The HSC Marathon: Stride by Stride

[kauac]

Hi...
Haven't really updated here in a while, as things have been pretty hectic with trials and all, and I was half scared I would accidentally come across discussion about the trial papers I would have (when I hadn't sat mine yet). Yeah, so long that I got the 30-day warning before I posted this.

So here's where I am up to at the moment: I have done all of my trial exams bar paper 2, which is tomorrow. My school did our trials late so we could get through all of the content for compressed. The english exams were not first because they catered our timetable to the days where we normally would have the subjects....

How did I think I went?
- Bio: um, felt pretty confident before/after the exam. Thinking that I might have scraped something in the 90s. But then, my teacher just randomly came up to me and announced that I had gotten 95%. Super duper stoked for that, and so surprised that I couldn't stop laughing for ages.

- Maths: hmmmm, it was pretty bad. I haven't got my marks back yet, but I know I did pretty atrociously. As my teacher handed out the paper in the exam, they admitted that it was probably a bit too long, but then declared that we needed ' a challenge'. I'm not too worried about the mark, because I know that my average for past papers is a lot higher than what it will be (thus, I know I will do better in the actual HSC). It just kinda bugs me why they set the difficulty for trials so much higher than the actual HSC, because it really shakes everyone up.

- Food Tech: It was fairly okay...the multiple choice was a bit poorly written, and the short answer section was longer than HSC past papers. I still think I performed pretty reasonably, though I find in food tech that I always do better than I expect.... We'll see.

- English P1: Um, I actually think I did pretty well in this! My half-yearly results (a P1 exam) were pretty decent, except for my creative. But my creative has improved so much since then, and I felt really confident in the other sections too, so fingers-crossed for a pleasant mark.

- English P2: That's tomorrow! Feeling decently prepared, but not too sure. I lost a lot of confidence a few weeks back when I received some pretty critical and contradictory feedback... But slowly have been regaining it. I am paranoid in the trial and/or HSC exam that they will change the text type and make us write a feature article or something, instead of an essay, since its the last year for this syllabus. Hoping the exam writers will be nice to us, though. 

Enough about thinking about trials, though... I booked a UOW early admission interview, so pretty keen (but nervous) for that! I'm just hoping they won't be too critical about my maths marks (they were decent before trials, but not sure about after haha). I applied for two different degrees that were very similar to each other, and at first, I thought they were going to make me do an interview for each of them, which would have been pretty tedious. But when I logged into my admissions account, it said I could do them together, which makes things a lot nicer!

Also, I have an interview for a gap year program this week, too. It seems I am pretty adamant on taking a gap year, but whatever I do next year, I just want to make the most of it, and not regret my decision. Classic Katie: the over-analyser.

[kauac]

Just thought I'd pop in for a quick update.

Trials: DONE.

A little about Paper 2: So, so glad they didn't specify a speech for Module B. Like, I had prepared and all, but it would have taken me so much longer to write that essay... I really liked the Mod C question, but the Mod A was a bit of a curveball, and the question was super duper weird. Also low-key disappointed they didn't ask for two related texts for Mod C, as I found some really intriguing comparisons between the three texts when I was revising the module.

I have gotten back all of my marks except for English (which is tomorrow!). I always find teachers are so much quicker to mark exams than assignments haha. Maths was pretty much as bad as I had expected... Food tech was nice, happy with that. Just would have rather waited a bit longer for my English marks because I don't want to get my hopes up and then be disappointed.

Oh yeah, and that interview I was supposed to go to this week was rescheduled... Don't mind really, means I can have some more time to relax. Haven't done any study outside of school this week, just trying to rejuvenate some energy and motivation. For leisure, I did start learning some Japanese. Pretty basic stuff - I have been learning Hiragana, and now have all the vowels memorised and learning the other sounds... I tend to be someone who thrives on active relaxation. 

