ATAR Notes: Forum

VCE Stuff => Victorian Education Discussion => The VCE Journey Journal => Topic started by: Seamus Wong on April 08, 2019, 01:39:08 pm

Title: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 08, 2019, 01:39:08 pm
Just been reading some other Journals and since my school is filled with dumb-asses who don't give a shit about VCE, I thought it would be wise to surround myself with those who actually have goals, and want to succeed, just like everyone here.

So last year I completed 3&4 methods, and 3&4 Business Management. My performance was quite average due to the fact that I had failed to realise that VCE tested your understanding, not your ability to memorise definitions (BM). I would always put off doing questions, with the excuse that my time would be more wisely spent if I just memorised definitions. This did not prove to be successful and I ended up with a 38 SS. Methods was a little different, in that I was always doing questions and trying to get ahead. However, when I was faced with a difficult question that required actual thinking, I would just skip it. This, I believe, is what let me down, because the SACs are filled with those difficult questions, where you cannot just plug in a formula and pop out an answer. I only got a 31 for MM.

This year is my chance to turn everything around...

The subjects I am undertaking this year, and my reasons for choosing them, are:

Algorithmics: I traded stocks and currencies last year, and so I chose to study algorithmics in hopes of improving my critical thinking skills, as well as understanding how to write proper algorithms, which I could then use to code Algorithmic Trading systems. Although the subject was a little different to what I expected, it is very interesting and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I have had one SAC so far, and I performed poorly, with a score of only 35/46. I am doing a lot more reading now to gain a greater depth of understanding. My folio work has been good though, which I am happy about. The subject is rather difficult though, so I am setting a realistic target for a study score of 30+.

English language: Only did it because I needed an English, and it seemed to be the most applicable in the real world. The analytical skills required in the study of English Language seem to be highly valuable in sharpening your ability to think critically, as well as improving your ability to understand social interactions, and act accordingly. I've had two SACs so far. For the short answer questions SAC, I obtained a score of 19/20, which I am very happy with. I only obtained a score of 20/25 for the AC, which I am not happy about. I must improve my Essay and AC writing. I have asked my teacher for all of the power-points for next term so that I can get ahead and have more time to do questions and gain a greater understanding of the topic (formal language). I am aiming for a study score of above 40. But I would be happy with 38+.

Accounting: I chose to study accounting since I knew that understanding financial reports and being able to interpret them would be of great benefit when performing a fundamental analysis of publicly listed companies. Units 1&2 was really boring tbh, and I didn't enjoy it. I somehow managed to top the two classes, with minimum study and focus in class.
I know that units 3&4 will not be the same, so I have greatly improved my focus and level of study. So far, I've had two SACs. On the first, I achieved a score of 9/10. The second I acheived a score of 23/25. I will obtain the highest score out of my cohort in the next SAC for this outcome, since I am aware that it will be testing a lot more theory. This will distinguish those students that have a solid understanding of the topic from those who just know the formula to do journal entries and write reports. I am aiming for a study score of above 40.

Economics: I chose economics because it fits in with my interest for the financial markets, trading and investing. I've completed two SACS so far.
The first SAC has been marked and I topped the class with a score of 37.5/40. The second SAC, focusing on Macroeconomics and the basics of Aggregate Demand and Aggregate supply, was completed on the final day of term. I am feeling relatively confident since I had completed many questions and done a lot of reading. But I guess I just have to wait and see how I went. I am doing pre-reading now during the holidays to fully understand the next outcome, so that during class I can just ask questions and solidify my understanding. I must also complete some exam questions and revise what I have covered during term 1. I am aiming for a study score of above 40.


I shall keep who ever is reading posted probably once every day, just to keep myself motivated and focused on my study.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Evolio on April 08, 2019, 02:27:38 pm
Hello Seamus Wong!
Nice to meet you!
Looks like you are really interested in the humanities side!
What are you thinking about doing career wise?
Can't wait for your next update!
 ;D

Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: NomotivationF on April 08, 2019, 02:33:13 pm
Ayeee another journal. Look forward to reading more, and good luck on your goals :D
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 08, 2019, 02:41:22 pm
Hello Seamus Wong!
Nice to meet you!
Looks like you are really interested in the humanities side!
What are you thinking about doing career wise?
Can't wait for your next update!
 ;D

Nice to meet you too.
I'm set on studying commerce at Melbourne Uni, with a major in Economics and Finance. I'm looking to work in an investment bank and from there, either work my way up the ranks or (most likely) start my own Investment fund overseas. 
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: AngelWings on April 08, 2019, 05:21:35 pm
Nice to meet you too.
I'm set on studying commerce at Melbourne Uni, with a major in Economics and Finance. I'm looking to work in an investment bank and from there, either work my way up the ranks or (most likely) start my own Investment fund overseas. 
Nice! Sounds like you have your future quite well planned. What do you like to do in your spare time currently?
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 08, 2019, 07:13:17 pm
Nice! Sounds like you have your future quite well planned. What do you like to do in your spare time currently?

I like to read about new tech startups and keep up with the financial markets, but since I am not good at focusing on many things at once, I've given up both of those and instead, during my free time, I am just thinking about vce and what work needs to get done.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 08, 2019, 09:25:43 pm
I woke up today too late due to going to bed too late. A feeling of regret for staying up too late consumed me, and I felt lethargic, unmotivated, and depressed. This theme carried on throughout the rest of my day today. During my time 'studying' I was constantly zoning out, since I felt quite overwhelmed with the work that I had planned to do today. This resulted in me staring blankly at my books, feeling hopeless, then immediately going onto YouTube in search of anything that would take me away from thinking about my work. I did complete some work though, but not as much as I had planned. I will learn from my mistake and never stay up after 11:00 pm on the holidays. This will ensure that I can easily wake up at 7:30 and start my day early, and work productively for the whole day.

- This seem to be a pattern with me. When I wake up late, I'm just not productive. When I wake up early, I feel as if I'm ahead of everyone and on top of everything, which results in a productive day - LESSON = Go to bed at a reasonable time, wake up early.

I will not be on ATARNotes during the day, since it is quite distracting now reading new posts and journals etc.

I would rate today, in terms of productivity, a very low 2/10.
 
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Bri MT on April 09, 2019, 06:51:12 am
Hmm yeah sleep deprivation can be very nasty.

One thing I would say is that single-minded focus on VCE is counterproductive when taken too far. The year is going to get more intense as you progress, and if you don't have anything else you're doing you will burn out quicker, more severely, and more easily.

It seems like you've got pretty good self awareness of your procrastion; one thing that helped me was tell myself I'd do 5 minutes of work & if I didn't want to continue after that I wouldn't. I find that low effort work (eg multiple choice questions) can be an effective way to snap out of the overwheled & self-recriminatory mindset or at least reduce it.

I'm happy with the ATAR I got (and based on your goals you would be too) but I could've done better if I'd taken more care of myself.  It's too late for me to apply that lesson to my VCE, but it's not too late for you

Good luck with your journey :)
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Joseph41 on April 09, 2019, 05:04:00 pm
Yo! Just catching up on this thread. :)

Re: your first post, honestly I think having the experience of doing two Unit 3&4 subjects last year will put you in a good position to do well in 2019. 👍 Or, more accurately, what you learnt from doing them.

Looking forward to hearing how you're going in your next update, whenever that is. :)
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 09, 2019, 08:35:22 pm
I woke up early today. Good.
I still felt a little overwhelmed with the work that I needed to complete, but I pushed through and completed some accounting revision for roughly 2 hours. I then began planning for my algorithmics assignment, which was difficult, since I had no idea where to start. I managed to construct a solid plan though, so I'll be fine tomorrow to continue working on it productively for as long as I need to - probably 2 hours.
I followed the advice of Bri MT and I went outside and for a ride in the bush for about an hour, just to get my mind off vce.
I then revised the topic of Coherence and Cohesion for English Language for about an hour and a half. I think that I need to do some application of the theory to solidify my understanding. I'll do this tomorrow morning.

I will now go to the gym.

Although I got through less work than I had hoped to, I know that tomorrow will be more productive as I have now sort of established my holiday study routine:
- Wake up at 7:30
- Read an article from The Economist
- Start studying at around 8:30
- Finish study at 10:30
- Eat
- Start studying for another subject for another two hours
- Repeat until its 8:00pm
- Write in this journal, work out, eat again, sleep.

Todays Productivity Rating has risen to a 5/10. Tomorrow will definitely be atleast a 7/10.

Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: NomotivationF on April 10, 2019, 01:05:26 am
I woke up early today. Good.
I still felt a little overwhelmed with the work that I needed to complete, but I pushed through and completed some accounting revision for roughly 2 hours. I then began planning for my algorithmics assignment, which was difficult, since I had no idea where to start. I managed to construct a solid plan though, so I'll be fine tomorrow to continue working on it productively for as long as I need to - probably 2 hours.
I followed the advice of Bri MT and I went outside and for a ride in the bush for about an hour, just to get my mind off vce.
I then revised the topic of Coherence and Cohesion for English Language for about an hour and a half. I think that I need to do some application of the theory to solidify my understanding. I'll do this tomorrow morning.

I will now go to the gym.

Although I got through less work than I had hoped to, I know that tomorrow will be more productive as I have now sort of established my holiday study routine:
- Wake up at 7:30
- Read an article from The Economist
- Start studying at around 8:30
- Finish study at 10:30
- Eat
- Start studying for another subject for another two hours
- Repeat until its 8:00pm
- Write in this journal, work out, eat again, sleep.

Todays Productivity Rating has risen to a 5/10. Tomorrow will definitely be atleast a 7/10.

