ATAR Notes: Forum

VCE Stuff => Victorian Education Discussion => The VCE Journey Journal => Topic started by: eemmaa on November 21, 2019, 08:58:45 pm

Title: emma's vce journal
Post by: eemmaa on November 21, 2019, 08:58:45 pm
Hi guys! I've been addicted to reading VCE journals for a while now, and I officially start Year 11 on Monday (transition week), so I figured what better time to start my own!

This year I did Bio 1/2 and Legal 1/2 as higher studies, and I absolutely loved Legal and... slightly despised Bio. Either way, I'm continuing them both into 3/4 next year, which is terrifying. My main challenge is going to be finding the motivation to actually study, as this year I basically just winged everything with little to no study. I got my Legal exam result today and it was a huge disappointment, so that's got me feeling very determined to try harder next year. I haven't got my Bio exam results back but I'm not expecting much - the exam was an absolute joke and everyone was confused.

As for 1/2 subjects, I couldn't be more excited for History. Our school's history teacher is an absolute legend, and I can't wait as I'd say History's one of the only subjects I'm actually passionate about and genuinely love learning about. I'm only doing Psych because Spesh wouldn't fit in my timetable, but I'm actually feeling pretty excited about it now! I'm apprehensive for Lit, because I've heard mixed things about it, but the content looks really enjoyable. I may end up switching to mainstream English depending on how it goes. Methods is the one subject I'm absolutely terrified for, because I've been progressively getting worse at maths since Year 8 - don't know why I ever thought doing Spesh would be a good idea. I'm hoping the teacher manages to somehow make it understandable, or maybe I'll be switching to General after I get the first SAC results back. I'm really not confident about the subjects I chose, mostly because there's so many things I'd love to be doing - Chem, mainstream English, Sociology, etc. I really wish I was doing Media or Studio Arts because I adore folio subjects - my main hobby/passion is photography, especially film photography, and also videography.

I'm really not sure what I'd be interested in doing as a career, mainly because there's such a big range of areas I'm interested in. At the moment I'm looking into an Arts degree majoring in Politics or Law and minoring in something like History at Melbourne or something like Global Studies at Monash. I'd also really like to apply to overseas colleges, things like Stanford and Oxford. Despite my low chances of getting in I figure it's worth a shot!

I'm currently writing this to procrastinate studying for my final two Year 10 exams tomorrow, so I should probably go do that. If you've stuck with my rambling so far you deserve an award - I'll try and update this some time next week when I've had some of my Year 11 classes! :,)
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: Erutepa on November 21, 2019, 09:31:20 pm
Hi guys! I've been addicted to reading VCE journals for a while now, and I officially start Year 11 on Monday (transition week), so I figured what better time to start my own!

This year I did Bio 1/2 and Legal 1/2 as higher studies, and I absolutely loved Legal and... slightly despised Bio. Either way, I'm continuing them both into 3/4 next year, which is terrifying. My main challenge is going to be finding the motivation to actually study, as this year I basically just winged everything with little to no study. I got my Legal exam result today and it was a huge disappointment, so that's got me feeling very determined to try harder next year. I haven't got my Bio exam results back but I'm not expecting much - the exam was an absolute joke and everyone was confused.

As for 1/2 subjects, I couldn't be more excited for History. Our school's history teacher is an absolute legend, and I can't wait as I'd say History's one of the only subjects I'm actually passionate about and genuinely love learning about. I'm only doing Psych because Spesh wouldn't fit in my timetable, but I'm actually feeling pretty excited about it now! I'm apprehensive for Lit, because I've heard mixed things about it, but the content looks really enjoyable. I may end up switching to mainstream English depending on how it goes. Methods is the one subject I'm absolutely terrified for, because I've been progressively getting worse at maths since Year 8 - don't know why I ever thought doing Spesh would be a good idea. I'm hoping the teacher manages to somehow make it understandable, or maybe I'll be switching to General after I get the first SAC results back. I'm really not confident about the subjects I chose, mostly because there's so many things I'd love to be doing - Chem, mainstream English, Sociology, etc. I really wish I was doing Media or Studio Arts because I adore folio subjects - my main hobby/passion is photography, especially film photography, and also videography.

