samonmars' VCE/School journey

[samonmars]

Date: 23rd of June 2018 at 12:32 pm.

Mood: 
Hello! I've been waiting for a time where I can finally post about something of interest at least pertaining to VCE stuff at all, and I guess my time has finally come. I am entering my third term of year 9, and we are choosing our subjects for VCE now!! Including signing up for a unit 1&2 subject for year 10. I'm gonna need to think about my unit 1&2 subject for year 10, I'm not really sure about the logistics of it (if someone on here could help me that would be fabulous). for example, if I choose Japanese as my unit 1&2 subject, and then as my 3&4 in year 11, does that mean it's only a 10% added to my ATAR or does that mean it's included in my top 4 primary subjects?? And if I decided to do say, bio or psych as my unit 1&2 subject, would it matter if I haven't learnt the year 10 material or will I be expected to know all that and start year 11 stuff, because I'm sure that you don't learn the same thing in year 10 and 11? These are probably all questions I could ask my careers counsellors at school lol but, I want to ask them here for other perspectives.
I think I've got the actual subjects that I want to do in my head, I am SO excited to start doing psychology next year, and also to finally return to normal science classes since our year 9 program is actually messed up. Also can't wait to drop humanities lol bye you will NOT be missed.
We can pick 6 subjects, and I want to do:
chemistry
biology
jap (2 semesters)
psychology
maths methods (also want to continue methods in year 12)
And one more. I have to think about if I want to do literature (my absolutely lovely English extension teacher really wants me to) and pick all academic subjects and also have a strong foundation for English lit in VCE, or if I should do something fun like music (which is a passion of mine), or outdoor ed and only do that for year 10 because I won't really have room to do it in year 12.  I am conflicted.
My school is also doing something really interesting for year 9s this year going into year 10, they're running a different sort of VCAL program. I don't know if this has been done in other schools but it's pretty cool because it helps the kids who aren't inclined to do VCE easily choose another pathway. They're really drilling that "you don't have to go to university, there are lots of other TAFEs and career pathways to go to", and "you can go to uni without doing VCE" into us, and I think it's really important for some people to hear that, if they've been raised with the mindset to be really successful in life and equate that to VCE and university, but don't really want to do that. So, anyway, they're starting it in year 10 and you can actually do sort of what's called a sports academy program for VCAL, which is in the best interests of a lot of boys in my year level. Obviously not my plan, but it's something for a lot of people to consider.
We also have to fill in a 3-year plan, which I think is kind of stressful for a lot of people if they don't know where they're going after year 12. Obviously for me, I was sitting in the assembly room like, "I already know what I'm doing!!" but I know a lot of people aren't. I'm really lucky in some sorts that I already am thinking ahead now, because I don't want to be that person that picks subjects randomly and then screws themselves in year 11 because they should have done year 10 bio or something, I don't know.
Anyway, camp was good and at the end of the week I wanted to go back. Funny.
Talk to y'all later, but please help me also. Basically help me plan my life and I'll be very grateful.

[sarangiya]

for example, if I choose Japanese as my unit 1&2 subject, and then as my 3&4 in year 11, does that mean it's only a 10% added to my ATAR or does that mean it's included in my top 4 primary subjects??

It will have the potential to be either! The subjects in your ATAR are ordered by the study score you achieve (descending). So, if you get x score in Japanese in year 11, it will be:
> In your primary four if your study score is better than one other subject. (Two, if you do 6 subjects all up).
> A 10% increment to your ATAR if it is your lowest study score (or, if you have six subjects, the lowest or second lowest).
Essentially, the ordering of your subjects is dependent on all the other subjects you do and how you do in them. That's why it is hard to know which subject will end up as your "bottom two", and not a good idea to 'decide' ahead of time and slack off ... in case you get a nasty surprise.

And if I decided to do say, bio or psych as my unit 1&2 subject, would it matter if I haven't learnt the year 10 material or will I be expected to know all that and start year 11 stuff, because I'm sure that you don't learn the same thing in year 10 and 11?

That's correct. What is taught in Year 10 is assumed knowledge come Year 11. That's why your first option, biology, can be a tricky choice because people like to get a solid foundation when they can. Psychology, on the other hand, may not be offered as a Year 10 subject so there may not be any 'assumed knowledge'.
In any case, Year 11 content usually recaps/revisits Year 10 knowledge. Also, you might not be missing a whole lot in year 10 depending on the subject etc.
Some people skip 1/2s and go into 3/4s directly, so it's the same kind of principle! Many people succeed doing so - you very well could too. Also, some people think the jump is too large and are disadvantaged without any prior learning - that also might be you.
It's a good idea to consult your teacher and think about whether you could pick up the 1/2 from the level you are currently at. Pick up a textbook, read it, and see how it is

Anyway good luck!
Subject selection was such an exciting time.
Hope to see you around again soon.

