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Author Topic: The Odyssey of VCE :)  (Read 17827 times)

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tigerclouds

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The Odyssey of VCE :)
« on: October 04, 2019, 06:20:05 pm »
+10
Hi there!
I'm quite excited to be starting a journal on the forum and I really hope I continue on with it. I'm currently in year 11, doing English, Biology, Legal Studies, Chemistry, Psychology, Texts and Traditions and Methods 3/4.
So.. why did I start this journal? Well, it can all get a little bit too much in VCE and I would just like to have a place where I can reflect and maybe even vent.
In all honesty, I'm in a bit of a rut at the moment. I don't really have any motivation to do work anymore and I'm just genuinely tired. I'm on my last couple of days of Term 3 holidays. I had a trial exam at school for Methods yesterday and have been working hard leading up to it. I started doing practice exams and analysing them to see how I can improve. I did 6 which compared to others may not be a lot but I'm really proud of the amount of effort I put into studying for Maths early on in the holidays. However, I'm really not happy with how I'm doing with the practice exams. I've been getting around 40% for Exam 1 and ranging from 23% to 60% for Exam 2. It's really disheartening because I have a high goal for my study score in Methods but it just doesn't seem attainable anymore. To give you some context: I've been getting 80% and above for Methods SACs which also isn't spectacular but I'm happy with them because I'm working hard. And yeah, the trial exam yesterday wasn't great. It was the 2019 MAV Exam 2. I feel like I did really well on multiple choice but like I left the whole last question of the extended response blank, partly due to time but also because I was clueless and I also didn't know how to do like a handful of other questions. Everyone else in my cohort felt the same but it still sucks to feel this way. I'm trying reaaaaally hard to be positive. I mean, the more practice exams I do, generally the better I perform but it's just daunting that I only have literally 32 days (I have a countdown app rip) to go until the first exam. I just feel like I wasted the whole year with maths. I just don't understand how people start practice exams so early! I literally finished my prob SAC in the last week of Term 3. I just really want to do well because I want to make my parents and my teachers proud but I also want to make myself proud. It's just really stressful and energy-consuming and I just have super high expectations of myself.
Anyway, sorry for being depresso (especially on my first post lol), it's just getting to me. I just have to remember to be patient and persistent.
Hope you have a lovely day :)
« Last Edit: October 13, 2019, 07:59:21 pm by tigerclouds »

Bri MT

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Re: The Odyssey of VCE :)
« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2019, 06:28:50 pm »
+2
Hey! Welcome to the forums :)


I wouldn't say you've been 'depresso' in this post and even if you were that's ok - you don't owe it to us to be always 100% positive, and that would be an unrealistic standard to hold anyone to. On the plus side, it's great that you're have difficulties and learning lessons now that you'll be able to take with you into year 12 next year :)

I hope you stick around too!

Why are you doing methods early? Is this normal at your school?

JR_StudyEd

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Re: The Odyssey of VCE :)
« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2019, 06:31:46 pm »
+3
Hey tigerclouds, welcome to the forums and I greatly commend you on starting a journal!

Are you confident that you'll keep your Year 11 subjects for Year 12?

And about practice exams for Methods...Well I've completed a whopping grand total of 1 so far (2016 VCAA exam 1), so don't place any extra stress on yourself for the quantity. I'm pretty sure you'll hear this bit of info again on the forums some time down the line, but ensure that you actually learn from each practice exam you do (which you're doing, so that's great!) Also, some exam questions are designed to be super difficult, so keep that in mind.

Keep at it, stay healthy and just enjoy it (I know this is a stressful/crappy time).
Listens to K-Pop (Twice, Red Velvet, MAMAMOO) and Christmas music all year round.

tigerclouds

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Re: The Odyssey of VCE :)
« Reply #3 on: October 04, 2019, 06:58:13 pm »
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Thank you so much for being so welcoming guys, I really appreciate it :)

Why are you doing methods early? Is this normal at your school?
So what happens at my school is at the end of year 8, you apply to get into the advanced maths class, where you complete the combined yr9 and yr10 course in yr 9 and methods 1/2 in year 10. I was lucky enough to be able to do this and so I did methods 1/2 last year and decided to finish off 3/4 this year so I can just have methods out of the way because I really do enjoy the rest of my subjects and I want to focus on them in year 12 :)

Are you confident that you'll keep your Year 11 subjects for Year 12?
Yeah I'm happy to say that I am because I actually transferred out of Lit 1/2 to do Psych at the end of Semester 1 because as beautiful as Lit is, I think it's really hard to do well in and I didn't want to pick up a new subject in year 12. I also do enjoy Psych. And haha thank you for reassuring me. You're right I do have to keep those things in mind. Best of luck with your exams!

