best as possible. I care about the content of this subject a lot and don't want to throw away my interest for public health just because of some exam marks.

I need to start studying for my year 11 exams which start on the 23rd. They seem like a joke compared to the weight of my HHD exam but I want to do well on them too, so I need to find a balance.

Good luck to everyone else reading this (:

Hi blueycan,
Seem like you have done some great exam preparation with four days to go it looks like you have solid plan to solidify your marks!
You still have a shot to reach that 80/100 you got this! The more practise you do (especially extended response questions) will defs help to improve your score. I'm sure you know HHD is marked quite harshly so many students will lose easy marks- so important you familiarise with VCCA's strict expectation (clear, specific definitions + appropriate links in a response)
As for what you need for a 45+ my hhd teacher always told me ~90/100 is typically what to aim for- I don't know what i got my exam but I wouldn't be surprised if I was around that ballpark. So keep on persisting and I'm sure you will do well! The A+ cut of is quite low so it the exam score need for a 45 might be lower.
As for year 11 exams lmao tell me about I didn't study for them whatsoever (they were a week after my 3/4 exams- but it felt pointless like they don't count). But i do recommend to try to study for them just as it is good practice for year 12. But yea I got like 50ish for my unit 2 chem exam and ended up being near the top of the class hahaha.
All the best for hhd, you got this!
T&S

[homeworkisapotato]

Hey blueycan! I hope your exam went well and you're having an excellent break!

[blueycan]

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ Hi guys! ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
It's been almost two months since I've updated my VCE journey journal. I've taken December and most of January to rest and recover from the happenings of the year, and since school is starting back this week, I thought I'd give a long-awaited update. (:

Taking on a bit of a legacy here (s/o to my AN mum Ashmi)... here's the song of this journal update!

Starting off from where I left you– I sat the Health and Human Development exam on November 19th, 2020, and as I've updated on other threads I think I went pretty well! From the end of the exam to results day, since I was busy studying for my year 11 exams and then enjoying my break, my result completely slipped my mind. Come December 30th, I learnt that I achieved a 43 study score (which I was very happy with). I also want to wish a belated congratulations to all my since-graduated year 12 friends who received their results and university offers!

2020 was definitely an experience. There were times I felt unmotivated, upset, and apathetic towards school, but I'm really grateful to have ended the year on a good note. Learning online and being confined to my bedroom for the majority of the year was one of the toughest things I've ever experienced, but as I said, I'm grateful and lucky to even have the privilege of an undisrupted education during times of crisis. In Melbourne, where I live, the COVID-19 situation has been slowly but steadily improving, so I have a lot of hope for the new year and the events it will bring. I want to extend my thanks to AtarNotes friends who have consistently read this journal, as well as friends who have helped me out on other boards. You've helped me keep my spirits up throughout the year, and I definitely wouldn't have been this relaxed about school without you guys. AN has granted me so many amazing opportunities and helped me meet so many amazing people, I <3 YOU

My main resolution for 2021 is to definitely spend the year in good health. I also aim to work on a study/life balance so I can maintain a somewhat-optimal state throughout the year (a.k.a not burn out in week 4... and smash out final assessments!). As for year 12 related goals, as we are still so early into the year, I'm still not sure what to really strive for. Of course, I want to do as well as I can, so I'll just have to see where the circumstances take me!
Some other goals of mine:
> Discover more music (currently in a k-rnb phase...)
> Prioritise organisation (use my diary and class-planners more often)
> Read more books for leisure (I have a to-read list– expect future updates!)

I'll admit that I have not been as productive as I wished to be over the holidays... but it's okay! I've been chipping away at homework/study and making time to enjoy the holidays since I will be starting year 12 this year. If you're reading my journal for the first time, this year I am studying mainstream English, Further Mathematics, Legal Studies, Visual Communication Design, and Psychology. So far, I'm looking forward to Psychology the most, mainly because I find the topics covered in year 12 like sleep and stress really interesting. I'm also strangely keen for Further– I've never been a big maths person, more leaning towards the Eng/hums side, but from what I've seen from friends who have already completed Further it seems like it should be a great subject!
I still have a bit of work to do before the school year starts, so my days have been filled with reading and completing my tasks. Which is kind of good– it's helped me ease back into the school year.

I should probably end this post here so I can get back to my homework... I'll be sure to be more active on here this year, and update more frequently! See you next time <3

[blueycan]

Hi guys (: Blueycan is back!
<-- Just wanna update that I've put my pronouns in my profile text just to the left <3
We're approaching week 5 (??) of Year 12, and also approaching a new month. A lot of new things have happened since the start of the year, but I'll start off with general updates about my subjects.
This is quite a long read– bring your popcorn 🍿🧃

today's track!

Further Maths
I've finished my first chapter's worth of data analysis!! Last Tuesday (in lockdown) we completed a chapter test on univariate data, and I did pretty well! I'm confident with Further so far, univariate data passed like a breeze and now we've started bivariate data. My favourite area to study so far is probably normal distribution, and my least favourite thing is significant figures (it's taking a while to wrap my head around it). My data analysis SAC is at the end of term and it sure is a big one– 4 chapters worth of content in a 5-period-long assessment. Luckily, I have a few friends who studied 3/4 Further last year who have been able to help me out here and there, which has been a big help in knowing what to expect.
I really want to keep up the habit of updating my summary book regularly– one of my friends procrastinated making their final good-copy summary book up until SWOTVAC time and I'm really not trying to do that 😅
I've taken on the advice to start doing Checkpoints questions here and there from the beginning of the year, and I've found that it really helps knowing what is expected of you walking into an assessment. If you're reading this and doing General Maths or are also doing Further, I highly recommend seeing if you can find some past exam questions to practice with!