[samonmars]

subject will end up as your "bottom two", and not a good idea to 'decide' ahead of time and slack off ... in case you get a nasty surprise.

Thank you so much for this! I watched a video and the girl said you actually did choose your primary 4 subjects, based on the subjects you're better at. That's good information to have. 
And I understand where it's difficult then to jump into a 3/4 subject... I'll have to talk to my teachers regarding that. thanks a lot, again!

[samonmars]

Date: 18th of July, 2018 at 5:07 pm.
Mood: 

Hi! I had a refreshing and unexciting school holidays in which I did not much and I'm so glad for that, and that gladness has taken a shocking decline at the arrival of a new school term! Hooray. All jokes aside, we have made some interesting progress over the holidays (not really). Tomorrow is what is supposed to be my information night for year 10 subjects, which we must go about with a Serious Face. My serious face is one of stress, because unfortunately the Wombats concert I've been planning to go to since late April falls on the same night. After reading all the mega-important emails such as, "if you do not attend these key dates, you may jeopardise your child's success in getting the subjects they picked", and "this is your chance to pick up accelerated subject forms", I was justifiably stressing out about it, but I think it'll be fine. I'll catch up with people about it later, and if my mum is able to go then it'll be fine. In other related news, my school has started sending out really inspiring "letters of recommendation" for the stream of math each person should take, and I think that's quite off-putting and close minded. I understand that people should pick the grade of math (obviously methods, general or foundation) that they think is best suited to them, but I could only imagine someone opening a letter to say, "you would be best in foundation maths" if they were going to pick methods. Anyway, I think my maths teacher has too much faith in my mathematical ability, as I am very much an English person and have been since I was very young yet my report indicated my maths level (end of year 10!!) is somehow higher than my English. So, there's obviously something wrong there.

I also have another predicament (another one?!). I decided that the year 10 subject I want accelerated for year 11 that would really make my life easier is Japanese. Now, I have indeed gone through the 2019 subject handbook and read the footnote, "Unit 1 & 2 are not recommended for students who have not completed Japanese at year 10," but I quickly disregarded that right away. I am not a mere Japanese "student"; I am a warrior, thank you very much. But the language coordinator unfortunately doesn't seem to know that. I had a little chat with my Japanese teacher today about it, and she (and apparently the other Japanese teacher who I've never had) agrees that I am all but capable of doing year 11 Japanese next year, except the language coordinator sorely doesn't. I had passionately conveyed my interest of doing 1&2 Japanese next year, and why, and my teacher thinks I could be up to the challenge, however all the coordinator had to say was "she has not met the year 10 progression point." Which I can easily do in a semester of year 9, seeing the rate I learn stuff. But all will be unfolded soon enough, and I hope we can come to some sort of a conclusion at the end of this! I also still haven't decided on my last subject for year 10, but I'll probably just end up making a quick stupid decision when choosing subjects and then regret it later.
So my kids, pray for me in this extremely tough time in my life. As always, if you have any advice please tell me because I am a mess who can't get her metaphorical and literal s*** together.

[Joseph41]

Hey, really enjoying your journal! Just want to clarify something from this:

Thank you so much for this! I watched a video and the girl said you actually did choose your primary 4 subjects, based on the subjects you're better at. That's good information to have. 
And I understand where it's difficult then to jump into a 3/4 subject... I'll have to talk to my teachers regarding that. thanks a lot, again!

At no point do you "choose" your top four subjects. That is, you can't say, "hey VCAA, I want the following four subjects to be my top four!" Instead, VCAA simply adds together:
* Your best English subject (this could be English, English as an Additional Language, English Language or Literature)
* Your next three best subjects
* 10%, if applicable, of your fifth and sixth best subjects

And this forms what's called your "aggregate". Your aggregate is then used to determine your ATAR. I'll just note here that it's a little more complicated than that - there are a few restrictions on what can count as part of your top four subjects etc. - but that's essentially it.

So yep, you don't choose your top four subjects - it's just based on the factors above. For the most part, it's not even really worth thinking about what will be in your top four, because it's really difficult to predict. For example, what I felt was my strongest subject ended up producing my lowest study score. Quite unpredictable! This is because your study score doesn't just depend on how you perform, but on how the entire state performs in that subject.

I'm not sure if I'm misinterpreting what you're saying, but I just wanted to clear that up haha. There's a lot of misinformation around. Definitely not essential reading at all, but if you're interested in learning more, I recommend having a read through some of this thread here.

