ATAR Notes: Forum

QCE Stuff => Queensland Education Discussion => The QCE Journey Journal => Topic started by: K.Smithy on September 29, 2019, 09:39:28 pm

Title: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on September 29, 2019, 09:39:28 pm
Hey Vsauce! Michael here  :P
Jk, it's yah girl, Katelyn! 

Currently, I am lowkey procrastinating and thought I would make my first post - yay! (it was either this or minecraft - i have an epic house btw)

*WARNING. WARNING. RANT ALERT. I REPEAT, RANT ALERT*

I hate everything. I miss when life was simple, and I didn’t have assignment, after assignment, after assignment… I just find it really sucky that we didn’t get a break this year… This September holidays is my first break from school, I don’t have a mountain of work to do unlike previous "holidays". I don’t understand why we had to cram all of year 11 into 3 terms. Why didn’t they cram all of grade 9 or 10 into 3 terms so we had a full year for both year 11 and 12? Its just a bit rough thats all.. Everything feels really messy and no one knows what they're doing. Everyone is just stressed our of their minds. The jump between grade 10 and 11 was ridiculous, idk if it was just my school - other schools may have prepared better. But, oh well… there’s only a year left of the hell hole that is high school.

*RANT OVER*

So, I’m currently studying:
- General English
- Study of Religion (religion is compulsory at my school)
- Mathematical Methods
- Biology
- Psychology
- Physics
Everyone told me not to do 3 sciences… did I listen? No. Should I have listened? Yes… Yes I should have. Too bad, its too late now.
I must say, psychology and maths are definitely my favourites. I particularly love anything to do with the nervous system, brain anatomy, and localisation of function in the brain in psychology and calculus in maths.

Some struggles I faced this year (sad reacts only  :'( ) ...
- My English grade dropped from 92% in Unit 1, to 76% in Unit 2 :( (I got a new teacher, and now everyone's grades are dropping)
- I got below an A- in English for the first time since grade 8...
- I got my first Cs since grade 7... (I got a C in biology and physics on the data test...)
- I got no sleep all year (the sleep study we did in psych in Unit 1 exposed my weekly average of 3 hours - whoops!  :o )
- I found the unit 1 & 2 content for bio, SOR, and physics so dry and boring (anyone else?)

Some wins from this year  ;D ...
- Somehow, I managed to claw my way into the A bracket overall for all 6 of my subjects (?!?!?!?... don't ask me how)
- I got 20/20 for both the student experiment and research investigation for psychology
- I got a 20/20 for the biology research investigation
- ok, ok, ok, ok, ok..... ok... this one still BLOWS MY MIND!!! Dr Ian Hunter, the founder of Write that Essay, read my bio investigation and said that I write at uni standard... Like, what???
- I was told that I wrote well above year 11 standard for the psychology investigation (idk what is happening with bio and psych... it's kinda crazy!!)

Anyone have any wins they wanna share?  :) I wanna hear more positives!!

Despite how rough this year has been, I must say that some of the assessment pieces were actually kinda fun??
My three favourites were the research investigations for psychology, biology and physics.
- For psychology, I wrote about about how the diagnosis of ASDs (Autism Spectrum Disorders) in Western Australia could be improved via the implementation of neuroimaging - in particular fMRIs
- For biology, I wrote about how synthetically designed DNA would prove more effective in venom neutralisation during snakebite envenoming therapy than standard plasma-derived antivenom
- For physics, I wrote about the practicality of superhero landings - three-point landings - compared to biomechanically standard landing technique - bilateral landing - implemented by humans

So that's about all from me for today, I might keep posting here with updates (only time will tell). I wish all of my fellow ATAR guineapigs good luck. Godspeed to you all.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Bri MT on September 30, 2019, 05:43:48 pm
Welcome to the forums! :)

I definitely got the impression from talking to students at the lectures that everyone is struggling with the transition - it's not just your school.

I liked studying 4 sciences (bio, psych, chem, physics) but it certainly can be a high workload. As you may have noticed units 1&2 of bio are a far bit different from unit 3 so hopefully you find that more engaging. Otherwise, you could try linking biology and psychology more. E.g. how neural communication works relies on principles of diffusion and active transport you learn in bio. Are you planning on pursuing science after high school?

Congratulations on your achievements!!
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on September 30, 2019, 10:28:30 pm
Thank you for the kind welcome! :)

I liked studying 4 sciences (bio, psych, chem, physics) but it certainly can be a high workload. As you may have noticed units 1&2 of bio are a far bit different from unit 3 so hopefully you find that more engaging.

Wow, I couldn't imagine studying four sciences! I love science but think I would go insane. And yeah, from looking through the syllabus for each of my subjects Unit 3 & 4 look great! What I am most excited about has to be special relativity and quantum theory in physics - I can't wait! I'm excited, as always, for psychology, and Unit 4 in biology looks super interesting (I love genetics, so I think I will enjoy it). We've also started ethics in religion (woop woop ;D)

Otherwise, you could try linking biology and psychology more. E.g. how neural communication works relies on principles of diffusion and active transport you learn in bio.

I have definitely found overlap between biology and psychology - especially in regard to the nervous system. What was good about it was that psychology went a lot more in depth, so when it came to studying for the Unit 1 & 2 bio exam I didn't have to go over my nervous system notes too much. But wow, I never thought about how neural communication relies on principles of diffusion and active transport - but now that I think of it, that makes sense! That does raise a question however, so if we're talking about signal transmission, when you have neurotransmitters they diffuse across the synapse to the receptors and they may cause ions to be released which travel through the post-synaptic neuron.... It isn't the neurotransmitters themselves that travel through the post-synaptic neuron, its the ions. So what happens when it is an electrical signal? Does that release ions or does it travel through the post-synaptic neuron itself? (If that makes any sense)

Are you planning on pursuing science after high school?

I love astrophysics and theoretical physics, and would love to work on something like string theory. I think it would be amazing to find the unified field theory. I understand that the field of theoretical physics can be very very difficult to get into and there isn't a very high demand for it, so I have decided that it would probably be best if I were to go into a career in secondary education. I would like to teach Mathematics and Science to high school students, that way I get to share my passions with students, help students find their own passions, and do what I love everyday.

Congratulations on your achievements!!

Thank you so much!! :)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, I just wanted to say a big thank you for the lectures at QUT. I was fortunate to attend a psychology lecture and I found it so insightful and interesting. I'm definitely feeling very prepared for Unit 3 and I am ready to flaunt my new-found knowledge to my teacher once school starts back  ;D I had some friends who were able to attend the biology lecture Saturday morning (whilst I was wrapped up in the wonders of log laws during the methods lecture) and they loved it. So thanks again for that!
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Bri MT on October 01, 2019, 11:24:39 am
Thank you for the kind welcome! :)

Abosolutely no worries at all!

Wow, I couldn't imagine studying four sciences! I love science but think I would go insane. And yeah, from looking through the syllabus for each of my subjects Unit 3 & 4 look great! What I am most excited about has to be special relativity and quantum theory in physics - I can't wait! I'm excited, as always, for psychology, and Unit 4 in biology looks super interesting (I love genetics, so I think I will enjoy it). We've also started ethics in religion (woop woop ;D)

It's great to hear that you're excited for units 3&4! Some of the physics content can be a bit difficult to wrap your head around and it's great that you're keen for these topics - I definitely found it rewarding to learn to understand them (well, at least understand to a certain level). In regards to biology, you can definitely also bring in some genetics into Unit 3. Unit 3 & 4 are taught seperately but ecology and evolution are very very very interconnected. For example, when population sizes get too small one of the things that significantly contributes to an extinction vortex is lack of genetic diversity.

I have definitely found overlap between biology and psychology - especially in regard to the nervous system. What was good about it was that psychology went a lot more in depth, so when it came to studying for the Unit 1 & 2 bio exam I didn't have to go over my nervous system notes too much. But wow, I never thought about how neural communication relies on principles of diffusion and active transport - but now that I think of it, that makes sense! That does raise a question however, so if we're talking about signal transmission, when you have neurotransmitters they diffuse across the synapse to the receptors and they may cause ions to be released which travel through the post-synaptic neuron.... It isn't the neurotransmitters themselves that travel through the post-synaptic neuron, its the ions. So what happens when it is an electrical signal? Does that release ions or does it travel through the post-synaptic neuron itself? (If that makes any sense)

To clear things up about how chemical synapses work I've put together a diagram for you below.
Diagram note: I've represented generic ions as triangles
Content note: The movement of ions (by definition, charged particles) is the electrical signal. In an electrical synapse the ions move directly from the presynaptic neuron to the postsynaptic neuron through protein channels. This makes electrical synapses a bit faster but also a bit less adaptable.

A neuron is usually at about -70 mV (resting potential) and when an action potential is generated this goes up to about 40 mV before crashing down again. These changes in potential occur through the movement of ions (namely sodium and potassium) into and out of the axon in a mexican-wave like format that carries the change in potential forwards from the soma to the axon terminals.

click for neural communication diagram
(https://i.imgur.com/dFUeHTQ.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/La37AAI.png)

I love astrophysics and theoretical physics, and would love to work on something like string theory. I think it would be amazing to find the unified field theory. I understand that the field of theoretical physics can be very very difficult to get into and there isn't a very high demand for it, so I have decided that it would probably be best if I were to go into a career in secondary education. I would like to teach Mathematics and Science to high school students, that way I get to share my passions with students, help students find their own passions, and do what I love everyday.

Sounds like you've really thought this out - seems like a great plan to me (as long as you stay open to the opportunities that may come up along the way) :). One of our honourary moderators (Aaron) is actually a secondary maths teacher so they might be able to give you some insight into what that field is like.


Thank you so much!! :)

Also, I just wanted to say a big thank you for the lectures at QUT. I was fortunate to attend a psychology lecture and I found it so insightful and interesting. I'm definitely feeling very prepared for Unit 3 and I am ready to flaunt my new-found knowledge to my teacher once school starts back  ;D I had some friends who were able to attend the biology lecture Saturday morning (whilst I was wrapped up in the wonders of log laws during the methods lecture) and they loved it. So thanks again for that!

You're 100% percent welcome :) Thank you for the feedback! It's really nice to hear that people enjoyed my lectures & got value out of them. I definitely enjoyed giving them and being able to be there for you and all the other students :D
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on October 01, 2019, 03:26:44 pm
In regards to biology, you can definitely also bring in some genetics into Unit 3. Unit 3 & 4 are taught seperately but ecology and evolution are very very very interconnected. For example, when population sizes get too small one of the things that significantly contributes to an extinction vortex is lack of genetic diversity.