Good shit getting your productivity moving, just make sure not to overwork yourself as you may find yourself burning out. Just make sure to give yourself some breaks ya know?
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 10, 2019, 08:59:06 pm
I completed what I had set out to in the morning (English Language). Now that I have established a routine, I spend less time in the morning sitting down and starring blankly at my books and more time actually focusing on the work. I believe this focus will increase day by day.

After two hours of English, I went and got some Maccas. I somewhat regret that decision because I spent 23 dollars on one meal.
 
I then spent another two hours writing up the basic framework for my Algorithmics project, which I feel is under control right now.

I think I spent an hour 'relaxing' which consisted of me just watching YouTube. This did not satisfy me.
The simple reason as to why I regret watching YouTube is because the endless amount of entertainment on the site keeps you hooked and wanting more and more, much like a drug - similar to Facebook and other Social media platforms that I quit using a while ago. I guess another 'goal' for me now is to quit going on YouTube aimlessly.

I finished off my day with two more hours of accounting, and then roughly 40 minutes of solving general algorithmic problems.

I planned to exercise today but I wont because I want to finish off my accounting and then do some revision of some of the topics I covered in Algorithmics.

Today's productivity rating fell short of expectations, but rose nonetheless to a 6/10.
I will use my time between breaks more wisely tomorrow.
 
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: BKmaps on April 10, 2019, 11:12:51 pm
Pretty cool thread. I also wanna get 90+ atar . This has been day 3 of my holidays:

I got up at around 3pm. Watched a bunch of anime, looked at my poster of hatsune miku for a couple of minutes and am now writing this post.

Productivity: over 9000
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 11, 2019, 08:38:01 pm
Today was a relatively good day. I woke up and was able to immediately initiate my work with no farting around or feelings of dread and anxiety.

I did roughly 3 hours of accounting in the morning - spent on completing all of the questions from a chapter review (most of them). My productivity in the last hour of those 3 started to dip lower, so I stopped and decided to eat something.

I rode my bike to woolies and got some hot chips to eat with my left-over roast chicken from yesterday. Really salty chips with chicken is probably one of my favourite foods.
After my food comma, I decided to sit on the couch and watch T.V.

I then dug into some English work, completing some questions on the formal language features of a text.
After doing these, I felt a little more confident in my understanding of the concepts. I went through a past exam and read a section of someones essay which helped me in answering some questions. Doing this also helped me understand where to apply metalanguage that I had previously perceived to not be highly relevant or applicable in analysis.
The one thing that I will do tomorrow when going through these questions is to do them under timed pressure, and to not get too demotivated when faced with an unfamiliar question.
That's a problem of mine - when I get stuck on a question, I just sit there, staring at the paper. I then look at the number of other questions that I need to do, which demotivates me even further.
One thing that I did do today to tackle this problem was to have a really good go at the question, and get as much as I can down onto the paper, and then move on to an easier question, which, upon completion, would build my confidence and enable me to do the more difficult ones.

I spent an hour after English looking at Melbourne Uni videos and doing some research. It looks exciting and I'm looking forward to being surrounded with people who are all studying and passionate about Commerce. I probably should've done some more English work though, so I kind of regret watching those videos.

I'll go to the gym now for roughly one hour.

Tomorrows Schedule:
- Finish off the Accounting chapter review, and then start a new topic, doing all of the 'check your understanding' questions and writing posters for key terms that I need to be familiar with.
- Eat something
- Continue writing up my Algorithmics report for about 2 hours probably.
- Eat something else + relax for a bit
- Continue English Language Questions and move through another half of a power-point.
- I really need to do some economics study - I will find time tomorrow hopefully... English and Algo might take a lot of my time so Idk.
- I've got work on the weekend so I'll need to be extra productive tomorrow to get through as much as possible.

Today's productivity rating rose to a 6.8/10, which I'll just round up to 7. If I didn't spend that last hour watching Uni videos then it would have been a solid 7.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 12, 2019, 10:15:03 pm
Today was good and bad.
I finished off the chapter review last night after working out which got me ahead. I then did some reading for the next chapter. However, my mind was focused on my algo work, and so I decided to not finish off the accounting and to continue with my assignment for algo, which i thought I would have completed today. I received help from a tutor for the assignment, and that really helped me since I learnt so much about some of the fundamental areas of knowledge that I had previously never been taught. That was the only good part of my day. 
I feel bad because once again, I got stuck on one part of the assignment, which, accompanied by the decrease in focus associated with a Friday, lead me to losing focus and wasting literally more than 4 hours.

I do not feel happy at all. I wont let this happen again.
I'll be honest with myself and give myself a 5/10 productivity rating. fuck. At least I did achieve something though. Tomorrow NEEDS to be a 10/10. I WILL STUDY STRAIGHT AFTER WORK FROM 2:00 UNTIL 5:00 (this is when I have to attend my sisters 21st bday)

I will not let myself down again.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Bri MT on April 13, 2019, 08:23:46 am
I'm sorry to hear that you were disapointed with how much you were able to get done but glad to hear that you were able to gain a lot of benefit from your tutor.

When you have high standards for yourself and your work ethic & hoped results are tied to your identity it can be highly difficult to deal with feeling like you've betrayed yourself.  Remember that the most important thing is not one day but the overall trend.

One of the most important skills of year 12 (& uni) is to know when to work and when to take a break; you have many months of learning this in front of you - it would be strange if you were already an expert.

I hope you both learn & forgive yourself
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 14, 2019, 07:45:04 pm
Bri MT, I must agree with you.
Looking at the past week, I've noticed that overall, my focus has increased. I will ensure that my work next week is both more efficient and effective - having learnt from my mistakes last week.

This weekend was alright. I worked and got some money which is good.
I spent time with my family at my sisters birthday, which was also good.
I also managed to get in some more Accounting and English work.
I've done some short answer questions and submitted them to my teacher for feedback.
I must make sure that I spend some time and energy towards gathering examples for my English Language scrapbook to use in the end of year essay - This cannot consume longer than 1.5 hours of my time - I say this because when you are searching for contemporary language examples, it is easy to get off track and just start reading random irrelevant articles.

I will also attempt to get through another powerpoint.

Today I got through a big Powerpoint for English which definitely helped me consolidate some knowledge.

I am going to do some more accounting now and then go to the gym to workout.
I haven't been for two days because of work and the Party, so I'll train extra hard.

I'll give myself a productivity rating of 7.6/10 today. I must maintain this uptrend.


Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 15, 2019, 09:38:14 pm
I must be honest with myself.
I did not like how today was spent.
The thing that put me off was that in the morning, I decided to sit down on the couch and watch an episode of Kath & Kim - this show is absolutely hilarious.
The problem was that i let my emotions dictate my actions, which I try often not to do.
After watching it I didn't feel happy.
it's not about the time that was wasted, but more-so the fact that my actions didn't align with my plans.
But other than that, I feel as if today's time was spent well.
I completed some accounting reading and a set of homework questions, as well as some correction for some exercises that I had done in a previous chapter.

Correcting your work really just builds your confidence and enables you to correct any mistakes that you would have made at a later date if it weren't for the marking.

I collected some English Language Examples for my scrapbook. Both of which pertained to the use of language in politics and how it's strategically employed in order to fulfill the politicians' main objective - increasing votes. It was interesting to see that some politicians - Daniel Andrews - employ more casual and informal language to build a sense of intimacy with their audience, while others - Bill Shorten - employ more formal language, with the use of repetition of words to reinforce their ideas and authority, which works towards illustrating the degree of control they have or can have over problems that citizens of Australia want solved.

I won't workout today because I've got work to do on a business Case with the Queensland university of Technology.
This business case is really interesting, and I like working on it because it gets you to think creatively.

My productivity in the morning is a 2/10. The afternoon was a 5/10. After 3pm it rose to a solid 8/10. I'll try to work on keeping my productivity consistent throughout the whole day.

Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 16, 2019, 07:58:48 pm
Today was a good day.
I spent around 4 hours studying economics - going over past material (2 questions) and then doing pre-reading for the next outcome - Australia and the World Economy. I went over what Free Trade and Trade Liberalisation was, and how this can relate to improved living standards.
I rode my bike to shops and got a kebab, demolished it, and then read over some feedback for one of my weekly algorithmics assignments. I am not happy at all with the result, and although it wont contribute to my study score at all, it is still very disappointing that I achieved that score - especially considering the amount of time I spent on it and the fact that I actually looked at the rubric and tried to fulfill the 'high score' criteria. If I want to acheive at least a 33 in this subject, I'll need to increase my workload and do a lot more reading and application.

I did some more English Analysis, which I enjoyed.
I had to analyse the formal language features in a text of my choice, which I chose to be Ray Dalio's publication regarding his predictions for a US recession decreasing from 50% to only 35%.
This was really interesting. I sent my analysis to my teacher and hopefully he responds quickly.

I am now going to start a new English powerpoint, then go to the gym. If I have any energy after that, which I doubt I will since I'm training Legs today, then I'll do some Algorithmics - I might just code some recursive algorithms to challenge my mind.

Today's productivity rating is an 8.5/10. 
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 16, 2019, 11:17:13 pm
Today was a good day.
I spent around 4 hours studying economics - going over past material (2 questions) and then doing pre-reading for the next outcome - Australia and the World Economy. I went over what Free Trade and Trade Liberalisation was, and how this can relate to improved living standards.
I rode my bike to shops and got a kebab, demolished it, and then read over some feedback for one of my weekly algorithmics assignments. I am not happy at all with the result, and although it wont contribute to my study score at all, it is still very disappointing that I achieved that score - especially considering the amount of time I spent on it and the fact that I actually looked at the rubric and tried to fulfill the 'high score' criteria. If I want to acheive at least a 33 in this subject, I'll need to increase my workload and do a lot more reading and application.

