The Depresso Expresso (fun_jirachi's HSC Journey)

[fun_jirachi]

Finished Trials and it was not pretty.

English Paper 1 and Paper 2: Genuinely surprised by both the amount of time given, which was ridiculously long, as well as my writing speed. Definitely underestimated the last one a lot. As for how it went, I just kept writing and writing and writing. Literally no clue how it went, and I've forgotten everything already (including all the content). So we'll wait and see.
Physics: Considering that this was the subject I needed to improve my rank in the most, seriously bloody underwhelming. I choked real hard, mind blanked and everything. It wasn't even that hard of an exam, so I'm really quite disappointed. Nothing further to add, really.
Extension 2: After bombing Physics I wasn't in the headspace to actually do well in the rest of my exams; 4U was probably the subject hit hardest by that because it was the next exam after Physics; I missed an easy three marks in Q12 (easiest Show that of my life) and failed to complete Q16 on a question I had already seen while studying. Considering after the half-yearly I was in the top ten, my rank will likely take a huge hit
Extension 1: Did well but not well enough to keep my rank, literally because my cohort is ridiculously good. Enough said, rank plummet
Chemistry: I'd like to say it went well, but I don't want to get ahead of myself. It was relatively straightforward, but the 8-marker threw a lot of people off so there's that.

Overall, I don't think my ranks will fare too well post-trials. It's really going to hurt both my estimated and my assessment marks, unless my cohort outperforms its already ridiculously good projections. The former is probably going to hit my self-esteem more than anything, but the latter is probably going to actually crush my ATAR. I suppose the best thing to do now is just heed my maths teacher and 'make my next exam my best one yet'.

Lessons learned:
- Studying is totally useless if you're not in the right frame of mind: a) it's ineffective b) it just sucks c) you remember way more in the exam than you think you do d) it'd be way more productive if you just rested up and studied later
- Rest up

Hope everyone gets nice results

[Coolmate]

Hey fun_jirachi!

I have just been reading through your journal (it is very well written! ), well done for completing trials!. I have heard from different people that the trials are meant to be harder than the real HSC Exams, but I don't know if that is true .

My only suggestion to help you in your situation would be to work on your exam technique to allow you to answer and think critically about each question under time pressured environments. I don't know how much trials are weighted at your school, but the HSC Exams are worth 50% of your final mark, so try not to stress about it.

If you are ranked fairly high range or mid-high range in your rankings then this may not affect it largely; For Example, if you were ranked highly in each subject you may not become ranked last because of trials and vice versa. Also, your HSC Exam marks may outweigh the trials marks too? (I think)

Overall, good job with your trials and seek as much help as you can to further improve!

Kind Regards,

Coolmate

[fun_jirachi]

A story of two parts today, one just an update on my last post, and the next is a bit of sentimentality

1/2

I actually got my report last week + trial ranks + trial raw marks + overall ranks sent to NESA, but was seriously not bothered updating this journal. At that point I sort of lost the motivation to actually work hard and whatever, as well as post here. It's a bit of a mixed bag, but it should be good enough given the strength of my cohort.

English: Raw Mark: 80/100 | Trial Rank: 50/212 | Assessment Rank: 63/212
Realistically just looking to improve to an 85/86, which is very doable since I got 19 on the common module essay + a bunch 15's elsewhere. Just really got to work hard between now and the HSC, especially on expression + actually prepping legitimate ideas instead of blabbing whatever comes to mind.
The post trials comment was a fair assessment looking back

Mathematics Extension 1: Raw Mark: 68/70 | Trial Rank: 4/165 | Assessment Rank: 5/167

Extension 1: Did well but not well enough to keep my rank, literally because my cohort is ridiculously good. Enough said, rank plummet

Comments that have not aged well. Literally. Turns out I absolutely crushed this exam, and just need to replicate this in the actual HSC.

Mathematics Extension 2: Raw Mark: 93/100 | Trial Rank: 14/122 | Assessment Rank: 7/123
Similarly, I didn't actually do as bad as I thought, but I didn't do as well I could've and should've. Definitely can do better in the actual HSC if I'm in the right mood and whatever.