True, true! I'll definitely keep that in mind.

To clear things up about how chemical synapses work I've put together a diagram for you below.
Diagram note: I've represented generic ions as triangles
Content note: The movement of ions (by definition, charged particles) is the electrical signal. In an electrical synapse the ions move directly from the presynaptic neuron to the postsynaptic neuron through protein channels. This makes electrical synapses a bit faster but also a bit less adaptable.

A neuron is usually at about -70 mV (resting potential) and when an action potential is generated this goes up to about 40 mV before crashing down again. These changes in potential occur through the movement of ions (namely sodium and potassium) into and out of the axon in a mexican-wave like format that carries the change in potential forwards from the soma to the axon terminals.

Oh wow! Thank you so much! This really clears it all up. I don't know why I didn't make the connection between ions and electric charge - I must be a fake physics student haha  ;D

One of our honourary moderators (Aaron) is actually a secondary maths teacher so they might be able to give you some insight into what that field is like.

I'll definitely send them a PM if any questions come to mind!

Thank you!! :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Joseph41 on October 01, 2019, 03:34:35 pm
Awesome to have you here, K.Smithy! So glad you enjoyed the lectures - I did, too! Love the QUT campus.

What's been the roughest part of the Grade 10 > Grade 11 transition, out of interest? You mentioned you had to cram heaps - was it mostly the overwhelming about of content? Or more things like new terminology/processes etc.?

Hope you're having a super day. 🤙

- Nick :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Bri MT on October 01, 2019, 05:57:49 pm
True, true! I'll definitely keep that in mind.
Actually before I forget, GenBank is incredibly relevant to this doptpoint in Unit 3: "analyse data from molecular sequences to infer species evolutionary relatedness"
It allows you to compare DNA sequences between different species (you can actually see the code), gives you a percentage similarity, and you can get it to generate phylogenetic trees for you + tell you statistical significance. If you do decide to play around with it, try comparing sequences from the same region. It can be a bit overwhelming at first so lmk if you're interested and would like help with it.
 
Oh wow! Thank you so much! This really clears it all up. I don't know why I didn't make the connection between ions and electric charge - I must be a fake physics student haha  ;D

haha definitely not :D. My teacher for systems change at uni says that if you look closely enough at any boundary it disappears and I think that's relevant here. When it comes down to it, it can be difficult to draw a line and say "this is the electrical part" as it's very easy to see ions as a chemical thing and group it that way.

Thank you!! :)
No worries at all! :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on October 01, 2019, 06:46:04 pm
Actually before I forget, GenBank is incredibly relevant to this doptpoint in Unit 3: "analyse data from molecular sequences to infer species evolutionary relatedness"
It allows you to compare DNA sequences between different species (you can actually see the code), gives you a percentage similarity, and you can get it to generate phylogenetic trees for you + tell you statistical significance. If you do decide to play around with it, try comparing sequences from the same region. It can be a bit overwhelming at first so lmk if you're interested and would like help with it.

Oml that sounds awesome! I'll have to check it out. That reminds me of the research investigation for Unit 2. When I was looking for data and evidence and all that jazz I found some DNA sequences of the venom glands of snakes - I had no clue what any of it meant but it looked cool ;D
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on October 01, 2019, 08:07:56 pm
Awesome to have you here, K.Smithy! So glad you enjoyed the lectures - I did, too! Love the QUT campus.

What's been the roughest part of the Grade 10 > Grade 11 transition, out of interest? You mentioned you had to cram heaps - was it mostly the overwhelming about of content? Or more things like new terminology/processes etc.?

Hope you're having a super day. 🤙

- Nick :)

Hi Nick! :)

Where do I start? haha ;D  The roughest part about the transition between grade 10 and 11 was definitely the rise in anxiety and stress levels. Some teachers from my school really freaked us out and drilled it into us that "Life is a competition now" and that we are no longer just competing with ourselves, we are also competing with friends, peers, and every school in Queensland. And we all knew that already, but to be constantly reminded made school a not so nice learning environment for a while. There's also the stress of not knowing how anything works, and how everything is going to work with scaling. There's also all these cognitive verbs that we have to remember and to get full marks on questions you need to answer in a very specific way. The introduction of new cognitive verbs saw to a change in the way questions were asked. The data tests at the beginning of the year are a prime example of how suddenly changing how questions are asked can affect grades. However, the results from the data test are also due to the fact that we had never completed a data test before so it was all so new to us. (Also some of the questions on the data test were about content we had never seen?? Like, there was one question about a resistor that had 4 coloured bands? We only learnt about 3, so none of us knew what the fourth meant). Additionally, we didn't actually get any textbooks until week 7 of term 1... 1 week before our first exam incursion....

I must mention though that some of the stress just has to do we me as a person. I am a stressor, I stress about everything. So change is a big thing for me, I don't like it. I also have very high standards, anything below an A- for me may as well be a fail - this is something that I am working on.

In regard to the cramming, rather than having the full year to complete year 11, we've had 3 terms. I know that my school are starting to make changes and they are planning to condense grade 9 into 3 terms so that there is a full year dedicated to year 10, 11, and 12. For me and a few other students in my school, we have been rather unfortunate. My biology and physics teacher at the start of the year wasn't the greatest - don't get me wrong, they were a super nice person and they offered me so many opportunities to expand my knowledge and have valuable experiences whilst still at school, but they dropped the ball this year when it came to teaching. They took the whole independent learning thing way way too seriously. My school has been stressing the importance of independent learning, and while I agree that it is important to be able to work independently and sometimes guide your own learning, we still need support and guidance and to be taught during lessons. For Unit 1 in biology and physics I didn't have a single class note. We were just handed a million and one chapters from random textbooks to summarise in our own time. So for the weeks leading up to the Unit 1 & 2 exams, instead of revising content for biology and physics, I was learning it. It was really, really bad in physics in particular. My new physics teacher (who is absolutely awesome might I add :) ) had to hold a 3 hour night session after school to help catch us up on all of the content from Unit 1 that we missed (which was pretty much all of it) and also took out time in period 5 and 6 every Tuesday and Thursday to take our class for extra lessons. So yeah, bio and physics have been hella stressful due to having to cram everything into a short space of time.

I also have a bad English teacher who has literally refused to teach my class. She actually stated that she wasn't going to teach us. And no matter who us students talk to, nothing is being done about it. A petition was started, multiple people have spoken to the head of curriculum, people have spoken to the head of senior years... nothing is being done. Personally, I signed the petition, I spoke to the teacher directly (which did not go down well), I have spoken to the head of curriculum, I have spoken to the assistant principle and head of student wellbeing twice, I have spoken to the head of senior years twice, I have spoken to the principle twice... nothing is being done about this issue. Over half of this teacher's students are failing. A students are getting Cs. So this whole situation is very very stressful. Obviously I am stuck with this teacher for the remainder of the year, so I am very stressed about that considering we are starting Unit 3 which goes towards our ATAR.

Wow, that is one essay. In short, everything is stressful due to the change, but in my case I have also been unfortunate in regard to the teachers I have had.
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Bri MT on October 02, 2019, 12:41:18 pm
-snip-

Wow that's a lot. Not just a lot of words, but a lot to be going through.

There's a few things I want to talk about around some of the stressors mentioned here:
> "we are also competing with friends"  I that's a deceptive and harmful message
(probably not intentionally, they're stressed & confused too and probably want to motivate you)
Yes, the ATAR ranks students but you'll get more benefits than negatives from collaborating. In Victoria it matters if you're the top, 2nd highest, 3rd.. etc. student in your class (I've searched and found absolutely nothing which suggests that this is the case in qld) and even then it's still beneficial to work together rather than being focused on the competition mindset.

> Having gone to an under rep school myself I get that the school you go to makes an impact but based on the info I've read, in terms of the score calculation there is no reason for you to care about how well your school goes compared to other schools. Often the school itself might care because they want to look good by having higher scores than other schools but please don't stress on this yourself.

> Unfortunately I can't say too much about verbs except that you get used to them with practice. I used to struggle with this a bit in year 10 when I was doing units 1&2 for biology but by the time 3&4 exams rolled around I was pretty comfortable.

> Yeah the textbook thing sucks. Had something similar happen to me with the chem textbook when I was in year 11 and they kept telling us "soon" but it took quite a while to arrive. If there are any topics you don't have resources on please let us know as we might be able to make some notes or something.

> I've never heard the term "exam incursion" before. Is this what you call all of your in-school/internal exams?

> Even in states where the system isn't changing people get confused and have misconceptions so I can only imagine how difficult it is when the system is new. If you still don't understand how this system works please feel free to read some of the guides we've put together and ask any questions you may have. videos, article

> Do you think guides on "how to do a data test?" etc. would be useful or not so much?

> "We were just handed a million and one chapters from random textbooks to summarise in our own time" yikes. Such an ineffective use of your time :/

> "She actually stated that she wasn't going to teach us" I don't even know how to respond to that situation :(   Only thing I can think of is getting feedback from us so you can improve your writing but the teacher refusing to teach..... wow that's very rough.

> About stressing - that's pretty relatable. I used to be much more of a perfectionist than I am now and it's definitely helped me to gradually learn to let go. Mostly I want to emphasise that improvement is very much a possibility and the fact that you've already recognised this as an issue and are working on it is a good step in the right direction :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on October 03, 2019, 04:27:02 pm
"we are also competing with friends"  I that's a deceptive and harmful message
(probably not intentionally, they're stressed & confused too and probably want to motivate you)
Yes, the ATAR ranks students but you'll get more benefits than negatives from collaborating. In Victoria it matters if you're the top, 2nd highest, 3rd.. etc. student in your class (I've searched and found absolutely nothing which suggests that this is the case in qld) and even then it's still beneficial to work together rather than being focused on the competition mindset.


Yeah, I definitely agree. Fortunately it is only a couple teachers who share this attitude, but the impact it has had on students is significant. A lot of people have turned on each other in a way. People have become more secretive about any resources they use or tips they have, rather than trying to help each other succeed. I know a lot of students in my school are solely focused on topping subjects and will do whatever it takes to do so, even if it means not helping out a peer.