English
It already feels weird to know my first English SAC is 50% over! I know that a lot of schools do their SACs in different order– my first SAC is the Creative Response, and the text we're studying is Extinction. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before but I read Extinction last year, so that's helped me really bolster my understanding of the text. We also had the opportunity to watch a recording of the live play a couple of weeks ago, which was really cool. I'm the type of person to visualise a text while I'm reading it, so I find plays to be up there in my favourite forms of text.
I had the first portion of my SAC last Thursday where we wrote out our final scenes under test conditions. My Creative Response was a script/scene that centred around the characters Piper and Harry's personalities clashing, having a heated argument and exposing it all! ... I focused on the themes human/non-human and idealism/pragmatism. Part two, my statement of intention, is going to be on Monday, so I need to prepare for that... I like my scene, and I think I didn't do that bad (hopefully my teachers agree heh) but I'm not too confident yet about my written explanation. I'm planning to work on it tomorrow.
I have a LOTTTT of preparation to do for my next topic (Rear Window text response) so pls wish me luck with all that coursework (,:

Psychology
Finished the Nervous System... finishing Stress... and getting closer to our first SAC!!!! Psychology was one of my favourite subjects last year, and while it's still on the leaderboard, this topic has been kind of draining. I feel like a lot of it is going into my brain but I'm not resonating with the content. It's interesting, don't get me wrong– but I'm more looking forward to learning about sleep and mental wellbeing (which is months away lol). I definitely need to start studying for my first SAC, so I've made it a priority to complete all coursework and keep updating my summary notes. We might also have an incursion planned for a later topic, probably Sleep, which is exciting and should be really good!
I don't really have much more to say about Psych 😚

Legal Studies
The tiktoks were right. 3/4 Legal is slowly but surely kicking my butt. We're still in the honeymoon phase, learning about the criminal justice system, but the coursework my teacher gives me is INSANE (,: I'm getting through it though. I joke around a bit with my friends saying stuff like I regret picking it but honestly, I do really like Legal Studies. I get really adrenaline-y in class and I always want to talk about the topics we're discussing. My teacher is pretty cool, and definitely different from who I had last year, but still good. I especially like how she'll switch from teaching the content to asking us questions and then making her own comments about the content, which engages the class and makes being there fun.
Since we're doing criminal law right now (and even though it barely has any correlation lol) a lot of my classmates are ALWAYS talking about Netflix docu's about crime/murder/serial killers/you name it. I'm a big chicken so the scariest thing I'll watch is Buzzfeed Unsolved but it's so interesting to hear others talk about it. I remember listening to season one of the Serial podcast a few years ago and being HOOKED so maybe it's a sign I should get watching 😈 Need to study first though...
My first SAC is in about two weeks so it's time to get cracking. I noticed that I freeze and end up word-vomiting on longer response questions, so I definitely need to work on that before the test!

Visual Communication Design
I am a vcd baby so some of my words may not make sense– sorry in advance lol
VCD has been going surprisingly smoothly? I'm doing alright and I'm not falling behind, despite my worries at the start of the year. Some background context– I haven't done any subject that is Art based since Year 9, so diving straight into VCD in YEAR TWELVE was a huge risk for me but ultimately happy I ended up doing it.
We've finished our first mini communication design project (!!!) where we had to design a logo for Melbourne Zoo that was simple, suitable for both colour and B/W print, and had to incorporate asian elephants and their habitat.
I learnt that last year, the VCD class did their assessments in a somewhat unstructured way, which now that I think about, would have stressed me out so much. Our projects are completed in a booklet, structured in the order of the design process, with distinct deadlines for each section– let me tell you, this has been a godsend. While it's been somewhat of a challenge having to relearn how to use Adobe Illustrator (and how to use a fineliner pff), this structure has really been what has help me adjust back to the ways of VCD.
My logo isn't the BEST, but I'm happy with it and it follows the rubric so I'm content. I'm also focusing a lot on the analysis portion of the projects since that is quite important as well. Since VCD is quite a bit of a new environment for me I'm taking it easy and making sure I complete tasks to the best of my ability with the advice of my teacher, who has been really nice in helping me out here and there.
Our next project is an industrial design task, where we have to design an elephant pull-along children's toy to accompany an asian elephant exhibition. I've already finished my research pages and I have half-finished a stimulus-analysis page which I shall continue tomorrow. I'm really nervous about the orthogonal and isometric (I think it's isometric, forgive me if I got it wrong) drawing parts, since I've never drawn like that, but it should be fine 😭
I have a tiny, silent class of 7 people, so VCD is my little quiet escape from my other subjects. I'll make sure to update AN about my VCD stuff more often.


