Tantalus had it easy

[FutureLawStudent]

Whelp,

My first round of assessments start Monday, and I'm kind of freaking out.

Let me start by introducing myself. I'm 17, and school is kind of my life. Now that might seem kind of sad - maybe it is - but I guess I'm driven and want to set myself up for the future.

It all stems from my goals, I want to study law. In a perfect world, I'll end up at St John's at Oxford or LSE studying law. Failing that, UNSW or Sydney. I've always been told that there are a bunch of options out there and that the HSC doesn't matter that much in the scheme of things, but I want to be the best that I can. I could do law as a JD, or go to a uni that isn't top tier. But why should I limit myself to that? I can't see the point of not trying my hardest in Yr 12. Why do I want to go to one of those universities? Well, first, I genuinely want to receive the best education that I can, and secondly, a partner at a top tier firm told me that "every year we hire 15 from Sydney, 15 from UNSW, and 1 from all the others".

Why do I want to even study law? Well, surprisingly, I actually love law. Nothing interests me more than reading judgments or going to the Downing Centre and watching cases. I can't quite describe why I like it so much, but there's something about a system of rules which are the "fabric of society" that are so malleable. I've tried to immerse myself in this dream as much as possible, participating in mooting and mock trial comps as well as shadowing a couple barrister.

I'd better revert back to the reality, however, as that's what this is all about, the journey, the trip, the meander, the bullshit. My school life has been defined by underachievement. It's not that I haven't done well in school so far, I've come 2nd and 3rd in subjects and been in the top 10 for many others, I've come first in exams and been the exemplar. I just always seem to let myself down. In primary school, I had pretty bad work habits. I can vividly remember being told off for not having done my maths homework, one of those Excel mathematics tasks. This seems to have carried through. Far too many times have I left an assignment to the morning of, in fact, for a while, my modus operandi was to fill a word document with a bunch of random symbols and pretend it was corrupt. I don't think I've ever actually attempted to genuinely complete a homework task. I can't let this be an episode of woe me I'm smart but lazy, because that would achieve absolutely f**k all.

Suddenly, it's all started to matter. Now I have to do well. I can't say it doesn't count because it does. Over the past year, my work ethic has changed considerably, now I'm actually studying, and genuinely trying to work. I find myself staying at the library until 9 some nights and spending every Sunday in the food court. Yet, I'm still not happy, I've fallen behind in a few areas, and I'm hoping the holidays will present an opportunity to catch up and get ahead. I'm driven, yet sometimes it just doesn't translate into working hard, its far too easy to get into bed and watch youtube videos or to spend a period reading SMH articles. I really struggle to get any work done sometimes, but I've spent the last couple years preparing for the HSC, so I guess I'll just have to make it count.

What ATAR do I want?

98.5. Why, you ask?

Well, it seems achievable, is the cutoff for Oxford (presuming a successful interview), and would be enough to get me into LSE or UNSW.

Is it actually achievable? I think so, and I seem to be on a trajectory for it.

On to my subjects:

English Adv - I know I can do well, but last year I performed shockingly, 28/190, a decline from Yr 10 when I came 8th and Yr 9 when I came 3rd. I guess everyone started doing work. I didn't read a single text last year, which was pretty shocking, and a bad result in the first task meant I just wasn't motivated. This year I hope to do considerably better, but 28 is still a safe band 6.

English Ext 1 - It's a love-hate relationship, I love the texts, but if you ask me it is far too much work for a 1 unit subject. I came 6th, so I can probably pull a 46 or 47, but I'll probably drop it. The only thing holding me back is Extension 2, which I'd genuinely love to do.

Business Studies - I came 4th/~100, which I was kinda unhappy about. Every year about 50 kids get a band six, so it's safe to say I'll get a band 6, but I'd like to attempt to get a state rank.

Economics - I came 6th/85, which I was relatively happy with, I just lost all my marks on multiple choice questions, which really pissed me off. Again, a safe band 6.