Unfortunately I can't say too much about verbs except that you get used to them with practice. I used to struggle with this a bit in year 10 when I was doing units 1&2 for biology but by the time 3&4 exams rolled around I was pretty comfortable.

I'm planning to review the cognitive verbs over the Christmas holidays, so hopefully by next year I'll have them down.

I've never heard the term "exam incursion" before. Is this what you call all of your in-school/internal exams?

My school does exam blocks and exam incursions. Both consist of internal assessment, but for exam blocks you only come to school when you have an exam. With exam incursions you come to school everyday and resume normal classes when you aren't in an exam.

Do you think guides on "how to do a data test?" etc. would be useful or not so much?

That would be amazing!

"She actually stated that she wasn't going to teach us" I don't even know how to respond to that situation :(   Only thing I can think of is getting feedback from us so you can improve your writing but the teacher refusing to teach..... wow that's very rough.

I am definitely going to be making the most of the forums throughout Unit 3 & 4, that's for sure.

About stressing - that's pretty relatable. I used to be much more of a perfectionist than I am now and it's definitely helped me to gradually learn to let go. Mostly I want to emphasise that improvement is very much a possibility and the fact that you've already recognised this as an issue and are working on it is a good step in the right direction :)

Probably one of the most important lessons I have learnt form Unit 1 & 2 is the value of making mistakes. I have definitely learnt a lot more from my mistakes than I have from any "perfect" assignments. This has helped me to relax a little bit and I'm hoping next year I won't stress myself out as much :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Bri MT on October 04, 2019, 05:39:21 pm
I'm planning to review the cognitive verbs over the Christmas holidays, so hopefully by next year I'll have them down.
Good luck!

My school does exam blocks and exam incursions. Both consist of internal assessment, but for exam blocks you only come to school when you have an exam. With exam incursions you come to school everyday and resume normal classes when you aren't in an exam.
At my school we had both too but we just called them all exams. I guess having different terminology might be good so students don't get confused and leave school when they aren't meant to.

That would be amazing!
That's great to know! Can't guarantee when exactly I'll get it done but I'll work on it :)

I am definitely going to be making the most of the forums throughout Unit 3 & 4, that's for sure.
That's great to hear :)

Probably one of the most important lessons I have learnt form Unit 1 & 2 is the value of making mistakes. I have definitely learnt a lot more from my mistakes than I have from any "perfect" assignments. This has helped me to relax a little bit and I'm hoping next year I won't stress myself out as much :)
For some of my year 12 subjects I kept a list of the errors I made when answering questions and it was definitely a useful revision tool. Even if you don't take it that far, learning from mistakes is definitely super important :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: caffinatedloz on October 22, 2019, 06:45:31 pm
Hey Katelyn! How have things been? ;D
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on October 29, 2019, 06:46:42 pm
Hey Katelyn! How have things been? ;D

Hi Laura!

Things have been alright. I've recently started doing some preparation for the data tests that I have coming up in 4 weeks - scary stuff! I've also been doing some research for my English assessment, we are doing a persuasive speech and I have chosen climate change as my topic. I am very excited about it! In non-school work related news, my school had our annual Arts Night on Friday, I got to do some performances which was really fun. Also, 2 weeks ago my school had speeches for 2020 school captains - I signed up for the positions of school captain and stewardship committee leader. Fingers crossed! :) All the speeches were so good and it was really interesting to see what people in my grade had to say about the life of our college and their visions for 2020.
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: caffinatedloz on October 29, 2019, 09:20:00 pm
I've also been doing some research for my English assessment, we are doing a persuasive speech and I have chosen climate change as my topic. I am very excited about it!
Awesome!! What is your contention specifically? ;D

In non-school work related news, my school had our annual Arts Night on Friday, I got to do some performances which was really fun.
That would have been great. Was arts night about visual arts as well or mainly music, drama and dance?

Also, 2 weeks ago my school had speeches for 2020 school captains - I signed up for the positions of school captain and stewardship committee leader. Fingers crossed! :) All the speeches were so good and it was really interesting to see what people in my grade had to say about the life of our college and their visions for 2020.
Good on you!! Best of luck. <3 I find that speeches for that sort of thing always are really interesting.
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on October 29, 2019, 11:25:19 pm
Awesome!! What is your contention specifically? ;D


I'm not too sure yet, but while researching I've been looking at stuff like the global carbon budget and Australia's slice of that budget. So, I think I'm going to centre my speech around how Australia can reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to hopefully stay within our carbon budget. I'm planning to link it to equity and the importance of countries like Australia reducing net emissions down to zero as quickly as possible, so that the remaining carbon budget can be used in third world countries to build up infrastructure. I know it's kind of the basic approach to the climate change issue, but as Greta Thunberg said, it's black and white "there is no grey area when it comes to survival", either we reduce net emissions down to zero or we don't survive.

I'm actually really surprised though, because I thought a lot more people would choose climate change as their issue but most people are writing about abortion or the Hong Kong protests.

That would have been great. Was arts night about visual arts as well or mainly music, drama and dance?

Usually it is all four, but this year they decided that they would give visual arts its own evening. I'm pretty sure it's next Tuesday or something.
There is usually more dance performances than music or drama, but this year music came out on top  8)

Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: caffinatedloz on October 30, 2019, 05:11:20 pm
//
Your speech sounds fascinating. I agree. Australia is such a wealthy country and there is so much that we could do if we really committed.
I can see why the Hong Kong protests are popular though.

What instrument do you play? (assuming you're a musician) ;D
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on October 30, 2019, 11:25:42 pm
What instrument do you play? (assuming you're a musician) ;D

I am a pianist, and I also sing a bit :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on November 16, 2019, 12:54:00 pm
Woop Woop, guess who has some update worthy information?

These past couple of weeks have been eventful! :)

1. Last week I found out that I have received the position of school captain for 2020 (this was announced to the whole school yesterday). I'm super grateful for this opportunity, and it was a very pleasant surprise as I didn't think people would actually vote for me. I'm super keen for next year and hope to help make school as enjoyable for everyone as possible.

2. On Tuesday I went to a public forum about stem cells. It was very interesting. I got to learn all about how stem cells are used in research surrounding blood, skin, the brain (did y'all know there are things called brain organoids which can be used to study diseases such as alzheimers?? How cool is that?!?!), ageing and the heart.

3. On Wednesday my bio class had an excursion. We went to Morton Bay and did some experimental research type work on a boat and on St Helena Island. It was such a fun day - the highlight of the day was when I saw a wild dugong! (it was the cutest thing ever!) Random side note, my teacher guaranteed that we were gonna get wet. He kept going on about how we had to wear daggy clothes because we'll be on a boat and we will 100% get wet. The whole day, not a single drop of water had touched us. That is until I jinxed it... on the way back from St Helena Island to the docks at Morton Bay, my friends sat at the back of the boat because there were no more seats. We got a nice view of the water so we were pretty stoked. And then it happened. A big wave of water came flying at us, straight over the side of the boat... we were saturated...  ;D

Anywho, I digress.

I have an English presentation next week, a biology, physics and psychology data test in two weeks and a religion extended response exam in two weeks (fingers crossed it all goes well). My school also has its annual award ceremony coming up (its in 2 weeks time, after all of the exams). So hopefully over the next couple of weeks I'll have some more exciting updates :)

To my fellow QCE-ers, there's only a couple more weeks left of school for the year! You can do it! :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Bri MT on November 16, 2019, 02:38:31 pm
Congratulations!! :D

At your school do you have two captains? Did you have to do an interview process as well?

The forum sounds interesting - do you remember what they said about stem cells and aging? Imo aging is super interesting & even though I don't think that finding applications that can be used to reduce aging should be a high priority, it's certainly a fascinating topic. Sounds like that brain organoids topic ties into psych really well too :)

That field trip sounds like reason #523698 why bio is the best ;)

It's bewildering to think that the year above you will be getting their results in less than a month and that you're almost a 5th of the way through your units 3&4 journey :o . Good luck for awards night :)



Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on November 16, 2019, 04:09:50 pm
Congratulations!! :D

At your school do you have two captains? Did you have to do an interview process as well?

Thank you!! :D
So yeah, we have a male captain and a female captain. The process went as follows: you get an application form, fill out all of the questions (it was 8 pages long and had 19 questions) and get 2 teacher recommendations. If your application was successful, you went to the interview process and two teachers in leadership positions would ask you a couple questions. If the interview was successful, then you went on to a QnA session in front of the whole grade (you had to answer 5 questions - 1 was an unseen question that you were asked on the day). Then there was the voting processes, first the students vote and then the teachers.

The forum sounds interesting - do you remember what they said about stem cells and aging? Imo aging is super interesting & even though I don't think that finding applications that can be used to reduce aging should be a high priority, it's certainly a fascinating topic. Sounds like that brain organoids topic ties into psych really well too :)

The notes that I took down on ageing and stem cells were:
- Stem cells contribute to ageing and ageing related diseases
- As we age, the function of stem cells decreases (e.g. haematopoietic stem cells are less able to regenerate the different types of cells required to maintain healthy blood)

I also remember that they were talking about the regenerative effects of stem cell transplants.
We are also now able to "turn back time" and reprogram mature cells to turn them into pluripotent stem cells.

And yes, I was talking to my psych teacher about the brain organoids and she thought they were pretty cool. It'll definitely come in handy when we start to look at Alzheimers.

It's bewildering to think that the year above you will be getting their results in less than a month and that you're almost a 5th of the way through your units 3&4 journey :o . Good luck for awards night :)

Yeah, its pretty crazy! I feel like this year has gone by so quickly - I'm almost too scared to blink at this point.
And thank you! :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: caffinatedloz on November 17, 2019, 06:50:02 am
1. Last week I found out that I have received the position of school captain for 2020 (this was announced to the whole school yesterday). I'm super grateful for this opportunity, and it was a very pleasant surprise as I didn't think people would actually vote for me. I'm super keen for next year and hope to help make school as enjoyable for everyone as possible.
Massive congratulations!! I read your post about the proccess- it sounds really long. That's so exciting!!

2. On Tuesday I went to a public forum about stem cells. It was very interesting. I got to learn all about how stem cells are used in research surrounding blood, skin, the brain (did y'all know there are things called brain organoids which can be used to study diseases such as alzheimers?? How cool is that?!?!), ageing and the heart.
That would have been really awesome! Did they talk about the different type of stem cells (embryonic v iPCS)?
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on November 17, 2019, 05:23:45 pm
Massive congratulations!! I read your post about the proccess- it sounds really long. That's so exciting!!