And there we have it. Here's where I am one month (kind of) since Year 12 started! It's been surprisingly easy to adjust. Sometimes I feel like I'm still in Year 11, but then I get 4 chapters worth of Legal questions and snap back to reality 😎
You know what really made me feel like a Year 12? I finally got my ‧⁺˚*Class of '21 varsity jacket*˚⁺‧ with my name on it! It's so THICK and FAT and I can already imagine the beautiful crisp Melbourne mornings where I slip my jacket on and feel like I'm in my warm bed again (jokes that feeling is never replicated) Honestly, the first time I tried mine on I felt like it wasn't even mine and that I'm not even in Year 12 😧

Year 12 jacket meaningless storytime

Thursday morning word got around that 20 huge boxes arrived in the study centre, full of our beautiful '21 jackets. Thursday lunchtime, approximately 12:43pm, more word got around that we were able to go pick ours up if we'd payed for them in full, cue the swarm of bees students to the study centre. Poor little me didn't eat in order to wait and 20 mins later when it got to my turn, it turns out my jacket was MISSING and I waited for no reason. My lovely friend brought me some food that I had to quite literally shove into my throat 2 minutes before English and there I was, sadly eating my potatoes while everyone showed off their outerwear. Come Friday approximately 1:39pm my jacket had arrived and I went to pick it up in the middle of VCD and tried it on in the middle of the 34º degree weather 🤡
TLDR my jacket delivery got delayed a day and I wanted to be dramatic about it

Also– I'm currently in the process of school captain interviews! I passed the first interview and have gone onto the next round, which is an interview with my school's leadership team including the Principal. I'm pretty scared, but I'm going to prepare really well and whatever else happens is okay. I'll make sure to keep you guys updated on that too.

I know that I've been really bad at replying on here so I'm sorry 🙏 Please know if you have a VCE journal that I am being a little ghost and I am reading yours! I'll make sure to be better at replying in the future. Also– I'm very envious but keen to read everyone's new uni journals !!

Thanks again for reading this longggg update 9804 words that took me over an hour to write lol and have a good morning/day/night <3

[lm21074]

Hey blueycan!

Glad to see Year 12 is going well for you so far

I'm slightly jealous that you have gotten your Year 12 jumper already. My school gets them towards the end of Term 3

All the best with your school captain interview!

[Marylen]

Heyy Jeydaaa
Super stoked to see your journal update again! I was a silent reader of your journal last year_{was too shy to respond hehehheheh}. I hope your captaincy interview went well!
I loved sleep and mental health when I did psych last year! Trust me, time will fly and in the blink of an eye, you'll be learning about the protective factors for mental health and the beautiful world of NREM and REM sleep... ooooweeeee
Do you miss Health? I sometimes sit in my room mindlessly writing an essay, reminiscing on my time doing psych and further last year. Although I somewhat miss year 11, I'm forever grateful for the free periods I get this year. Honestly, free periods are a precious gift from the VCE lords above, allowing me to catch up on my studies.

I hope to see another update soon!

PS: Huge congrats for year health ss!

Love,
Mary

[blueycan]

Replies

Heyy Jeydaaa
Super stoked to see your journal update again! I was a silent reader of your journal last year_{was too shy to respond hehehheheh}. I hope your captaincy interview went well!
I loved sleep and mental health when I did psych last year! Trust me, time will fly and in the blink of an eye, you'll be learning about the protective factors for mental health and the beautiful world of NREM and REM sleep... ooooweeeee
Do you miss Health? I sometimes sit in my room mindlessly writing an essay, reminiscing on my time doing psych and further last year. Although I somewhat miss year 11, I'm forever grateful for the free periods I get this year. Honestly, free periods are a precious gift from the VCE lords above, allowing me to catch up on my studies.

I hope to see another update soon!

PS: Huge congrats for year health ss!

Love,
Mary

Hi Mary! Thank you for reading and replying to my post, I'm so sorry it took this long for me to respond! I really do miss HHD sometimes and I often think about what it might have been like if I had taken it this year instead. I think studying HHD in year 11 allowed me to fall deeper into the subject and gain an appreciation for it, I'm sure it would be similar for you!
Having free periods are very very nice compared to previous years with full timetables. It's also a bonus that my frees allow me to leave early or come late to school some times.
Thank you for the congratulations, right back at you!

Hey blueycan!

Glad to see Year 12 is going well for you so far

I'm slightly jealous that you have gotten your Year 12 jumper already. My school gets them towards the end of Term 3

All the best with your school captain interview!

Hey lm21074, thanks for replying! I can't believe some schools get the jumpers so late, at least you'll be cozy and comfy for exams   

today's track!

First, I want to quickly apologise for not updating– once I got swamped with school, my VCE journal completely escaped my mind. During this period I haven't been active on AN, there have been some updates with school and life in general. My school captaincy application went super well and I fortunately was lucky enough to bag the position! I'm really happy with how everything turned out, and am super excited to be more involved. Recently I'm hooked onto the Netflix shows "Law School" and "Vincenzo," and desperately need some good shows so if you have any please lmk. Also my Year 12 formal is next Friday and I'm sooooo excited, I've already gotten almost everything including the dress, and I'm super stoked to be helping out my friends in the events committee with their fun things planned!!