[jamonwindeyer]

Noiiiice Kauac!! Sounds like things are going pretty well overall, so cool that you are learning Japanese, definitely a great call to try and recharge the battery. Let us know if we can be of any help with Maths or anything else

[kauac]

Noiiiice Kauac!! Sounds like things are going pretty well overall, so cool that you are learning Japanese, definitely a great call to try and recharge the battery. Let us know if we can be of any help with Maths or anything else

Thanks Jamon! For sure.

[kauac]

So, got my English marks back!

English always surprises me because I never do how I expect. I thought I had done way better in Paper 1 than 2, but turns out, it was actually the other way around. Paper 2 was astonishing good, and it was funny, because I procrastinated so hard leading up to the exam, and I was super tired on the actual day. My teacher was joking around before the exam saying that I my essays would be really good - because I have this tendency that I do better when I don't try as hard. And she was right, haha! There was actually a 10% difference between my two marks.

Paper 1 was alright, but definitely room for improvement. But because of the mark allocation for each paper, my overall mark was pretty decent! And the spooky thing is, my half-yearly exam, overall trial exam, and overall assessment mark for English was the exact same. Hopefully that isn't a bad thing that I haven't "improved", but hey, consistency is key, right?

Feeling pretty good about English now. And when I started doing a past paper for maths, it was pretty refreshing compared to my trial haha. I felt like actually knew what I was doing haha. I still like to joke with my maths teacher about my trials mark, saying that's why I am doing 12 units.  Still in a bit of a post-trials utopia, which probably isn't great, because I don't have much motivation to study, whoops!

[clovvy]

So, got my English marks back!

English always surprises me because I never do how I expect. I thought I had done way better in Paper 1 than 2, but turns out, it was actually the other way around. Paper 2 was astonishing good, and it was funny, because I procrastinated so hard leading up to the exam, and I was super tired on the actual day. My teacher was joking around before the exam saying that I my essays would be really good - because I have this tendency that I do better when I don't try as hard. And she was right, haha! There was actually a 10% difference between my two marks.

Paper 1 was alright, but definitely room for improvement. But because of the mark allocation for each paper, my overall mark was pretty decent! And the spooky thing is, my half-yearly exam, overall trial exam, and overall assessment mark for English was the exact same. Hopefully that isn't a bad thing that I haven't "improved", but hey, consistency is key, right?

Feeling pretty good about English now. And when I started doing a past paper for maths, it was pretty refreshing compared to my trial haha. I felt like actually knew what I was doing haha. I still like to joke with my maths teacher about my trials mark, saying that's why I am doing 12 units.  Still in a bit of a post-trials utopia, which probably isn't great, because I don't have much motivation to study, whoops!

Oddly enough this happens to me too lol.... it is frustrating though when you care about it a lot but then it didn't go well... and if you don't care too much and just do merely what you need you somehow did a lot better than expected (it's weird but I am seeing this pattern as well this year)
BTW back then I used to attempt learning japanese too but I procrastinated too much back in the day so haven't pick up too much (however I remember all of hiragana and most of katakana and a few kanji words... but only using them for really basic stuff or for cursing lol)

[kauac]

Oddly enough this happens to me too lol.... it is frustrating though when you care about it a lot but then it didn't go well... and if you don't care too much and just do merely what you need you somehow did a lot better than expected (it's weird but I am seeing this pattern as well this year)

Yeah I think it must be a thing for science/maths minded people when we do English haha!

BTW back then I used to attempt learning japanese too but I procrastinated too much back in the day so haven't pick up too much (however I remember all of hiragana and most of katakana and a few kanji words... but only using them for really basic stuff or for cursing lol)

Nice! You probably still know much more than me - I am still trying to remember my a-u, ka-ku, and sa-su in hiragana. But I was so excited when I learnt how to write "sushi" haha.