Thank you!! ;D and yes, it is very exciting!

That would have been really awesome! Did they talk about the different type of stem cells (embryonic v iPCS)?

Yeah, they spoke about adult stem cells and pluripotent stem cells. When talking about the adult stem cells, they spoke about them in relation to a certain field of study and how they could be used to help treat patients with certain conditions. For example, they spoke about transplanting skin stem cells to help burn victims. They think that may be more effective than just using a skin graft. And with pluripotent stem cells, they were talking about awesome they were and how much potential they had in the medical world. They mainly spoke about how they can reprogram cells into pluripotent stem cells, so that they can be useful and a range of circumstances.
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on November 30, 2019, 09:16:19 am
So... it has been quite a hectic, stressful, overwhelming, yet exciting, year...
Yesterday was my last day of school, but it hasn't quite hit me yet. I still feel like on Monday morning I'm meant to be getting up early to prepare for another day at school, but I won't be. I feel rather conflicted. While I am glad the 2019 school year is over and I can put all the stress and pressure behind me, I am also rather sad and anxious.

Why am I sad? I had to say goodbye to 5 amazing teachers yesterday who will be leaving my school. I'm sad that 5 amazing teachers won't be with us to celebrate all our milestones next year. 2 of those five teachers have been there for me during really tough times and have shown me an endless amount of love and support - and for that I am so so so grateful. 1 of those 5 teachers was a huge cheerleader for me this year when I participated in my school's musical (we did Mary Poppins) - they offered me so much support when I felt like I was drowning in extracurriculars and school workload. The remaining 2 of those 5 teachers have just been such a bright light at my school. They are always smiling, always laughing and always lift students moods. I will miss the daily conversations I have with them - and the jokes! I will miss just being able to laugh with them. 5 amazing teachers are leaving, leaving me with 1 teacher left at my school that I am really close with

Why am I anxious? We had a little test run last year of the ATAR system, but now it really begins. The assessment we do now matters. Any mistakes we make now matter. We are still in the dark about so much. The big scary external exams are getting closer and closer as each day goes by. Soon, school will be over and we'll be thrown into an entirely new experience - of which we also don't know much about. Also, another reason why I am anxious about next year is because 1 of the teachers that is leaving (mentioned above) is my maths teacher. They have helped me so much this year in maths and really helped me to pick up my grades. My confidence in the subject grew so much. But now they're leaving. I can only expect that my confidence will crumble once again and my grades will dip once again.

Wow, that was a bit depressing. In happier news...
I had an exam block this week (yep, exam block on the last week of school - yikes), during which I completed a bio data test, psych data test, physics data test and an extended response essay under exam conditions (unseen question) for SOR. Overall, I did pretty well.
I don't know how I went for SOR (I will find out my grade in a couple weeks when they send out the start of unit 3 report cards - but I will only know my grade E-->A, I won't know what I got out of 25 until next year), but I did get my results back for the data tests.
Lets compare my results from the data tests at the beginning of the year to the end of the year...
(I should also add that the most current ones are yet to be cross-marked so my grades may change - fingers crossed they stay the same)

                   Biology
(start of year)        (end of year)
     6/10                      10/10  <-- I topped the grade

                Psychology
(start of year)        (end of year)
   7.75/10                   10/10

                   Physics
(start of year)        (end of year)
     5/10                      10/10

I would say that there is improvement there ;D
Big shout out to Bri for writing the articles on data test advice - you're a legend!

Yesterday, we also had our Senior Years End of Year Award Ceremony...
On whole I was quite happy with how it went.
I received the Award for Effort in Thinking and Learning (for achieving an A for effort across all of my subjects)
I received the Platinum Attendance Award (for 100% attendance)
I received the Silver Award for Excellence in Thinking and Learning (for achieving an A for 5/6 of my subjects)
I received an award for Top of Subject for Psychology (I was quite happy with this one as I really do love the subject so much, so topping it made me happy)

The only thing I am a little disappointed with is the excellence award. They usually base this award off of your end of year results (which would mean a combined result for unit 1 and 2). But this time they based it off of our Unit 2 results.
For unit 2 my English grade dropped (my teacher is not the best, so I'm not happy with my results in English), so all of my subjects were at an A level except English.
But for my end of year report (combined unit 1 and 2), which they usually base the awards off of, I had 100% As - which would have gotten me the gold award. But oh well, its done now. Lets hope next year I can get the gold :)

Anywho... I'm excited to enjoy my 2 month break off of school before the 2020 school year begins. I don't have much planned for the holidays, all I know is that I'm going to do some study, next Wednesday I have to go back to school in the morning to try on a blaiser for next year and on the last two weeks of holidays I'm going to NSW. I think next year will be ok. Academically I think I will be alright (we'll see how maths and English go). It won't be as fun without those 5 amazing teachers, but we'll survive. I'm excited to work with my cohort as one of the school captains and help make our school what we all want it to be and what we know it can be.

I hope everyone has a good holiday and an amazing Christmas :) 
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Bri MT on November 30, 2019, 09:26:06 am
I am so proud of you!

Congratulations on the progress you've made & everything you have achieved this year :D

I hope the new teachers who come in are compatible with you and are still a good source of support for you. Best of luck for your holidays and the academic year ahead; I've got full faith in you :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: brothanathan on November 30, 2019, 10:37:20 am
Wish there was an attendance award at my school  ;D

This is what dedication can bring, congrats.
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on December 25, 2019, 09:51:17 am
I just wanted to take a minute to say a very big MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! to everyone! ;D I hope everyone has a wonderful day and you all enjoy spending some time with your loved ones :). I know that for some the Christmas period is not one of joy, laughter and love and may bring about sadness and anxiety. To those that may be feeling down this Christmas, I just wanted to say that:
- You are loved
- You are wanted
- You are enough
- People believe in you and support you
- You are a beautiful human being

Merry Christmas all :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on January 29, 2020, 08:59:38 pm
Ahh... another school year. Today was my last first day of school. It's weird because I know that during the school year time goes so quickly and before I know it I'll be graduating, but the reality of this hasn't quite hit me yet.

To be honest, I'm anxious about this year. Every piece of assessment I do now matters, every mistake I make matters, every thing I learn matters... Last year I was able to stuff up and everything would be fine, but this year its a little different. I don't know why this makes me anxious, as last year went pretty well for me. I achieved 100% As on my unit 1 and 2 report card  (after being told at the start of the year that one of my teachers didn't think I would achieve an A in their class), I also got the top mark in my grade for one subject (wasn't too far behind in others), managed to get the best grades in my year level for the psych student experiment and research investigation, physics research investigation, bio student experiment and research investigation and English persuasive speech, and I also managed to write two research investigations (bio and psych) at a university level. So, realistically, I shouldn't be too stressed.
Sure, for some of my subjects I had some dramas (particularly in regard to teachers not actually teaching) and therefore, my grades weren't as high as they could have been (while I received As overall for all of my subjects, some of them only just made the cut).
Sure, there is room to improve, but I did so well and with all of the stress that I went through having a busy schedule (I participated in my school's musical which meant a lot of hours of rehearsals), I should be proud of myself.
My maths teacher left at the end of late year, which is extremely saddening for my class as we all had such a good relationship with him and he was an amazing teacher. This year I will have two maths teacher (this isn't ideal!!!). One of my teachers is working part time and I will have her for most of my lessons, but my class is dreading the teacher who will be taking us for the other lessons. This teacher is the one we specifically stated that we did not want, due to some drama that occurred in grade 10 extension mathematics....

However, I'm also really excited! This year will offer so many opportunities (volunteering, extracurricular, leadership...) and I'm so excited to see where this year takes me. So far, academically, grade 12 has been off to a great start.
My Unit 3 grades so far are as follows:
Psychology: 10/10
Biology: 10/10
Physics: 10/10
Methods: *haven't been assessed yet*
SOR: 24/25 (I was in the top 4 from my grade)
English: Either a 24 or a 25 out of 25 - I should hopefully find out tomorrow.
I'm pretty happy with these results, and I am looking forward to my next pieces of assessment.

How about this though... It is the first school day of the year and my school computer has decided to not work properly. So, for the next couple of days I have a replacement computer while the battery in my usual computer is serviced. Besides this little debacle, today went pretty good. My school has a new building (it was built last year) and it is called the "Senior Years Hub". It is a building in the centre of the senior years area and within it is a kitchen for students, study rooms, an auditorium, additional classrooms, access to the SY guidance councillor, pathway/career advisors, pastoral leaders, etc... It is in the centre of senior years so that students are forced to walk through it to get to classes (this way they are reminded that they are surrounded by additional support if needed). It is also home to year 12 lockers. We were allocated our lockers today - and boy oh boy are they big. I am really excited as I don't use my lockers for school stuff, so this year I am making a snack locker - its gonna be epic! They also gave everyone in my grade a travel coffee cup and inside it was a chocolate and some hot chocolate packets ;D

That update was kinda pointless, but I'm pretty excited about it ;D

I hope to update this thread as much as possible this year :)
As for now, this is all I've got - until next time ;D
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on January 31, 2020, 05:12:15 pm
Today we had our first whole college assembly, I was one of the MCs (along side the other school captain). It went pretty well, I choked up on a few words as I get a little nervous public speaking (even though I enjoy it), but other than that it went swimmingly. At the end of every assembly we play our college song and people get up and sing and do the dance moves that go along with the lyrics - most people join in. Once we get to middle years participation starts to decline, by the time you get to senior years, almost no one is singing or dancing. So, this time, the staff member who organises assemblies pulled the other MC aside and told him to stand in the middle of the stage and get people to participate.... This is where it went a little down hill... He didn't know the words or dances moves, but honestly, good on him for getting up there and trying his best! It was so admirable to see him get out of his comfort zone, in front of ~1400 students and god knows how many staff members...
But it got to the point where I just couldn't see him suffer any longer, so I ran out to the middle of the stage, put on a brave face and tried to do the best I could at being energetic. I didn't know all of the moves, so I just watched the teachers who were teaching the new students (but I pretended I knew what I was doing of course ;D). By the end, we had almost every single student dancing! It was crazy! All of the teachers were laughing at us but that's ok ;D
But administration loved it so now it might be a permanent thing.

