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Author Topic: snip's VCE Journal  (Read 1728 times)

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snip

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snip's VCE Journal
« on: October 31, 2018, 01:24:55 pm »
+7
Hi everyone!

I'm in year 11 this year and I have my first 3/4 exam tomorrow (economics) so I thought now would be a good time to start a journal and record some of my thoughts!

The subjects I'm doing are:
  • Economics (2018)
  • Maths Methods (2018)
  • Spec Maths
  • Chinese SL
  • Physics
  • Algorithmics (via distance)
  • English

I'm a fan of a wide range of activities, such as debating, mooting, theatre, dancing, and soccer, so I've always done a load of extra-curricular activities at school. I've balanced everything so far, but we'll see how it goes from here.

So yeah, that's a bit about me! Hopefully I can keep this journal updated vaguely consistently over the next year, because I think it's such a nice way to record my thoughts over what's sure to be a challenging year.
2018: Methods [  ]     Economics [  ]

PhoenixxFire

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Re: snip's VCE Journal
« Reply #1 on: October 31, 2018, 01:33:08 pm »
0
Definitely a good time to start ;D

How are you feeling about the exam?

Quote
I'm a fan of a wide range of activities, such as debating, mooting, theatre, dancing, and soccer, so I've always done a load of extra-curricular activities at school. I've balanced everything so far, but we'll see how it goes from here.
Do you have a favourite?

Quote
I think it's such a nice way to record my thoughts over what's sure to be a challenging year.
I’ve definiteley found having a journal useful! Hope you enjoy it.
2019: B. Environment and Sustainability/B. Science @ ANU
2020: Just Vibing
2021: B. Paramedicine/B. Nursing @ ACU Canberra

Bri MT

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Re: snip's VCE Journal
« Reply #2 on: October 31, 2018, 01:35:45 pm »
+1
Hey!

Good luck for tomorrow :)

I'm also an extracurricular-y person, and although it can be difficult in year 12 I don't recommend dropping everything as I think they help you structure your time and protect your mental wellbeing

Do you have an idea of what your interested in doing after you've finished VCE?

snip

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Re: snip's VCE Journal
« Reply #3 on: October 31, 2018, 01:45:18 pm »
+7
31/10/2018

So, I guess it's finally here. My first 3/4 exam. For weeks, I've known the date. My teacher would oh-so-helpfully remind us of the ever-approaching deadline before us, but still, it felt so far away. Months turned to weeks and weeks turned to days. And here I am now.

This time tomorrow, I'll be lining up outside, ready for my economics exam. Honestly, that's terrifying to think of. Am I prepared? I don't know.

For the past two years I've studied eco, and looking back now, it's pretty clear that I could have put a load more work in. I've always found economics relatively easy, so I haven't had to study an enormous amount to achieve good results, especially given my relatively weak cohort. Across year 10, I think I put a decent amount of work in, and I did spend some time out of class working on whatever topic we'd be focused on in that point of time. I had some friends in my class then, and we'd bounce ideas off each other and push each other to do better. I was fairly happy with the way I completed that year.

However, this year, I think I let things slip a little bit. My friends in the class dropped the subject, and since I was in a class of predominantly year 12 boys, I didn't really know or relate to anyone. This was alright in the sense that I was never distracted in class, but meant that I had to push myself to achieve. It's really made me release the advantages that come with forming a study group with friends who do the same subject, so I'll definitely remember that for my subjects next year.

I don't know what it is, but I've never been the most motivated student. I'll switch between being super passionate and absorbed in a topic to completely uninterested. Knowing that I wouldn't have to do much work to remain pretty much at the top of the cohort, I neglected economics (and all of my subjects, really). I honestly don't really know what I did with my time. Whenever I wasn't at school or some scheduled activity, I had a habit of letting time just waste away.

Another problem I've had with economics is that there is only one economics teacher at my school, so I've never been able to gain a second opinion or hear from a second point of view. I'm concerned that the exams will be marked differently from my SACs, or that the way I've been taught isn't the best way.

In the past week I've probably done more study for economics than I have for any subject over the past year. Which is okay, but also really sad. I think I'm okay. I hope I'm okay. In 26 hours, I guess I'll have a general feeling of how that plan went.

So, the take-away from this excessively long post? Put in the work early. Don't wait until the day before the exam to cram. By then, it's too late. I look at how much my knowledge has grown in the past week and can't help but wonder how much I could have achieved if I put the time into studying from the very start.

Next year's only going to get worse. I'm doing five 3/4s, rather than the two I'm doing this year, and I'm picking up two of those five subjects without any prior background. I want to be able to manage my workload, and actually put the effort in over the course of the year. So, my goal for next year is to study for at least thirty minutes every night. It doesn't sound like much; my school recommends that a year 12 student should do around three hours of work every afternoon. However, I think that if I set an achievable goal like this one and make it a habit, perhaps it will become less painful over time.