[kauac]

Hi...
I have had a pretty basic week, and liking how chill studying has been since the trials have finished. Cranked out some Mod B essays because there a gazillion combinations I could be asked for the speeches, and glad that my teacher thinks they are going well. Also made a point of telling my maths teacher what I am now scoring in past papers, to prove that the mark I got in trials did not reflect what I am likely to get in the HSC haha.

Just wanted to make a point out of the fact that there is ONE WEEK LEFT OF SCHOOL!  Like, I have been looking forward to this moment all of this year, and then suddenly, as it approaches, I'm getting all sentimental, and now I don't want to leave. It's not even because of the HSC exams, I just don't think I am ready to give something up that has been a major part of my routine for 13 years. I guess I'm just a bit of a wimp when it comes to change haha. 

[clovvy]

Hi...
I have had a pretty basic week, and liking how chill studying has been since the trials have finished. Cranked out some Mod B essays because there a gazillion combinations I could be asked for the speeches, and glad that my teacher thinks they are going well. Also made a point of telling my maths teacher what I am now scoring in past papers, to prove that the mark I got in trials did not reflect what I am likely to get in the HSC haha.

Just wanted to make a point out of the fact that there is ONE WEEK LEFT OF SCHOOL!  Like, I have been looking forward to this moment all of this year, and then suddenly, as it approaches, I'm getting all sentimental, and now I don't want to leave. It's not even because of the HSC exams, I just don't think I am ready to give something up that has been a major part of my routine for 13 years. I guess I'm just a bit of a wimp when it comes to change haha. 

I am certain that you are not the only one who felt this way..  I do too...  Not because I miss the school or being together with schoolmates, simply because sometimes I felt that I am not ready to get out to the real world just yet.. 

[kauac]

Hi...

At the moment, feeling pretty happy with how I am tracking. 0% stressed, which is pretty good, considering I used to be a 'stress head'! Honestly, I kinda would have liked to get the exams over and done with while I still had everything fresh in my memory from trials, but I guess these last remaining weeks I can use to fix my errors/weaknesses.

Last week turned out to be pretty spectacular! On Tuesday, I had my last ever athletics competition (at least for school-aged competitions), so that was fun! My times were pretty good for this season, though I have always said that my improvement in cross-country is because I developed more slow twitch fibres, so that's why my athletics times (using fast-twitch) have not been as good as when I was younger! A little PDHPE for y'all, soz! Also I looked up some photos from the day, and I am basically the most un-photogenic runner ever, haha. 

Anyways, Thursday was awesome! We had planned a little party for recess with year 11 and some of the teachers, so there was some good food and games. Then my old PDHPE teacher spontaneously invited us to go to a high ropes park with 9/10 PASS, which we immediately accepted (over biology revision, oops!). I was in my normal school uniform, so I raced home and back to change into the sports uniform - without signing out.

With the whole 'parent permission' thing for excursions, my parents wouldn't respond to my phone calls. So I didn't actually end up getting permission from my parents until after I had done the safety course, right before I was about to climb up for the first real course - a bit late!! In that sense, I officially wagged school on my second last day.  But the afternoon was so fun, completed the three hardest courses and the zip lines were insane!

Last day was nice, I helped with the invitations for my formal in English. In the afternoon, we had a whole school assembly, so I worked the coffee machine for that. We had a little send off at the end, but nothing official, because we have to come back next term after exams to run a whole assembly, fun!

So that's been my week and a bit! I have a UOW interview this week, just hoping I will do well enough to be accepted! It would be such a relief (yet would not help my procrastination levels in any sort of way). Trying to keep a good balance of studying, exercise, family, and a little bit of fun times these 'holidays'. The last thing I would want is to burn out just before my exams!

Well, we are only a few kilometres off finishing this massive, 2-year-long marathon!

(And I've just realised how many exclamation marks I have used in this post!  ).
 

[kauac]

Hi...
So a few things have happened over the last few days:

1. UOW Early Admission Interview:

Spoiler

I had a nice little (actually quite big, though) roadtrip to Wollongong. I had been to campus once before, so it was nice to be back. I got to wear a groovy lanyard that kind of looked like a VIP pass, so I was impressed.