I'm really not sure what I'd be interested in doing as a career, mainly because there's such a big range of areas I'm interested in. At the moment I'm looking into an Arts degree majoring in Politics or Law and minoring in something like History at Melbourne or something like Global Studies at Monash. I'd also really like to apply to overseas colleges, things like Stanford and Oxford. Despite my low chances of getting in I figure it's worth a shot!

I'm currently writing this to procrastinate studying for my final two Year 10 exams tomorrow, so I should probably go do that. If you've stuck with my rambling so far you deserve an award - I'll try and update this some time next week when I've had some of my Year 11 classes! :,)
It's awesome that you've started a journal!
Its good to hear that you are taking your dissapointing 1/2 results and turning them into motivativation to work harder instead of giving up. I think this will prove a very valuable skill to have throughout VCE since not all SACs/exams will go the way you wanted. I remember my 1/2 end of year exam was also a bit odd - with whole sections of content from an old study design that the teacher forgot to take out (obviously it was an old exam she was using). Unfortunately 1/2 exams can be like that sometimes.
I only ended up doing psych becuase my timetable didn't work out, but I am very glad that i did end up doing it as I really enjoyed (most of) the content and I think it wil end up being my best subject (in terms of study score). Hopefully you end up loving it too!
For methods - I too stuggled from time to time. What I found helped was trying to learn from a bunch of different sources - using class notes, atar notes subject notes, and a bunch of online resources. Obviously it changes from person to person, but for me some of the content from methods just took a while to sink in.

Good luck with your year 10 exams tomorrow and I'll be looking forward to your updates!

Mod edit: modified to remove old username from quote (to protect privacy)
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: caffinatedloz on November 22, 2019, 06:26:10 am
Hey Emma,
So great to meet you! I just finished Year 10 this year as well. I'm so glad to see another journal pop up! Good luck with your exams still to go; I'm sure you'll ace them.

Echoing a sentiment Erutepa's message had, it's fantastic that you're using marks you aren't happy with the motivate you to work harder and do better.

I look forward to further updates,
laura <3
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: eemmaa on November 22, 2019, 09:30:11 pm
It's awesome that you've started a journal!
Its good to hear that you are taking your dissapointing 1/2 results and turning them into motivativation to work harder instead of giving up. I think this will prove a very valuable skill to have throughout VCE since not all SACs/exams will go the way you wanted. I remember my 1/2 end of year exam was also a bit odd - with whole sections of content from an old study design that the teacher forgot to take out (obviously it was an old exam she was using). Unfortunately 1/2 exams can be like that sometimes.
I only ended up doing psych becuase my timetable didn't work out, but I am very glad that i did end up doing it as I really enjoyed (most of) the content and I think it wil end up being my best subject (in terms of study score). Hopefully you end up loving it too!
For methods - I too stuggled from time to time. What I found helped was trying to learn from a bunch of different sources - using class notes, atar notes subject notes, and a bunch of online resources. Obviously it changes from person to person, but for me some of the content from methods just took a while to sink in.

Good luck with your year 10 exams tomorrow and I'll be looking forward to your updates!

Mod edit: modified to remove old username from quote (to protect privacy)

I'm so glad to hear you ended up enjoying psych, hopefully it'll be that way for me too! I'm honestly getting the same impression about 1/2 exams being a little strange sometimes, so I'm thankful they don't count towards anything. I'm definitely going to make an effort to take a similar approach to methods, and use all the resources available because otherwise I have no hopes. Thank you so much!
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: eemmaa on November 22, 2019, 09:32:35 pm
Hey Emma,
So great to meet you! I just finished Year 10 this year as well. I'm so glad to see another journal pop up! Good luck with your exams still to go; I'm sure you'll ace them.

Echoing a sentiment Erutepa's message had, it's fantastic that you're using marks you aren't happy with the motivate you to work harder and do better.