J_Rho

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Re: The Odyssey of VCE :)
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2019, 07:50:55 pm »
+1
Hi there!
I'm quite excited to be starting a journal on the forum and I really hope I continue on with it. I'm currently in year 11, doing English, Biology, Legal Studies, Chemistry, Psychology and Methods 3/4.
So.. why did I start this journal? Well, it can all get a little bit too much in VCE and I would just like to have a place where I can reflect and maybe even vent.
In all honesty, I'm in a bit of a rut at the moment. I don't really have any motivation to do work anymore and I'm just genuinely tired. I'm on my last couple of days of Term 3 holidays. I had a trial exam at school for Methods yesterday and have been working hard leading up to it. I started doing practice exams and analysing them to see how I can improve. I did 6 which compared to others may not be a lot but I'm really proud of the amount of effort I put into studying for Maths early on in the holidays. However, I'm really not happy with how I'm doing. I've been getting around 40% for Exam 1 and ranging from 23% to 60% for Exam 2. It's really disheartening because I have a high goal for my study score in Methods but it just doesn't seem attainable anymore. To give you some context: I've been getting 80% and above for Methods SACs which also isn't spectacular but I'm happy with them because I'm working hard. And yeah, the trial exam yesterday wasn't great. It was the 2019 MAV Exam 2. I feel like I did really well on multiple choice but like I left the whole last question of the extended response blank, partly due to time but also because I was clueless and I also didn't know how to do like a handful of other questions. Everyone else in my cohort felt the same but it still sucks to feel this way. I'm trying reaaaaally hard to be positive. I mean, the more practice exams I do, generally the better I perform but it's just daunting that I only have literally 32 days (I have countdown app rip) to go until the first exam. I just feel like I wasted the whole year with maths. I just don't understand how people start practice exams so early! I literally finished my prob SAC in the last week of Term 3. I just really want to do well because I want to make my parents and my teachers proud but I also want to make myself proud. It's just really stressful and energy-consuming and I just have super high expectations of myself.
Anyway, sorry for being depresso (especially on my first post lol), it's just getting to me. I just have to remember to be patient and persistent.
Hope you have a lovely day :)

Hey, tigerclouds!
Glad to see another journey journal, no need to apologise for venting about VCE! This is what your journal is for.
I can very much relate with this, as I am doing 3/4 Bio and averaging 55% on my SACs and desperately wanted that 40 ss :'(
having high expectations of yourself isn't always bad - I personally want to achieve a 99 ATAR but realistically I just have to be happy even if I get an 80 point being have high expectations but understand it may not always become a reality
you got this 8)
Can't wait to read more of your posts!!
— VCE —
English 30, Further Maths 33, Biology 33, Legal Studies 27, Psychology 32

— University —
Bachelor of Nursing @ Monash
Bachelor of Counselling & Psychological Science @ ACAP

tigerclouds

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Re: The Odyssey of VCE :)
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2019, 12:20:44 am »
+3
Hey, tigerclouds!
Glad to see another journey journal, no need to apologise for venting about VCE! This is what your journal is for.
I can very much relate with this, as I am doing 3/4 Bio and averaging 55% on my SACs and desperately wanted that 40 ss :'(
having high expectations of yourself isn't always bad - I personally want to achieve a 99 ATAR but realistically I just have to be happy even if I get an 80 point being have high expectations but understand it may not always become a reality
you got this 8)
Can't wait to read more of your posts!!
Having high expectations and being ambitious is good, I agree. It can just be crippling at times and therefore defy its purpose of being a source of motivation. I’m learning to deal with that which also ties in with comparing myself to others. I heard a really nice saying today that I would like to share here: ‘Compare yourself with the person you were yesterday not another person today’. I found that really powerful. Anyway I’ve gone on a tangent haha, thank you for your reply J_Rho!
« Last Edit: October 07, 2019, 08:27:30 pm by tigerclouds »

caffinatedloz

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Re: The Odyssey of VCE :)
« Reply #6 on: October 07, 2019, 08:15:07 am »
+1
Hey tigerclouds!
Can't wait to hear more about youre journey. Have a great first day back- hopefully a fresh(ish) start to school will jumpstart your motivation! ;D

tigerclouds

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Re: The Odyssey of VCE :)
« Reply #7 on: October 08, 2019, 12:43:42 am »
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First day of Term 4!!(I'm gonna have so much fun playing with these layouts)