The interview itself was actually super quick! Like, I had read somewhere that it would only be 10 - 15 minutes. But after I came out, it felt like it was only 8 minutes max. Anyways, it went pretty smoothly and the questions were super basic. The interviewers were two ladies: one an academic, one a faculty staff, I think? Makes sense, since, the proportion of dietitians who are female is something staggering like 95%. I was surprised they didn't even ask why I wanted to study at UOW. The question I did not anticipate was "What are your thoughts on chemistry being a major part of this degree?", so I continued to talk about how chemistry has been my favourite subject and I really enjoyed doing the biochemistry option. They said they were really impressed with my chemistry HSC results, so that's a bonus!

So yeah, a bit unsure about if I will get the offer, because even though I seemed to present pretty well, I'm guessing they only give out very few offers because the degree is so small (50 people, I remember reading), and it is an unconditional offer. We'll see in a week and a bit's time.

2. Saw a dietician today:

Spoiler

Not for me personally, but my Dad was referred to one for his health issues, so I jumped at the offer of tagging along. But literally the first thing she said to me after I said I was applying for dietetics at uni was: "I WILL TRY AND CONVINCE YOU NOT TO BECOME A DIETICIAN!" She wasn't actually yelling, I am just conveying a bit of my emotions towards the comment.

Her reasoning was that there wasn't a lot of jobs for just-graduated dieticians, but, imo, it is a health occupation that is growing exponentially in demand and jobs available -  so many people have reassured me with this. And once I have graduated, I will be a young professional with no commitments, and willing to travel wherever I need in Australia (and overseas, if necessary) to score that first job. So despite being slightly salty, it hasn't really impacted my thoughts on my career.

Now to my thoughts on the actual consultation: It was a private practice, and the room had an interesting set-up. Some comfy arm chairs, her personal desk, a set of scales, a thing to measure height, a cabinet and bookshelf: one layer recipe books and one layer biological textbooks and encyclopedias. The purpose of the cabinet was revealed when she spontaneously retrieved a packaging of a food product that we were talking about. A cabinet full of used food packaging, just for the sake of the packaging - THAT is SOOOO me on every level!   

What she did was basically took my Dad's medical history, discussed what my Dad was currently eating, gave a meal plan and suggested meals hand-out, and then explained the chemical point of view of some of the nutrients. She was super in-depth and I actually learnt a lot of new things just from the one hour we were there. I could definitely see myself doing something similar in the future. So yeah, overall, an insightful experience!

3. And finally, some study.

Spoiler

Meh. I have found it helpful sticking to a daily routine for when I have my breaks (probably in lieu of school), so I can help my brain distinguish when it is time to work, and when it is time to rest. So I normally do 8 hours each day, which I think is pretty decent, considering I only have 4 subjects. I feel that if I did anymore, I would likely burn out, so I'll stick with the 8. And despite going into these holidays thinking it would be the hardest, longest and most boring 2 weeks of my life, it hasn't turned out this way, which is miraculous!

I have cranked out so many English essays, and I feel now that I am adequately prepared for any module b question thrown at me. Maths past papers have been plentiful, and consistently ~10% higher results than before trials - not to mention about ~30% more than in my actual trial, itself, haha. I have been making some flashcards for bio, particularly the bits I find hard to remember, and doing the odd past paper. Haven't really touched food tech much, because I will have a whopping two whole weeks to study solely for it. And perhaps, the nerves for the exam, since I haven't studied much for it, will make sure I won't slack off in the last two weeks. Though I do expect to decrease my load significantly after I have finished the other exams, because: One cannot simply study food tech for 8 hours/ day for 2 weeks straight. 

