I haven't been on the ATAR notes boards for a while but I thought I'd share this:
Around this time last year I had an interview with a teacher about what subjects I'll be doing for HSC and what my ATAR goal should be. At the time I wasn't performing amazingly in my prelim subjects as I pretty much flopped the yearlies. But I believed my marks weren't reflective of what I could achieve and I thought if I worked hard enough I could achieve a 97+ ATAR by the end of year 12. I pretty much left this interview sobbing and and felt completely defeated before I even started year 12 because this teacher said bluntly that I wouldn't be able to achieve that ATAR no matter how hard I tried and even said that I wouldn't be able to get into the course I wanted. In spite of her, I still aimed for that 97, almost to prove her wrong.
As the year went on, I found the stress really getting to me and I was getting sick frequently around exam times, purely because I was so stressed. I wasn't performing my best in exams and I found myself lowering my expectations to an ATAR below 90. Eventually, I decided to try and take care of myself more and was healthier at exam times and I ended up going from ranking 41st in an English exam to ranking 1st in the next exam. I credit ATAR notes in being a major factor in helping me achieve so well in science this year as answering/asking questions on the forums consolidated a lot of my understanding. In my prelim exam in chemistry I barely passed with a 52%. Yesterday I found out I came first in my school for the HSC chemistry exam.
Even so, a million more doubts came along. When HSC results came out yesterday I received one band 6 and my HSC mark for THREE other courses was an 89 [This was still a great mark but oooof it hurt being so close]. I was worried it would stop me from obtaining an ATAR of 95+ (which at the time became my new goal).
This morning, I received an ATAR of 97.40 ... no lie I was about to hyperventilate.
So yeah moral of the story: Take care of yourself and HA! to that teacher last year (btw I think this teacher left my school after only being there for 6 months - don't know why but I have my suspicions lol)
I'm so proud and happy to say that I got my goal. Thank you to the ATAR notes community for your supportive attitude and for all the help I've received from this platform. I hope everyone is also pleased with what they achieved this year and CONGRATULATIONS ITS FINALLY OVER!!!!
KT