P.S. What the person in that video (which video, btw?) might have been saying was that you can prioritise studying for subjects you think might be in your top four and the like, but that's a different matter altogether haha.

I also have another predicament (another one?!). I decided that the year 10 subject I want accelerated for year 11 that would really make my life easier is Japanese. Now, I have indeed gone through the 2019 subject handbook and read the footnote, "Unit 1 & 2 are not recommended for students who have not completed Japanese at year 10," but I quickly disregarded that right away. I am not a mere Japanese "student"; I am a warrior, thank you very much. But the language coordinator unfortunately doesn't seem to know that. I had a little chat with my Japanese teacher today about it, and she (and apparently the other Japanese teacher who I've never had) agrees that I am all but capable of doing year 11 Japanese next year, except the language coordinator sorely doesn't. I had passionately conveyed my interest of doing 1&2 Japanese next year, and why, and my teacher thinks I could be up to the challenge, however all the coordinator had to say was "she has not met the year 10 progression point." Which I can easily do in a semester of year 9, seeing the rate I learn stuff. But all will be unfolded soon enough, and I hope we can come to some sort of a conclusion at the end of this! I also still haven't decided on my last subject for year 10, but I'll probably just end up making a quick stupid decision when choosing subjects and then regret it later.

If you feel comfortable going into Japanese Units 1/2 and your teachers are also, it's worth pursuing IMO (I think your teachers would have the best position to judge in these circumstances). Good luck - don't give up.

So my kids, pray for me in this extremely tough time in my life. As always, if you have any advice please tell me because I am a mess who can't get her metaphorical and literal s*** together.

I suggest seeing a GP for this.

[samonmars]

P.S. What the person in that video (which video, btw?) might have been saying was that you can prioritise studying for subjects you think might be in your top four and the like, but that's a different matter altogether haha.

Hey! Yeah, I understand what you mean. I must have misinterpreted the video, it was from Lisa's study guides and I think what she was saying was to prioritise studying for the subjects you consider your best. Which I'm not going to do.
I have learnt that year 10 Japanese includes the rest of the textbook, and I had a chat to the language coordinator and the senior Japanese teacher and they agreed to give me the mid-year year 10 Japanese exam for me to see if I'm up to standard. I'm a little stressed again because of how it's gonna fit in with the date to hand in subjects, but it'll be fine.
I was joking about that last line, btw, lol. No need to be actually concerned, it's just my weird sense of humour.

[Bri MT]

Good luck for your test!  I hope it all goes well

[samonmars]

Date: 12th of August, 2018 at 10:18 PM
Mood: 

Hello! I have some updates.
I am finally allowed to do Unit 1/2 Japanese! It was a tough battle, it was a hard-fought battle, but I got there in the end. I had about a weeks notice before actually doing the test, and about 3 days notice of what was actually going to be on the test, so I crammed for 2 nights and managed to learn all of the mid year 10 content in this very short amount of time! I just want to give my thoughts and thank-yous to Memrise.com, as it helped me immensely! I managed to get 96% on the Year 10 mid-year exam, which I was super proud of myself for. I thought it was over after that, but I had a feeling they were STILL saying no, as on Friday afternoon I got a plethora of mildly confusing, largely cryptic emails from my Japanese teacher talking about Japanese pronouns about hammers and nails. After this, I was disappointed but I still decided to change over to 1/2 psychology, reserving myself, when I got an email asking to speak to the careers lady. So I went to see her, and she basically said I could do unit 1/2 Japanese, and if they felt I was struggling I would just have to repeat the subject in year 11. Of course, this is never going to happen, because I am too stubborn to give in and admit the language coordinators were right! Other than this, I have been trailing smoothly, watching boku no hero academia, of course with subtitles. I wanna give thanks to Dapuccino for helping me out with this situation, who sent me a really helpful and detailed message about their experience with doing accelerated Japanese. They helped me a lot by sharing how they managed to do it.

I also had an assembly about work experience. Working at a hospital would really interest me, so I can see firsthand what it's like in the Real Business. However, the lady organising this said that some hospitals require applications a year in advance. I was thinking about where to go, and she told me to research some hospitals to find out about their work experience programs. Does anyone here have any anecdotes about this? It would be nice to hear your experiences.

Thanks, as always!

[AngelWings]

I also had an assembly about work experience. Working at a hospital would really interest me, so I can see firsthand what it's like in the Real Business. However, the lady organising this said that some hospitals require applications a year in advance. I was thinking about where to go, and she told me to research some hospitals to find out about their work experience programs. Does anyone here have any anecdotes about this? It would be nice to hear your experiences.

Sarangiya did theirs at a hospital and has written about their experiences here. Would definitely have a look at work experience pages now to get a look at when those opening/closing dates are to be sure.