I feel like the year so far has passed by so quickly, with one SAC after another. I've completed a total of nine assessments this year– which, when I put into perspective, seems like so many!? Since I've updated, I've completed my text response English SAC, data SAC for Further, a Psychology sac, and a VCD sac. Whew. I'm pretty happy with my results and it seems I've started to get into a good study rhythm. I've also recently gone on an excursion to Top Designs with my VCD class to gain some inspo and see other students' creations, which was really good! I'll give more detailed update about VCD in another post once I've gotten settled into the beginnings of my folio. I also managed to spot Ashmi in the shortlist, which was really cool! <3

After watching this video, I've started to utilise Numbers to create study notes, which has been really great in organising notes by unit and by area of study. I highly recommend watching videos like these of people studying to get you in the mood to work if you're in a rut. I've recently subscribed to 'jennylog 제니로그' and 'Eucalyptus VLOG' on YouTube for some calm, motivating videos– they are two medical students who vlog their days in school, and I find it really interesting to see how people study in different fields and different countries. I've also been attending tutoring with Tutesmart and I've been catching up on sessions I've missed in preparation for my Further test and Legal SAC, which are (respectively) Tuesday and Friday this week.  :-[ After I post this update, I'm going to get back to the books to prepare some more  ;D

If you're reading this, thank you for sticking by and again sorry for the lateeee update... heh. See you next post!

[tiredandstressed]

Recently I'm hooked onto the Netflix shows "Law School" and "Vincenzo,"

I'm watching Law school as well and I'm enjoying it! (considering the last kdrama I watched was start-up this was nice change in pace)
Vincenzo is on my list I heard good things about!

Good to see year 12 is travelling well, continue to keep up with your studies and balancing extracurriculars as well.
Glad to have a read a positive update, but as you move into the midst of term 2, many students find it challenging to keep motivated.
I encourage you to give yourself some "me-time" doing something for yourself every week to ensure you keep yourself sane, always important to look after your physical and mental health.
Looking forward to next update 

[blueycan]

T&S

I'm watching Law school as well and I'm enjoying it! (considering the last kdrama I watched was start-up this was nice change in pace)
Vincenzo is on my list I heard good things about!

Good to see year 12 is travelling well, continue to keep up with your studies and balancing extracurriculars as well.
Glad to have a read a positive update, but as you move into the midst of term 2, many students find it challenging to keep motivated.
I encourage you to give yourself some "me-time" doing something for yourself every week to ensure you keep yourself sane, always important to look after your physical and mental health.
Looking forward to next update 

It's so great to see someone else enjoying Law School! It's honestly the biggest highlight of my Thursdays and Fridays. I also ended up finishing Vincenzo last night, and I ****highly**** recommend you watch it.
I appreciate your kind advice! Term 2 has dragged out a lot but at the same time it's gone so fast. I think with mid-year exams coming up soon it'll give me the opportunity to find motivation again. Thank you for reading as always T&S!

Today's tracks (because I couldn't choose one)

Smack bang back into lockdown...
I think it was inevitable with the rise of COVID cases in Victoria that we were going to go into our 4th lockdown. All throughout this week, my friends and I were anticipating the announcement and it sucks that it came at an inconvenient time– our formal was scheduled for Friday the 28th and had to be postponed until later, around mid-June. It sucks because so many of us had everything prepared and had to cancel reservations and h&mu appointments... I also had dyed my hair and gotten my nails done for basically nothing (,: But of course I'd rather formal be postponed than have the state go up in flames. I was wishing for a snap-lockdown so maybe afterwards we could get back to a sort of COVID-normal so I am glad it has happened... there were so many fun and amazing opportunities scheduled for us this term, like our RMIT excursion (which I doubt will go ahead because buildings 56 and 57 are exposure sites) and a visit to Melbourne Law School, so it'd be a huge shame if we missed out. I just really hope that things will at least be a bit better than how they were for Year 12s last year, at least being able to go to in-person classes– I really hate doing school from home.

As a result of remote learning, a bunch of SACs have been pushed back, including my English argument analysis SAC and my Psychology report. While it would have been nice to get them out of the way and move onto Unit 4 content, at least I have some more time to prepare, right? No word to whether mid-years are being adjusted, though. I think they'll continue as usual, as the first day of exams is the first day we come back to school in person. I need to start studying for mid-years but haven't had the drive to start– procrastination eats at my time and all of a sudden it's 8pm and I haven't done anything... I need to start getting my shit together properly because I can't afford to skimp out on these mid-years T-T
I had my legal studies SAC I mentioned in my previous update– since I upped the studying I did from the criminal law SAC to this one, I definitely noticed myself becoming more confident in answering questions under timed conditions. I did heaps more practice questions this time around, and for a longer duration of time before the SAC, so I found myself having a deeper understanding of the questions asked and the action-words. The main thing I struggled with was time– I had to sacrifice some marks on the last two questions in the SAC because there was just not enough time. If I remember correctly, the second last question was a 6 marker and the last was 5 marks. I'm pretty sure I got at least 2-3 for each for them which is fine... I didn't want to leave anything blank so I opted for shorter answers on both. I'm hoping that worked out and that I can do better on this topic... Civil law was actually pretty interesting and I enjoyed it more than the first outcome. My teacher also reckons I could get in the 90s for this one so lets hope I lived up to that.
I also got my maths test back but honestly, financial is pretty hard for me so I don't even feel happy about barely scraping by on the test. My SAC, if it hasn't been moved, is supposed to be Friday the 4th, so I need to get moving with studying if I want to do well on this SAC. I understand recurrence relations but for some reason I just kept fucking up on certain other areas like reducing balance loans and depreciation and amortisation tables. I need to revisit the tutoring videos and update my summary book ASAP. I also find myself forgetting basic things like how to work out different percentages... yeah, Maths isn't my strong suit.
I'm lowkey stressed for English too, because the mid-year exam is going to consist of 1x Argument Analysis essay, 1x Rear Window essay and 1x Extinction essay. Please wish me luck, because without luck, I don't know how the fuck I'm gonna be able to do that lmao.