As for the short term, fingers crossed that all goes well tomorrow!
2018: Methods [  ]     Economics [  ]

snip

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Re: snip's VCE Journal
« Reply #4 on: October 31, 2018, 01:49:44 pm »
+4
I'm also an extracurricular-y person, and although it can be difficult in year 12 I don't recommend dropping everything as I think they help you structure your time and protect your mental wellbeing
Yeah, I definitely plan on keeping up these activities! I've found it to be such a good way to broaden my interests and meet new people! Hopefully I'll be able to balance it all - I've been able to so far

Do you have an idea of what your interested in doing after you've finished VCE?
Ahaha nope, not at all. Hopefully over the next year I'll be able to figure things out a little more. I'm considering taking a gap year, although I'm not sure about that yet. I'm considering something law/commerce/physics/computing related but that's still pretty broad.
2018: Methods [  ]     Economics [  ]

Bri MT

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Re: snip's VCE Journal
« Reply #5 on: October 31, 2018, 02:04:16 pm »
+2
I'm glad that you're able to use your experiences this year to build a better plan for next year. The thing that makes next year less scary is that you have a better idea of what your walking into and more support as you go through it. No doubt it'll be a hectic year, but it's also a rewarding one.  Good luck for your upcoming exams & remember that lots of people walk out feeling demoralised but actually do well - you can't always trust your fears

Yeah, I definitely plan on keeping up these activities! I've found it to be such a good way to broaden my interests and meet new people! Hopefully I'll be able to balance it all - I've been able to so far
Ahaha nope, not at all. Hopefully over the next year I'll be able to figure things out a little more. I'm considering taking a gap year, although I'm not sure about that yet. I'm considering something law/commerce/physics/computing related but that's still pretty broad.

You'll probably find that the start of the year it's pretty easy to balance it all but that you may need to draw back at some pressure points. If you do need to (whether that's leaving or taking a less prominent role, sometimes leaving an activity early etc.) my experience has been that people are understanding about that.


Ok, not to plug, but maybe look into the course I'm doing. It's called a bachelor of science advanced - global challenges (honours) - it's a science course about making an impact & showing leadership in the real world though communication entrepreneurship etc.

Definitely keep your options open & explore! There are heaps of options out there and you're under no pressure to decide now :)



btw, you can quote multiple users in the same post instead of making multiple posts to respond to different people :)

jborn007

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Re: snip's VCE Journal
« Reply #6 on: October 31, 2018, 09:12:40 pm »
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So, the take-away from this excessively long post? Put in the work early. Don't wait until the day before the exam to cram. By then, it's too late. I look at how much my knowledge has grown in the past week and can't help but wonder how much I could have achieved if I put the time into studying from the very start.
Great advice for current and future VCE Students. Good luck with tomorrow's Eco Exam :)

Joseph41

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Re: snip's VCE Journal
« Reply #7 on: November 01, 2018, 02:31:34 pm »
+1
Crazy thought, but you'll be sitting the Economics exam right now!

Hope you smash it - let us know how you went. :)

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

snip

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Re: snip's VCE Journal
« Reply #8 on: November 07, 2018, 03:50:24 pm »
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7/11/2018

It's been a pretty eventful week since my last update! Economics was pretty good I think, in the end. Most of the stuff I revised happened to be tested, and the questions were pretty straight forward. If anything, they were a little too structured, a bit of a change from the open-ended 2017 exam. I felt honestly amazingly happy coming out of the exam, and truly felt as though I had achieved all I'd hope to achieve. It'll be really interesting to see what SS I end up with, but regardless, I'm going to remember how good I felt going out of the exam, and be happy with whatever result I achieve.

This morning I had the tech free methods exam. I felt so prepared! I'd done all the past papers, and could consistently complete them in 40 minutes, only losing a couple of marks occasionally. I thought I'd be able to get through the paper today pretty easily. Clearly, I thought wrong.

I started with the last question, and found it pretty doable. That made me happy, because I figured it was all uphill from there. That said, I was quite careless under the pressure - making dumb mistakes like saying 1 + 4 was 6, and not reading questions right. I wasn't able to finish one question because I worked myself up too much.

Looking at the suggested solutions, I think I'm looking at a 35/40 at the absolute maximum, if the assessors are nice and I get working marks. I'm so annoyed, because I know that I could have done so much better. It seems like all the preparation I did throughout the past two years has kind of been tossed out the window. And I know - that's not a bad score at all, if that's what I end up with. I'm just disappointed because I had higher standards for what I thought I could achieve, but clearly not. Also, I think going from having such a good economics exam to methods is probably impacting how I'm feeling, because there's such a contrast - realistically, I'm probably overthinking it all.

As for tomorrow's tech active exam, I don't really know how to feel. I want to make up for today's result, but I know that I'll probably end up stressing myself out again if I emphasise that too much. I keep crossing over between being super motivated and wanting to absolutely smash this exam, to not really caring because 'methods will probably be in my bottom two anyway'. Hopefully by rambling on here I can clear my head a bit and just get on with the exam.

I think tomorrow I'm going to stay away from the other methods students a bit more before the exam. Compared to economics, where everyone was fairly relaxed, people were getting a lot more worked up about methods, and bouncing off each other. I think personally, I'd do better calming down a bit more before the tech active exam.

And hey, everyone else found methods difficult too, and the exam really is just another ranking after all, so maybe it'll all work out anyway.

I'm feeling better already  ;D
2018: Methods [  ]     Economics [  ]