Legal Studies - 6th/30, this was by far my worst subject, I came 2nd in two tasks and 1st in the Prelim by a considerable margin, but I got 52% in one task because I did it the morning of. I'm confident if it doesn't all fall to shit I can do pretty well.

Chemistry - 10th/50, this wasn't great, but I've been working hard this year and feel really on top of the content.

[fantasticbeasts3]

hey, welcome to the journal squad!

can i just say - what an interesting journal title! always thought tantalus really had it bad, but i guess the hsc is comparable to his struggles 😜

props to you for being so motivated so far, seems like you're determined to keep up these motivation levels - you'll do great. best of luck for the rest of this term and next year. keep working hard, and you'll get to live your dream very, very soon.

all the best!

[Potatohater]

Oooh I used to do mock trial too! What position did you do and how far in the competition did you get?
I know, of all the things to pick up on hehe

as for the smart yet lazy situation, that's a tough one to crack, and one you will probably need to experiment and find your own answers. I understand this scenario on a much smaller scale by which I meant I worked hard but sometimes good wasn't good enough cause I was aiming for Dux, and sometimes I might not have worked hard enough in some areas *cough* English *cough* but overall I have a feeling what worked for me might not work for you, as it seems we have different attitudes to work. Hence why I say experiement, even though you're already in year 12 it's better to crack this case sooner than later.

Also, who is Tantalus and why did he have it easy?

[FutureLawStudent]

hey, welcome to the journal squad!

can i just say - what an interesting journal title! always thought tantalus really had it bad, but i guess the hsc is comparable to his struggles 😜

I could go on and on about how it wasn't really that bad for Tantalus, but that's for another day.

props to you for being so motivated so far, seems like you're determined to keep up these motivation levels - you'll do great. best of luck for the rest of this term and next year. keep working hard, and you'll get to live your dream very, very soon.

all the best!

Thanks so much! Hopefully I can pull through.

Oooh I used to do mock trial too! What position did you do and how far in the Como did you get?
I know, of all the things to pick up on hehe

I was 1st barrister, I absolutely loved it. We came 5th, and IMO, we were unfairly kicked out. Basically, in the eliminations, the lady let an extra two teams in. That was fine, because she decided to use a for and against system once it got to 17 winners being left. The problem was, that in the 32 round, we suffered a forfeit as the other school burnt down. We were promised that it wouldn't affect us. Surprise surprise, she tried to kick us out once it got to 17 winners b/c we had less points. We complained, she said something along the lines of yeah thats unfair, what we'll do is get to 9 winners and then the team with the lowest margin win in that round will be kicked out. In the final 9 round, we won, with a margin of ~20 points (higher than two other schools), but she decided to use total for and against for the whole comp again, even though we had one less round to score points because of the other schools forfeit. We complained. She said "not my fault". I wrote a letter to the CEO of the law society, he never responded. All in all, I was devastated, but I still had fun and gained some great skills. As you can see, I'm kinda triggered.

as for the smart yet lazy situation, that's a tough one to crack, and one you will probably need to experiment and find your own answers. I understand this scenario on a much smaller scale by which I meant I worked hard but sometimes good wasn't good enough cause I was aiming for Dux, and sometimes I might not have worked hard enough in some areas *cough* English *cough* but overall I have a feeling what worked for me might not work for you, as it seems we have different attitudes to work. Hence why I say experiement, even though you're already in year 12 it's better to crack this case sooner than later.

Yeah, I've been trying, and its working to a limited extent, I think the main thing I need to focus on is just sitting down and doing work, and then it will sorta fall into place as I get better habits.

Also, who is Tantalus and why did he have it easy?