Chemistry: Raw Mark: 82/100 | Trial Rank: 23/114 | Assessment Rank: 30/114
The raw mark doesn't really tell the whole story because the questions were left field, and with harsh marking, a lot of us got really hard done by in the first half of the exam. The second half was a lot more straight forward and that's where most of us took the easy marks that we should be earning, so I  suppose there's something to be taken from that. I think I need to work on my long responses because I'm literally illiterate and I struggle there, and that's where I lost the majority of my marks. Cohort is also very strong

Physics: Raw Mark: 77/100 | Trial Rank: 45/125 | Assessment Rank: 44/125
Similar to Chemistry the raw mark doesn't really tell the whole story, but because it was a tough exam as opposed to harsh marking. The choke actually happened unlike in Maths where I thought I choked but didn't. Looking back I lost marks on easy calculations, which I shouldn't and wouldn't normally lose marks on, but that should be a relatively simple fix. Can definitely improve on this mark and with my strong cohort should be able to do well enough to get a decent mark.

I don't know how to feel, but it seems legit. Apparently on my report I got the same scaled aggregate out of 500, the same ATAR estimate and the same rank in my cohort overall as last time, so that's pretty good. Just got to work hard between now and the HSC, and hopefully approach exams better and more calmly

[fun_jirachi]

2/2

The reason I decided to post again was because I graduated today. Like bloody hell a whole journey is over. All I ever wanted to do as a kid was just to leave school ASAP but now it's all over, I just wish it never ended.

So on Thursday was our last day of classes, and I had three classes, starting with morning class, Period 1 and Period 2 back to back. All we did was eat junk food and hijack the teacher's desktop to do karaoke, but it was pretty sad because we realised at the end of all this we'd never have a class again with our teachers and friends. We went around to everyone else's classes (those who had them after period 3) and just took the time to hang out with everyone, even to some people we never really talked to. It's ridiculous how school ending can change the mood and the camaraderie shown that day is something I'll cherish and remember, but also miss a lot. Then we started singing and eating more food in the last class of the day, and a few people started crying. We got on the bus for the last time, and we sang songs and expressed our thanks to everyone around us, and literally 90% of the bus started crying. We were all hugging each other, shaking each other's hands... it was for the most part, over.

Then today we graduated. This time, it was over. Everyone at the assembly told us mostly the same thing; work hard, work together, good luck, and the like. I really don't know how to describe it. Without thinking, most of us just hung around our friends, took photos; most of us again, in disbelief that everything was done. In the end, I do have regrets; I missed loads of opportunities, but I'm honestly happy that it happened, and the best thing I can do is look forward and try to do as well as I can in the HSC, knowing everyone will be helping everyone else do the best we can.

It's tough to explain, but I really am just sitting at home still wondering why I don't have to go to school tomorrow. It's odd.

[fun_jirachi]

Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 30 days.
Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic.

I sorta promised myself I wouldn't get the red text at any point until I got my ATAR, but here we are. My bad.

I finally finished the HSC! It's an odd feeling; suddenly your life isn't about studying anymore, at least for now, and you have more free time than you know what to do with. Just having fun finally talking to a lot of people now that nearly everything is stress free!

A rundown of how exams went:
Paper 1: Honestly forgot. But seriously I don't think it was that bad. I remember everyone complaining about the essays and memeing the short answer stimuli, but I think that's about it, might've done okay; I think I did okay anyway.
Paper 2: Same as above, but I remember mindblanking halfway through and writing total BS for one of the modules. Otherwise went okay.
Maths Ext 2: Did well, but a choke by my standards. I think my internal mark will be much higher than my external. It wasn't a hard exam, but I feel like exam pressure does a lot of different things
Maths Ext 1: In a similar vein to the above, but worse. At the outset I thought I did well, but then I realised I screwed up (by my standards). I think my external will be dragging me down, and it's a bummer because I worked really hard only to fall at the last hurdle; sorta disappointing. Not hard, but I tripped up.
Chem: Probably the exam I was happiest with, but I think that might be a bad thing. It was straightforward; nothing extremely left field and it was a fair exam; but knowing my luck, it probably went worse than I thought
Physics: That was today! I honestly understudied a bit, got a bit complacent after Chem with that last exam mentality (which is obviously terrible). Got a bit thrown by a few long answers, but nothing too awful; I answered every question properly, whether I got them all right is a different story.

I'm looking forward to this break though. Not too sure what to do; like I mentioned I have more time than I know what to do with. Apart from getting myself back on track mentally + feverishly waiting for ATARs/revisiting ATAR calculators, or waiting for Rick and Morty Season 4, rewatching what of South Park I can; I think that's all there is (and maybe getting fit again!).

Good luck for ATARs everyone; you did amazing

[Joseph41]

Congratulations!

[katie,rinos]

Congrats on finishing!! 

[caffinatedloz]

!!CONGRATULATIONS!!