Alright, in all honestly, it was a pretty bland day. I had two doubles today: English and Legal and they were just draining. I don't have study periods by the way, I know it sucks. Year 11s used to last year but our year level copped the changes. They call us the guinea pigs of the school because so many changes happen to our year level. It has its pros and cons but that's that. I also had Bio and Methods today. We're preparing a DNA Fish Barcoding prac in Bio so that's a little exciting. Methods wasn't too bad. We got our prob SAC back - I got an 87%. Not gonna lie, bit disappointed because I actually really enjoyed probability and was aiming for a 90+ but hey it's methods and I'm bound to lose marks on silly mistakes. At least I know what to look out for now. Something really nice happened in Methods today tho. So our teacher marked the multiple-choice section of our trial exam and the class was just hysterical because we knew we were so screwed for it. Our teacher actually ended up announcing what each person got out of 20 for MC in front of the whole class. Just a tad intimidating! A lot of people got 10/20. So she says XYZ you got .../20 and I just respect my Methods teacher so much because she wasn't at all judgemental when she was saying what we got. She kept reassuring us. But she reads the marks out and she gets to mine, pauses, smiles and tells me that I got 16/20. Now, I know that's not extraordinary but I am so proud of myself because that's the highest I've gotten on MC so far and it's also nice to get the highest mark in the class, as selfish as that sounds. It's just moments like these that I work towards. That look of pride on my teacher's face. That's when I feel like my work is paying off. So that was lovely!
So that was my school day. I came back home and actually had a nap. A one hour nap. I never take naps. It was very strange but also much needed because I was so tired the entire day (that may or may not have to do with me sleeping at like 1:00 AM to finish off some hw). I've also realised that I turn a bit distant and down when I'm on little sleep, yet here I am typing past midnight. I really do need to change that though. It just takes so much willpower to start doing my work. Oh I just realised, I'm technically talking about yesterday since it's past midnight. Let's just not. But yeah I woke up at like 8:00 from my nap (healthy sleep patterns who?) and did the MAV 2019 trial exam my teacher gave me today. As always there were a handful of questions that I did not know how to tackle but hey it's actually getting more manageable. I just wish I started doing practice papers earlier but I know I couldn't have. I don't know how to describe what I'm feeling with maths. I almost don't want it to end because I'm finally starting to appreciate it and enjoy it. Almost. I'm also frustrated because I feel like it's too late now to sort of redeem myself from my SAC marks even if they are relatively good. Maybe, if I had developed a liking for Methods early on then I would have performed better but I can't really control that. I think it's just because I'm putting a lot of effort now and I'm committed to understanding everything. That's something I'll keep in mind for next year: once you put the work in, it's not too bad. It's just that I would love to get a 40 raw and a huge drive for that is our teacher telling us that no one has gotten above a 40 during the years she's taught at my school and I think it would be so cool to accomplish that, mainly for my self-esteem because if I can do well with Maths, I feel like I can do well at anything and that's purely because of how challenging I've found Maths to be over the past 3 years.  Anyway, I know that realistically, I won't be getting a 40 but one can dream or rather aspire. I just want to get above a 30.
So that's my day :)
Also,
Hey tigerclouds!
Can't wait to hear more about youre journey. Have a great first day back- hopefully a fresh(ish) start to school will jumpstart your motivation! ;D
Thank you Laura for your kind words, I think I do have a little more motivation now :D

Tomorrow is a nice day. I have nice subjects - Chemistry first period! I love Chemistry, I genuinely look forward to going to Chem class.
Anywho! Thank you for tuning in!

tigerclouds

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Re: The Odyssey of VCE :)
« Reply #8 on: October 11, 2019, 11:43:33 pm »
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Friday Oct 11:

I had a Chem excursion at VSSEC all day today which was very exciting! It was probably the best excursion I've ever been on. It's just so cool to see how prevalent Chemistry is in our environment, especially since most of the work done in class is theory-based (which I still don't mind, just a nice change).

I was also in a pretty good mood today. I think it's because of my sleep. I've been prioritising it and trying to sleep early(ish) even if I still have work to do. I have to. I felt really low and lethargic on Wednesday, literally sleeping in class, in Chemistry! That's how you know it's bad. My teacher joked about getting me a cup of coffee or some sugar hehe. It's an awful feeling, like you're trapped somehow. So it had to stop. I do feel more sluggish in the mornings for some reason but I feel like my mood is increasing throughout the day. So that's good!
As for schoolwork... yikes. I planned to do so much today and full-on organised a minute-by-minute schedule but I just couldn't stop procrastinating and I hate myself for it especially because I didn't do anything yesterday either. Oh well. Tomorrow is gonna be more productive, I promise.
Hope your week went well!

tigerclouds

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Re: The Odyssey of VCE :)
« Reply #9 on: October 13, 2019, 08:08:35 pm »
+2
I. don't. want. to. work.
I have a Tat assignment due tomorrow and I just don't want to. It's a group assignment and my partner has done close to nothing so that's that. I don't take this subject seriously (as in I try to do the least amount of work possible) because our school forces us to do it in year 11 and I'm not doing it next year. Still. I just can't scrap an assignment, I literally can't. I have to put in my best effort and be satisfied. It's not like the school made it easy for us either. It's a recorded artwork analysis so I not only have to worry about research but also the script, the slides layout and the voiceover.
Kill me.

tigerclouds

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Re: The Odyssey of VCE :)
« Reply #10 on: October 17, 2019, 10:32:23 pm »
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Thursday Oct 17:


Feels like ages since that last assignment I was talking about. So I got it done if you’re wondering haha after lots of frustration and attempts at patience. So much has happened since then.