Also the end of year examination timetable was released! My exam period goes like this:
27/10 English
29/10 Further Maths 1
01/11 Psychology and Further Maths 2
08/11 VCD
10/11 Legal Studies
As I mentioned on this thread, I'm not sure if the week long break I have in the middle of my exams is a curse or a blessing. I'll have more time to study solely for VCD and Legal, but my exams will be dragged out longer... One of my friend's exams are in the span of 6 days back to back, meaning she'll get them over and done with way before I am. *currently planning post-exams trip as motivation to cope with studying*

Thanks for reading if you got this far, let me know how y'all are feeling and if there's any similar things we have going on!
Let's hope this week of remote learning goes smoothly– I'll do another update at the end of the week to let y'all know where I'm at.

[tiredandstressed]

I had a similar exam season had a 1-week break from my English exam to my Methods Exam.
I think the 1-week break will work in your favour I would prefer it then has all your exams slammed together, although you may envy your friends that finish earlier, trust me finishing a week or so earlier isn't all that much to worry about hehe.
And yes I also would plan my post-exam trip (I also had my 18th after exams, so it was a double whammy). I remember I was searching Airbnb during my hhd classes and teacher would get mad (even though I was rank 1 XD)
Hopefully, the term 2 holidays can be a good time to get some much-deserved rest, but also a good time to start rolling our practice exams (esp for psych).
Always happy to read your updates! You're more than halfway through, keep it up!

law school & other kdramas

Also I finished Law School! Won't say my thoughts just incase you haven't finished, I am looking forward to watching So Not Worth It and Nevertheless, that comes out this week!
Planning on binging Penthouse during my uni break GAHHHH so much kdramas and not enough time

[blueycan]

T&S

I totally agree regarding the 1-week exam gap– I think having time to dedicated solely to a couple subjects will help me heaps in doing the best I can in them 😅 thanks for ur reply & hope your semester wraps up well!

dramas (with a spoiler alert in case anyone watches kdramas lol)

Omg I can't believe law school is finished– I'm pretty happy with the ending, I am a little disappointed we didn't get to see each relationship bloom but I think the way they wrapped everything up implicitly was nice and fitting for the vibe of the show.
I am really looking forward to Nevertheless! Also season 2 of Hospital Playlist. I was planning on starting Penthouse but I heard season 3 is a bit of a disaster so I'll have to see 😭

Today's track

I really should stop promising when I'm going to update 🙊
Lockdown went by like any lockdown would – not great. I did manage to survive though, and I'm happy we're back at school as normal.
Some mini updates before I get into the thick of things– I've made myself a cute little desk set-up! I recently purchased one of those silver-coloured laptop stands, a wireless keyboard (I ended up going with a Bluetooth compatible logitech one), I brought out my mouse, and I have a wooden book stand I nicked from my sister. Much better for my neck! I also organised my room to have my notebooks, folders and textbooks near my desk, neatly filed into magazine holders and my little 2-hole shelf.
I started watching Gossip Girl recently alongside some other kdramas and I've been enjoying it... not very relatable but entertaining to say the least, and fuels my New York fantasies 🤩

I'm currently nearing the end of my mid-year exams, with my last one being Psych on Monday.
Despite not leaving myself a lot of time to study, I was pretty happy with how most of them went– I found with English, I was able to churn out the three essays to an acceptable standard with time left to spare. My English exam has also made me rethink which text I was going to choose in the end of year exam. I originally wanted to do Extinction but now I am leaning towards Rear Window. I think I should do a bit more practice for both texts before I settle for one, though.
Further went alright, but what is more important about Further is my financial sac over my exam. Despite messing up some of my values I managed to do pretty well. I didn't get too wrapped into the mistake and I'm just happy it's over with a good result.
My legal studies exam was one I was the most eager for– and it went super well. By super well, I mean I was able to answer every question with confidence and managed to finish on time with a couple minutes to proofread (pretty rare for my school's Legal assessments). I was also thanking the lords that there was no mention of reforms on the exam– maybe one of the reasons I felt good about the outcome.