I look forward to further updates,
laura <3

It's so nice to meet you too, congrats on finishing year 10! Are you doing any 3/4 subjects next year? Thank you so much, I hope your end of year exams went well too <3
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: caffinatedloz on November 22, 2019, 10:23:50 pm
It's so nice to meet you too, congrats on finishing year 10! Are you doing any 3/4 subjects next year? Thank you so much, I hope your end of year exams went well too <3
Thanks Emma! My exams (surprisingly) went super well!! I'm doing 3/4 bio next year; I loved 1/2 but my first couple of bio classes for early commencement have been super overwhelming.
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: eemmaa on November 26, 2019, 06:19:39 pm
Thanks Emma! My exams (surprisingly) went super well!! I'm doing 3/4 bio next year; I loved 1/2 but my first couple of bio classes for early commencement have been super overwhelming.

Amazing, me too! Honestly I agree, I had my first 3/4 bio class today and I'm feeling super apprehensive about the workload.
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: eemmaa on November 26, 2019, 06:25:46 pm
26-11-19

Hi guys! I'm two days into year 11 transition so far, and I'm really enjoying most of my classes! My teachers are incredible for the most part, and my Methods teacher somehow managed to make me feel excited about maths which hasn't happened since like year seven. I think my favourite class has been Lit, because we only have ten people and it's such a nice atmosphere. I've had two Psych classes so far and I'm really not enjoying it. The teacher is condescending, and we go through the content agonisingly slowly - today we spent the whole 75 minute period going through independent and dependent variables. I'm really seriously debating switching to Chemistry, which is on at the same time, and I was hoping for some advice from people have taken Chem in the past. Is it really difficult? A lot of work? And if you took both Chem and Psych, which did you prefer? Other than the Psych problem I'm really really excited for next year!
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: Sine on November 26, 2019, 07:03:08 pm
26-11-19

Hi guys! I'm two days into year 11 transition so far, and I'm really enjoying most of my classes! My teachers are incredible for the most part, and my Methods teacher somehow managed to make me feel excited about maths which hasn't happened since like year seven. I think my favourite class has been Lit, because we only have ten people and it's such a nice atmosphere. I've had two Psych classes so far and I'm really not enjoying it. The teacher is condescending, and we go through the content agonisingly slowly - today we spent the whole 75 minute period going through independent and dependent variables. I'm really seriously debating switching to Chemistry, which is on at the same time, and I was hoping for some advice from people have taken Chem in the past. Is it really difficult? A lot of work? And if you took both Chem and Psych, which did you prefer? Other than the Psych problem I'm really really excited for next year!
Hi eemmaa :)

I am glad you are finding your year 11 headstart enjoyable! I completed chemistry during VCE (did not study psychology) - with regards to the difficulty/workload I would not say that it is an insanely difficult subject (I don't think any VCE subject would be). Although, anecdotally I think some students do find it difficult though - possibly harder than psychology as I think students struggle with application stuff where they need to actually "think" for a question in a way which they have not previously thought about. Obviously, experiences will vary so there might be people who found psychology harder.  VCE chemistry is in a place between something like biology and methods. Where you do need to understand theory in detail but also need to understand it enough to apply it in previously unknown circumstances.

So really - the difficulty is very hard to gauge and it will depend on your previous knowledge/interest/motivation of a certain subject. I think it is definitely important to make sure you actually want to study those subjects. Students generally do better when studying something that they actually want to - regardless of whether it is harder/easier.
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: TigerMum on November 26, 2019, 07:36:12 pm
Hi Emma,
I'm doing Year 11 next year as well, it's great to see another journal from our year level!

I can relate with the 1/2 exams being strange; I had my 1/2 Methods exams last week and because the school used a commercial paper they didn't notice that a bunch of the questions were on the previous year's paper so some people had seen the questions before. I also agree that the teacher and class environment is so important in regards to how much you enjoy the subject. My spesh class only has 12 people and our teacher (who I also have for 3/4 methods) is absolutely amazing, so I feel like I am going to love it.
About chem vs psych, I haven't done and I won't be doing either of those subjects, so I can't offer much in terms of gauging difficulty, but the best advice I can give is do whichever one you are interested in the most and actually want to be studying. The extent to which you will find a subject hard/easy mostly comes down to how passionate you are for the subject and the effort that you are willing to put in rather than any supposed "difficulty".