Methods:
We got our trial exam back early on in the week... major LOL. I really didn’t do well and that got me down that day but you know what, it’s fine. It’s just a benchmark for where I’m at. I now know how much work I need to put in. I’ve done 12 exams so far but I need to properly correct a couple. So it’s fine. We’re also going through them in class so that’s good cause it forces me to do it.

Legal:
We got our Rights SAC back. My mark was meh, not the best but the feedback I got was so touching! So my teacher for Legal is amazing. She gives us so much feedback, is so knowledgeable and she’s just amazing at what she does. She doesn’t give marks out just like that though. You have to really put the effort in to get like full marks for a question. So I was reading through my SAC and there was a question asking us to explain how a case has influenced constitutionally protected rights. So I looked at the comments and at the bottom, my teacher said that it was a great answer and told me to hold on to it for next year. She then also told me in person that it was like the best answer she’s seen in like 10 years of her teaching. HOW SWEEET. It made me so so happy. This is what I work for. The moment where I feel that almost overwhelming sense of pride in myself, when I see how my work has paid off. ☺️

Bio:
We did a SAC on a prac we did. Initially I thought it was horrible but then I did some research to understand the concepts and it’s actually super cool! We were learning about DNA barcoding, PCR, DNA extraction, so much! Such a cool process! I love it when things make sense and when I can tie chemistry with it hehe like how the hydrogen bonds break during denaturation. Makes so much sense!!

Psych:
I’m conducting an experiment on the impact of music on behaviour and it’s taking ages. It’s cool but there’s just so much to do.

Other:
I literally just came back from school. I stayed back because I was helping out with the preparation for the year 12 graduation as part of next year’s leadership team which we call the Student Exec. I don’t know if other schools call that too but yeah I’m next year’s Social Justice captain so we’re needed for after school functions every now and then. It was nice, we were preparing the decorations, helped with moving the food and got to play around with a photo booth hehe. The ceremony took longer than expected though so we couldn’t stay around longer unfortunately because it was getting really late. It sucks because I really wanted to see the supper in action. I guess a lot of our work is gonna be behind the scenes. That’s alright. It was my first official event as part of the team so it’ll be interesting to see how next year plays out.


Anywho that’s all! I try to make these updates short but I just keep rambling on hehe. Alright I really need to get some sleep. Toodles!


« Last Edit: October 17, 2019, 10:36:40 pm by tigerclouds »

tigerclouds

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Re: The Odyssey of VCE :)
« Reply #11 on: October 19, 2019, 11:52:16 am »
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Major problem. I can't find my Methods summary book and it has like 4 practice exams I wanted to correct over the weekend. I can't even do any exam 2s now either. UGH I'm so mad. Could you imagine if I don't find it... Ohhhhh boy :-\
« Last Edit: October 19, 2019, 12:39:01 pm by tigerclouds »

caffinatedloz

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Re: The Odyssey of VCE :)
« Reply #12 on: October 20, 2019, 05:05:40 pm »
+1
Psych:
I’m conducting an experiment on the impact of music on behaviour and it’s taking ages. It’s cool but there’s just so much to do.
Sounds very cool! I'd love to hear more about it. Best of luck this week!  ;D

Joseph41

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Re: The Odyssey of VCE :)
« Reply #13 on: October 21, 2019, 05:34:31 pm »
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Anywho that’s all! I try to make these updates short but I just keep rambling on hehe. Alright I really need to get some sleep. Toodles!


Sometimes we all need a good ramble!

Enjoying your journal so far. :)

Oxford comma, Garamond, Avett Brothers, Orla Gartland enthusiast.

tigerclouds

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Re: The Odyssey of VCE :)
« Reply #14 on: October 22, 2019, 10:37:55 pm »
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Alright. To be honest, I'm really irked at the moment. I just did a practice exam 1 from Insight and got a 22/40. I'm just so frustrated because I've been stuck at this score even though God knows how hard I've been working and how dedicated I've been to understanding my mistakes and how to solve the question. I do lose quite a few marks for silly mistakes but there are just questions that I just genuinely don't understand and don't even know where to begin with them.
I'm also kind of neglecting the rest of my subjects so I can focus on Methods and do well in it but like the work still isn't paying off so I feel guilty for not putting enough effort for my 1/2 subjects. It's like my 1/2 subjects and Methods are in a tug of war except none of the sides are winning and the rope is so close to just being torn in the middle. I don't know if I make sense. I'm just really annoyed with myself and am so close to giving up on this subject.