But... today I had my VCD exam. If you haven't read my journal when I was in Year 11 or you've just stumbled across me now, I didn't do VCD in Year 11 and chose to do it this year because I wanted a folio in case I wanted to apply for media/advertising courses. This may have ended up being a bad decision. Today in the exam, I felt really defeated, because I knew I hadn't prepared enough. Frankly, it was my fault for not communicating my struggles with revision– I was so focused on meeting the deadlines for my folio that I left only a couple of days for exam revision, which is obviously not enough time  to teach yourself the ins and outs of the exam theory. I felt humiliated, and like I was an idiot for not being able to answer much. I know I failed– and I know because I left most of the practical elements of the exam blank. I managed to keep my emotions in until I left my campus but I ended up hurting my hand which set me off and I just started crying... went home and vented to my mum and cried some more.. I don't know what got into me but I felt really disappointed and stressed and really embarrassed. It feels like everything I do in VCD is wrong– my drawings, my annotations, my analysis... I feel like I just don't know what I'm doing and it doesn't make sense until I mess up and then I realise it was wrong and it's too late to correct my mistakes. I am honestly having thoughts of dropping the subject and continuing the year doing four subjects– but then everything I've done this year, all the hours I put into my VCD work will go to waste and count for nothing, and I think if I drop it I'll regret not seeing it out until the end of the year. I also feel embarrassed since I kept talking about VCD and here I am practically announcing I'm not liking it anymore.

I'm honestly having a hard time lately with the pressure of school... year 12 stress + pushing myself too hard + life in general = a very not happy blueycan. Everyone keeps telling me I'm too hard on myself, that it's okay to not be able to do something, and that there are so many pathways in this world and that school is not worth the deterioration of my health– which I believe, and I really try to stop being so hard on myself but honestly don't know how to. I am actively taking steps to seek some professional advice. I just feel like I've put myself in a tough predicament that I can't get myself out of and of course I can't go back in time and change my mind, but I also don't know if it's worth basically throwing away half the year.

I'm really really looking forward to next week because it means no more midyears, no more sacs, just a couple days left of school. Our whole cohort has an event on Thursday which I'm very excited for, and Friday is the day of our oral presentations, meaning no school. The term 2 holidays will hopefully be a chance to slow down and chill out for a bit. 147 days until I will have zero education related commitments and I will be able to be a bum for a couple months...

This update was a bit bleh but I wanted to get my thoughts off my chest while it was fresh. I'll try to make the next one a bit better 🤓
Thanks for reading <3

[wingdings2791]

Hi blueycan! Glad to see you updating : )

Your set-up sounds so cute! Please lend me that book stand as my neck is starting to make creaky hinge sounds xd. It's great that you're giving your study environment a little glow-up I also watched the first two seasons of Gossip Girl last year in lockdown (perhaps partly to live the Upper East lifestyle vicariously T^T) and it might sound stupid but I stopped because there was... too much drama? HAHA I was literally exhausted just trying to keep track of who said and did what xd

Congrats on going so well on your midyears so far! It must be a relief finally wrapping up school stuff, at least for a little while before next term. Although I don't even do Mainstream, I'm still a little jealous of your English performance. Time is such a valuable commodity in any exam and the fact that you finished early with high quality shows that you're really strong in writing. Same with Further and Legal: so good, especially when it sounds like your school's papers are on the difficult side. I already know you scored super well : )

I know it's probably going to be very helpful telling you not to worry about VCD- but seriously, there's nothing shameful about sometimes having a hard time during assessments. Stress gets to even some of the most capable, intelligent students (eg. some Spesh students leaving entire pages of the Methods SAC blank at my school), it's only human. Please don't feel humiliated: it's a much more common experience than it seems. I'm very sure you have the skills and smarts to excel by the end of the year, as you've clearly put in the effort so far. I know how trying to keep up with folio deadlines can be really overwhelming; when I did piano exams, it was pretty gruelling to keep up with that 40 minute program constantly. Just the sheer amount of time it took out of my schedule was already challenge enough at some points. Not to mention the added pressure from being in an artistic field; I always really admired artists and designers because of how hard and scary it is to produce original material, whereas performing music is mostly about study and interpretation. Stay strong blueycan: always remember that you'll come out of VCD with a sharper eye, a better hand, and an experience that you will value.

Jeyda, take it easy. Term 2 hasn't exactly been kind to the best of us, so make sure to slow down and take care of yourself in the term break.
Now go watch some more GG and K-drama

[blueycan]

@wingdings

Thank you for such a kind reply. This definitely gave me some comfort, and I apologise for not replying soon enough! I hope these past two months have been kind to you (:

🎧

Hey guys! Thought I'd come on here to share some thoughts (:
So I just wanna preface by thanking you guys for messaging me with such kind words 🥺 After the whole exam ordeal (+ getting sick from stress which is a whole other story) I spoke with some people in my supportive circle and have made a lot of improvement in working towards a healthier mindset. While going in and out of lockdowns has not been easy, realising that time will move forward and the struggles we face today will pass has given me a lot of reassurance. Just as all the struggles from earlier in the year have passed, this current stagnation and as well as the worries leading up to exams will pass as well. 

Since I last updated I did in fact survive the outcome of my VCD score and have continue the subject, it feels a little funny and embarrassing to talk about now lol. I also turned 18!!! 🎉 in August and celebrated at home with my family with a beautiful lunch, my friends were also so kind to send me a gift and this year's birthday, while having to cancel plans, was really good.

