I'm in Year Ten this year... What should I be doing?

[Jocoaster]

I'm currently in Year 10 this year and I feel like I am inadequately prepared for the VCE. I've only completed one VCE subject to date, that being 1/2 Methods. However, most of our assessments and tests were take home (i.e. not reputable) and our SACs mostly had questions from the checkpoints book (which I had done before). I've looked at some 3/4 Methods exams papers and I could only bar a 50% on the papers altogether. I'm really worried about that I'm not doing enough.

[Calebark]

Hey Jocoaster, welcome to ATAR Notes!

If you're only starting Units 3/4 now but can already manage a 50% on the end-of-year exam, then I'm certain you're already ahead of the pack, so you shouldn't worry about that. If you're concerned about your assessments not being appropriate, you could always talk to your teacher and ask if they could be set in proper test conditions. I understand this might be a bit awkward to do, so failing that, try asking your teacher (or a coordinator) if your school has any commercially available test papers for you to do. Some schools might even purchsae them for willing students.

I should also note that it is not necessary to complete multiple 3/4's early in order to be successful for VCE. Personally, I didn't even take any Unit 1/2 subjects in Yr 10. As long as you're keeping appropriate study habits (being both studious and healthy -- it's not good for study to  completely dominate your life), you should be fine

[Joseph41]

I'm currently in Year 10 this year and I feel like I am inadequately prepared for the VCE. I've only completed one VCE subject to date, that being 1/2 Methods. However, most of our assessments and tests were take home (i.e. not reputable) and our SACs mostly had questions from the checkpoints book (which I had done before). I've looked at some 3/4 Methods exams papers and I could only bar a 50% on the papers altogether. I'm really worried about that I'm not doing enough.

Hey, Jocoaster! How are you finding your holidays?

Very honestly, I think you could have done literally not a single thing VCE-related by this point and still do just fine. Very well, in fact. I think my best advice at this point would be to focus on developing effective study habits rather than anything VCE-specific.

By "this year", do you mean 2018? If so, you're way ahead of where the majority of students would be at. Are you planning on doing Methods 3/4 in Year 10? If not, are you planning on doing any other 3/4?

I only did one 3/4 subject before Year 12, which was Business Management in Year 11. A lot of students in my cohort didn't do any - so they just did all of their 3/4 subjects in Year 12. In regard to not doing enough, IMO your best bet right now is try to enjoy your holidays as much as possible. VCE can be a bit of a drainer - there's no need to burn yourself out this early!

After Year 11 (so just before Year 12 started), I went overseas for a month. Didn't do a single thing. It was definitely the best thing for me. EDIT: And got a 99+ ATAR, so there's definitely no need to work every minute of every day!

[OchreOrca]

I've looked at some 3/4 Methods exams papers and I could only bar a 50% on the papers altogether.

This shows you've done some good work! I was in the same position as you one year ago and I remember in this very time Tbh, since I was doing only one subject in Year 11, which I assume you are as well. I started studying in the mid March. Seeing you could only bar a 50% on the papers, that is amazing! I would only be probably able to do 30% of this or idk at that time. Best of Luck in Methods!

[brenden]

Get a part-time job and start saving

[Joseph41]

Get a part-time job and start saving

This is great advice.

[Jocoaster]

I'll further elaborate on my current situation at school for the upcoming school year. I completed Mathematical Methods Units One and Two last year (my year nine year) because my school, Box Hill High School, has an accelerated program and I got an invitation to study at this level. My performance... wasn't that phenomenal to be honest.... I near failed one SAC (got 52%) and then performed slightly better at mid-years attaining a somewhat respectable rank of 78% and then performing better with our Calculus SAC at 93% (however, this is because the SAC was very easy and even had questions from checkpoints in it)....and my lackluster performance at the end of year examinations had me peak at 87%. I used to be horrendous at Maths (near failing Year Nine/Ten accelerated Maths because of being heavily bullied in junior years which included having rubbish thrown at me when going back home; getting stalked and being recorded without my permission; having people gang up on me in the locker rooms and hurl insults at me without stopping;unsupportive teachers saying that I was the problem, and I could go on....) but my academic progression hasn't been too hot at all. It's demoralizing to see all these high achievers on the forum managing high ATARs and near perfect study scores, boasting to not study at all or in very small increments. My performance in my other subjects isn't exactly too exemplary...

English: Despite being conned a strong writer with a strong and sophisticated vocabulary, my marks this year: C+. C, A+ and B- for English whilst I have peers that I personally do not feel have as strong as a writer's skill get high A pluses...
Maths: I poured my heart and soul into this subject and devoted more time to it and would be ranked near the bottom of the cohort
General Science: Didn't learn anything because of a horrible teacher and an unruly class atmosphere

I feel like I'm not adequately prepared for my VCE and I feel like I'm not good enough for any course at this rate.... With my self esteem diminished from all the teasing I had to endure, I wonder what ATAR I'll get.... 

