Nexica's VCE Journal

[Nexica]

Hey. I'm Nexica, but you can call me Nate if you wish. Either is fine

I'm a Year 11 (Year 12 in 2020 - well technically I'm a Year 12 already since I'm in orientation...) doing VCE. My passion lies in mathematics and science, which is why the majority of my subjects are based off those two topics. I aspire to go to university and get a STEM-related job in the future - not sure which part of STEM yet, but I'm sure I'll figure that out soon enough (before VTAC applications close, hopefully). Anyways, my subjects are as follows...

Further Maths (2019)
Chemistry (2020)
Physics (2020)
Specialist Maths (2020)
Mathematical Methods (2020)
English (2020)

It's pretty intense doing all sciencey-mathy subjects, but I like it I really enjoyed doing Further Maths in Year 11, as it was a low workload subject that introduced me to what Year 12 was like. However, I prefer the maths in Methods/Spesh more than Further as the data part of Further wasn't really that interesting, and algebra/functions/whatnot are far more enjoyable than stats/data (well at least in my opinion). Chemistry and Methods are my two favourite subjects right now - Chemistry because I love reactions in the world around us and the explanations of why these reactions happen/how these reactions shape today's society, and Methods because the maths in it isn't too hard and the content is very enjoyable.

I want one thing in VCE. To be able to walk out of every SAC and Exam thinking to myself: "I did the best I possibly could". I don't want to have regrets at the end of Year 12, because I didn't try hard enough throughout the year and screwed up my chances of getting a high ATAR. Even though I come from a low-achieving public school - we only get a few 40+s a year in a cohort of ~100 - I want to aim for the stars. I can't let the "I-don't-care-about-VCE" attitude that a large number of my peers seem to have distract me from my goals.

I'll update this thread whenever I feel like it. I don't know how often that'll be, but I'll try to update it every couple of weeks at least. Sometimes I may update it once every few days. Who knows

Good luck to everyone else in the Class of 2020!

[r1ckworthy]

Hey! So glad you've started up a VCE journal. I'm from NSW and just graduated this year, and my journal proved to be one of the most important things I did this year. Hope it turns out the same for you

I want one thing in VCE. To be able to walk out of every SAC and Exam thinking to myself: "I did the best I possibly could". I don't want to have regrets at the end of Year 12, because I didn't try hard enough throughout the year and screwed up my chances of getting a high ATAR. Even though I come from a low-achieving public school - we only get a few 40+s a year in a cohort of ~100 - I want to aim for the stars. I can't let the "I-don't-care-about-VCE" attitude that a large number of my peers seem to have distract me from my goals.

This is a really great attitude to have- I only started to shift to this mindset during the middle of year 12. From the beginning, I was all set on earning the best marks possible and would be devastated if things didn't turn out that way. I remember for physics especially, there was this one task that was worth 40% of my assessment, and I screwed it. Was so devastated when I saw the result, couldn't speak for like one hour because I was so surprised . It was a very silly thing of me to do, and I began to shift to this very mindset of, "I don't care what others think about year 12- I'm am going to achieve the best I can" and I ended up scoring well for my overall assessments, coming top rank.

So yeah, the attitude you have is great, as long as you keep up with the workload and do what you need to do, you should have a rewarding year! How is a school so far right now? The intensity increasing? Looking forward to the next few posts

[ashmi]

Hey. I'm Nexica, but you can call me Nate if you wish. Either is fine

I'm a Year 11 (Year 12 in 2020 - well technically I'm a Year 12 already since I'm in orientation...) doing VCE. My passion lies in mathematics and science, which is why the majority of my subjects are based off those two topics. I aspire to go to university and get a STEM-related job in the future - not sure which part of STEM yet, but I'm sure I'll figure that out soon enough (before VTAC applications close, hopefully). Anyways, my subjects are as follows...

Further Maths (2019)
Chemistry (2020)
Physics (2020)
Specialist Maths (2020)
Mathematical Methods (2020)
English (2020)

It's pretty intense doing all sciencey-mathy subjects, but I like it I really enjoyed doing Further Maths in Year 11, as it was a low workload subject that introduced me to what Year 12 was like. However, I prefer the maths in Methods/Spesh more than Further as the data part of Further wasn't really that interesting, and algebra/functions/whatnot are far more enjoyable than stats/data (well at least in my opinion). Chemistry and Methods are my two favourite subjects right now - Chemistry because I love reactions in the world around us and the explanations of why these reactions happen/how these reactions shape today's society, and Methods because the maths in it isn't too hard and the content is very enjoyable.

I want one thing in VCE. To be able to walk out of every SAC and Exam thinking to myself: "I did the best I possibly could". I don't want to have regrets at the end of Year 12, because I didn't try hard enough throughout the year and screwed up my chances of getting a high ATAR. Even though I come from a low-achieving public school - we only get a few 40+s a year in a cohort of ~100 - I want to aim for the stars. I can't let the "I-don't-care-about-VCE" attitude that a large number of my peers seem to have distract me from my goals.

