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March 19, 2024, 03:47:00 pm

Author Topic: Advice for a 2020 Yr 12 sudent  (Read 2019 times)  Share 

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Ndog202

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Advice for a 2020 Yr 12 sudent
« on: November 14, 2019, 10:33:06 pm »
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Hello,
well, ill get straight to the point, what advice do you VCE veterans have for someone that isn't getting the scores they'd wish to be getting, but wishes to study medicine in the future. Just to clarify I do understand the content I am taught in class but my SACs aren't amounting to what I hoped. I have made a study schedule for next year. Also, I seem to get lower scores than my friends who sometimes don't even understand the content until a day before the SAC but still score higher than me, but not by much, despite me doing heaps of work, eg redoing all math chapter questions+ the chapter reviews and practice tests and them doing nothing, they're not prodigy children either. I do enjoy all my subjects hence I chose them.

FYI semester averages

Methods=71
Biology=83
Physics=79
Chemistry=76
English=84
(left business and religion out, due to not doing RE next year nor business)\

Thank you  ;D

lst1103

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Re: Advice for a 2020 Yr 12 sudent
« Reply #1 on: November 15, 2019, 08:08:17 am »
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Consistency is genuinely one of the most important things in Y12. You don’t have to be doing three hours of study EVERY single night, nor should you be, as you should develop a solid understanding of the content if you chip away at it regularly. That’s essentially what I did, and I don’t think I did three hours of study on a single occasion during the year (save for in the lead-up to exams)!!

My subjects this year were English, FM, BM and Psych (with Legal in Y11), and I found this load to be quite manageable. You’re definitely in a better position doing five, as opposed to six, subjects next year, and I’m sure that you’ll find it somewhat easier than Y11 due to a lessened workload.

For English, I recommend that you read each text at least once during the summer holidays, to gain a basic understanding of the plot, characters’ motivations, setting, etc. (though I’m sure that you’re already aware of this). It wasn’t until the April holidays that I reread and started properly working with my first text (Station Eleven), because we had our AA SAC and creative response in T1. This mightn’t be the way that your school operates, but I think it would be good to get your first English SACs out of the way, and then focus on your first exam text. I went through the novel and marked important quotes and then, as I went through the book, I transferred these to a Word document and analysed them briefly. This certainly helped me when we began to study the text in class, as I had already kind of developed my own unique interpretation, whereas others had barely given it any thought. It also really helped me when I initially started writing essays, as I had an extensive quote bank to draw from and some analysis to support. Even if you begin this process these coming holidays, I’m sure that your confidence will be bolstered. If I’m honest, I didn’t really know how to write VCE English essays at the beginning of this year, but my skills were relatively sound come October 30. The way that your communication and analytical skills can improve within the span of ten months is honestly quite remarkable.

With my other subjects, I didn’t really use the textbooks all that much either. I mainly relied upon Edrolo, and other such resources that were available to me. I’m a rural kid, whose school is low-ranking, so my resources weren’t plentiful in a manner that private schools’ are; I think that I was just resourceful myself. I used past VCAA questions throughout the year to study, as opposed to those found within the textbook, and I couldn’t recommend this enough, particularly for maths. Most of my class worked solely from the textbook, and when our teacher gave everyone the 2017 exam in September, they didn’t know how to answer the questions, because of the disparity in VCAA’s and those found in the textbook. I don’t know if that’s the same for Methods, but that could be something to be aware of!!

Sorry for the excessive length of the above advice, hopefully it helps in some regard!!

angrybiscuit

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Re: Advice for a 2020 Yr 12 sudent
« Reply #2 on: November 15, 2019, 08:44:15 am »
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Hi!
It seems that you already have a strong study ethic which is great as it will really set you up in year 12.

1) Keeping track of your mistakes
It seems that it's only the sacs that you're pretty devastated about so try pinpointing where and what you get wrong. In the practice tests and all your reviews, you need to keep track of what you got wrong so that you won't make them in the future. In the sacs, when you get it back, you need to ask yourself, did I get it wrong because I didn't read the question carefully? Was it because I didn't have enough time? Did I make silly errors? Did I use the wrong method to get the answer? Keeping track of all these will really, really help you avoid making them in the future and this is utmost important in year 12 when doing so many practice exams.

Unfortunately, I can't say much for English because I really don't like the subject (sorry for English lovers!) and even if I track my mistakes I still make the same mistakes :-X :-X

2) Don't be disheartened
Even though your friends get higher grades than you don't be discouraged! You want to do medicine right? I've read from somewhere (I think it was Med School Insiders) that determination and hard work will get you through medicine. Having a strong, consistent study ethic is much more important than being a intellect and studying minimally in medicine.