I did some more English Analysis, which I enjoyed.
I had to analyse the formal language features in a text of my choice, which I chose to be Ray Dalio's publication regarding his predictions for a US recession decreasing from 50% to only 35%.
This was really interesting. I sent my analysis to my teacher and hopefully he responds quickly.

I am now going to start a new English powerpoint, then go to the gym. If I have any energy after that, which I doubt I will since I'm training Legs today, then I'll do some Algorithmics - I might just code some recursive algorithms to challenge my mind.

Today's productivity rating is an 8.5/10.

Just wrote some simple algorithms - one to calculate the mode of a set of integers and another recursive algorithm to find the n'th number of the fibonacci sequence. It is really cool how recursive algorithms work.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 17, 2019, 09:38:27 pm
I did more of my Algorithmics Assignment. This took me 3 hours, but a lot of that time was wasted trying to fix small issues that kept on arising with the code.
I think I will have it finished tomorrow.

I then ate some salami and chip sandwiches.
I fell asleep after eating because my muscles are all really sore after gym yesterday. This consumed two hours of my time and has sort of messed up my sleep schedule because now I won't be able to fall asleep until like 1:00 in the morning.
 
I started pre-reading for the next topic - Algorithmic Design for roughly 3 hours. It's pretty simple but also interesting and practical, especially in regard to the assignment that I'm currently doing.
I only really got started on my work today at 12:00. I stayed up too late last night and woke up late, then I played Minecraft for the first time in like a year. I built a cool modern house.

I'll finish some questions for Algorithmic's now and then do some reading for Economics for a couple of hours. I'll try to stay productive.

Again, being honest with myself, I'll have to rate today's productivity a measly 5/10, just because I wasted so much time in the morning when I knew that I have a lot of work to get done. That's procrastination. I have to try and beat it and hopefully get into a habit of just getting started with my work without second-guessing myself.

Mod Edit: Deleted duplicate post (Bri MT)
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 19, 2019, 12:21:47 am
Although I slept for a relatively short period of time last night 2:00am to 8:00am, I was able to stay productive for the whole day. I finished the first week of algorithmics content last night and wrote up some notes in the morning, doing some questions as well, which took me roughly 2 hours. After that, I did some economics questions, sent them to my teacher and got feedback straight away, which was a pleasant surprise since none of my other teachers have responded to any of my emails.
I did some more economics reading - The Balance of Payments. I had to read over it twice to wrap my head around it, but even then, I'll still need to do some more reading from other sources to solidify my understanding. I'll do this tonight and write up my notes tomorrow - I'll do some questions as well.
I am nearly finished with the Algorithmics assignment. I'm making progress, which is good, but it is so time consuming and some of it is actually quite tedious and boring tbh.
I'll send it to my Tutor and hopefully get some feedback on it before I actually submit it.

I didn't manage to do the English and Accounting work that I had planned to do, which is annoying. It feels as if my days are going way too quickly. I guess that's because I'm just focusing a lot more on my study.

I'm going to try and finish the algo assignment tonight or at least have it finished to the point where I only need to make minor adjustments tomorrow.
I'm definitely going to prioritise English Language and Accounting tomorrow after I finish off Economics notes and questions.

Today's productivity rating was a 9/10. I am pleased with this. I do hope I can maintain the same level of productivity and focus once the holidays are over.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 20, 2019, 12:52:08 am
Hmmm...
Time went really fast today. I think that was because I woke up later than usual 9:15am.
I feel stupid because the reason for this was that I was on my phone for like 20 minutes in bed before I slept, just watching random YouTube videos. When ever I go on my phone before bed, I find it difficult to open my eyes in the morning.
BUT, I won't do this again. I'm actually going to order an alarm clock online so I don't have an excuse to have my phone next to me while I sleep.

Anyway, I managed to stay relatively productive today. I wrote down the notes that I had planned to for Economics - Balance of Payments, but I spent like 3 hours trying to memorise and wrap my head around some of the concepts since it was really confusing. I had an unexpected trip to the other side of Melbourne today which took roughly 2 hours, making me a little tired. I exercised beforehand since I knew I would have no energy to workout after driving there.
I started doing more work on Accounting and am just finishing it up now. I think I did about 2.5 hours. I feel like I focused quite well today, but I'm not really happy with the day just because of how un structured it was and because of how much time was wasted here and there doing stuff around the house for my parents.
At least I know that tomorrow I can immediately get started on my English in the morning, probably at around 6:00am, hopefully getting it done before 8:00 am. I've gotta do somethings un-school related for the whole day, and so I want to get all my english done in the morning so I have nothing to worry about when I get back home.

Getting shit done feels so good. It motivates me to get even more shit done and to not procrastinate or waste time.
I'll give myself a productivity rating of 8/10.
Tomorrow morning needs to be at least a 9.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 20, 2019, 09:13:53 pm
Got English Done. Got Accounting done. Need to get Algorithmics fully touched up tomorrow.
Not working out today as I'm not near a gym currently.
Kinda annoyed that the majority of my day had to be spent away from home and away from my homework.
English Language is getting a bit easier for me - this is probably because the analysis of formal language is more formulaic compared to Informal Language OR because I just enjoy reading over formal texts and understanding the intentions behind them.

I want to do more English today just to get even further ahead and more familiar with the metalanguage and its application.

I'm glad I got through the amount of work that I did, considering the limited time that I had, but I have slacked a little bit tonight. Today I rate my productivity a 7/10. Not good. Must get better.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: lst1103 on April 20, 2019, 09:20:28 pm
It's great that you're fully committed to your education, but I think you need to be a bit easier on yourself! Diligence is fantastic, but don't be afraid to relax every once in a while - you don't want to burnout, especially so early in the year.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 21, 2019, 10:35:38 am
Thanks, and I fully agree with you about taking some time to relax - which I do do sometimes. But I could post here and say that I am happy with the amount of work that I did but that wouldn't be me being honest with myself. I am very competitive and I like to be ahead and fully on top everything, so when I miss the opportunity to do that because of a personal decision it doesn't sit well with me.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 22, 2019, 08:28:48 pm
Woke up
Did pre-reading for accounting - regarding the closing of Revenue and Expense Ledger Accounts, and the P&L Summary account used to determine profit for a reporting period.
I spent about 2 hours reading, highlighting and doing questions. Some of the questions did my head in because I didn't feel confident in my ability to answer with the level of depth that I usually do. I think that's because I was tired and because my brain was a little exhausted after doing all the reading.

I had a shower to refresh my mind.

Afterwards, I wrote up 3 big posters for English - Stylistic features: Phonological Patterning, Syntactic Patterning, Lexical and Semantic Patterning.
This took me roughly one hour.

I ate some food.

I then took another look at my Algorithmics assignment, checked it against the rubric again, and decided to alter it one more time, just to ensure I had included everything that I interpreted the rubric to want. This took me roughly one hour.
I decided to begin studying for the SAC that I have next week Tuesday by looking over the study design, highlighting the areas that I knew where going to be most relevant - Searching Algorithms - and began writing up some summary notes on the algorithms. I have the two initial search algorithms, Depth First Search and Breadth First Search perfectly understood, with the pseudocode memorised. These are the easiest algorithms to memorise.
Since I have already completed the first week of Algorithmics content for term 2, I'll spend half of my class time revision for the SAC by doing what I've done today, as well as reading over some extra material that I have gathered and doing checkpoint questions from the resources. The other half of my time will be spent going over the coursework for week 2 - Correctness of Algorithms - Inductive proofs and proof by contradiction.

Now I am going to go over another English powerpoint for one hour. Then I'll work out, eat, watch a video on YouTube or play Minecraft, given I have enough time - I never thought that I'd say this, but I feel like playing Minecraft and building shit is actually good at relaxing my brain and re-energising.

Today's productivty rating is probably a 8.5/10. Would've been higher if I could have done more Accounting questions and have gotten up earlier to have enough time to do more economics.

Tomorrow I have the whole day off, so I'll most likely spend the majority of my time doing Algorithmics, just because I want to get a better score on the next SAC than the one I got on the first SAC.
I do need to do some more economics to make up for today.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 23, 2019, 09:08:52 pm
today went too quickly.
I feel like I didn't get much done. I think it's because I wasn't fully focused and began doing mindless activities like doodling on my page for a couple of minutes every 20 minutes, or searching up a random question online. This is really annoying. I Got too laid-back after having a good day yesterday. Must NOT let this happen again.

I did a fair bit of algorithmics though to be fair, maybe around 3 hours. I did an hour and a half of english. And then spent maybe 3 hours both eating and sleeping. I'll do a workout now - legs - and then pack my bag for the first day of school. I've gotta stay on top of my work for if I fail to stay ahead, I will feel demotivated. Last term I didn't use my time productively enough. I will not repeat the same mistake.
As Leonardo Da Vincci said, Learning Never Exhausts the Mind, so I shall continue focusing on learning and understanding, rather than attempting to just push through work for the sake of it. I've got four subjects this year so this should leave me with no excuses about not having enough time.

Anyway, I will be here tomorrow to rate my productivity on a school day, which requires a different approach to achieve than at home.

Because I failed to maintain consistency in the morning, I will rate my productivity a miserable 6/10.

Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 24, 2019, 04:31:57 pm
School was good.
I had two frees in the morning, which I spent on Economics pre-reading and Algorithmics study - 1 and a half hours for Economics and roughly 30 minutes with algorithmics.