I'll update this thread whenever I feel like it. I don't know how often that'll be, but I'll try to update it every couple of weeks at least. Sometimes I may update it once every few days. Who knows

Good luck to everyone else in the Class of 2020!

Hey Nate! So great to see another VCE journal! We nearly do the exact same subjects (with the exception of Specialist Maths) and it is so good to see another Further Maths 3/4 person in the class of 2020~ (It is absolutely amazing to see someone that does similar subjects. Great for study groups!)
I love the 'no regrets' mindset you have and I'm excited to see some future posts in this journal

[caffinatedloz]

Hi Nexica (Nate)! Look forward to future updates! Which subject do you think you're most excited about? Three maths? (Which one is your favourite?)

[Nexica]

So yeah, the attitude you have is great, as long as you keep up with the workload and do what you need to do, you should have a rewarding year! How is a school so far right now? The intensity increasing? Looking forward to the next few posts

I've made it through my first week of orientation for year 12 alive. The intensity is increasing - there's a lot more homework than I had in Year 11. However, more homework isn't always a bad thing.

Hey Nate! So great to see another VCE journal! We nearly do the exact same subjects (with the exception of Specialist Maths) and it is so good to see another Further Maths 3/4 person in the class of 2020~ (It is absolutely amazing to see someone that does similar subjects. Great for study groups!)
I love the 'no regrets' mindset you have and I'm excited to see some future posts in this journal

Glad to see another person that does similar subjects! The more the merrier
I hope you achieve your aim in Further, best of luck

Hi Nexica (Nate)! Look forward to future updates! Which subject do you think you're most excited about? Three maths? (Which one is your favourite?)

Chemistry's definitely the subject I'm most excited about. I really enjoy Chem because it has a lot of real-world stuff in it - a lot of the content I learn occurs in real-world scenarios. Methods is my favourite out of the three maths because in terms of difficulty it's not too easy but not too hard at the same time. It's right in the middle between Further's difficulty and Specialist's difficulty and that's what I like about it.

I hope to make the first proper post of the journal at the end of next week 

[brothanathan]

Yes mate, that's the mentality we should have! No regrets! (Cause the outcomes of these decisions ultimately enrich ourselves in the long-term and even for life).

[eemmaa]

Hi Nate! Nice to meet you, can't wait to hear more throughout next year! Your attitude to VCE is something I'd definitely like to apply over the next couple years too, good luck with all your subjects

[Snow Leopard]

Congrats on the 50 in Further!
Any tips for Maths in general?

[eemmaa]

Your further score is literally incredible, congratulations! It's so inspiring <3

[Nexica]

Time to make the first post of the journal - a bit later than I originally planned.

Further
Last night I was panicking about further. "What if I'm rank 2 and everyone does badly on the exams? What if the GAT screws up my SAC scores?" I was expecting a score below my goal (45)...
...and then I woke up this morning and saw that I got a 50. Completely unexpected.

Here are my scores (I think), since I was always curious about the scores of people who did well in Further:
SAC AVG: 93% (Before VCAA scaling, of course) EDIT: According to my SoSS it was 98%. Some internal moderation must have happened.
RANK: 1
EXAM 1: 40/40
EXAM 2: 59/60
These could be a bit off - these are just my estimates.

My principal rang me a couple of hours later to congratulate me. She said that in her 11 years of being at the school she had never seen anyone get a 50 before. Furthermore, the highest further study score was 39 last year...
Damn, I'm happy

Congrats on the 50 in Further!
Any tips for Maths in general?

Familiarize yourself with everything you could be asked during the exam. Go through every VCAA exam paper and look at the questions that are still relevant to the current study design. Also, reread everything twice if you have the time - not making silly mistakes is crucial.

Your further score is literally incredible, congratulations! It's so inspiring <3

Thank you I hope you achieve your goals for VCE in the near future and good luck!

Chemistry
In Chemistry our teacher is nice - she seems really dedicated to helping her students succeed. We have to stay back after school every week since that's when we do experiments, but I don't mind that. We learnt about fuels in orientation.

Physics
Physics this year is soooo much more enjoyable than last year. Last year I found physics to be boring and not very enjoyable subject, but this year I like all the content we've covered so far. We learnt about gravitational fields and their effects on satellites.

Methods
Derivatives. We didn't end up covering this in Year 11 since the class had to go slower than originally planned, so we ran out of time for the final topics. Seems pretty easy though in comparison to Specialist stuff. Easily my favourite subject at the moment.

Specialist
ahhhh man i hate vector proofs However, practice makes perfect. I'm sure I'll get the hang of them eventually.
Another note about Specialist: In comparison to Methods, there's soooo much more work to do, and it's all harder. It'll be worth it in the end though.