I'm looking forward to this break though. Not too sure what to do; like I mentioned I have more time than I know what to do with. Apart from getting myself back on track mentally + feverishly waiting for ATARs/revisiting ATAR calculators, or waiting for Rick and Morty Season 4, rewatching what of South Park I can; I think that's all there is (and maybe getting fit again!).

Enjoy your break and whatever you choose to do with it! Do you start doing Christmassy things in November, or do you think Christmas begins strictly on December 1st?

[fun_jirachi]

!!CONGRATULATIONS!!
Enjoy your break and whatever you choose to do with it! Do you start doing Christmassy things in November, or do you think Christmas begins strictly on December 1st?

Sorry I missed this! I've been heckling my friends about playing Mariah Carey before December, so November is definitely too early.

Today was a rollercoaster of a day. Pulled an all-nighter just waiting for results, so I am totally cooked, and it was pretty exciting when I got my results. It was kind of vindicating albeit a little disappointing that I couldn't do a bit better in English, but it is what it is, and I was pretty stoked up until about 12pm. At this point, I started worrying about ATAR again after seeing my school's success rate jump from about 45% to 51.5%, a 6.5% change from last year, but decrease in school ranking from 7th to 10th. Surprisingly, this meant that there must've been a load of band 6's (super competitive in the opening year of the new syllabus) and then the scaling of everything must've also been pretty scuffed, and as such because of the relative devaluation of band 6's my ATAR would probably take a reasonable nosedive of the 99.2-3 that was predicted by calcs. I was sitting next to a friend of mine and we opened up UAC, and sure enough, we lost a couple of decimal places off the calcs. Seeing other people in my cohort deviating anywhere from -0.7 to -1.2 meant that this was just an extremely tough year - 51.5% success rate would've been top 5 in most other years and then my results would have likely been a 99.2 or 99.3 in other years. Despite the clear justification that it was a tough year this year, I was slightly disappointed, but still satisfied; another weight off my back.

This probably concludes this journal and my evolution from an immature person who answered math questions on the forum to a slightly less immature person who still answers math questions on the forum. To everyone; sincerely, thank you so much! For reading, following, supporting - really don't know what else to say.

Hope everyone is pleased with their results

[caffinatedloz]

Congratulations fun_jirachi on great results! It has been so great to follow your journey and get to know you around the forums. Your help has not gone unnoticed. Hope to hear about your plans for next year before you fully conclude this journal! Are you off to Uni? Once again, congratulations!

[Fluffysama_]

soooooo its the end of yet another week, and as my two trials are now behind me i realised i could start celebrating?!?!?!?!
yeah well obviously not. my student portal was updated today, and it kindly reminded me i have two months to the external exam for 2U and Modern History like i mean why you're inducing stress way too early
also i was woken to the sad reality that prelim exists, and so apparently i was meant to have an essay for dystopia due today for english extension? but we stalled the teacher out, and honestly, even though i'll keep trying so english doesnt drag me down, idgaf about english (sorry to all you english lovers, STEM boy for life, never gonna change). this is mainly because everyone knows the english department uses a random number generator for marks is very fair (not that the people that get good marks don't deserve them, just that this whole mark allocation thing is blown out of proportion). i feel like english is getting more and more subjective, and no matter how hard i try or how much feedback i get from my teacher, im not going to improve??!?! like in the reading to write module i think i handed in 3 or so drafts and i got something like 80% (mind you not complaning over a pretty good mark, just not up to the standards i need, but predominantly want) and in the next assessment i put in more work and asked for more feedback and i got 70%? i dunno seriously, and the next dumb thing i gotta do for english is a video essay like wtf why, teacher says that visuals dont matter and you will be judged on your ability to convey whatever whatever, but honestly i think that's such bs, aesthetic ones will get the teacher's attention and make them look more kindly on the task
also another wakeup call to the fact prelim exists was the fact that we go off on exam break/period in two weeks, and that all of module 4 for chem is due as is physics very very soon. we were really behind, so we sorta rushed for both sciences. tbh its very similar content with physics (thermodynamics) and chemistry (enthalpy) but electricity and magnetism is so cool
also we started the X1 course, having the best time with X1

alsoooo who is coming to unsw open day tomorrow?

thanks for reading this (if you have and not actually skimmed it jkjk), i recognise that it was a big trek

TLDR english sucks, prelims coming up

i totally laughed way too hard and the humour is way too good here, dunno if you're still on the forum but y'all be fire n hope you are doing well rn
Motivated me to start on hw or sum kekek, also wish I was here when you were talking about the open days, would've been so cool to meet people from the forum, das way cool, see you around