And that's awesome that you're considering applying to overseas colleges. I'm considering applying for Mathematics at Oxford. They only offer places to 13% of applicants and I don't think I would get in, but as you said, it's worth a shot!  ;D
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: Erutepa on November 26, 2019, 08:47:48 pm
26-11-19

Hi guys! I'm two days into year 11 transition so far, and I'm really enjoying most of my classes! My teachers are incredible for the most part, and my Methods teacher somehow managed to make me feel excited about maths which hasn't happened since like year seven. I think my favourite class has been Lit, because we only have ten people and it's such a nice atmosphere. I've had two Psych classes so far and I'm really not enjoying it. The teacher is condescending, and we go through the content agonisingly slowly - today we spent the whole 75 minute period going through independent and dependent variables. I'm really seriously debating switching to Chemistry, which is on at the same time, and I was hoping for some advice from people have taken Chem in the past. Is it really difficult? A lot of work? And if you took both Chem and Psych, which did you prefer? Other than the Psych problem I'm really really excited for next year!
Its good that you're liking transition so far!
Its a bit unfortunate your psych teacher is condescending - it can make learning hard indeed. I have had a teacher in the past like this, but I found that she warmed up to the class pretty quickly and it wasn't really a problem. I'm not a teacher, but I am sure that it can be hard to teach a class full of new faces, so they might be a bit cold at first, or perhaps the teacher is just a bit condescending in her normal teaching style. I am not sure what the case is for you, but it might be something worth considering.
In terms of chemistry vs Psych, I did do both and both have their upsides and downsides (for me at least). I found psych personally a less demanding subject - there's still plenty of content to get through, but I found the content much easier to understand and remember than that of chemistry. However I personally enjoyed chemistry far more than psych as that is where my personal preference lies. Like sine said, each subject also involved different skills - most prominently, chemistry involves a fair amount of calculation-based questions. While both psych and chemistry involve application of content, in the case of chem I think the level of application is a bit greater than psych which I found I could memories quite a few responses for. I am sure there's many more differences but I they don't come to mind immediately.
You might also want to consider how independently you learn. While having a teacher that doesn't suit you can make learning difficult, if you are quite an independent learner It may not make too big of difference. I went through a fair bit of psych content this year on my own and I found it much easier to do independently than other subjects.
Unfortunately there isn't a perfect answer for what subject you should do (at least none that i know of) but hopefully I have given some food for thought. I personally think you should give it a bit more of a go and perhaps pick up a chemistry textbook/talk to a chem teacher and see if you are interested by the content. Also note that sometimes the experimental design stuff in psych can be a bit dry and the subject might pick up when you get into some other content.

To summaries psych vs. chem (in my opinion): psych=less demanding, chem=more fun

Best of luck making with your subjects and hopefully I didn't just add too your confusion!
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: eemmaa on November 30, 2019, 04:46:26 pm
Hi eemmaa :)

I am glad you are finding your year 11 headstart enjoyable! I completed chemistry during VCE (did not study psychology) - with regards to the difficulty/workload I would not say that it is an insanely difficult subject (I don't think any VCE subject would be). Although, anecdotally I think some students do find it difficult though - possibly harder than psychology as I think students struggle with application stuff where they need to actually "think" for a question in a way which they have not previously thought about. Obviously, experiences will vary so there might be people who found psychology harder.  VCE chemistry is in a place between something like biology and methods. Where you do need to understand theory in detail but also need to understand it enough to apply it in previously unknown circumstances.

So really - the difficulty is very hard to gauge and it will depend on your previous knowledge/interest/motivation of a certain subject. I think it is definitely important to make sure you actually want to study those subjects. Students generally do better when studying something that they actually want to - regardless of whether it is harder/easier.


That makes a lot of sense, thank you so much for the advice! I ended up choosing Chemistry because I really do like the challenge and satisfaction of being able to apply my knowledge to problems.

Hi Emma,
I'm doing Year 11 next year as well, it's great to see another journal from our year level!

I can relate with the 1/2 exams being strange; I had my 1/2 Methods exams last week and because the school used a commercial paper they didn't notice that a bunch of the questions were on the previous year's paper so some people had seen the questions before. I also agree that the teacher and class environment is so important in regards to how much you enjoy the subject. My spesh class only has 12 people and our teacher (who I also have for 3/4 methods) is absolutely amazing, so I feel like I am going to love it.
About chem vs psych, I haven't done and I won't be doing either of those subjects, so I can't offer much in terms of gauging difficulty, but the best advice I can give is do whichever one you are interested in the most and actually want to be studying. The extent to which you will find a subject hard/easy mostly comes down to how passionate you are for the subject and the effort that you are willing to put in rather than any supposed "difficulty".