Believe it or not, I have not completed a SAC this entire online period, which is a little bit worrying since everything is pushed into the last week/first week of term. That being said, exams are pretty soon! I actually considered starting off my posts with an exam countdown but I feel like we don't really need that extra anxiety right now 😭 I wouldn't say that I am looking forward to the studying part, but I am looking forward to having the school year come to a close! It really does suck that there will be limited time (if any) to end the school year on campus. It saddens me thinking that we'll probably not be able to muck around at school like we used to with the limited time we'll have in classes, but on the bright side, hopefully we'll have a lot of time during the summer break to catch up with our friends and socialise with less of a COVID risk! If all goes to plan, I will be fully vaccinated before my first exam, which is reassuring 👍
Since this post will be quite long I've placed different updates spoilers so.. read it if you want to, if you don't that's also cool 👀

UNI TALK

Here are my preferences thus far (which will probably change 100 times from now)

1. Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Arts (Monash University, Clayton)
2. Bachelor of Arts (University of Melbourne, Parkville)
3. Bachelor of Arts – Law Pathway (Monash University, Clayton)
4. Bachelor of Public Health (Monash University, Caulfield)
5. Bachelor of Arts (Monash University, Caulfield)
6. Bachelor of Arts (Australian Catholic University, Melbourne)
7. Bachelor of Criminology and Psychology (RMIT, City)
8. Bachelor of Psychology (Applied Science) (RMIT, City)

I am really indecisive between the first few options, so this list is definitely not the be-all end-all. I want to record my current rational for my choice options, so what better place than here? Here's what I'm thinking.
My priorities in University look something like this:

First, what I'll actually be studying. I know I want to study law, and I don't know if I can realistically wait 3-4 years to study it. Monash also has the double degree option as opposed to Melbourne, which means I can still study Arts as well as study Law simultaneously. Arts at Monash has majors/minors in Human geography & Bioethics which is the most relevant to my desired area of study. I'm also not 100% sure about this but I think Monash Arts has a bigger Korean Studies faculty/more experience than Melbourne and that's definitely an area of study I think I would pursue in uni as an elective.
Second is the social environment– I don't want to make assumptions about both schools since I don't really know much, but they both seem pretty similar in terms of clubs and stuff. I did hear that Monash's Clayton campus has more people on campus a lot since it is kind of in the middle of the suburbs so there could be more opportunity to make uni friends? Not sure. Would seriously appreciate insight on this.
Third is entry. While Law at Monash is kind of a reach for me right now, I do think I can scrape by with a tonne of hard work + SEAS in order to get in by ATAR. Also, guaranteed CSP. With entry at Melbourne I'm more focused on the JD, where it isn't guaranteed you'll get in because of the LSAT and perhaps not receiving a CSP. With undergraduate I think I would be able to get into Arts, with the ATAR being around 85. Comparing Law/Arts @ Monash and Arts @ Unimelb, Unimelb is definitely easier to get into for me.
Although it is important, last place is location. The University of Melbourne would be really easy for me to access, 1 hour on public transport. Monash would be about 1 hour and 45 minutes. I've asked about the commute previously on the forums and the general answer was that it's doable, but draining. I think that an extra half-hour on the train would be worth it if the course is worth it, right? I'd also be able to drive to school in the future, and that would take under an hour.

I'm thinking I should just put Monash 1st and see where it goes, because right now it is the one I want the most, and if I don't get an offer for that then maybe I'll get an offer for Arts @ Unimelb? This situation is just blergh and totally not relevant right now in the midst of my assessments but I know if I put it off it'll become a bigger pain in the ass.

SUBJECT UPDATES

English
I have about a week and a half until my comparative SAC on The Dressmaker and The Crucible and I am not feeling too confident for it but I feel like this next week or so will be really helpful in consolidating all of my text knowledge and writing techniques. I can remember basic structure from text response and argument analysis so I don't feel like that's the problem– I think where I need to focus my energy on is memorising quotes to match the floating key moments I have in my brain and really securing how to layout the expanding sentences, both to explain my topic sentences and to explain moments or context.
I'm really proud of myself for achieving an A+ on my oral presentation, especially since I find it difficult to present with social anxiety but it went surprisingly well and some of the feedback I received was really unexpected. I'm not sure if this is anything new but when I have to prepare a presentation I tend to go rogue and write the whole thing as if it was spoken word rather than structuring it as an essay, which really helped me in organising my thoughts and ensuring I wasn't stumbling and badly improvising during the actual presentation. Another tip that really helped me was to view the SAC as a performance, and that the teachers are not criticising you but rather your persona– this helped me slip into a different voice and overcome a lot of the stress I had. Since I received such valuable feedback I'm considering writing an 'anxious person's guide to oral presentations' but maybe after exams 🥴
I also want to mention that I received a 73% on my mid-year exam which I am actually pretty happy with! I was in the 7 range for all my essays, and seeing the assessor feedback has inspired me to keep working on English exams– it turns out that the exam isn't as scary as I thought.