Economics SAC 2 Result

I finally got my Econ sac back - Aggregate Demand, Aggregate Supply, and Australia's domestic macroeconomic Goals.
I got 25/30, the second highest grade in the class. The highest was 28. I am really pissed off because I could've easily gotten a 30, and I knew way more than all the other kids in my grade. I lost so many marks for silly errors and for not reading the question entirely - the latter will not happen ever again. But to be fair, our teacher marks REALLY harshly, which is good, because it enables the class to understand exactly what to write when it comes to the exam.
I was stressing so hard for the result, and when I got the A, I was really upset. I was happy that I'm at least second in terms of ranking for the sac, and first out of my whole cohort for the subject.
- the next sac will require a greater degree of focus, WAY more prereading and questions, and a lot more study.

Accounting was annoying because I had emailed my teacher maybe 7 days ago asking what we would be covering for our first class back - today, and he did not reply. We went over Performance indicators - Accounts Receivable and Payable Turnover and Inventory Turnover.
Quite simple - but I wish I knew that we where doing it so I could've preread and asked some more questions.
We also went over strategies to use to answer questions relating to analysing business performance.
I am going to make some posters for it now actually.

We had an ANZAC ceremony which took about an hour.
Was interesting to see some of the stuff our soldiers are doing right now while deployed in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

English Language was great. We went over some stylistics features and my teacher gave me feedback for some analysis that I had emailed her over the break.
I need to do some more analysis tonight.

Homework Tonight

- Accounting Posters
- Accounting Questions from textbook
- Algorithmics Study
- English Language Analysis
- Economics pre-read (if I have time)

Other stuff

- Workout - Chest, Shoulders, Biceps

Today's school productivity rating is an 8.5/10. Could've been better if I didn't talk with my friends in the morning for 10 minutes.
I will post another review after I finish everything tonight.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 24, 2019, 10:08:53 pm
- I got through algorithmics which took me about 2.5 hours.
- Ate food and relaxed after eating cos I was really full //  30 minutes
- Went over English analysis feedback AND did some analysis // 20 minutes
- Wrote Accounting notes (not enough) // 15 minutes

Need to workout now.

I feel like I lost too much time between tasks.
I really need to manage my time after school better.
I didn't muck around but I didn't get as much as I wanted done.
I gotta improve my dynamic efficiency as well as my technical efficiency (economics reference)

Productivity: 7.6/10.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 25, 2019, 10:16:40 pm
What a terrible day.

I spent 4 hours reading and making posters for Accounting.
I asked my teacher to send me answers so I could correct my work.
She said "I don't give students answers, they come to me and give me their answers for me to correct...".
That pissed me right off.
Anyway, after another 2 emails of trying to convince her, she just told me to come and see her tomorrow with my book to so she can correct them for me. I think that's absolutely ridiculous, since it means that I can't compare my answers with the correct response in my own time and take in everything at my own pace.
That kinda ruined my day, because I was really frustrated and stressed because the SAC is so soon and my teacher won't cooperate with me.
I'll have to do the rest of the Accounting questions tomorrow and see the teacher to give me the feedback.
I studied for only one hour for algorithmics. I need to go through some assignments and look at the feedback and use it to help me understand some areas that I am fuzzy on. I'll do this tomorrow morning after I see the Accounting teacher.
I am not happy at all with my day, and I kinda blame it on my accounting teacher for wasting my time with the emails, lowering my level of confidence and increasing my stress levels because now I have to wait even longer to see if I correctly answered the questions. This decrease in morale translated into decreased productivity and the waste of practically half of my day.

My productivity before asking my teacher for the answers would have definitely been a 9/10. After that, it dropped to 2/10. Really bad start to the term. I'm going to have to use some sales strategies tomorrow to strike a deal with the teacher to make her give me the answer sheets.
If she doesn't, it isn't a huge deal and I'll try not to get too angry.
I just have to focus on what's important, which is getting a solid understanding of all of my subjects and ensuring I apply the theory immediately to questions so that I can be prepared for any questions that come my way in the sacs and exams.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: r1ckworthy on April 25, 2019, 10:46:49 pm
Hey man, so sorry to hear about what happened with you and your accounting teacher. Hopefully she will be more cooperative tomorrow.

I’m doing the HSC this year, and let me just say your journal actually gave me a tiny spark of hope. I see how you have transitioned from a productivity rating of 2 to regularly getting 7’s. Just goes to show how you just need to keep at it everyday. For myself, I have been terrible in keeping consistent, often leading me to all-nighters working at my assessments. After reading this, I think I will update in my journal what I did and give myself a productivity score as well. And I also like the way you focus on knowledge and understanding. I guess that is what separates a 90’s student from an 80’s one.
 Overall, you are a very diligent person and I hope everything goes smooth for the rest of the year ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 25, 2019, 10:57:41 pm
Hey man, so sorry to hear about what happened with you and your accounting teacher. Hopefully she will be more cooperative tomorrow.

I’m doing the HSC this year, and let me just say your journal actually gave me a tiny spark of hope. I see how you have transitioned from a productivity rating of 2 to regularly getting 7’s. Just goes to show how you just need to keep at it everyday. For myself, I have been terrible in keeping consistent, often leading me to all-nighters working at my assessments. After reading this, I think I will update in my journal what I did and give myself a productivity score as well. And I also like the way you focus on knowledge and understanding. I guess that is what separates a 90’s student from an 80’s one.
 Overall, you are a very diligent person and I hope everything goes smooth for the rest of the year ;D ;D ;D

Thanks man, I really appreciate it. Yeah getting off to a bad start and then getting behind on work lowers your morale which lowers your productivity which lowers you morale and this becomes a self reinforcing cycle. You just have to somehow find a way to get out of the cycle.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 26, 2019, 04:57:51 pm
Talked too much to friends - wasted 40 minutes in my free block in the morning. I feel bad.
I will never do it again. I need to ensure that I immediately identify when I'm surrounded by people who will distract me, and then move.
I did get through a bit of work. The problem was that the time available wasn't sufficient enough to really get into a state of flow with the work, and now I feel like I haven't really accomplished much, even though I did study efficiently.
Anyway, I will NOT let that ruin my night tonight.
My productivity at school today is slightly lower than yesterday - 7.6/10 - which is due to me wasting time talking with others.

SCHEDULE TONIGHT

- Eat diner
- Begin doing chapter review questions for Accounting until 7:30
- Revise algorithmics - This next sac (Tuesday) will be quite challenging, I need to study very effectively
- Workout Back, Arms and Chest
- Eat
- Sleep

I'll be back to rate my productivity at around 11:00pm.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 26, 2019, 10:16:37 pm
Did exactly what I had planned.
I'm feeling more confident with Accounting. Did not complete everything. Will complete all tomorrow before 12:00 noon.
Algorithmics stumped me with one little problem - took me an hour to solve it (sort of kinda understand it, not completely, but looking at the problem tomorrow will give me a fresh perspective and hopefully I'll understand it. If I don't, I'll have to ask my tutor). Spend another hour doing more revision, which has built my confidence in my understanding. I must do the same revision tomorrow.

I will work out now.

I wish I had more time to get the stuff done.
Productivity is a 8.7/10. I feel like it should be more but I just don't feel that accomplished because I didn't complete as much as I had wanted to - not really my fault - I must try to work on improving my technical efficiency so time constraints do not effect me as much - This is a trait that all high achievers have: They can get shit done quickly and with a high degree of accuracy/quality.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 27, 2019, 10:15:07 pm
Same thing happened this morning that happened a couple of days ago that I promised myself wouldn't happen again. I went on my phone before bed to read something for English Language - Bad decision. This stupid decision resulted in me being unable to fully open my eyes and get up in the morning - idk why, but my eyes just wanna stay shut and away from any sort of light, so I just naturally lay in bed and fall back asleep.
I cannot let myself down again.

On another note though, I did manage to get a very solid amount of accounting work done in preparation for the SAC. I've answered every 'check your understanding' question for each chapter and also rewrote one chapter's questions onto a word document so I could send it to my teacher and receive feedback.
This took almost 5 hours - Questions + Reading + Poster + Retyping some questions.
I have to be honest with myself and recognise that I didn't maintain a solid level of focus throughout the time that I was doing the work, often getting out of my study room and aimlessly walking around the house. This lead to a 6 hour task (including breaks) becoming something more like an 8 hour task.
The cause of this was me losing all level of discipline and motivation after waking up late.

I have done some more study for algorithmics - 4 hours. Again, this could've been shorter if I had made better decisions throughout the day.

I'll have to exercise now only for a short period of time - 30 mins  - and then go to bed, without going on my phone, get a solid rest and be way more productive tomorrow.

Productivity = 6/10
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 28, 2019, 08:56:16 pm
What I did today:

- Algo notes = 1 hour
- Accounting Questions = 2 hours
- English = 1.5 hours
- Algo Practice Sac = 1 hour
- Accounting Study = 30 minutes

6 out of 9 working hours used. Productive capacity not met

productivity = 7/10
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 29, 2019, 09:57:20 pm
School Productivity:

Morning - 30 minutes/30 minutes used
English - was as productive as I could have been - I feel like not much really gets done in English class
Economics - listened actively to teacher, asked questions, took extra notes - good
Accounting - listened actively to teacher, asked questions - class is dumb af and the teacher always jokes with them, wasting time and pissing me off.
Free - Algo Practice SAC - 50 minutes/50 minutes productively used

Home Work:
Algo Course content reading - 60 minutes
Economics Read + Posters - 105 minutes
Algo Extra question - 15 minutes
Accounting Qns - 60 minutes

4/5 working hours used productively

Productivity today = 8.8/10
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on April 30, 2019, 08:41:34 pm
Algo SAC went as good as it really could go given that it is highly dependent on critical and anlaytical thinking rather than theory (which I spent A LOT of time studying for - although it wasn't tested that much it is really good to have refreshed my knowledge and gained the deeper understanding since this will be extremely beneficial in the exam.