Here's what they have to say:
"Intelligence has less to do with being successful in medical school than you think. It's more closely tied to work ethic."
Of course, Med School Insiders is in America and it might be different here in Aus. so please don't attack me med students hehe

Best of luck!
somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
carl sagan

sk2000

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Re: Advice for a 2020 Yr 12 sudent
« Reply #3 on: November 15, 2019, 09:17:10 am »
0
Hello,
well, ill get straight to the point, what advice do you VCE veterans have for someone that isn't getting the scores they'd wish to be getting, but wishes to study medicine in the future. Just to clarify I do understand the content I am taught in class but my SACs aren't amounting to what I hoped. I have made a study schedule for next year. Also, I seem to get lower scores than my friends who sometimes don't even understand the content until a day before the SAC but still score higher than me, but not by much, despite me doing heaps of work, eg redoing all math chapter questions+ the chapter reviews and practice tests and them doing nothing, they're not prodigy children either. I do enjoy all my subjects hence I chose them.

FYI semester averages

Methods=71
Biology=83
Physics=79
Chemistry=76
English=84
(left business and religion out, due to not doing RE next year nor business)\

Thank you  ;D

Don't be discouraged. I was getting horrible scores in Year 11 last year, basically B average for Methods, English and Business, C+ in chemistry and even worse, Ds in Italian. I hated getting such low scores despite my study schedule and routine and the amount of work I put in. Over the holidays I really made an effort to rectify that, and this year I've had a constant A+ average across all my subjects (except methods where unfortunately it's been A average).

First of all, you have to understand why you've been getting lower scores despite the work and understanding the content. I used to be the same, I understood everything and put in a ton of work but what I did wrong was not learn from my mistakes (also succumbing to stress and pressure). But really, it's extremely important that you don't just brush over mistakes and think that doing more and more practice questions will help. You really need to make sure that if you make a mistake on a practice question, don't move on until you understand why you made the mistake and secondly the concept behind it.

For concepts, I wrote detailed notes on literally everything. Especially for chemistry because understanding concepts in science subjects is so important, but I also wrote a ton of notes for English and Business just cause it helps me remember. Sometimes it's necessary to go further than your class. For example, all year I would use external sources (whilst keeping within the study design) AS WELL AS the textbooks. These videos can help think how other, successful students think, whilst applying them to the textbook knowledge can help you specify your thinking to the study design. Khan Academy on Youtube for Chem, reading Italian books (to all the language students out there, you can't learn a language solely from a textbook) and external English resources that I found online. Btw, reading other students' practice essays for English is highly important to improve your writing style. However, you should also read the texts thoroughly and develop your own ideas and understanding. Year 12 is all about understanding the content and the course, not just being wired to answer questions. They will test you on this in your SACs and exams as you'll have to think on the spot.

Also, it's easier said than done but don't be stressed. Enjoy year 12 and allocate time for your friends. Stress will really affect your scores and I find the more I relax and control my stress the better I'll do. Make sure you REST!

Finally, a study schedule is very important. But don't adopt such a holistic approach. I made a study schedule but only made the schedule for the next few days at a time. No time slots, just the work I had to do in a day. This way it's less restrictive.

Good luck! :D
2019: English [43], Chemistry [44], Italian [44], Business Management [41], Methods [37]
ATAR: 97.65

2020: Bachelor of Science (Chemical Systems) @ UniMelb
2023: Masters of Engineering @ UniMelb

yourfriendlyneighbourhoodghost

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Re: Advice for a 2020 Yr 12 sudent
« Reply #4 on: November 15, 2019, 12:53:43 pm »
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Hi (:

i am not sure about your school and how they do SACs but for mine, teachers just created them, and this was the key to success, at least for me it was. Year 12 is actually different, my English scores changed dramatically (for the worse) and for some reason, like you said, my friends would do better.

My advice to you is just calm down for now. To be honest, year 11 doesn't mean anything in terms of your ATAR only a pass or fai, and from your grades you will definitely pass.

Take this time in year 11 to hone on in what you need to improve on, like other people have said, track your weaknesses. See year 11 as a chance to pick up on gaps in your ability or knowledge.

For English, if you know you are really good at arg. analysis then maybe focus less on it during the study break (still remember it though (: ) focus on text response or comparative if you know this is your downfall. Also for English my first sac score was 70% and for me, I was quite disappointed considering the hard work I put in. Also, like you my friends were smashing the tasks, it was a bit sad but of course I was happy for them. But with every SAC there is another chance to redeem yourself, and for English I was determined to do this. Also, know what percentage each SAC is worth of the grade, luckily the text response was only like 8% I think or more, so it wasn't going to have a bad effect. When I saw that the SAC was 60%, I worked the hardest on that one.

For English practice essays are crucial, but what is even more important is the ideas you build throughout the year.

As for science, I did psych so idk if I can compare but QUIZLET is sooooo helpful for science subjects or subjects that contain a lot of terms. I would use that (:


Good luck for next year! And make sure you rest too (: you'll be fine, trust yourself ❤️❤️
2018: Studio Arts [37]
2019: English [38] Psychology [38] Vis Com [36] Software Development [40] Further Maths [35]
ATAR: 87.95 ❤️

2020-2023 Bachelor of Arts @ Unimelb