And that's awesome that you're considering applying to overseas colleges. I'm considering applying for Mathematics at Oxford. They only offer places to 13% of applicants and I don't think I would get in, but as you said, it's worth a shot!  ;D

It's so incredible you're doing Methods as a higher study, I honestly would find that impossible. Definitely try applying to Oxford, it's worth a shot and there's no harm in trying! I was going to do spesh but it clashed with my timetable, but there's literally only 2 people in the 1/2 class - I'm jealous. Thank you so much for the advice!

Its good that you're liking transition so far!
Its a bit unfortunate your psych teacher is condescending - it can make learning hard indeed. I have had a teacher in the past like this, but I found that she warmed up to the class pretty quickly and it wasn't really a problem. I'm not a teacher, but I am sure that it can be hard to teach a class full of new faces, so they might be a bit cold at first, or perhaps the teacher is just a bit condescending in her normal teaching style. I am not sure what the case is for you, but it might be something worth considering.
In terms of chemistry vs Psych, I did do both and both have their upsides and downsides (for me at least). I found psych personally a less demanding subject - there's still plenty of content to get through, but I found the content much easier to understand and remember than that of chemistry. However I personally enjoyed chemistry far more than psych as that is where my personal preference lies. Like sine said, each subject also involved different skills - most prominently, chemistry involves a fair amount of calculation-based questions. While both psych and chemistry involve application of content, in the case of chem I think the level of application is a bit greater than psych which I found I could memories quite a few responses for. I am sure there's many more differences but I they don't come to mind immediately.
You might also want to consider how independently you learn. While having a teacher that doesn't suit you can make learning difficult, if you are quite an independent learner It may not make too big of difference. I went through a fair bit of psych content this year on my own and I found it much easier to do independently than other subjects.
Unfortunately there isn't a perfect answer for what subject you should do (at least none that i know of) but hopefully I have given some food for thought. I personally think you should give it a bit more of a go and perhaps pick up a chemistry textbook/talk to a chem teacher and see if you are interested by the content. Also note that sometimes the experimental design stuff in psych can be a bit dry and the subject might pick up when you get into some other content.

To summaries psych vs. chem (in my opinion): psych=less demanding, chem=more fun

Best of luck making with your subjects and hopefully I didn't just add too your confusion!

That was seriously amazing advice, thank you! You helped a lot, and I ended up choosing chem on the basis that my independent learning skills are somewhat subpar and chem does interest me a lot more. I also had the teacher in previous years and it's definitely not just her reaction to a new class, so I might've dodged a bullet there. I appreciate the advice a lot, thanks again !! <3

Mod edit (PF): Merged posts. Please don't post multiple times in quick succession. You can quote multiple people in the same post by scrolling down (from the main reply window) or scrolling up (from the quick reply box) and clicking "insert quote" on every quote you want to add :)
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: Deliaaa454 on November 30, 2019, 06:00:22 pm
Lovely to see someone who's thinking of going overseas for university. It's great for you to realise you have that option early on. I don't know much about the UK system, but if you have any questions about applying for colleges in the US feel free to ask me! :-)

By the way, good choice on picking chem ;) I'm sure you'll love it.
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: eemmaa on November 30, 2019, 11:19:30 pm
Lovely to see someone who's thinking of going overseas for university. It's great for you to realise you have that option early on. I don't know much about the UK system, but if you have any questions about applying for colleges in the US feel free to ask me! :-)

By the way, good choice on picking chem ;) I'm sure you'll love it.