Also, I got my English results today.. 25/25!!! FINALLY!!! I DID IT!!! ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: caffinatedloz on February 01, 2020, 05:24:44 pm
Wow Katelyn! Good on you for putting yourself out there. I hope that being school captain brings lots more opportunities for fun and laughter this year. Congratulations on a fantastic English score! Hope you really enjoyed your last first week back! ;D
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: J_Rho on February 01, 2020, 06:57:32 pm
Today we had our first whole college assembly, I was one of the MCs (along side the other school captain). It went pretty well, I choked up on a few words as I get a little nervous public speaking (even though I enjoy it), but other than that it went swimmingly. At the end of every assembly we play our college song and people get up and sing and do the dance moves that go along with the lyrics - most people join in. Once we get to middle years participation starts to decline, by the time you get to senior years, almost no one is singing or dancing. So, this time, the staff member who organises assemblies pulled the other MC aside and told him to stand in the middle of the stage and get people to participate.... This is where it went a little down hill... He didn't know the words or dances moves, but honestly, good on him for getting up there and trying his best! It was so admirable to see him get out of his comfort zone, in front of ~1400 students and god knows how many staff members...
But it got to the point where I just couldn't see him suffer any longer, so I ran out to the middle of the stage, put on a brave face and tried to do the best I could at being energetic. I didn't know all of the moves, so I just watched the teachers who were teaching the new students (but I pretended I knew what I was doing of course ;D). By the end, we had almost every single student dancing! It was crazy! All of the teachers were laughing at us but that's ok ;D
But administration loved it so now it might be a permanent thing.

Also, I got my English results today.. 25/25!!! FINALLY!!! I DID IT!!! ;D ;D ;D

Sounds like you had a fantastic start to school! Good on you for putting yourself out there and working hard to get that fantastic English score! 💙
What are you most excited about this year?
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on February 01, 2020, 10:18:45 pm
Wow Katelyn! Good on you for putting yourself out there. I hope that being school captain brings lots more opportunities for fun and laughter this year. Congratulations on a fantastic English score! Hope you really enjoyed your last first week back! ;D

Thank you so much Laura! :D
I'm pretty excited for this year - this year will definitely provide a lot of opportunities. I guess that's one of the things that I love about my school; you don't need to be a leader to have all these wonderful opportunities (e.g. volunteering, camps, retreats, performances, fetes, sporting competitions...). But yeah, as leaders we get to come up with ideas and goals for the school - its awesome seeing our visions come alive :)

Sounds like you had a fantastic start to school! Good on you for putting yourself out there and working hard to get that fantastic English score! 💙
What are you most excited about this year?

Thanks J_Rho! :)
I have definitely had a great start to the year - aside from some dramas with my new maths teachers ofc  ::)
Hmmm... what am I most excited about this year? So. Many. Things... ;D
Leadership opportunities is definitely something I'm pretty excited about. I'm rather reserved in person and tend to keep to myself, so I am excited to grow as a person and be forced out of my comfort zones. Last year I had to meet some heads from the organisation that runs my school (and ~160 catholic schools in SE QLD) - that was definitely a nerve wrecking but worthwhile experience :) My fellow leaders (there's 20 of us) have so many awesome ideas, some of which we are already making the steps to put in place (which is very exciting!!!) - I'll definitely have to keep this thread updated with everything that will be happening leadership-wise this year ;D
Aside from school captain stuff, I'm also helping to lead the middle and senior years choir (I'll be focusing on the first and second sopranos - as I am definitely not an alto) and I am also planning to get back into sport this year (I have already signed up for futsal and will hopefully be participating in touch, rugby 7s, and cross-country). I'm also hoping to get some lecture-styled support going for the new year 11s - my aim is to have current year 12s, who performed well in a particular subject, holding little tutorials for the year 11s to help them understand content or explore new study techniques.
As there year goes on I'll find out about more opportunities, so I'm definitely keen to see what will come my way :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Bri MT on February 02, 2020, 08:52:55 am
It's fantastic that you've been able to push outside you comfort zone for your personal development :D

Really great to see that you aren't focusing just on your studies and really great work to have some things already in progress!

Looking forward to seeing how this develops & it's great to see you've had a (mostly) great start so far!


Also - your marks so far are incredible & I hope you're really proud of the progress you've made
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on February 03, 2020, 08:11:54 pm
It's fantastic that you've been able to push outside you comfort zone for your personal development :D

Really great to see that you aren't focusing just on your studies and really great work to have some things already in progress!

Looking forward to seeing how this develops & it's great to see you've had a (mostly) great start so far!


Also - your marks so far are incredible & I hope you're really proud of the progress you've made

Thanks Bri! :)
Yeah its so nice to just let myself relax for a bit and not get so caught up with school work (like, I went to dreamworld on the weekend instead of doing school work... like what?!?! ;D)
I know there are going to be times where I will have to spend a little more time studying - and that's ok, but its nice to have a break every once in a while :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on February 05, 2020, 07:08:05 pm
Oh man... its only been 5 days since school started back but there's already drama. I seriously need some guidance, if anyone has any advice, please help me out!!!  :'(

I had a double period of methods this morning and my teacher wrote up a question on the board for us to answer. My friend and I did the same working out and got the question correct. My teacher looked at my friends working out and said it was good (so naturally, I assumed mine was fine).

But then she started to write her working out on the board - and it was completely different to what we had done (and she wrote it out differently to how our teacher taught us last year). So, out of confusion, I raised my hand and said "Sorry miss, but I'm just confused as to how we are getting the same answer. My working out is completely different to yours. I have 1/4 in front of cos instead of 1. I'm confused as to how you are working it out..." Now... I don't think this was rude. I didn't think it was unfair for me to ask, or that I was attacking her. But boy, she did not take it well. My friend also agreed with me and said that he was confused about how we were getting the same answer but doing completely different working out. My teacher lost it. In front of the whole class she shouted at us, "I'm right and you're wrong. Differentiate this then, huh? Can you? Can you differentiate this!? No! Ok, well how about this then, huh? Can you differentiate this?! No! So, are will willing to admit that I am right and you are wrong?!?!" ... I was shocked to say the least... never in my schooling life have I ever been yelled at by a teacher like that, and in front of the whole class??? I personally thought that was uncalled for and unnecessary... My friend and I looked at our working out and we realised where we went wrong, but she didn't give us a chance to say that we had found our mistake.. she just shouted and shouted and shouted.... I'm quite shaken up and honestly, I'm too scared to ask her any more questions... My friend and I weren't the only people to get shouted at that lesson. She shouted at a group of students at the back of the room who were trying to help each other with a question, but they were apparently being "rude and disrespectful!"....

I honestly don't want to go to another maths lesson because she makes me feel uncomfortable. As someone who has anxiety this really messes with my brain. I already struggle enough thinking that all my teachers secretly hate me (which I know isn't true, as I have wonderful relationships with many of my teachers), and being shouted at doesn't help. I also get a lot of anxiety asking questions, so being shouted at for asking a question doesn't help my anxiety.

My parents are not happy, at all, with how my friend and I were treated. It was uncalled for and unprofessional on my teachers part. They want me to talk to the head of mathematics at my school and tell them what has happened. But I am a little nervous about the potential that she will find out that I am the one who spoke to the head of maths about her... I have organised a time next week to ask him some questions I have about maths (because I'm too scared to talk to my own teacher) and my parents are urging me to talk to him then...

What should I do guys??? Its really messing with my mind and I don't want to go to my classes because she stresses me out and scares me... I've worked so hard to get where I am in methods, but now I'm too scared to ask questions, so I fear my grades will drop....

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

(I will say that for the most part this year has been wonderful so far! This is just one little issue that I'm sure will be sorted. I am still hopeful that this year will end as wonderfully as it began :))
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: ashmi on February 05, 2020, 07:43:06 pm
Hey K.Smithy!

My parents are not happy, at all, with how my friend and I were treated. It was uncalled for and unprofessional on my teachers part. They want me to talk to the head of mathematics at my school and tell them what has happened. But I am a little nervous about the potential that she will find out that I am the one who spoke to the head of maths about her... I have organised a time next week to ask him some questions I have about maths (because I'm too scared to talk to my own teacher) and my parents are urging me to talk to him then...
I hope you are alright! I absolutely agree with your parents here and highly urge that you do talk to the head of maths. This is definitely not the right way to treat students and it's better to get the problem sorted at the start of the year rather than leaving it too late. It probably would be best to go with a friend and talk it out calmly with the head (explain the situation and see what you can do to fix it. Say that you are very uncomfortable and are very worried about your future performance because of it. You could even try going with your parents for support ;D)

If that doesn't work out the next best thing you could do is to request a class change. If in the end, nothing can be done, the one thing you can do is to find another Methods teacher that is willing to help you in your situation.
That whole scenario is seriously not a good way to start the year. The main thing you should feel at school is the comfort of being safe and you should always feel comfortable asking questions. Everyone makes mistakes but no one should have to face a scenario like that as it's just unfair and rude.

If you need any help, AN is here to look after you ;D
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on February 05, 2020, 11:11:07 pm
Hey Ashmi!
Thank you for such a thoughtful reply :) Yeah, I think I'll have to gather up some courage over the next couple of days in preparation for my meeting with the head of maths. Unfortunately, my school doesn't take situations like this very well (from past experience), so I'm hoping that the head of maths is compassionate and can see that my concerns do not stem from a place of hatred towards my teacher...

If that doesn't work out the next best thing you could do is to request a class change. If in the end, nothing can be done, the one thing you can do is to find another Methods teacher that is willing to help you in your situation.

I would love to move class but there is only one methods class and we don't have any teachers qualified to teach it  :'(


Thanks again for your reply! Fingers crossed everything sorts itself out!
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Geoo on February 05, 2020, 11:30:11 pm
I'm so sorry that happened you that sounds absolutely awful. What she did was extremely uncalled for and quite unprofessional. I agree with what Ashimi has already said, and she has already given you some wonderful advice which I second. A class change sounds like the best option in this scenario. Anxiety is never fun, and it doesn't always help when you have people making you feel worse, so try not to feel to bad for giving a complaint. I know its a tough and anxiety inducing itself going to talk about an experience, especially with a head teacher, so I wish you all the best. All I can say is that when you do talk to the head of maths, try and express that you want to stay anonymous, and hopefully since she yelled at other students she won't know where the complaint came from.