Subject line up for this year:
Specialist Mathematics Units One and Two: I can't even complete the Chapter Two exercises that we have been assigned these school holidays
Physics Units One and Two
Biology Unit One and Two

I dropped Chinese Units One and Two because I didn't feel like going there anymore because I just wasn't good enough. I'm kind of down in the dumps at the moment with school and thinking what I really want to do in the future.......

[Sam M]

I'm thinking that perhaps you're taking on too much this year. One 3/4 subject and three 1/2 subjects in year 10 seems pretty stressful to me (back then I was hardly thinking about vce and not doing any 1/2 or 3/4 subjects) and I think this might be a bit too much to take on if you are worried about your performance in methods and would like to devote more time to it. I would suggest maybe talking to your school about not doing one or two of the 1/2 subjects (probably specialist, by the sounds of it) if you think this load is too much.

The first thing I would do is try and not get too stressed as you've got three whole years of work before you receive your atar. Realistically, it wouldn't be crazy for you to repeat methods when you are in year 11 if you are unsatisfied with your performance this year. Regardless, the only thing you can do right now is try your hardest to make sure your foundations are up to standard and maybe get a head start on some of the content before school starts.

Also, if you do do biology units 1/2 your performance isn't that vital as not much pre-existing knowledge is required for units 3/4, so don't stress to much about that. Just focus on your maths, and make sure you try and improve your english situation (which you still have plleeeeeenty of time to do, so don't worry too much)

[PhoenixxFire]

Hey,

Sounds like school has been pretty shit so far. How have you teachers been treating you recently? Do you know which teachers you have next year? If you do, are they teachers you dislike? I get what you mean that's pretty much how I felt for years 7 and 8, luckily I was able to move schools.

Firstly, whilst there may be people who claim to do extremely well without trying, it is simply not true. Most of the time people claim this because they either want to appear smart or they don't want to be embarrassed at working hard, but then not having results that reflect that. My issue with talking about how hard people work is that the response can go two ways. It is either 'oh you don't study much you must be smart' or 'you study lots, i'm not doing enough', and the truth is neither of these are true. One person might seem not to study much, because they don't study after school, hen in fact they spend most of their before school/lunch time/ whenever else studying instead. Or someone says 'i spent all this week studying for that SAC' but then someone beats them who didn't spend the whole week studying. But perhaps person 1 didn't study at all the month before, and person 2 did. You just don't know. This is why I avoid talking about how much I study, just because it takes me a certain amount of time to learn something does not mean it will take someone else the same length of time. Whilst I understand this is really frustrating, I don't really have any advice other than to ignore them, and know that there is more going on than what they are telling you.

If you don't feel like your teachers are helping you this year, feel free to ask any questions you have in the relevant sections on here instead, and someone will get back to you. You said that you can't complete the specialist activities you have been set, so how about you post one of them in the spec forum and someone will show you how to go about it. For English, you can post your English essays and someone will give you feedback on them to help you improve.

If you have some sort of chaplain/school counsellor/etc you can talk to them about this, and they have to take your side  They will know your situation better than we do, so they can give you some more practical advice. It also sounds like the bullying from the past is still affecting your confidence, so it may help to speak to someone about it - If you don't want to talk in person there are anonymous phone numbers you can call, there are also online resources available eg. Youth beyondblue, reach out, black dog institute, kids helpline, all have some great resources for teenagers.


Don't worry too much about your atar at this point, there are always pathways to get into the area you want to study. If you know the general direction you're heading in I'm sure I can find some of them for you to have a look through, although it is far, far off at this point, it can be reassuring to know that it will all turn out okay  VCE is just a few years of your life, you still have another 60-80 after you graduate.


Adding to what Sam M said, don't feel like you have to drop any of your subjects if you don't want to. I did 3/4 psychology, 1/2 English, 1/2 biology in year 10. I also did 1/2 methods for the first half of the year and failed it epicly (I got 14% for one test - I picked B for all the multi choice), definitely not a math person haha, but if that's your thing, go for it.



Definitely don't feel like you have to know what you want to do in the future. For now just keep doing subjects that you enjoy and you can't go wrong. I still don't know (although i've mostly decided on a uni course, beyond that is unknown). I had absolutely no idea until i did a fish elective in year 10 and realised that fish were cool. I then did 3/4 bio this year and realised that bio is cool, so i'm going for something to do with enviro science or medical research areas. I would advise trying out new things to get an idea, you might find something you enjoy, also maybe sit down one day and go through random uni courses and copy any that look interesting into a word document - chances are you will notice a theme.

Sorry for the super clunky reply, I had trouble sorting what I wanted to say into an organised reply, let me know if anything doesn't make sense.