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March 29, 2024, 09:36:32 pm

Author Topic: Dealing with stress when ATARs are released/offer rounds  (Read 2593 times)

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piperfred

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Dealing with stress when ATARs are released/offer rounds
« on: November 15, 2020, 09:06:14 pm »
Hi all!

I'm almost finished my exams - just French to go - and I'm a bit in my feels about my ATAR and QTAC preferences, so I guess I'm looking for some reassurance and some strategies of dealing with anxiety surrounding the ATAR release date and offer rounds. Every time I think about December 19 and January 14 I feel a bit sick to my stomach, it's absolutely terrifying! I almost feel like if I don't do as well as I hope, it's not living up to my potential, particularly as I've been a bit of a high achiever throughout high school.

I've also been offered the UQ Ramsay scholarship, which is amazing, but it is conditional upon my ATAR results; I need at least a 92 to keep the scholarship. I know no one knows how ATARs will work out, but I'm looking at getting a raw 90+ in 4 of my 6 subjects, and no less than 70 for the other two - is a 92 achievable based off that?

Also, what are some strategies for dealing with stress on December 19 and January 14? Some of my friends have mentioned going out on those days to take our minds off it, and I think that's not a bad idea maybe. What are you planning on doing?

I'm probably worrying for nothing, I know it will all work out, but it's still stressful in the moment! Let me know your thoughts,

Piper
QCE Class of 2020: Literature, French, Maths Methods, SOR, Legal Studies, Chemistry

Aims: ATAR 92+ or 98+
UQ - Advanced Humanities or Advanced Humanities/Law

Loves music!
https://open.spotify.com/user/piper_fred?si=BbcxIL3SRESDkDcVFX7l5A

piperfred

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Re: Dealing with stress when ATARs are released/offer rounds
« Reply #1 on: November 15, 2020, 09:08:36 pm »
Hi all!

I'm almost finished my exams - just French to go - and I'm a bit in my feels about my ATAR and QTAC preferences, so I guess I'm looking for some reassurance and some strategies of dealing with anxiety surrounding the ATAR release date and offer rounds. Every time I think about December 19 and January 14 I feel a bit sick to my stomach, it's absolutely terrifying! I almost feel like if I don't do as well as I hope, it's not living up to my potential, particularly as I've been a bit of a high achiever throughout high school.

I've also been offered the UQ Ramsay scholarship, which is amazing, but it is conditional upon my ATAR results; I need at least a 92 to keep the scholarship. I know no one knows how ATARs will work out, but I'm looking at getting a raw 90+ in 4 of my 6 subjects, and no less than 70 for the other two - is a 92 achievable based off that?

Also, what are some strategies for dealing with stress on December 19 and January 14? Some of my friends have mentioned going out on those days to take our minds off it, and I think that's not a bad idea maybe. What are you planning on doing?

I'm probably worrying for nothing, I know it will all work out, but it's still stressful in the moment! Let me know your thoughts,

Piper

I just realised this should probably be in the ATAR results discussion! Is there a way for me to move it?
QCE Class of 2020: Literature, French, Maths Methods, SOR, Legal Studies, Chemistry

Aims: ATAR 92+ or 98+
UQ - Advanced Humanities or Advanced Humanities/Law

Loves music!
https://open.spotify.com/user/piper_fred?si=BbcxIL3SRESDkDcVFX7l5A

Bri MT

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Re: Dealing with stress when ATARs are released/offer rounds
« Reply #2 on: November 16, 2020, 08:58:46 am »
Hi,

I have an exam in an hour so I'm going to have to make this a short reply but I'll come back to respond to more of your post later. For now, I recently wrote an article about exam stress which you can find here. There has been lots of discussion about exam stress over in the VCE journey journal section (they're not as far through exams as QCE) which you might also find helpful. If you do look at that, keep in mind that score calculation is more exam-dependent in VCE than QCE and that QCE doesn't have ranking in the same way as VCE (which again means your exams are less influential on your marks).


Good luck and I'll try to get back with more soon-ish :)


Edit: forgot to mention I moved this for you


Alright here's some more:

Now that exams are over probably the best strategy you can use is to distract yourself and to try to really focus on other things. Going out with your friends sounds like a fantastic idea!

Some people also find it cathartic to burn their notes (if you decide to do this I'd be grateful if you upload to the free notes section first). I personally found it useful to write some guides etc. to help others as that way even if my effort didn't get me what I wanted it would be useful to someone.

On my ATAR day I first found out my results alone, then told family. I actually had a career/course consulting thing at my high school on that day and I wasn't looking forward to talking to others about it (even though I met my ATAR goal I was not happy with my methods score and was a bit apprehensive about seeing my methods teacher) but talking to people was actually really nice for me.