So good luck, and I hope you have a better week!
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on February 05, 2020, 11:43:36 pm
Thank you for your reply Geoo! :)

All I can say is that when you do talk to the head of maths, try and express that you want to stay anonymous, and hopefully since she yelled at other students she won't know where the complaint came from.


I will definitely ask to remain anonymous! The last thing I want is for my teacher to think I wanna throw hands, haha ;D I have a feeling that after I talk to the head of maths nothing will be done straight away, rather, he will keep in touch with me to see if any problems keep reoccurring with my teacher, or if this was just a one time incident (which I'm hoping is the case).

So good luck, and I hope you have a better week!

Thank you so much! You guidance is greatly appreciated :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Bri MT on February 06, 2020, 09:03:21 am
It sounds to me like there are things happening outside of the class that have resulted in your teacher being highly stressed and more easily interpreting your comment in a mocking tone or as criticism rather than as a genuine question. You shouldn't have been the recipient of that and if you're now finding it hard to engage in your class this is something that absolutely should be addressed. Not only do I think that action should be taken on this for the sake of your learning but also for your wellbeing so it's not something you are continually ruminating on whenever maths comes up.

If you frame your discussion around trying to resolve the difficulty you're now facing in your learning, then it seems very highly unlikely to me that it would be interpreted as being about hatred towards your teacher.

Best of luck!
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Jimmmy on February 06, 2020, 03:34:05 pm
Hi Katelyn,

I had a similar sort of issue with my Methods teacher last year also, at almost an identical time. Just before our first Methods SAC (around first week of March), I got very ill, and missed a whole week of classes as well as a few SACs (including Methods). The day I got back (Friday) was two days after the Methods SAC was run, and that morning in Period 0 my Methods teacher approached me and told me I was going to do it Period 1 & 2 in the back of the room during our Methods class while she was teaching so she could keep a watch on me. Knowing our standard protocol at school (as of last year) was to do it the following Tuesday, I was puzzled, but additionally so considering I had already gone to our VCE coordinator about my SAC buildup and had already organised a time on the Tuesday morning before school. When I told my teacher this, she wasn't rapt, to say the least, but she begrudgingly accepted it.

I later found out I actually ended up doing the same SAC as everyone else, so even though I didn't go to my peers asking about the SAC (I got pretty bad marks for that first SAC...), I can understand her concern. However, at the time I even went to our coordinator and asked if there was a chance to swap Methods classes....no such luck.

However, I'm glad I didn't because that teacher and I patched things up and it ended up being one of the more enjoyable classes I had come Semester 2! I would suggest talking to that teacher, even if you don't feel comfortable doing it alone. Maybe find them at a lunchtime or even at the end of a class. Nobody wants to be the one to call out irregular practice (I did cop some flak whenever a delay in marking SACs due to an absentee came up...), but ultimately everyone respects you for campaigning for consistency for all your peers. If you talk it through with your teacher and show that it was a misunderstanding, I'm sure she'll be sympathetic. If not, I'd definitely recommend going to the higher power.

Like Bri said, it's highly likely this was the bubbling over of something else she's stressed about. Of course, not your job to cop it, but potentially something you could try sort out informally first.
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on February 06, 2020, 10:04:06 pm
It sounds to me like there are things happening outside of the class that have resulted in your teacher being highly stressed and more easily interpreting your comment in a mocking tone or as criticism rather than as a genuine question. You shouldn't have been the recipient of that and if you're now finding it hard to engage in your class this is something that absolutely should be addressed. Not only do I think that action should be taken on this for the sake of your learning but also for your wellbeing so it's not something you are continually ruminating on whenever maths comes up.

Yeah, I was talking to another friend about it (who is also in methods) and she thinks that our teacher may just be stressed and unsure about how to go about teaching us, considering she is a TAFE teacher and hasn't taught minors in a long time.
Apparently she has been shouting at kids in other classes too, so my class isn't the only one to have experienced it.

If you frame your discussion around trying to resolve the difficulty you're now facing in your learning, then it seems very highly unlikely to me that it would be interpreted as being about hatred towards your teacher.

Best of luck!

Yeah definitely. The only thing im worried about is how the school is going to handle it. Last year when we shared some of our concerns regarding an English teacher, we all got pulled aside and were given a lecture on how our behaviour (speaking up about our concerns) was unacceptable - but finger crossed this one is handled better!

Thanks Bri!

I had a similar sort of issue with my Methods teacher last year also, at almost an identical time. Just before our first Methods SAC (around first week of March), I got very ill, and missed a whole week of classes as well as a few SACs (including Methods). The day I got back (Friday) was two days after the Methods SAC was run, and that morning in Period 0 my Methods teacher approached me and told me I was going to do it Period 1 & 2 in the back of the room during our Methods class while she was teaching so she could keep a watch on me. Knowing our standard protocol at school (as of last year) was to do it the following Tuesday, I was puzzled, but additionally so considering I had already gone to our VCE coordinator about my SAC buildup and had already organised a time on the Tuesday morning before school. When I told my teacher this, she wasn't rapt, to say the least, but she begrudgingly accepted it.

The exact same thing happened to my friend! He was sick for a week and missed three exams and the day he got back - without warning - they forced him to sit 2/3 of the exams he missed... Because he was so sick he hadn't studied for them, so he requested an extension and they denied him one... It was rather unfortunate...

However, I'm glad I didn't because that teacher and I patched things up and it ended up being one of the more enjoyable classes I had come Semester 2! I would suggest talking to that teacher, even if you don't feel comfortable doing it alone. Maybe find them at a lunchtime or even at the end of a class. Nobody wants to be the one to call out irregular practice (I did cop some flak whenever a delay in marking SACs due to an absentee came up...), but ultimately everyone respects you for campaigning for consistency for all your peers. If you talk it through with your teacher and show that it was a misunderstanding, I'm sure she'll be sympathetic. If not, I'd definitely recommend going to the higher power.

Ohh man, I don't think my teacher and I will be patching things up very soon... If this is how she reacted when asked a question, I really don't want to know how she would react if I expressed my concerns. I've overheard some conversations she has had with other teachers and omg she comes across as being so so arrogant, and after our whole debacle, I don't believe she will think too highly of my peers concerns... But its worth a shot, I guess....

Thank you for the reply :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Bri MT on February 13, 2020, 04:01:42 pm
Hey,

Hope things have gone better for you over this week :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on February 13, 2020, 06:58:08 pm
Hey,

Hope things have gone better for you over this week :)

Heya :)

Things have been pretty good :) I spoke to the head of mathematics on Monday and omg, he is one of the nicest human beings on the planet! He really took the time to listen to my concerns, and said that he had already planned a meeting with my two math teachers that day (so I think other students may have spoke to him already). But he said he is aiming to build our rapport with the teacher and if we are still having troubles with her and if she isn't conducting herself well, we have to go straight to him and let him know asap. Unfortunately, he isn't confident with methods content so my support network at school for maths is pretty much non-existent (but at least I always have AN to turn to ;D). But I can say the head of maths is the biggest psychology nerd! Which is awesome because I haven't found anyone at school who is as interested in psych as I am, so I was nerding out to him the other day :)

I also found out that my bio teacher is still in contact with my old bio/physics teacher, and my old methods teacher (!!!). He asked my old maths teacher if he was teaching methods at his new school and if so, if he was able to send us the link to his one note so we aren't completely lost through the year... Unfortunately, he no longer teaches methods, he is a specialist teacher now (good on him though, I know how keen he was to teach spesh)

Ive only had a couple math lessons this week (due to interruptions), so its hard to judge if anything has improved. But fingers crossed :)

Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on February 18, 2020, 09:02:03 pm
So I have some sort of exciting news. I recently discovered the Peter Doherty Award for Excellence in STEM Education and I am contemplating whether or not I should apply.
In order to apply, you need to have achieved an A standard of achievement for at least 2 STEM subjects in year 11 (I received an A standard for 4).

You also need to show your commitment to STEM education beyond the curriculum. I have::
- Participated in STEM holiday experience days at Griffith University
- Participated in ICAS science competitions
- Completed extension work at school for science
- Explored STEM fields at university open days and STEM career exploration days
- Participated in the University of Southern Queensland's Mathematics Enrichment Program
- Been a founding member of my schools STEAM club
- Competed in the Australian Brain Bee and progressed through to state finals
- Attended a public forum on stem cell research

I also have to include any academic awards I have received, and in the past two years I have received:
- A gold academic award for achieving an A standard for 7/8 of my subjects in grade 10
- A silver academic award for achieving an A standard for 5/6 of my subjects in unit 2
- Award for Top of Subject for Psychology

Annnnndddddd, I also have to talk about my future university STEM pathway...

I kinda wanna apply but then part of me doesn't want to as there is good chance I won't be a recipient. But I also have to remember that there is no harm in just trying. So, yeah. I'm gonna talk to some teachers and see if they would be willing to be references for my application.
Fingers crossed all goes well! :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Joseph41 on February 19, 2020, 05:04:07 pm
I'm not familiar with that particular award, but definitely agree on the "no harm in applying" sentiment! Hope it goes well - keep us updated irrespective of whether or not you make the application. :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on February 19, 2020, 09:29:36 pm
I'm not familiar with that particular award, but definitely agree on the "no harm in applying" sentiment! Hope it goes well - keep us updated irrespective of whether or not you make the application. :)

Thanks Nick! I'll definitely keep y'all posted, at this stage it looks like I will be applying. I should hopefully submit my application within the next few days :)
I already have one reference (my psychology teacher) and tomorrow my bio teacher (who is also my school's learning enrichment coordinator) will fill out a form with his details. He also offered to help me write my 1000 word statement about why I should be a recipient (which is awesome because i don't know what I'm doing! ;D)

I'm definitely trying to get out of my comfort zone this year. There is a quote by Trevor Noah that I like to remind myself of a lot, and it goes: “We spend so much time being afraid of failure, afraid of rejection. But regret is the thing we should fear most." I would have a lot of regret in my life if I didn't get out of my comfort zone from time to time; I think if I don't apply for this I will regret it down the line.
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Bri MT on February 20, 2020, 11:07:40 am
Thanks Nick! I'll definitely keep y'all posted, at this stage it looks like I will be applying. I should hopefully submit my application within the next few days :)
I already have one reference (my psychology teacher) and tomorrow my bio teacher (who is also my school's learning enrichment coordinator) will fill out a form with his details. He also offered to help me write my 1000 word statement about why I should be a recipient (which is awesome because i don't know what I'm doing! ;D)

I'm definitely trying to get out of my comfort zone this year. There is a quote by Trevor Noah that I like to remind myself of a lot, and it goes: “We spend so much time being afraid of failure, afraid of rejection. But regret is the thing we should fear most." I would have a lot of regret in my life if I didn't get out of my comfort zone from time to time; I think if I don't apply for this I will regret it down the line.