What I did today at school:
- 9:00-10:10 ALGO SAC
- 10:20-11:00 Accounting class: Just sat and listened to other peoples questions so I could refresh some of my knowledge - I had no energy to start doing more textbook questions

What I did at home:
- Algorithmics Study: 90 minutes
- Accounting Questions: 120 minutes
- Algorithmics Notes: 60 minutes
- Accounting Questions: 75 minutes
- English: 60 minutes

6/7 working hours used productively
productivity - wasted a bit of time watching a YouTube video for 20 minutes - was interesting but not really the right time to watch - 8.5/10

Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Ionic Doc on April 30, 2019, 08:52:16 pm

What I did at home:
- Algorithmics Study: 90 minutes
- Accounting Questions: 120 minutes
- Algorithmics Notes: 60 minutes
- Accounting Questions: 75 minutes
- English: 60 minutes

6/7 working hours used productively
productivity - wasted a bit of time watching a YouTube video for 20 minutes - was interesting but not really the right time to watch - 8.5/10

dude that is insane amount of hours studying.  gosh . . .

I only do max 2.5 hours a night till I drop dead but you my man keep goin  ;)

99+ ATAR?
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 01, 2019, 10:33:11 pm
School Work

Free - Accounting qns - 1.5 hours

Class - Accounting - Teacher just went over some fundamental knowledge - it was really good revision actually, since sometimes we forget about the basics. I need to improve my ability to answer exactly what the question asks and just get to the point: This is the structure I will now follow:  1. Answer the question immediately (The assessor will like this since they know that I know the answer) 2. Delve into the main points that support the answer (Making sure not to go too in-depth, but deep enough to show I understand why the answer is what it is - some inference is involved) 3. Conclude if necessary 

Free - Re-read over some feedback for Accounting Questions, did another question - 60 minutes

Lunch - Didn't do anything, just ate food

Class - English - Just did some revision of metalanguage and did a little quiz - was actually a productive class for once

Class - Economics - Went over the Current Account and Financial & Capital Account - Asked questions - wrote some extra notes - very good lesson

Home Work

Accounting Study - went over all content: I know all the theory, I know how to do all financial recording and reports and also how to analyse financial indicators and draw conclusion about a firms performance in terms of liquidity and its effectiveness in managing inventory - 3 hours

Algorithmics Assignment Pt.2 Planning - 1 hour

English Reading - 30 mins 

Productivity = 9/10
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 02, 2019, 10:18:42 pm
Had one class today - Accounting

Had sac for it

Sac was good in that it asked challenging questions that I had previously already practiced and received feedback for. Time limit was very tight - no one in the class had time to check over their work, which is a shame because I'm sure if I had an extra 5 minutes I could've ensured I didn't make any silly errors.

Rode my bike and got a HSP afterwards and chilled for a bit
Got home at 1:00 - Napped for 1 hour.

Economics Notes + Writing posters + Revision - 2.5 hours
Gym - 1.5 hours + Eat = 2 hours (should've worked out later at night like I usually do so I don't get tired when I'm studying afterwards.
Pre-reading for next accounting Topic - 1.5 hours
Algorithmics - 1.5 hours

Not happy - I shouldn't have gone to gym so early - I was not as efficient with my study due to fatigue. Will never go to gym before 9:00 PM again. 

Productivity = 8/10

Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 04, 2019, 01:58:40 am
School:

- Algorithmics 60 minutes
- Free: English - did nothing cos I was brain dead and needed more time
- Economics - Wasted 2.5 hours at a school trip to a bank - Really pissed off about this cos we really don't have any time to waste in year 12, especially with a content heavy subject like economics

Stuff:

- English - Got a practice SAQ SAC which I must revise for and complete tomorrow - Revision in the morning for 60 minutes and then SAC in evening
- Hung out for too long with friends - one of them got a new car so we just chilled and talked about the car for like one hour -
- Got home and had the biggest head ache

Home:

Slept - 1 hour

Algorithmics - 2 hours
Economics Reading - 1.5 hours

Productivity @ school - 2/10 (not my fault)
Productivity @ home - 8/10 (Good productivity considering I wasn't feeling well - Would've been better if I got home earlier and got more work done instead of wasting time hanging out with my friends)
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: J_Rho on May 04, 2019, 07:27:36 am
Love this productivity thing you're doing!
Sounds like a great way to keep yourself accountable!
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 04, 2019, 09:01:10 pm
woke up at 10:00 today after going to sleep late last night - didn't really adversely impact me at all, just because I knew that me waking up later wasn't due to any sort of bad habit - e.g. laziness, being on phone at night, watching movie night before, etc.

What I did Today:

English Revise All Metalanguage AOS 2: Formal Language - 60 minutes
English Notes + Essay Paragraph on the use of formal language in obfuscating and manipulating - 90 minutes
Algorithmics Notes - 90 minutes
Accounting writing up posters and doing qns for new topic - 120 minutes

6/9 working hours used - I know that 1 whole hour went to playing Minecraft - no regrets tho - and the rest of my time was wasted doing nothing really. I must improve my dynamic efficiency - only leaving my studies to eat or use the bathroom.

Productivity = 8/10 - I did get a fair bit of work done but I could've easily fit in 1 hour of Economics and another hour of English.

- gotta workout now - chest, shoulders, Biceps
- will write some algorithms later for Algorithmics - shouldn't be too mentally straining (will do it for 1 hour until my head can no longer function)
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 06, 2019, 12:10:32 am
shit day.

Algo - 3 hours - made good progress on part 2 of my assignment
English - 1.5 hour - practice sac - think I did alright, gotta get some clarification from teacher tomorrow at lunch time
English - 2 hours - collected contemporary language examples - got an extra 3 - will get 2 more throughout this week

should've got at least 3 hours more work in (accounting and economics).
Wasted so much time cos I didn't prioritise well

Producitivty 5/10.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 06, 2019, 09:39:36 pm
School:

Morning: Economics Notes 40 minutes
English Language Class: Practice SAC - Wasted too much time talking
Economics: Very productive - Wrote notes
Free: Economics Notes then Questions- 90 minutes
Accounting: Revision of Chapter 10 prereading that I did - Things seem like they are getting a little more 'complex' - hopefully this will weed out the dumb kids that have been managing A's and A+'s due to our ridiculously easy sacs.

Home:

Algorithmics: Writing recursive algo - 90 minutes (Stuck - need help from tutor ASAP)
Algorithmics: Course Material - Recursion again - 120 minutes (Need to go over it more tomorrow and get through it - if I get stuck I'll have to see my tutor soon)
Algorithmics: Writing up report for Assignment - 45 minutes

Will spend tomorrow morning doing Accounting (2 hours), Economics Questions (1 hour) English Practice SAC (1.5 hour), Algorithmics (1 hour, 1 hour, 1 hour), Economics Reading (1 hour), Accounting Prereading (1 hour).

Productivity today:
8.75/10 - Would've been much higher if I got that goddam algorithm to work and if I had focused better in English class.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 07, 2019, 10:20:21 pm
No school today

What I did

Accounting - 2.5 hours qns
Economics 3 hours - questions + Posters + Revision
Algorithmics - 1 hour A friend helped me identify what I did wrong with my algorithm - really silly mistake that literally waster over 2 hours of my time - finally fixed and ready - got a little bit more left on the assignment and then I'll be done -

I really wish I could've done some English Language today and more accounting and economics, but I got stuck with some accounting question and economics questions, and the time I spent thinking and stressing really ate into my motivation and time.
- I have learnt that I MUST be revising all my notes regularly so that when I do get to answering questions, I can easily answer them without trying to remember things and second guessing myself - this is what I did in term 1 and that's why I did well.

Productivity = 7.5/10
I did learn a good lesson though today which I'm grateful for.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Joseph41 on May 08, 2019, 04:23:26 pm
What are you studying in EngLang atm? What was the practice SAC on?
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 08, 2019, 09:26:45 pm
What are you studying in EngLang atm? What was the practice SAC on?

Formal Language - very interesting topic - quite a lot of metalanguage - have a sac Monday (SAQs)
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 09, 2019, 12:22:13 am
Good day at school - productively used my time - no time-wasting at all
- 23/25 on Practice SAC - eh, okay, but I was nowhere near fast enough - took me a long time to get it done
- Did a lot for accounting today
- Did a lot of economics - shit's getting harder so I am spending more time on this subject
- Algo - nothing - will do tomorrow

Productivity = 9/10

Didn't really get as much as I wanted done, but I guess that's because my expectations regarding how much time everything would take was not realistic.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 09, 2019, 11:24:03 pm
Stayed home today
Went to bed late last night after studying till 1am (I don't like not completing things that I've started)
Woke up late and cbf going to school - only have 1 class in the morning - 2 hours of accounting - already done all the work anyway

What I did at home

- Accounting Prereading + Writing up posters - The Income Statement - Really liking this chapter, because the income statement provides us with valuable information that we can use to assess the performance of a business - (2.5 hours)

- Ordered pizza (Meat-lovers from Dominos - Tasted good but it's too small) cos I hate having to cook and then clean; it just takes too much time)

- Economics Notes - Feeling relatively good about this topic so far - need to keep on revising content regularly and doing questions (2 hours)

- English Practice SAC - probs took like 1 hour and a bit - need to get faster - didn't answer one question cos idk what it was asking - have arranged to meet with my teacher tomorrow to get help and to mark all the other questions - Will do another practice SAC tomorrow morning in my double free

- Algorithmics - went through a lot of course-work - did lots of questions and I could answer them very well, which is good because this topic (recursion) is one that I initially found relatively difficult to understand. I spent a whole day studying it though a couple of weeks ago so now I am fully confident in it. Wrote a recursive DFS algorithm and debugged it for an hour with another class-mate. Felt really good to get the algorithm to work properly.
(3.5 hours)

Time well spent today - slowly creeping back into the habit of watching YouTube, need to KILL it now.