Thank you so much! You went/go to Princeton? That's so incredible, how did you find the application experience? Also I've been getting so many ads for Crimson Education, was it worth using the program? Is the financial aspect of US schooling much more difficult to manage? :,)
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: eemmaa on December 02, 2019, 05:26:15 pm
Hey guys! Year 10 is officially over and it's so strange to not have any pressing homework on my mind. I don't finish school officially until Wednesday, but we've just got activities in the city for the rest of the week. After that, I'm going to tackle my huge amount of holiday homework - we've already got our first sac for chem to do over the holidays (research poster) :( I also want to get a headstart on my 3/4 subjects, and I was thinking of trying to learn the majority of the Unit 3 coursework for both. I'm planning on just making notes and doing flashcards so it's not as much new information to take in during class time and I get ahead of my cohort. I've seen a lot of atarnotes posts saying this is worthwhile, but on the other hand some people say it's pointless because you'll just forget it all, so I'm not sure. If anyone did something similar, let me know if it worked well! I also can't wait to get back into my hobbies that I didn't have time for during term, like photography and reading!
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: r1ckworthy on December 02, 2019, 06:10:30 pm
Hey! I would not say that learning stuff over the holidays is pointless. While you might forget some stuff, it will eventually come up again in class and get strengthened again in your brain. And when you’ve got a good grasp of the basic concepts, you can unpack it a bit more in class and retain a greater understanding. I would highly encourage studying over the holidays, at least becoming familiar with the basic concepts. This has worked for me, so hopefully you should have the same experience!

Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: Erutepa on December 02, 2019, 09:28:29 pm
Hey guys! Year 10 is officially over and it's so strange to not have any pressing homework on my mind. I don't finish school officially until Wednesday, but we've just got activities in the city for the rest of the week. After that, I'm going to tackle my huge amount of holiday homework - we've already got our first sac for chem to do over the holidays (research poster) :( I also want to get a headstart on my 3/4 subjects, and I was thinking of trying to learn the majority of the Unit 3 coursework for both. I'm planning on just making notes and doing flashcards so it's not as much new information to take in during class time and I get ahead of my cohort. I've seen a lot of atarnotes posts saying this is worthwhile, but on the other hand some people say it's pointless because you'll just forget it all, so I'm not sure. If anyone did something similar, let me know if it worked well! I also can't wait to get back into my hobbies that I didn't have time for during term, like photography and reading!
As r1ckworthy has said, learning the content over the holidays will make it easier for yourself when you encounter the content again in class through the year, however I personally didn't find it neccasary. I personally found that there was plenty of time throughout the year to cover the content and learn it well. I also often did pre-readings (i.e. reading the content from the textbook a week before doing it in class) which also helped learn the content. As such I found myself able to get good with the content despite not doing much over the holidays other than doing the homework given by teachers - instead I tried to enjoyed my holidays, relax, catch up on hobbies and spend alot of time on atar notes  ;) .
I think whether you study on the holidays or not comes down to personal preference. I would recomend enjoying your holidays and taking a break from the books (maybe starting a fun project that you couldn't do throughout the coming year?), however others may enjoy studying over their break. Its important to note that while it may help for some people, its not neccasary for you to cover a heap of content before school starts as there will be adequate time to cover the content through the year and still get excelent marks (given you are hard working (i.e. by doing your own pre-readings through the year)). Don't force yourself to spend your whole holidays studying becuase you think you should - perhaps do a bit of pre-reading here and there across the holiday period, but try to relax and enjoy your time away from school spending plenty of time on photography and reading (and any other hobies)!.
Good luck with those last few days of school!
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: Bri MT on December 02, 2019, 10:31:07 pm
As Erutepa alluded to, I think it can be dependent on the situation and person. For example, over they year 11-12 holidays the most useful study I did by far was for eng lang and that's largely because I was doing eng lang by distance ed and without units 1&2. For my year 10-11 break I only studied for my 3/4 (bio) which was plenty sufficient and mostly helped me due to increased confidence + being able to study without pressure or expectation was nice.

In general, I would say it's good to do a bit of studying and preparing for school but definitely don't make it your whole holidays
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: eemmaa on December 04, 2019, 08:25:08 pm
Hey! I would not say that learning stuff over the holidays is pointless. While you might forget some stuff, it will eventually come up again in class and get strengthened again in your brain. And when you’ve got a good grasp of the basic concepts, you can unpack it a bit more in class and retain a greater understanding. I would highly encourage studying over the holidays, at least becoming familiar with the basic concepts. This has worked for me, so hopefully you should have the same experience!