He's a Greek mythological figure, basically, he was punished in that he was stuck below a tree with fruit that he couldn't reach, and whenever he went to drink the water below him it would recede. Sounds rough, but that's nothing compared to the HSC /s

Mod edit: Merged posts

[Potatohater]

I was 1st barrister, I absolutely loved it. We came 5th, and IMO, we were unfairly kicked out. Basically, in the eliminations, the lady let an extra two teams in. That was fine, because she decided to use a for and against system once it got to 17 winners being left. The problem was, that in the 32 round, we suffered a forfeit as the other school burnt down. We were promised that it wouldn't affect us. Surprise surprise, she tried to kick us out once it got to 17 winners b/c we had less points. We complained, she said something along the lines of yeah thats unfair, what we'll do is get to 9 winners and then the team with the lowest margin win in that round will be kicked out. In the final 9 round, we won, with a margin of ~20 points (higher than two other schools), but she decided to use total for and against for the whole comp again, even though we had one less round to score points because of the other schools forfeit. We complained. She said "not my fault". I wrote a letter to the CEO of the law society, he never responded. All in all, I was devastated, but I still had fun and gained some great skills. As you can see, I'm kinda triggered.

Ahh yeah, I went 1st Barrister once but then went solicitor for the rest - I didn't want to be the reason we lost during the elimination round so I stuck to what I knew I could ace rather than practicing barrister on the spot during competition.
We go to semi finals undefeated and lost by 1 point ughhhh, I don't know what our final place ended up being. I'm especially annoyed though cause the barrister for that round had never done done it before, SEMI FINALS AND YOU GET A TRAINEE?! Thanks law society! He didn't even look at my solicitors notes, in fact he insisted that he didn't look. That was the best I'd ever done it and I'm sure they were better than the other team but he didn't even look so we better not have lost that point for soliciting. Your situation sounds more dodgy though

He's a Greek mythological figure, basically, he was punished in that he was stuck below a tree with fruit that he couldn't reach, and whenever he went to drink the water below him it would recede. Sounds rough, but that's nothing compared to the HSC /s

Idk, being hungry and thirsty sounds more torturous than the HSC, at least during year 12 you can be hydrated and fed. Also the HSC ends but I get the impression that this punishment doesn't

[FutureLawStudent]

Well, I've updated this a lot less than I thought I would have. For a few reasons.

I'll start with an update. I finished the first round of assessments for every subject bar Ext1 & 2 English, which are due at the start of next term. I feel relatively confident in regards to my performance, with the exception of Chem which did not go well, however, for varying reasons I applied for a misadventure, which will hopefully be successful. In terms of the marks that I did get back, I'm relatively happy.

I managed to come first in 'cos (97.5%), which I was really happy with because a week before I felt really lost and didn't have much of a clue due to my teacher being sick and constantly having different teachers. Economics is definitely one of the more competitive subjects, and there is a really strong cohort (the Class of 2017 got ~42% band 6's, and faculty viewed them as a bad cohort). I don't think I'll hold 1st, but it puts me in a good place.

In Legal I came second with 92%, which I was relatively happy with, knowing that my performance was not great, however, I acknowledge that I can and need to improve. As a side note, when I selected Legal, there was one Yr11 class (the first group), and no HSC results to indicate the strength of the teaching and likely result I would achieve. Fortunately, the 2017 cohort got ~40% band 6's, and they were not a particularly strong group either. So I'm very happy that I made the choice to do Legal.

In terms of Adv English, I did not enjoy the creative. We'll see how that goes :/.
I feel like I did well in Business, but you never know. I'm annoyed that they're making us wait long past the 2-week deadline to give them out in class.

Holidays started 3 weeks ago, and I haven't got much done. Here's what I have completed:
Business - Topic 1 notes completed
Economics - Topic 1 & 2 notes partially completed (60%)
Legal - Topic 1 notes ~30% completed :O
Adv. - Task 2 essay draft completed
Ext 1 - Nothing. Really need to get working.
Ext 2 - Quite a bit of research done, but I still need to backdate my journal (eeek).
Chem - Topic 1 notes completed

So it's not great, and I want to get Ext 1 done ASAP, as well as Legal, Eco and Chem. But I just haven't been working productively. I leave for Nepal tomorrow for 3 weeks for a school trip. That should distract me, and get me into a positive head space to really get cracking when I return. Hopefully, I can get some reading done for English, I just got a book sent from England, it's crusty and in horrible shape, and only 1000 were printed, it should give me a good edge for Ext 2.

With that,

See you all in the new year!