Further Maths
Further has been rather uneventful. I'm nearing the end of the Networks module at the moment (which I am about 3 subchapters behind in lol) and haven't found it too bad apart from some sections like Dijkstra's algorithm which I need to brush up on... I also have not had a chance to complete the matrices SAC and I'm not happy about having to revise all of it over again when I do the SAC next term 😭 Also I'm really not sure what approach to take for my summary book. I've start to type up my notes so I can create a printed bound reference for exams but I also have my exercise book for SACs. The only reason why I don't want to use my exercise book after these last two SACs is that I really underestimated the amount of pages I'd need for content + practice assessments. I think that creating a neatly printed bound reference will also allow me to incorporate practice SACs and exams without it looking really grubby and difficult to read. While I respect the ability to have a 4 page summary book (looking at you all you smart maths brains) I think I need examples and detail in order to remember everything 😰 I just don't want it to be super long and convoluted to the point where there is a lot of unnecessary information.

Psychology
WE FINISHED ALL THE CONTENT!!!! It feels absolutely surreal. But now I do have the mental health SAC to study for 😅 I need to catch up with Edrolo and my Tutesmart lectures ASAP so I can pack in all the content before our SAC (which WILL be online) and then just do some practice questions which I can hopefully get marked. I have fallen off a little bit with keeping up to date for notes, not just for psych but for all of my subjects, so hopefully I can use all the extra class time to revise and take notes simultaneously. My psychology teacher has been super kind and understanding this entire year and I'm really grateful to her for taking care of us (and reading my rant emails 😭

Legal Studies
Another subject where we had to skip Unit 4 Outcome 1 and come back to it later 😩 But other than that I think Legal is going well. Working on my legal coursework has been pretty time-consuming these days and I also need to get on top of my notes!!! I'm really happy with the response I got with my Unit 3 notes and I will be posting my Unit 4 notes but I've just been so behind that it's gonna be really delayed, apologies 😭 The content right now in legal, while not bad in the slightest, has been a little bit underwhelming. I miss our civil law unit a lot right now lol.

VCD
I didn't drop VCD, even though I kinda really wanted to. I thought that any score is better than no score, and at least I'll come out of VCD knowing some cool design information and knowing that I stuck with it even though sometimes it drags me 😂. Right now I'm working on the refinement process of my folio and will be doing my pitch on Tuesday (another oral presentation 😳) and my folio is officially due on the 16th– meaning I need to GET MY ASS INTO GEAR and finish the folio with a bang. Wish me a LOT of luck because I'm gonna need it. Also– need to get started on exam revision ASAP, we cannot afford a replay of mid-year exam 💪

If any uni students are reading, if you'd like, I'd appreciate some advice on my uni-related stuff so I can get an idea of what to do 😅
Thanks for reading this update too and have a great end to the week!

[ashmi]

Hey Jeyda!! 

I'm so happy to see another update from you and it sounds like things are going alright. Keep up the great work, you got this!

If any uni students are reading, if you'd like, I'd appreciate some advice on my uni-related stuff so I can get an idea of what to do 😅

👀👀👀 (I think I might be able to help in this area!)

First of all, I know a few people that were doing Arts at Unimelb and decided to transfer mid-year to Monash, so if you don't get the exact ATAR you need the first time around don't worry! There is always an opportunity to transfer to Monash so I wouldn't stress too much. If you are 100% sure you want to do Law, I personally would suggest going to Monash just because you practically 'jump straight into it' whereas UniMelb Arts is more of a 'common first year'. In addition, I think Unimelb doesn't have a big Korean studies faculty in comparison to the other Asian studies offered (Like really small). Also, let me just say that there is PLENTY of opportunities to make friends on the Unimelb campus. (Especially Parkville campus). There is always some sort of event going on and I have personally found people to be quite approachable, so making friends should be no problem. Just make sure you join clubs and participate in the events they hold (e.g. trivia nights, meetups etc). I think the easiest way for me to describe this is that you get what you put into uni (and the first few weeks of the start of semester 1 first year is the most crucial as this is when many events are held).

Thirdly, the ATAR bit. If you qualify for the Monash guarantee, you will definitely be eligible for the lower ATAR requirement (I think it was 94?). Also, if you do qualify for the Monash guarantee, there is a VERY high chance you may be able to receive an access scholarship (Just to keep in mind). Once again, I wouldn't stress too much and instead just focus on doing your very best; just whatever you do, do not give up. The only problem I see with JD at Unimelb is that if you don't get the graduate degree package, just as you highlighted, you may not be able to get a CSP spot if your grades are not competitive enough.  It is sort of risky (based on the Reddit/UMLL posts I see) and to be honest, going to Monash where you are already in and can just complete your degree just looks much more appealing.

The real problem that I see right now is the travel time to Monash, and just like others have said it is draining, very draining. Do take into consideration that it will be a long travel time and you may be so exhausted that you struggle to study. In this case, I probably would suggest cramming your classes a little so that you don't have to come to uni every day and you do get some days where you can just stay at home? (You may get tired on the days you have many classes crammed together so keep that in mind). Might be better if you can drive there because it is a long ride.

Ok that was super long, but hopefully something helped in there.
Thanks for the update Jeyda and remember, you can do it!

[ThunderDragon]

Hey Jeyda

I agree with everything Ashmi said above. I noticed that you said that you wanted to major/minor in Human Geography and Bioethics. While I haven't done any Bioethics units, I will say I've heard it's pretty good here at Monash. I have done a Human Geography unit and found it to be really well run. I've actually written a unit review about this Human Geography unit ATS1310  which I've attached below.

https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=43048.msg1193475#msg1193475