Didn't get to workout though, which is annoying. I'll train extra hard tomorrow.

Productivity = 9/10


Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 10, 2019, 10:04:54 pm
School

- English Language Practice SAC - 1 hour - Wasted another hour afterwards - Shouldn't have happened - WONT let it happen again

- Economics - good - I focused well and understand everything

- English language - asked for help - I need to just get to the point with my answers and also improve the speed at which I answer them. I will redo one of the sacs tomorrow morning

Went to gym for hour and a half - very good workout

Home:

- Algorithmics assignment planning - Will easily be able to finish the whole report tomorrow morning after I do the English Language sac. The implementation of the other algorithms that I had planned to create today may be difficult.

Going to bed early cos I'm really tired from working out.

- Got an A+ on my last accounting sac which was good - The two other smart kids gots A's. Another got an A+. Hopefully the next sac will be difficult so the dumb kids can truly be destroyed, leaving only the hard-working and diligent students at the top.

productivity = 7/10
Shit house, MUST IMPROVE TOMORROW
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 12, 2019, 12:30:57 am
Finished algorithmics assignment - Wrote up a 1700 word report explaining the details of each algorithm and the purpose behind them. Also wrote two more algorithms to finalise the project - An adjusted version of Dijkstra's (increased efficiency) and a simple relationship finding algorithm - took like 3 minutes to write.
The whole process of finalising the assignment took much longer than expected - 5 hours.

English Language - Did a practice SAC in the morning - took me longer than the time allowed so I wrote up a word document containing all of the metalanguage, but more importantly, all of the potential effects that the strategic employment of the formal language features may have on the reader - and how this fulfils the function of the text.
I got my brother to test me on all of the knowledge after I wrote everything up
Then I tested myself later without looking at the document, explaining the features and effects perfectly, which I am very happy about.
I will do another practice SAC tomorrow and hopefully I can get it done within the 50 minutes.

Gonna go to bed now - I want to study for economics but it's a bit too late.

Productivity = 7.5/10 ---> Have blocked YouTube so that I cannot go on that addictive disease of a website anymore
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 12, 2019, 05:34:54 pm
Honestly just writing rn to motivate myself to continue giving my work 150%.

I feel happy today because I managed to get an Englang Practice SAC done 6 minutes faster than the time limit.

I feel really unmotivated though, probably because of the satisfaction I felt yesterday after completing my Algorithmics assignment and getting the A+ on the accounting sac.

But It's nearly semester 2, so I just gotta keep giving this year all I've got so that I can get that 95 ATAR.
I'm honestly really counting on Economics and Accounting to get me through, I need a 42+ for both of them to be satisfied with myself (hopefully algorithmics scales as much as last year (+7) so that I can get a scaled 40 SS.
English Language is kinda difficult. I'll have to see how I go on the next sac - tomorrow morning - to determine how well I'm actually going and how well I could potentially go for the rest of the year.
Currently I'm thinking that a 37 study score is a reasonable goal, but I don't want it, I want a 40+.

So yeah, I'm just gonna continue giving it my all and continue to keep my eyes on the prize so that I have absolutely no regrets at the end of the year and most importantly, so that I can get into Melbourne Uni.

It's literally less that 7 months until it's all over, so that's exciting, but it also means that I have got no time to waste.
I guess everyone else is probably also feeling a little overwhelmed or unmotivated or they at least will at some stage this year, and our response to this demotivation is going to be the deciding factor that determines who's going to maximise their results and not waste time and who's gonna waste time and get shitty grades. This is also an opportunity for me to get ahead of the pack and absolutely obliterate my cohort for Accounting, Economics (i'm very competitive lol).



I'll given an update tomorrow regarding the English Language sac. I'll be satisfied with a 23/25...
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Ionic Doc on May 12, 2019, 06:46:08 pm
(i'm very competitive lol).

no kiddin  :)
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 13, 2019, 04:29:23 pm
English Language SAC:

I finished with 10 minutes to go. I am relatively confident in my answers.
I Looked over everything
I cannot be certain as to how I went
I am thinking that I'll realistically get a 22/25 taking into consideration any small fuck-ups that I might have made.
The best case scenario is a 25/25, which is achievable. But I'm more inclined to go with 24/25 because I think I may have stuffed up one question.
Oh well, I'll just have to wait 2-3 weeks until I find out...


Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Joseph41 on May 13, 2019, 04:30:10 pm
English Language SAC:

I finished with 10 minutes to go. I am relatively confident in my answers.
I Looked over everything
I cannot be certain as to how I went
I am thinking that I'll realistically get a 22/25 taking into consideration any small fuck-ups that I might have made.
The best case scenario is a 25/25, which is achievable. But I'm more inclined to go with 24/25 because I think I may have stuffed up one question.
Oh well, I'll just have to wait 2-3 weeks until I find out...




Nice work - another one done and out of the way. 💪
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 14, 2019, 03:43:17 pm
Got a lot of SACs coming up

Algorithmics
- Got another small algorithmics project due next week Tuesday
- Got an algorithm that I want to solve which will probably take me an hour and a half
- Got an algorithmics SAC next Tuesday - The Correctness and Evaluation of Algorithms
- Starting Stage 3 of the big assignment next week Friday

English Language
- Must write a practice essay in preparation for the sac next friday and Get feedback
- Must compile 3 more contemporary language examples and memorise quotes from the 10 collected items
- Must review my notes
- Must PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

Economics

I'm finding this topic relatively simple, but there is just a lot of theory to remember.
I've got my next sac in 3 weeks
I need to continue doing the prereading, doing questions, getting feedback and asking lots of questions to my teacher

Accounting

started new topic - Income statements - Really easy
The results for the last sac have been great. A lot of the cohort performed poorly, with the average score probably being a C. Compared to the previous sac average of 80-90%, its a favourable improvement, in that the cohort now has been separated.
I got the highest score, 24/25 - stuffed up one question which easily could've got me full marks.

-----------------------------------------

So, considering the fact that Economics is very content heavy - more than ever now with the final area of Study for unit 3 - I will set aside 30-45 minutes each night to revise all of the posters I have written for each key knowledge dot point on the study design. This study will be very helpful when the SAC time comes. I did the same thing during the first month of term 1, but with all of the homework, it get's hard to stay motivated to do that study after having already expended energy on other tasks. HOWEVER, my mind is no longer weak, I am not undisciplined, and I will no longer make excuses.
 








Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 14, 2019, 11:00:12 pm
Productivity = 9/10
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: mango8 on May 15, 2019, 10:27:36 pm

Accounting

started new topic - Income statements - Really easy
The results for the last sac have been great. I got the highest score, 24/25 - stuffed up one question which easily could've got me full marks.

-----------------------------------------

So, considering the fact that Economics is very content heavy - more than ever now with the final area of Study for unit 3 - I will set aside 30-45 minutes each night to revise all of the posters I have written for each key knowledge dot point on the study design. This study will be very helpful when the SAC time comes. I did the same thing during the first month of term 1, but with all of the homework, it get's hard to stay motivated to do that study after having already expended energy on other tasks. HOWEVER, my mind is no longer weak, I am not undisciplined, and I will no longer make excuses.

Nice job on Accounting sac! Sucks about the last question though, can relate. And I really admire your work ethic and discipline. Setting such a specific goal and having that mindset is excellent. I should do that too. All the best for sac preparation and a good rest of the week with the motivation to succeed.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 16, 2019, 09:20:13 pm
School: (only had one class today)

Accounting - 2.5 hours - every single question in the chapter review for cash-flow statements done and corrected. I will redo one or two of them tomorrow at lunch time on the school computer in preparation for the next SAC, which will be done on the school computers, so that I can improve my speed - Accounting is quite an easy subject so the one thing that they can use to challenge us is to make the time limit very short so that only the best of the best can get them done with a high degree of accuracy.

Hung out with some friends actually for about 40 minutes after class - Needed to just so that I can relieve myself from any stress and get away from thinking about VCE for a bit.

I went and got a HSP afterwards - tasted so good.

Home:

Algorithmics - 2 hours (Revision of proofs of correctness of algorithms - got a sac on Tuesday)
Economics - 1 hour (revision of content (memorising all of the key areas of knowledge) and answering questions)
English Language - 3 hours (collected and analysed contemporary language examples and did some planning for the Essay SAC on Friday next week.

Will work out now - legs
10 sets of 10 reps of squats - should take roughly 45 minutes hopefully.
Afterwards, I will do some general revision for all my subjects by looking over the posters I have on my wall containing all of the key knowledge areas.
I will then Pack my bag for tomorrow and then sleep.

Productivity today = 8/10. Need to only check emails at a specific time after I have finished work, not while I'm in the middle of one task.

Tomorrow will be better.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: NomotivationF on May 17, 2019, 05:58:46 pm
Your productivity on average from when you started this journal till this point has improved soooooooooo much!!!! It gives me so much hope. Keep it up dude
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on May 17, 2019, 10:59:45 pm
Hmm,
really terrible day
I have come to the realisation that my English language essays are shit and lack any substance at all.
I need to improve.

Had a good run of productivity over the past two weeks, but today I went in the opposite direction.
I didn't make any solid plan for my practice essay and as a result, the time that it took to actually write the essay was much longer than it should have been.
The essay that I did write in my eyes, is not completely terrible - it's probably above average - but it definitely doesn't quality as one that's written by a 37+ SS student.