As r1ckworthy has said, learning the content over the holidays will make it easier for yourself when you encounter the content again in class through the year, however I personally didn't find it neccasary. I personally found that there was plenty of time throughout the year to cover the content and learn it well. I also often did pre-readings (i.e. reading the content from the textbook a week before doing it in class) which also helped learn the content. As such I found myself able to get good with the content despite not doing much over the holidays other than doing the homework given by teachers - instead I tried to enjoyed my holidays, relax, catch up on hobbies and spend alot of time on atar notes  ;) .
I think whether you study on the holidays or not comes down to personal preference. I would recomend enjoying your holidays and taking a break from the books (maybe starting a fun project that you couldn't do throughout the coming year?), however others may enjoy studying over their break. Its important to note that while it may help for some people, its not neccasary for you to cover a heap of content before school starts as there will be adequate time to cover the content through the year and still get excelent marks (given you are hard working (i.e. by doing your own pre-readings through the year)). Don't force yourself to spend your whole holidays studying becuase you think you should - perhaps do a bit of pre-reading here and there across the holiday period, but try to relax and enjoy your time away from school spending plenty of time on photography and reading (and any other hobies)!.
Good luck with those last few days of school!

As Erutepa alluded to, I think it can be dependent on the situation and person. For example, over they year 11-12 holidays the most useful study I did by far was for eng lang and that's largely because I was doing eng lang by distance ed and without units 1&2. For my year 10-11 break I only studied for my 3/4 (bio) which was plenty sufficient and mostly helped me due to increased confidence + being able to study without pressure or expectation was nice.

In general, I would say it's good to do a bit of studying and preparing for school but definitely don't make it your whole holidays

Thank you all so much for the amazing advice! I'm glad to know my planned work won't all be going to waste  :) I'll definitely be sure to maintain balance as you guys mentioned, and I'll probably only study ahead for my 3/4 subjects. Thanks again <3
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: Deliaaa454 on December 08, 2019, 10:17:24 pm
Thank you so much! You went/go to Princeton? That's so incredible, how did you find the application experience? Also I've been getting so many ads for Crimson Education, was it worth using the program? Is the financial aspect of US schooling much more difficult to manage? :,)

Ooops, sorry for the late reply! Yes I'm currently in my first year at Princeton. The application process was well... a lot (lol). For US universiites, the easiest part is the SAT (the academic component). If you can get above a score of 1500 (out of 1600) then you'll have a pretty solid chance. The harder parts are accumulating tons of extra curricular (mostly sport and/or music), community involvement, volunteering and leadership experience. Then theres also the admissions essay of roughly 500-650 words which is a huge decider in whether or not you get in. AFAIK in UK universities there's far less focus on this and much more on academics. The financial aspect is definitely more difficult than Australia! Hecs isn't a thing over here unfortunately :-( Luckily there are countless scholarships that students are eligible for, including many which are specifically for international students.

Yes Crimson was honestly a great help! I I might be just a bit biased lol as I work for them now. But I truly found their program helpful and they pointed me in the right direction lots of times which made my application process a lot smoother.
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: eemmaa on December 26, 2019, 11:00:04 pm
Ooops, sorry for the late reply! Yes I'm currently in my first year at Princeton. The application process was well... a lot (lol). For US universiites, the easiest part is the SAT (the academic component). If you can get above a score of 1500 (out of 1600) then you'll have a pretty solid chance. The harder parts are accumulating tons of extra curricular (mostly sport and/or music), community involvement, volunteering and leadership experience. Then theres also the admissions essay of roughly 500-650 words which is a huge decider in whether or not you get in. AFAIK in UK universities there's far less focus on this and much more on academics. The financial aspect is definitely more difficult than Australia! Hecs isn't a thing over here unfortunately :-( Luckily there are countless scholarships that students are eligible for, including many which are specifically for international students.

Yes Crimson was honestly a great help! I I might be just a bit biased lol as I work for them now. But I truly found their program helpful and they pointed me in the right direction lots of times which made my application process a lot smoother.