I duxed all my subjects and the one time I didn't get the top score on a physics test people brought it up for the rest of the year so I get what you mean about pressure. What helped me was realising that if I delivered below expectations people would probably be sad for me rather than blaming me. As mentioned earlier, I was stressed about disappointing my methods teacher after I got that score back and apologised when I saw her but she was actually happy for the me for my ATAR and results more generally & knew how much work I'd put in - which I think is what she really valued.

I was super fixated on 98+ because I wanted to get a scholarship off that and have that help support me to live away from home, whatever your reasons for wanting the scholarship even if you don't get it you will find a way to go forwards and manage the hand you have been dealt. I don't think it will come to that but sometimes it's easier to convince yourself the bad thing won't ruin your life than it is to emotionally acknowledge that you probably will get it.

I don't know if that can be easily understood or helps but I hope it does :)   
« Last Edit: November 18, 2020, 11:09:45 am by Bri MT »

K888

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Re: Dealing with stress when ATARs are released/offer rounds
« Reply #3 on: November 16, 2020, 07:11:44 pm »
Definitely don't feel like you're alone in being stressed about ATAR release and uni offers! Honestly the thing that helped me the most when I was in high school was just focusing on what I could influence in the moment - so, while exams were happening, I focused on doing my best in those, and then after that, I tried my best to adopt the attitude of "I can't change what happens now, so might as well save myself energy and not stress about the what ifs and all the uncertainties" sort of thing.

I definitely recommend doing something to distract yourself on those days! Organise stuff with your friends or family and make it fun so the day is less centralised around the results and offers :)

XD12345

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Re: Dealing with stress when ATARs are released/offer rounds
« Reply #4 on: November 17, 2020, 11:51:36 pm »
Hi all!

I'm almost finished my exams - just French to go - and I'm a bit in my feels about my ATAR and QTAC preferences, so I guess I'm looking for some reassurance and some strategies of dealing with anxiety surrounding the ATAR release date and offer rounds. Every time I think about December 19 and January 14 I feel a bit sick to my stomach, it's absolutely terrifying! I almost feel like if I don't do as well as I hope, it's not living up to my potential, particularly as I've been a bit of a high achiever throughout high school.

I've also been offered the UQ Ramsay scholarship, which is amazing, but it is conditional upon my ATAR results; I need at least a 92 to keep the scholarship. I know no one knows how ATARs will work out, but I'm looking at getting a raw 90+ in 4 of my 6 subjects, and no less than 70 for the other two - is a 92 achievable based off that?

Also, what are some strategies for dealing with stress on December 19 and January 14? Some of my friends have mentioned going out on those days to take our minds off it, and I think that's not a bad idea maybe. What are you planning on doing?

I'm probably worrying for nothing, I know it will all work out, but it's still stressful in the moment! Let me know your thoughts,

Piper

This is a very stressful time, and needing a score in the 90’s must be terrifying! What I do is put my raw scores (what I think I got) into an atar calculator and see how I would go. The calculators can be dodgy and are in no way “promises”, but it relieves a lot of stress for me personally. Maybe if you put your scores through and the calculator states you’re looking at a 95 for example, that might help you have a brighter outlook. Don’t rely on the calculators, but it could possibly help you relax. Since your best 5 subjects count, according to your claim, you already have raw scores in the 90’s for 4/5 of your subjects which is pretty good!
I used a calculator and put in 91 for 4 subjects and 80 for one (standard English, gen maths, bio, chem, modern history)-sorry I don’t know what subjects you do. With those scores you would be looking at 93.7. As I mentioned before, this is in no way an accurate prediction, but can you see how doing this may give you some form of reassurance?

This isn’t to give you any form of prediction, I just personally find that using calculators and finding out you can get certain scores really helps me reduce atar stress.

piperfred

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Re: Dealing with stress when ATARs are released/offer rounds
« Reply #5 on: November 23, 2020, 07:37:52 pm »
Thank you all for your kind responses! They are definitely helpful, and I think they've helped me realise that having the right perspective is important. Like you said Bri, others won't be disappointed in me, but they will celebrate what I do achieve, and thank you for sharing some of your experiences too.

K888 you are right about the perspective that I can't change it now. Over the last few days I've had a chance to celebrate a bit and it's helped me move on from what's happened and focus on the future. I've also realised that December 19 is not really that far away, so I don't have to worry about hanging in a limbo for too long.

Thanks for the suggestion XD12345, something I can explore until the ATARs are released. It does give me a bit of peace of mind, especially as my subjects (Lit, SOR, Chem, French, Legal, MM) are some of the medium to higher scaling ones.

Thanks everyone again!
QCE Class of 2020: Literature, French, Maths Methods, SOR, Legal Studies, Chemistry

Aims: ATAR 92+ or 98+
UQ - Advanced Humanities or Advanced Humanities/Law

Loves music!
https://open.spotify.com/user/piper_fred?si=BbcxIL3SRESDkDcVFX7l5A