I have sent it to my teacher for feedback, hopefully I get some relevant and directly actionable advice.
 
--------------------

Here is how my time was spent today:

8:45 to 10:00 - reading over the essay prompt - wrote an introduction and a little bit of planning for each paragraph - nowhere near enough though and it was nothing that could act as a framework upon which I could easily build the bulk of my paragraphs off of.
10:00 to 10:30 - Saw economics teacher and she corrected some questions for me - This topic is good, I need to revise hard though so ensure I know everything so I can get an acceptable sac score.
10:30-10:50 Ate food in the school cafeteria
10:50-11:10 Went to economics class early and just engaged in useless small talk and banter with idiots
11:10-12:00 Listened to the teacher go over the factors that affect the value of the AUD - Relative interest rates, Terms of trade, relative rates of inflation, Demand for Exports and Imports, Capital flows.
12:00-1:00 tried to do english - got maybe 10 minutes of work done within the hour - rest of time spent not focusing due to my failure to have an adequate plan and getting easily distracted by people around me.
1:00-1:50 - Wrote some more essay shit - was totally out of it and the resulting paragraph was horrid.
1:50-2:40 - Got advice from teacher, adjusted introduction, fixed the first body paragraph - Good
2:40-3:30 - Got home and did household 'chores'
spent rest of time doing English, had a nap, finished essay. sent it to teacher, wrote another basic plan for another essay that needs to be written.

Gotta be honest with myself, today was a fucking shit day
Productivity = 5/10   
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Ionic Doc on May 28, 2019, 10:17:36 pm
Hey

Hows you're week been? Busy?

 :)
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: brothanathan on June 07, 2019, 11:16:24 pm
Keep inspiring us to learn from our mistakes  8)  Hope your doing great
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on June 11, 2019, 02:55:57 pm
Relatively Busy.
I haven't posted just because I don't find it motivating anymore.
Update on my scores:

- Algo SAC outcome 3 (11% unit 3) -> A
- Algo assignment (33% of unit 3) -> A+ (quite happy with this, since I spent a VERY long time working on it)

Did some revision of unit 3 - started exam questions - need to keep doing exam questions throughout the rest of this semester.

- Accounting
Did a sac for the last outcome of unit 3 - I have to wait and see how I go. think i can get 100%, but who knows
Started unit 4 work.

- Economics
Had last sac for unit 3. Hopefully I get top of class. I found the content fairly easy and quite repetitive actually...
Am doing reading for unit 4 and trying to do as many questions as possible.

Also, I've signed up for the Eco TSSM lecture. Hopefully its good.

- English Language
Not really happy with the result from the last sac. I thought I was gonna ace it. At worst, I would've expected an A, but a high A. But..... Apparently not.
I got a B. I am interested to see where I went wrong. Apparently I failed to correctly identify the situational context (not entirely my own fault since it wasn't really clear), which means that whenever I referenced it in any of the questions, I probs got a mark taken off me. oh well, I just gotta learn from it and forget about it.
I do hope my Essay will be good enough to get me at least an A.



Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: mango8 on June 13, 2019, 08:25:48 pm
Relatively Busy.
I haven't posted just because I don't find it motivating anymore.


Hey. I hope you are doing well. I really hope, as I would think many others would as well, you will continue posting, because you are really, really inspiring and motivating for me. For all of us. To learn from mistakes, and work extremely hard, constantly pushing ourselves to do better. Like the way you rated your productivity made me wake up and realise how I needed to change.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on June 16, 2019, 11:22:30 pm
Got Eco SAC back - 29/30. Pretty good score, but I should've aced it. I made a really silly mistake that I could've easily avoided if I read the question carefully. At least now I know I won't make the same mistake in the exam.

Accounting SAC - 38/40. Again, it's not bad, but that score could've easily been 40/40. At least I have learnt a valuable lesson though that will result in me not making the same error in the exam. 4 other people got higher than me - what a disaster.

English Language Essay - 24/25. Great, I topped the cohort. My study technique worked very well and I shall do the exact same thing for the next sac.
The Short Answer Question SAC honestly could've easily been at A+. I looked at where I went wrong and ALL of the questions I got wrong were because of my failure to identify the situational context, which is disappointing since I literally knew all the theory inside out.

Today:

Accounting - 2 hours
Algorithmics - 2 hours
Economics - 2.5 Hours

Productivity today == 7/10

What I can do to improve:

- Stop being a lazy fuck.
- Set goals for the day - e.g. Finish Notes for chapter X, Do Y exam questions, and try to finish it before Z o'clock.
    - It is probs good to structure a weekend like a school day, so that I am not inclined to procrastinate.
- If I get stuck on something, dont just sit there feeling helpless AND don't just run away from the problem by opening YouTube and watching random shit for 5 minutes) -- Tackle the goddamn problem.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on September 30, 2019, 06:32:53 pm
1 week into holidays

It has been good, but it could be better (this week will make up for the unproductive days I had last week)

What I've done so far for each subject:

- Economics:
Fully memorised every dot point on the study design for unit 3
Completed practice SACs (with questions from past exams) for each of the three outcomes under timed conditions
Gonna do some more revision tonight

Kind want to get a 45, but I know that will be really hard. Anything above 40 will be good.

- Accounting:
Done 3 practice exams
idk how to feel tho about accounting. A lot of the questions are fairly easy, it's just that there is so much room for making retarded mistakes - e.g. Accidentally adding an extra zero to each figure and losing 5 marks.
Tonight I'm gonna do some questions that I collected from the textbook and try to do them quickly as if I was in the actual exam.

I really hope I can get above 40.

- English Language:
I've done roughly 3 exams I think as well for this
I'm concerned about the essay section. I know that my essays have only been really good throughout the year since I sorta knew roughly what the topic would be and hence I just wrote the essay over a week and then memorised it before the sac.

I was thinking that I couldn't do it for the exam cos the prompts could be on anything throughout the year

So I did some research and found trends in the prompts over the past 10 years - I figured out that if I memorised two of my high scoring essays (Individual Identity // Australian identity), then I would have an 80% chance of getting prompts that related to those topics and I would ace essay section. If, however, I am unlucky, then I will likely get a shit score for the essay section.

I think i'll just have to practice a couple of essays for random prompts that could potentially be given just so I have a backup.

I wanna get a raw 40 for englang, but if I get anything above 38 I'll be relatively happy.

Algorithmics:

Sadly, I have a sac in the first week of next term and I also have an assignment that is due at the end of these holidays, which has slightly compromised my ability to focus solely on exam revision for this subject.
I have memorised all of unit 3 I think.
I also did a practice exam and I did okay. I need to put more time into this subject tho. I will do another practice exam tomorrow.
My exam is on the 19th of November for this tho, so that means it has taken less priority these holidays.
I will still aim to put in a lot of work into it over the next week of these holidays since I want to get a scaled 40.

probs will update this on the 19th of November and then again when ATARs are released (if I get above 92)
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on October 25, 2019, 03:19:16 pm
I did say I wouldn't update this until after my algo exam, but I feel like making a post to record what I've done over the past 2-3 weeks and what I am planning to do through this exam period.

Algorithmics

- Done 4 practice exams - scored okay on them, but there are definitely areas that I need to revise. I also need to get faster, cos I find that I am really strapped for time
- Got my scores back for assignment and sac that I did this term:
            >> Assignment: 60/60 (very happy, cos I spent a shit load of time on it)
            >> SAC: 39/42 (pretty happy cos it i felt like it was a hard sac)
- Will do a practice exam every second day or something like that

English Language
- Done like 10 practice exams probably. Feel confident. Got A+ for all of them except for 2, which were mid 80s.
- Got 100% on the essay from last term (so happy cos I neglected all my other subjects for that weekend before the sac to study for it)
- Will probs do like 2 more ACs and 2 more SAQs and just continue memorising my essay examples

Accounting
- Got top of the class for the last sac - Analysis and Interpretation, so that's good
- Practice exams I am getting low 80%, and that is depressing.
- I am doing questions from the checkpoints exam book thingo, and they are really good. I've gone through every question on Balance Day Adjustments, and now I am going through the NCA part.
- Am doing, and will continue to do, 2 hours of questions per night for accounting.

Economics
- Got 36/40 for last sac, which pissed me off because I lost 3 easy marks on the last 8 mark question for stupidly forgetting to write important. Doesn't matter though, cos I am still top of class. (my cohort isn't smart though so it's not really that big of an accomplishment)
- Have done like 5 practice exams. + 4 practice sacs with exam questions from each specific outcome. Teacher takes forever to mark them which is kinda annoying. But I got one exam back and that was a ~90%. I also did one just then, marked it myself cos my teacher would probs take like 2 weeks to get it back to me. I gave myself a 90 but I'll give it to her to check to get a proper unbiased score.
- Will continue to do practice exams from the previous study design - probs like 1 every second day




-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

stuff

I feel kinda stressed for English, cos I could either do really well or really bad. I am also anxious to do more practice exams cos I don't want to get lower scores than what I have been getting (which are really high).
I guess my logic is kinda stupid. If I do more and get worse scores then I will just find more areas for improvement.

I also feel stressed for Algorithmics, because so far the practice exams that I have done have been easy, and this years exam is likely to be a lot harder

-------------------------------------------------------------

my thoughts on this part of the year

I guess this part of the year is where it all comes down to hard work.

Throughout the year, you gotta be working smart and hard, cos you need to spend a lot of time thinking to try and understand all the content.
But now, all we really have to do is apply that knowledge with questions, so our ability to do well in terms of exam study is mainly dependent on how well we can persist and just get through a shitload of practice exams and questions 

As the famous and wise man Shia LaBeouf once said, JUST DO IT!!!!"