Turns out my reply is significantly later than yours haha! That's incredible, well done for surviving what sounds like an incredibly rigorous process. Seriously helpful info, thank you so much  :D I'm definitely going to look into Crimson because I don't think I could handle it all on my own lol thanks again!!
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: eemmaa on February 05, 2020, 09:04:56 pm
First Week of School ☆

Hey guys! Yesterday was my first day of Year 11, and today was my first day of classes! After an eventful holiday it's almost a relief to be getting back into the school routine. I've only had three of my classes so far (plus religion) but it looks like it's shaping up to be a really exciting year, although daunting. Speaking of daunting, I have my first Legal 3/4 sac in only 13 days...and counting. After going to both the legal and bio atarnotes lectures, I'm feeling very aware of just how much content there is to get through in the next several months. Anyway, I'll have more to update once I've had more classes, I just felt like I should acknowledge the beginning of school in my journal! Hope everyone else has had an amazing start to the year : ) I'll now get back to the chem homework I have been procrastinating!
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: eemmaa on February 18, 2020, 10:15:48 pm
Term 1, Week 3 ☆

My plan of updating weekly has already failed...

The workload so far has been a lot less than I anticipated, I've been averaging less than 2 hours of homework a night. That's a relief, but I'm nervous that it's going to increase before I know it.

Legal Studies
I had my first sac for this subject (and this year) today and... it was a nightmare. I'm so disappointed because I feel like it's the most prepared I've ever been for a sac - I did 3 practice sacs, and knew every relevant piece of legislation, but the questions completely threw me. They were so different from the 2019 sac, and unlike anything I'd really seen. To make matters worse, it was only 18 marks, which means every single mark is worth almost 6%. I feel like my hopes and dreams of a 45+ for this subject have already been destroyed. I know that's just me overreacting, since this sac is only worth 5% of my study score, but it doesn't seem like a good sign to have stuffed up my first 3/4 sac so badly.

Biology
As much as I disliked this subject last year, I'm really beginning to develop an appreciation for the way everything links together so beautifully. I just hate constantly feeling like I'm falling behind and should be revising at all times - the amount of content scares me a lot. My main struggle is understanding rather than just memorising. My first sac isn't til March, and I'm hoping to get into a better routine of studying very soon.

Chemistry
I'm so glad I ended up choosing this subject! I know it's only going to get harder, but everything is so enjoyable at the moment. I also got my results from the Unit 1 AOS 3 poster sac we did over the holidays, and somehow I managed 100%! Our first sac is next Thursday, which is unfortunate because I have a concert the night before, but I'm feeling confident with the content so far.

History
This subject would be so dry if it wasn't for the teacher (the main reason I picked the class) but I'm really enjoying it. It's such a different atmosphere from my other classes, and it's almost like a relaxing break. The workload is so light - the only homework we get is things like 30 word summaries and it's assigned rarely, and we've also only got one sac a term. I've decided I'm not going to do Revs next year though, because I don't want the stress of such a hard workload. I've been debating over picking up English, GloPol (distance) or Psych 3/4 next year, but at the moment I'm thinking English. It'll be useful as it means if I do badly in Lit due to how competitive it is it won't be forced into my top 4, and my strength has always been English.

Literature
Absolutely love the atmosphere of this class, we only have 10 people and we typically spend classes reading Streetcar as a class, then answering questions for homework. We had our first sac on the first week, a poetry analysis, and I got 100% on it! Not a huge achievement as it was only a small task, but I'm proud all the same.

Methods
So far the class I've been dreading hasn't been as difficult as I expected, surprisingly, but I'm sure it's only going to get worse. We have our first sac on March 2, and I feel like my shaky understanding is going to be tested. Our class at the beginning of the year was 18 or so people, but it's already down to 8 because so many have switched to General. On the one hand, this is great because it means we have more one-on-one time with the teacher and asking questions is less intimidating, but it scares me to be one of the few remaining. We've also not had much homework, which is great but it worries me because it seems like we're not doing any of the hard questions.

Favourite Subject: Chemistry
Least Favourite: Methods

I'm still working out how to structure my journal to make it interesting, so thank you if you've stuck with me so far!  :)
Title: Re: emma's vce journal
Post by: Joseph41 on February 19, 2020, 05:00:24 pm
Nice work on the updates! :)

Re: Legal, that's a bummer! But try not to lose hope. As you've mentioned, each SAC individually won't make or break your study score, and presumably everybody in your cohort was in the same boat if it was super different to what was expected. 45+ is absolutely not out of the question! ✌️

P.S. Congrats on getting through your first SAC.