On top of my study, I have been happy with my holiday balance: I have kept up my 30+ min/exercise each day, and sometimes, just sometimes, I forget about the impending exams. I had a bunch of fun playing tennis with my sister, and reminded myself of what a lousy server I am!  I'm also loving how much flexibility I can have in home study vs when I studied during the school term. Because I am a morning person, I finish up each night ~8pm, giving me plenty of time to chill, hang out with the fam, watch TV, and, of course, browse AN. 

I think that's it for today. It feels good to release my random jumble of thoughts into a slightly-less jumbled written form. 

[kauac]

Hi...

I have managed to maintain my chill until, well, today. Perhaps because the exams are drawer closing, the reality of actually having to do them has set in. I know I am well prepared for the exams from a logical point of view, so I think its the little things that have made me a bit stressed. Like being able to write neat/fast enough in English. My hand is always tense in English exams, from nerves, so it makes writing legibly really difficult!  I also did a pretty old past paper for Maths which rattled my confidence a bit. Eeek!

I just hope I can get out of this mindset. I know I shouldn't be scared about the exams, because I have already conquered two, and I know they weren't as scary as I thought. I am really happy with how well I have prepared these holidays, and my hard work throughout the year has put in a great place in this final stretch. But still, today I have felt really uneasy.

Just needed to get some of these thoughts out to try and make myself feel more confident. 

[dcesaona]

Hi...

I have managed to maintain my chill until, well, today. Perhaps because the exams are drawer closing, the reality of actually having to do them has set in. I know I am well prepared for the exams from a logical point of view, so I think its the little things that have made me a bit stressed. Like being able to write neat/fast enough in English. My hand is always tense in English exams, from nerves, so it makes writing legibly really difficult!  I also did a pretty old past paper for Maths which rattled my confidence a bit. Eeek!

I just hope I can get out of this mindset. I know I shouldn't be scared about the exams, because I have already conquered two, and I know they weren't as scary as I thought. I am really happy with how well I have prepared these holidays, and my hard work throughout the year has put in a great place in this final stretch. But still, today I have felt really uneasy.

Just needed to get some of these thoughts out to try and make myself feel more confident. 

This is exactly how I feel! I basically had a mental breakdown last night because I'm terrified of the thought of having to actually sit these exams, but I did well in the trials and I have worked so hard. I did a discovery past paper yesterday from Sydney Boy's school, which was tricky as one might imagine, but was actually pleased with what I wrote! So I have no idea why I'm so scared!!!! I have 0 confidence in myself.



 

[kauac]

Hi...
Just a quick update since I have a busy afternoon ahead of me.

English is forever done! "Never will I ever have to write an English essay again" - as my Mum reminded me after my exam. Glad to not have to think about for a while.  I finished each exam with ~15 min to spare - normally only have around 5-10 minutes, so that was pretty good. Enough time to go through my intro's and conclusions, trying to resurrect my messy writing, rip! Adrenaline is unfortunately not very helpful, when trying to hold a pen. 

I'm not trying to reflect on the exams too much, because I will never find out where I went well/ not so well, and there is no point speculating...I don't think I did spectacularly, but good enough for what I need for uni.

Speaking of uni, got a lovely email Monday morning with an Early Offer for both B Nutrition & Dietetics and B Nutrition Science at UOW!

I wasn't too sure if I would get it, but it was a nice surprise - definitely gave me an extra confidence boost heading into the exams. Helped me slowly edge my way out of that fearful mindset I had previously.

So next is exam is Biology - Wednesday. Feeling super confident for that, especially since trials. Maths the day after, though - uggggh. I thought I was feeling ok for it, but it seems some of the English fear rubbed off on it, so will definitely be focusing on this in the coming days. And food tech is spectacularly a long time away. I did a bit of study for it in the holidays, but not too much. Not at all worried about it - 13 days is plenty of time for exceptional preparation for food tech (or exceptional preparation for this new subject, called 'Procrastination [2 units]' )

[Maya24]

Good luck for the rest of your exams!