English
For our creative piece we're doing "Like a House on Fire". Honestly, I am terrified of English since it's my weak point (and it has to be in my top 4, AAAAAHHHH SAVE ME). I gotta build up my vocab over the holidays in order to succeed in this subject.

Well, that's all I have to say about my 2 weeks of orientation. Overall, it has been an enjoyable experience, and I'm looking forward to what Year 12 brings.

[Joseph41]

Congrats on Further. Fantastic.

[Nexica]

And I said I was going to update this journal every couple of weeks... hah. What a joke

It's time for the first update in over seven months time! Lets hope I can actually be consistent in posting this time.

Life in general/the UCAT
Online learning sucked. I really hope I don't have to go back to that again - I had no motivation Go away, COVID-19... please, I'm begging you.

Earlier this year I decided I wanted to do direct-entry Medicine at Monash University. I'm still not quite sure about what I want to specialize in, but I'm sure that will come to me soon enough. I actually did the UCAT only three days ago on the 15th of July, and ended up getting 3150 on it (680 in VR, 800 in DM, 870 in QR, 800 in AR, and 577 in SJ). I was so stressed about it so I'm glad that it's finally over, and I got a score that will get me an interview at Monash (provided that I get a good ATAR), unless the 90th percentile for the UCAT is something insane this year. I'm one third of the way towards my goal... let's hope I don't screw up the other two thirds. I also need to consider backup courses that I might be interested in, in case I don't get a high enough ATAR and/or I fail the MMI interview.

Chemistry
In Chemistry I am doing the Unit 4 Outcome 3 Poster SAC as my first SAC for U4. At the moment we're performing experiments to collect our data. Honestly, I believe I can do alright, as I understand all of the Unit 3 Content pretty well. Not sure about Unit 4 though, which we're starting after this SAC is done...

Physics
Honestly Physics is my favourite subject right now I have absolutely no issues with the content for either Unit 3 or 4, and I strongly believe that this is going to be in my top 4. I'll be done with the course soon, and then I can start doing full-length practice exams. I have very high hopes for Physics.

Methods
I am currently in the middle of a week long SAC for Unit 3... I've completed one of the three parts for it. I'm kind of disappointed in my performance in the first part, so I'm going to study a lot after I finish up this post... I really hope I can drive my score up in the next two parts of the SAC. I feel like Methods is going to be in my top 4 as well, alongside Further & Physics (as long as I can do well on the next two parts of this SAC).

Specialist
Ahh.. there is now two people taking Specialist Maths 3 & 4 at my school - me and one of my friends. Everyone else dropped out or left. Disappointing We're combining our rankings with another school. I got an okay score for my first SAC - not great but not bad, and this makes me think that this subject will be in my bottom two.

English
English. The one subject I absolutely hated through Year 7-11.
Somehow, I actually enjoy this subject now, and have come to like it.
For the entirety of my high school life I was plagued with terrible English scores. Scores that would get me below a 30 study score if I got them in year 12. I thought of it as the subject I could never get better in, no matter how much I tried. However in Year 12 I managed to get significantly higher scores than I wanted - scores that might actually give me a chance of getting close to a 40 in this subject. I really hope that I can continue getting these scores throughout the year with the rest of my English SACs.

Well that's the end of this journal post. Lets hope this won't be the last

[ashmi]

Hey Nate! 😃

If there is one journal that I've eagerly been waiting for a reply to, it's this one!🤣
I am so glad to see an update from you and by the sounds of it, everything looks like it's going pretty smoothly😊.

Life in general/the UCAT
Online learning sucked. I hope I don't have to go back to that again - I had no motivation Go away, COVID-19... please, I'm begging you.

*Passes you a bucket worth of motivation*. Online learning was such a weird experience and it's something that doesn't replace the actual 1 on 1 learning you get in a classroom. (I'm that weird person that sort of loved online learning but for science/folio subjects it was hell). I hope you have gotten back onto your feet and have found some motivation now that we are back at school!

Congrats on the amazing score in the UCAT by the way! Make sure you take proper rest to recover from the heavy workload. What were you thinking of backup options if something happens and Monash Med is no longer an option for you?

Physics
Honestly Physics is my favourite subject right now

I can 100% agree with you that Physics is that one best friend in VCE😂. The content in Physics is really enjoyable and I'm glad that there is someone else that shares the same enthusiasm as me to this subject! (I'm so looking forward to seeing what everyone's cheat sheet is going to look like at the end of the year).

English
English. The one subject I absolutely hated through Year 7-11.
Somehow, I actually enjoy this subject now, and have come to like it.

This is the type of relationship I aspire to have with English🤣. What do you particularly like about English now that you didn't really like before?

Thanks for updating this journal Nate and I'm looking forward to seeing a future update! (If you ever get to it that is)