On a similar note something I heard in uni is that if you're never failing or receiving "no" as an answer you aren't pushing yourself to your potential.

I'm not familiar with the award but regardless of whether the award recognises it, you're an excellent science student from what I've seen :D
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on February 20, 2020, 03:37:57 pm
On a similar note something I heard in uni is that if you're never failing or receiving "no" as an answer you aren't pushing yourself to your potential.

So true! It's only through failing and rejection (and receiving "no") that we experience personal growth

I'm not familiar with the award but regardless of whether the award recognises it, you're an excellent science student from what I've seen :D

Thank you so much! :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on February 29, 2020, 03:03:36 pm
Consider application submitted ;D Now we wait... until the 14th of August....  :o

(https://i.imgur.com/1GggRgD.png)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on March 23, 2020, 08:44:00 pm
I feel like I haven't been on in ages! So, it's obviously time for an update.
It's been stressful. If grade 12 isn't already anxiety-inducing enough, just chuck a global pandemic on top...

I had to do a very embarrassing presentation on washing hands at the last whole college assembly... I made a video the night before I presented and showed people the effects of improper hand washing technique. And then I got a whole heap of student leaders up on the stage to do the motions of washing hands while the Happy Birthday song was played in the background. The kids loved it - they were singing along and dancing. It was hella embarrassing for me. My school also decided to post the video I made to their Facebook and Instagram accounts... RIP to me

We are all currently awaiting the news regarding whether or not QLD schools will be shut down - all my teachers are assuming that it will happen very soon. I think that because NSW and VIC have decided to make the call, QLD will follow (I'm just hoping it happens before my maths exam next Monday).

It's been a bit heckers tho. Teachers are having meetings every single day to try and organise this online learning thing for when schools get shut. Everyone is a bit anxious.

I my weekly leadership meeting tomorrow. The point of discussion will be around COVID-19 and how we, as leaders, will handle it. All of our events and activities have been canceled (all sporting, dance, music, academic and social extracurriculars). We have also cancelled school camps, retreats, excursions, Anzac Day services, masses, liturgies, assemblies, cohort meetings.... Everyone must be 1.5 metres away from each other at all times. There must be no sharing of food or any items (whether it be a soccer ball or a pencil). And everyone must sanitise their hands upon entering and leaving a classroom. Any items that are shared must be disinfected after every use (e.g. sewing machines, pianos, guitars...).
So yeah, we need to figure out what we can do if, hypothetically, school stays open but restrictions are still in place.
We also need to figure out what we can do to support students if school moves online. I'm really hoping we can figure out some activities to keep the mood light during this stressful period.

But anyways... we'll have to see how things go.


I also have received some results from recent assessment.
I got an 18/20 on my PSMT - which I'm not very happy with, as I received a 19 last year (I know it is only 1 off, but I was really hoping to maintain that grade as I don't think I will do well this year because of my teacher)...
However, we have had some issues with marking. My teacher was marking very unfairly and was super inconsistent.
It was really bad - one of my friends received a 17/20 last year, but dropped down to a 10/20 this year... not ideal!
We got them all re-marked and some peoples' grades improved slightly. Mine stayed the same, but my teacher has been unable to justify to me why I have been marked down.

In happier news... I received a 20/20 for my physics student experiment! Despite having sucky data!!! This puts me at a total of 30/30 - 100% for Unit 3! Now I just need to tackle unit 4, which I am very keen about because relativity and quantum mechanics are my jam ;D

So, what's up and coming?
- my English final is due tomorrow. I am very stressed about it as I would like to receive a 24/25 for this task, but I don't know if I will... feature articles just ain't my thing..
- my SOR final is due on Wednesday. I am feeling ok about it... I am aiming, once again, for a 24/25... but Idk. I'm writing about how Hinduism influences adherents' ethical positions on embryonic stem cell research - which is very interesting! But for the first time in my life, I am under the word count. So I need to spend tonight and tomorrow beefing it up.
- my bio final (which I have to start tonight  :o) is due on Thursday.. I'm feeling ok. I have some solid research, and I am not a stranger to writing bio assignments the night before it is due.. While it isn't ideal.. I think I will be alright. I'm aiming for a 20/20 - but we'll see how this goes.
- my maths exam is on Monday (low-key hoping school gets shut down so I don't have to do it - I don't anything!!!)... I was aiming for a 14/15, as I would really like to improve my performance in methods this year, but I don't think this will happen. If I get a 12/15 I will be ecstatic.

OOOh, I also registered for the online AN lectures which I am keen about :)

Thats all I have for now. I feel like the next couple of days will be eventful, so who knows... maybe I'll have another update tomorrow.

I hope you are all doing well and are staying healthy!!!
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on May 11, 2020, 05:25:43 pm
Lol, been a while ;D How are you all??

So.. My maths exam did not end up getting pushed back - despite schools being shut down. My class still had to come in to sit the exam - was not fun.
The exam itself was quite easy, nothing too difficult. I was a bit bummed because I studied literally everything that wasn't on the exam but hardly anything that was (whoops).
At the start of the year, I was aiming for a 14/15. Then, with everything that has happened in my class, I lowered my hopes and aimed for a 12/15.
I ended up getting a 11/15 - which is ok. Would have liked to get more marks, but hey, what can I do now? I get to hopefully go through the exam tomorrow and see if I can spot anymore marks that the teacher missed (e.g. carry through marks). I know there is one question that I got wrong, but that was because my calculator kept coming back with "no solution" so I couldnt do anything (but my process was correct so hopefully I get carry through marks).

I also got my Bio, Psych, English and SOR results. I got 20/20 for bio (surprisingly... I was not confident in that assignment), 20/20 for psych, 22/25 for english (not very happy with this, because I feel like I have improved so much since last year but I got the same results...) and I got a 23/25 for SOR (was aiming for a 24.... but I guess this is cool too).

So my results for the entirety of unit 3 look like this:
Physics - 30/30, 100%
Psychology - 30/30, 100%
Biology - 30/30, 100%
Methods - 29/35, 83%
SOR - 47/50, 94%
English - 47/50, 94%

revised biology mark
Note: my school went into extraordinary review for our biology classes. QCAA couldn't find a trend, a nice bell curve, when looking at the results from our two classes. So 50% of students were moved down 1-2 marks one week before the external exams. Unfortunately, I was part of that 50% of biology students and my SE was dropped from 20/20 to 19/20... My teacher said that he didn't understand where I was marked down, but it is what it is.

Pre happy :) Obviously, in some areas I would have liked to have done better. But overall, there is improvement from last year.

Anywho, I am really glad to be back at school. Self-iso was driving me insane, but it's over now!! Yay! :)
My school did a virtual cross-country over the weekend - I have never run 5km in my life and I will never do it again. I had to role out my legs twice yesterday because they were just so sore... I was waddling like a duck around school all day...

The teachers were really happy to have students back (in fact, I've never seen them this happy...)... But school is eerily quiet with there only being Preps, 1s, 11s and 12s back.

Hope everyone is doing well! :D


(Also, if any 2020 QCE students are interested in joining a bio or english study group let s110820 or myself know! :))
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on September 20, 2020, 05:45:21 pm
Hi friends :)
Time for an update!
Took a bit of a break from AN forums throughout terms 2 & 3 and really focused on completing my notes for all of my subjects - needless to say, I'm happy to be back.

I'm gonna try and keep this short and sweet because I know that I have the tendency to write entire essays  ::)

What has happened since the last time I was here
- I've had a few new maths teachers... I'm up to my fourth methods teacher for the year (he's pretty cool) - so no, methods is not going well this year
- my schools performance night was moved online so I had a very hectic term preparing performances
- had my grade 12 retreat which was good fun (we usually go to Toowoomba but had to hold it at school this year)
- had 100 day cupcakes to mark 100 days 'til grad :) - very yum
- applied for uni!!!!!
- had mock exams
- had my last ever normal lessons for grade 12  :'(

How did mocks go?
I think they went ok, I definitely failed methods but that ok. The only result that I know so far is physics and English. I got 37.5/50 for physics (75%) and 21/25 in English (84%). I also know that i got 18/20 for the bio multiple choice questions and 24/25 for psych multiple choice.
My predictions are as follows:
- methods: 20/50
- SOR: 18/25
- psychology: ~37.5/50
- biology: ~37.5/50
I found the second psychology exam to be super hard. The first was one of the easiest exams I've ever taken but the second was so hard. I have to wait until next term to get my results though. Overall, i think I did ok considering the fact that I didn't really study for them

What's coming up
- lots of study. I have planned out every single day for the next 2 months
- I have my school formal on the 9th of October - I am very excited  ;D
- I only have to go to school for a handful of days next term (for a few tutorials and exams)
- my birthday is the week before exams start and I have a tutorial on that day... lol. That is also the only tutorial that I have that week. But i guess it's better than spending my 18th home alone ;D

Anyway, that's all I have for now. I'll update this again once I get all my results back for the mock exams and I might have an update after formal... who knows :)
Hope everyone is doing well.
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Bri MT on September 20, 2020, 06:12:13 pm
Great to hear from you again!

4 maths teacher for a year 12 student....  :(

It's normal for mock results to be a bit underwhelming especially in short answer when you have the content but not the experience in knowing what to say to get the marks so don't stress if your results leave you a bit of room to grow. Good luck, I'm sure you'll get there :)

I didn't really celebrate my 18th because I was so caught up on it being 1 month until methods; I hope that you still have a good day despite your focus on preparation!