It would probably be a good idea to get my parents to hide my phone from me so that I don't waste time on it throughout the next month.
It would also be a good idea to stop sleeping in till 10 and watching spongebob (that show is sooo funny)
Gotta get back some of that good old discipline from the start of the year

Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: caffinatedloz on October 29, 2019, 06:02:19 pm
Hey Seamus! How are you feeling about the english language exam on Thursday?
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on October 29, 2019, 11:16:26 pm
Hey Seamus! How are you feeling about the english language exam on Thursday?

stressed.

Teacher told me not to memorise essay.
I listened to her
Nec minut, I realise that my essay is going to be shit if I just make it up on the spot
So now I am trying to memorise two essays two days before the exam.

Other than that, I feel pretty good. Kinda just want to get English out of the way so I can really focus on my other subjects
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: caffinatedloz on October 30, 2019, 05:14:47 pm
So now I am trying to memorise two essays two days before the exam.
Good luck!!
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on October 31, 2019, 06:36:38 pm
woooooo

English Language done

I honestly don't know how to feel.
After every practice exam that I did, I thought that I did poorly, but then I ended up going really well
I kinda feel the same rn with the actual exam
I could go really good
But I could get a mediocre score
so Idk
Sucks that I will have to wait an entire month and a half to find out how I went
Best case scenario is a 44. Worst case is like 37-38. Worst Worst worst case (assuming I entirely screwed up the SAQs by not reading the questions properly - which, although highly unlikely, is still possible) is around 35.
Now time to focus on everything else. Just watched some Spongebob and got rid of all my english shit (kinda sad tbh, cos I was starting to like english)
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on November 27, 2019, 04:11:51 pm
It's currently been a week since my last exam.

I am going to use this journal to keep track of the work that I need to do this holidays, and a review of my productivity each day.

I've had enough rest. Most of it has been lounging around on the couch and watching Netflix (which is extremely UN-fulfilling), and playing Minecraft (don't judge, it's actually really fun).

Here is a plan of all the projects/things that I need to get done over the next 3 months.

- Code for at least 2 hours a day
- Collect current macroeconomic data for my Investing/Trading and do detailed research into understanding the factors influencing the currency and commodity markets (EUR/USD and Oil mostly, and potentially the AUD/USD if I have time) for about 2 hours a day
- Read for an hour before bed every night
- Get back into working out (for about 30 mins each day - just to get better posture) (having poor posture is my worst nightmare)

Keeping myself accountable through this journal actually helped a lot during the first semester this year, so hopefully it is just as effective in keeping me on track throughout these holidays.

>> And just to make sure I don't laze around and do nothing for the rest of today, here is what I need to do today [2 hours: coding, 1 hour: Currency Market Study, read before bed] - I will update this tonight and I better have done it all.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on November 27, 2019, 10:59:34 pm
>> And just to make sure I don't laze around and do nothing for the rest of today, here is what I need to do today [2 hours: coding, 1 hour: Currency Market Study, read before bed] - I will update this tonight and I better have done it all.

Only did an hour of coding and then 30 mins of reading. fuck. So shit. Gonna sleep. Tomorrow MUST be better
productivity = 2/10
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: brothanathan on November 28, 2019, 05:52:42 pm
Respect for striving to keep yourself accountable mate and remember to not burn yourself out too. Try setting a pomodoro or tomato timer while playing (e.g. 20 mins) if you really need to release your pressures by playing Minecraft. Keep inspiring us to maintain discipline.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on November 29, 2019, 01:58:22 am
Well, today was good. I have been really burnt out over the past week from studying all year. In the morning, I decided randomly that I should go outside of the house (something I haven't done since school ended) and walk around in the bush, and not focus on anything at all - to cleanse my mind.

it was great. I got back inside and slept, then worked out (for the first time in ages - FEELS SO GOOD BTW, I can't believe I made myself stop). I then began reading a book - Markets and Market Logic (really good for understanding what the price and time data reveals), and I did some coding challenges just to practice my coding and problem solving skills in prep for Uni.

I give myself a 7/10 in terms of productivity for today. I feel like I'm starting to get back into my old work habits, which is good.

Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on November 30, 2019, 11:51:41 pm
Awesome day today.
Spent half of the day driving across Melbourne to help a family member move houses. I like driving so it wasn't too bad.

The other half of the day was spent working on what I planned on working on.

Here is what I did:

- Read for about an hour and a half - learning about hash tables and hash functions and then reading some of the sample code on Quantopian and learning about the platform - it is basically a website where you write algorithmic trading strategies, backtest them, and implement them live with fake or real money.
I probably only understood like 1% of what I read. I will continue exploring the site over the holidays.

- Coded for about 2 hours. It feels so satisfying writing programs and having them work.

- Worked out for around 30-45 mins.

Currently debugging some code now.

Productivity = 8/10. Not bad.

Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on December 02, 2019, 10:16:13 pm
Pretty meh day today. Didn't get done what I know I should

Coded for 2 and a half hours - wrote two algorithms. One of them only returns the correct output for some cases, and for others it doesn't, so I'll have to fix that tomorrow morning.
watched Netflix for 1.5 hours and played minecraft for 2 hours - not very productive at all really. Still fun though. I probably could've halved the amount of time spent on each though and then I would've had time to do the reading and economic research that I needed to do.

My cat vomited a leaf up and then vomited up its dinner 2 hours later, so that was kinda stressful. Hopefully it isn't sick. So far it looks fine.

I'm gonna workout now for half an hour then eat and sleep.

Productivity = 4/10. Really should've got more done today.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Joseph41 on December 03, 2019, 10:26:33 am
What sort of coding do you do (totally ignorant re: coding so this in itself might be a weird question lol)?
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on December 03, 2019, 02:35:34 pm
What sort of coding do you do (totally ignorant re: coding so this in itself might be a weird question lol)?

I just do problems on a website called 'leetcode'. They are sort of like puzzles that you have to solve.
I am also learning about how to program a Trading algorithm to buy and sell currency in the Foreign Exchange Market.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on December 12, 2019, 09:28:34 am
ATAR RESULTS!!!!

Okay, so I was hoping for a 97 at the start of the year but then after exams I felt like I would only get a 93 due to how poorly I thought I went.
I looked at the score and I absolutely freaked.
97.65!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I legit couldn't believe it. I know it's just a number and it's not the be all end all, but it was just so good to finally know that my efforts where actually worth it.

So yeah, that's the end of my VCE Journey.

If ur a year 11 this year, my advice is to just study consistently throughout the entire year. Take breaks when necessary and just make sure that when exam time comes, you put in even more effort, cos it's the exams that really count. And ask your teachers a shit load of questions
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Evolio on December 12, 2019, 09:39:59 am
Awesome job, Seamus! That's amazing!
So happy for you!
 ;D  ;D ;D
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Geoo on December 12, 2019, 10:58:49 am
Congratulations on your amazing result!
Good luck for next year!
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Joseph41 on December 12, 2019, 11:15:58 am
ATAR RESULTS!!!!

Okay, so I was hoping for a 97 at the start of the year but then after exams I felt like I would only get a 93 due to how poorly I thought I went.
I looked at the score and I absolutely freaked.
97.65!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I legit couldn't believe it. I know it's just a number and it's not the be all end all, but it was just so good to finally know that my efforts where actually worth it.

So yeah, that's the end of my VCE Journey.

If ur a year 11 this year, my advice is to just study consistently throughout the entire year. Take breaks when necessary and just make sure that when exam time comes, you put in even more effort, cos it's the exams that really count. And ask your teachers a shit load of questions


Really great to hear - congratulations. :)
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Remy33 on December 12, 2019, 11:21:29 am
Congratulations! Well done and good luck for next year! :)

And ask your teachers a shit load of questions
Absolutely.
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Bri MT on December 12, 2019, 11:25:42 am
Congratulations!!

It's great to see that your efforts have paid off and been reflected in your results!

The fact that the ATAR isn't everything shouldn't stop you from celebrating :D
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: eemmaa on December 12, 2019, 04:42:36 pm
Congratulations, that's absolutely amazing!
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: caffinatedloz on December 19, 2019, 09:31:07 pm
Sorry for such a late reply, but massive congratulations! What a great score! More than that, congratulations on achieving your goal! You must be so pleased (and what great advice to go with it!). What's next for you?
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on December 19, 2019, 10:19:20 pm
Thanks everyone for the congratulations!! I really appreciate it!

Quote
What's next for you

I got accepted into Computer Science and Commerce double degree at Monash, so that's pretty exciting. It's gonna basically be the same as what I did this year but just without english and 10x more difficult 
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: caffinatedloz on December 20, 2019, 07:46:36 am
I got accepted into Computer Science and Commerce double degree at Monash, so that's pretty exciting. It's gonna basically be the same as what I did this year but just without english and 10x more difficult
That's so exciting! Congratulations again! What are you most looking forward to about it?
Title: Re: Trying to get a 90+ Atar
Post by: Seamus Wong on December 20, 2019, 09:03:51 pm
That's so exciting! Congratulations again! What are you most looking forward to about it?

ty :)

I think I'm most excited about being surrounded by really smart people. Other than that, I'm just excited to gain a deeper understanding of computer science and finance. Like, this year, I actually learned so much interesting stuff in all my subjects. For example, by studying Algorithmics and even English Language this year, I've learnt to think in a highly systematic and analytical way - something that I never really had done before. And I know that Uni is a lot more intense that VCE and the content is a lot more detailed and complex, so I'm excited for the challenges and the lessons that come with it.