I hope your study schedule includes plenty of breaks and best of luck! If you tune into the psych lecture on Tuesday you'll hear from me then; best of luck for rest of this stretch until exams :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on September 20, 2020, 07:08:46 pm
It's normal for mock results to be a bit underwhelming especially in short answer when you have the content but not the experience in knowing what to say to get the marks so don't stress if your results leave you a bit of room to grow. Good luck, I'm sure you'll get there :)

Yeah, exactly :) My teachers have also told us that the mocks were written before the syllabus was finalised, so there are questions on them that aren't relevant. There was also a question on the physics exam that required you to figure out the area under the curve in order to calculate work.... but there was also a formula for work (W = Fs). So we all just used the formula, which got us the wrong answer. My teacher does not like that question ;D (neither do I - but now I know what to do if i come across it in the real exam).
Another question that got me was one in the methods exam. It asked us to do some arithmetic sequences.... but that was unit 1/2 content, so none of us remembered how to do it  :o

I didn't really celebrate my 18th because I was so caught up on it being 1 month until methods; I hope that you still have a good day despite your focus on preparation!

That's a shame!  :'( did you end up doing anything after your exams?
I have my psych tute on that day, which is great because it is one of my favourite subjects. If i had english or SOR I probably would have died a little inside :P It's just a bit sad because I don't have any friends that study psych, so I wont be able to spend the day at school with my friends (lol, that reminds me... I have to figure out who I'm gonna sit with at lunch times... probably my sister then ;D). But i'm hoping that I can go out and have dinner that night, just something small with my immediate family and family friends to celebrate before exams.

I hope your study schedule includes plenty of breaks and best of luck! If you tune into the psych lecture on Tuesday you'll hear from me then; best of luck for rest of this stretch until exams :)

Aha after the second psych mock I definitely made sure to register for the lecture!
Thank you!! :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Joseph41 on October 11, 2020, 09:48:47 am
How have your last few weeks been, K.Smithy? :)
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on October 12, 2020, 06:37:40 pm
Time for an update!
I've had 3 tutorials so far (English, bio, and SOR). Man they are tiring! Spending six hours on one subject just sucks the energy out of you. But, other than them being really exhausting, it has been good. I have my methods tutorial on Wednesday and physics on Thursday. My physics teacher is buying us all fish and chips so we can have a picnic together at lunchtime.

I've got all of my mock results back now - and I'm not mad.
As stated in my last update, I got 37.5/50 for physics (75%) and 21/25 in English (84%).
My prediction for methods was 20/50 (lol). Yeah, that didn't happen. Try 16/50 (32%) - the sad thing is that this is above average for my class. I still have two weeks to prepare for the real exam so I think i should be fine (I'm just aiming for a pass as I don't think it will be in my top 5 anyway).
My prediction for SOR was 18/25. I was pleasantly surprised with a 21/25 (84%).
My prediction for psychology was ~37.5/50. I got 38/50 (76%) - I got an A on the first paper and a C+ on the second (whoops)
My prediction for biology was ~37.5/50. I got 36.5/50 (73%) - I got a B on both exams (only one person got an A on the first exam, and I got the highest mark for the second).

I'm pretty happy with my performance overall. For English, I lost half of my marks due to poor punctuation and grammar - easy enough to fix. I also need to use a bit more evidence. But, considering I haven't read the novel, I am pretty happy with my A-.
For physics, I need to work on my graphical analysis. Aside from that, I just need to touch up on a bit more and actually study.
For methods, I just need to not be dumb.
For SOR, I just need to work on some punctuation and grammar. Aside from that, I just made one small error.
For psychology, I need to review case studies a bit more.
For biology, I need to work on graphical analysis as I lost a lot of silly marks on that. I also need to just touch up on a few topics.

Overall, it was refreshing to see that there were pretty much no questions that I got entirely wrong. There were only like 2/3 questions in total that I got 0 marks for. Other than that, I just need to make sure I include enough detail in my answers.

On a more fun note... I had my formal on Friday. It was an absolute blast. We couldn't dance, so we did trivia instead. It was quite funny. One of the categories was about teachers and they would put up photos of teachers from when they went to their own formals and we had to guess what teacher it was. Very entertaining! 

How have your last few weeks been, K.Smithy? :)

Hey Nick!
It's been super hectic and it is starting to get a bit overwhelming with exams and all that. The stress is definitely setting in, but that is no doubt just part of the year 12 experience :)
There is only 39 days until graduation, so I just need to keep myself motivated for a bit longer. But I am very excited to go out into the "real world" and start uni.
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Bri MT on October 13, 2020, 09:12:46 am
Great to hear from you again :D

6 hours straight is rough :o

It's so easy to make a silly mistake on a physics graph like misreading the axes or units. Make sure you also remember to be careful about how changing the speed of rotation of an AC generator is reflected two ways on a graph (emf & period change). Also consider the 2017 VCE exam q on research methods and where you need to draw a line of best fit.

For psych, make sure you stick to the syllabus in your studies and don't give too much focus to the case studies.

What topics do you need to touch up on for bio?

Make sure you don't just go more detailed but try to see and learn mark distribution if you can.

Good luck!
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on December 06, 2020, 08:52:31 pm
... Ouch...
All I can say is that I preferred the mocks...

My ATAR took a lot of hits last month - 6 to be exact. I was going in very hopeful, I thought that I had a good shot at getting an ATAR around the mid 90's. I very much doubt it now. I botched pretty much every exam... Goodbye hopes and dreams (lol, just being dramatic, but I am serious about botching my exams).

English: Wtf were those questions?? (I did 1984 btw) I ended up going with the character based question (which I realised half-way through was the dumbest decision of my life because I had never practiced a character based question... Idiot). I wish I chose the Room 101 question instead. Once I had finished my very poorly written essay I was able to come up with so many amazing ideas for the first question... It was a big "Well... Shit..." moment for me.

Methods: I'd never cried during an exam until the second methods paper. For real. First one was pleasant. I actually quite enjoy calculus and I'm pretty confident in my ability when it comes to it. Given that the first paper was almost entirely calc., I felt good. Second exam however...... Not the same story... You see, I SUCK at probability. I'm absolutely hopeless. The entire second paper was pretty much just probability and I felt like the biggest idiot because I could barely answer any questions.

Biology: I'm feeling alright. I can't tell if it was pretty easy or if I completely messed up the entire thing. I'm feeling grateful that the SDI question was worth 6 marks :P :P :P Where were the biotechnology questions tho??? Gene regulation who?? Biogeochemical cycles what?? A lot of the content that we expected to be there just wasn't.

Physics: ... I've felt better.... This exam actually quite annoyed me. Almost the entirety of both papers was electromagnetism. That is my worst topic in the entire syllabus.... If that asked any questions on unit 4 content then I would have done great, but noooooooooo... they had to make the entirety of both papers electromagnetism.... Not feeling great.

Psychology: First paper: fantastic. Second paper: wtf? Where were the questions on the content of the syllabus? There was only like one question in the second paper that was actually on the theory from the syllabus. That question was really good and I actually quite enjoyed coming up with my answer for it. Every other question (aside from the data question at the end which I will come back too  :o) was solely about case studies - not just the findings of the studies but actual details from the studies. My class had only ever focused on the findings from the case studies not the details about what happened, so I had to bullshit pretty much all of my answers. Also, I found out after the exam that the QLD psychology textbooks have the wrong version of the bystander intervention model. We have the 1970 version, not the 1968 version (which they asked a question about  :o :o :o)... Ok, now the data questions.... why tf would they ask about interquartile range?? I haven't done that since the beginning of term 1 in grade 10... They think I remember how to do that now?? Data questions were meant to be easy marks, but I guess not.

SOR: I'm feeling really weird about this one, but I felt weird about the mock and I did well... So I'm holding onto hope. A lot of the questions were just odd and I wasn't quite sure how to answer them. But I definitely didn't fail (unlike the second methods paper).

I'm really quite disappointed with how I performed. My anxiety really got to me in the month leading up to exams and I just couldn't bring myself to study. I would lay in bed staring at the ceiling for hours too scared to even look at my notes. But it's over now. I've graduated. There's nothing more I can do. Graduation felt odd, it was very different from every other graduation I've seen in the past, but I am very grateful I got to have one.
I've been getting major imposter syndrome lately and it's been making me feel sick. I did really well on my internal assessment and that was reflected at graduation. I left with the awards for dux of psychology, biology and physics, dux of my cohort, an award for 100% A's and an award from the Australian Institute of Physics for excellence in physics... Now that I've performed poorly on my externals, I feel horrible. I don't feel deserving of the awards I received at grad. I feel like a fraud. I feel like an idiot who has managed to fool all of my teachers and peers and I feel like I have all of these expectations that have been placed on me by others. I'm terrified that people are going to find out what my ATAR is and then have their views of me change as a result. I'm scared that I am going to disappoint all of my teachers who have worked so hard this year to get us all through and to help us succeed. I've had nightmares almost every single night since graduation about my ATAR. I am terrified.
Currently, I am working on separating my intelligence and self worth from my ATAR. I'm trying to remind myself that if I don't reach my ATAR goals, that doesn't make me dumb. My intelligence and self worth are not dependent upon that one number and are free standing. It's been hard, but I can't wait for this year to end so I can just move on from this moment in time. This small insignificant chapter of my life..

I hope everyone else is doing well!
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on December 23, 2020, 12:33:36 pm
My ATAR took a lot of hits last month - 6 to be exact. I was going in very hopeful, I thought that I had a good shot at getting an ATAR around the mid 90's. I very much doubt it now. I botched pretty much every exam... Goodbye hopes and dreams

Gosh I'm so dramatic ;D

So, I guess this is where my journal comes to a close. This journal has been through a rollercoaster of emotions since its conception around a year ago. Thank you to everyone who has joined me on this journey.

While I am sad to see this chapter of my life come to an end, I am very excited for the journey ahead. I'm planning to document the next few years in a uni journal and hope to see you over that side of the forums :)

I ended the year on a high, receiving an ATAR of 98.40. I am pleased to announce that this morning I received and accepted an early offer for the Bachelor of Advanced Science (Honours) at UQ (you can find my other results here)

It has been a wild ride, but I am so glad that I got to do it alongside this fantastic community of people.

Katelyn out!  8) *mic drop*
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: Evolio on December 23, 2020, 12:50:27 pm
Hey Katelyn!
I've loved reading your journal throughout the year and I just wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS on your amazing results and on the offer! That's a great achievement!
Looking forward to reading your uni journal!!
Title: Re: ATAR will be the death of me :)
Post by: K.Smithy on December 23, 2020, 08:28:31 pm
Hey Katelyn!
I've loved reading your journal throughout the year and I just wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS on your amazing results and on the offer! That's a great achievement!
Looking forward to reading your uni journal!!

Thank you! I wish you the best for when your results come out - not long now!  ;D