ATAR Notes: Forum
National Education => General National Education Discussion => Topic started by: Shxh on November 12, 2019, 10:10:32 pm
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Do you year 12's feel the same? I wish I could just be in year 1. I'm stressing so much about VCE as I need a 99 atar to get into medicine. I think of it this way. I'm 14, so basically have 60 years left of my life, therefore I have lived 20% of my life. Life is so short!
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I really hope this is a troll haha.
You do have limited years in life and especially limited years in your youth.
The last thing you want to be doing is stressing about year 12 so early. Join some clubs, play some games, do what you actually like to do.
Enjoy freedom while it lasts :)
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Do you year 12's feel the same? I wish I could just be in year 1. I'm stressing so much about VCE as I need a 99 atar to get into medicine. I think of it this way. I'm 14, so basically have 60 years left of my life, therefore I have lived 20% of my life. Life is so short!
Geez, if you already feel old then how should I feel?! :P
But seriously, a lot of my treasured memories happened when I was 13-15 and it's seriously surprising me how someone at 14 is already thinking about this! I was still talking about video games when I was 14 with my mates.
Enjoy life while you can. You will hold nothing in the future besides regret if you are already worrying about your ATAR prematurely. :)
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I really hope this is a troll haha.
Geez, if you already feel old then how should I feel?! :P
Please be more mindful of the impact your words can have and how your words can be interpreted in future. Being dismissive of someone's concerns when they're sharing things that could be sensitive to them isn't okay.
Do you year 12's feel the same? I wish I could just be in year 1. I'm stressing so much about VCE as I need a 99 atar to get into medicine. I think of it this way. I'm 14, so basically have 60 years left of my life, therefore I have lived 20% of my life. Life is so short!
I've definitely felt like that, not so much in year 12 though because it felt like I was actually working towards something then and having a goal helped. The only advice I can really give you is to keep looking forward, you can't go back to the past, and making the best use of the present will end up meaning you make the best use of your life.
Would really recommend talking to your school's counsellor/a teacher/a doctor to learn how to cope with the stress you're feeling - learning good stress management techniques now will also help you in the long term.
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Hey Shxh,
That's not a silly thought at all. I certainly felt quite similar when I was your age. It's been seven years since then, so it's really easy for me to look back and think 'there was nothing to worry about', but I do understand that's a bit difficult in the moment. I'm sure 30-year-old-Caleb will look back and think the same thing about 21-year-old-Caleb. It's something that'll get easier with age. However it's certainly not uncommon so don't think it's weird!
While it's great to have a future goal, at the moment all you can do towards that is trying to set consistent study habits — pay attention in class, do your homework, and ask for help when you need it. However there's not much else you should be doing at the moment. Year 12 is a long time away, and by the time you get closer to it, you'll have lots of guidance from your school on how to prepare and subsequently get into medicine.
In the meantime, I'd like to think enjoying the moment is a bit more important than studying your ass off. This can be, well, whatever you want. Do you like reading? Go read a book or fifty. Sport? There's basketball hoops everywhere. Want to be a bit rebellious? Well, I won't tell. I definitely studied in high school, but when I look back at high school I think about the fun things I did rather than how I prepared for my future course/career.
To put it in another way: getting life experience is going to prepare you for a career as a doctor in ways your textbooks won't. So please know it's healthy to have a balance :)
With regards to stress management, PhoenixxFire gave some good advice — a counsellor, teacher, or doctor will be able to help out in ways that we can't.
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Please be more mindful of the impact your words can have and how your words can be interpreted in future. Being dismissive of someone's concerns when they're sharing things that could be sensitive to them isn't okay.
Whoops! My sole intention was to only tease myself and I didn't acknowledge any potential repercussions. My apologies :)
@Shxh, I didn't properly read that you wanted to get into medicine.
Medicine is a great career and subject, but I really feel you shouldn't worry too much about the preparation now. In my case, even though I played video games a lot, I studied diligently for 'pre-medicine' subjects in my junior years of high school which completely burned me out - I rejected parties, hang outs and didn't join the sporting clubs which, in hindsight, adversely affected me.
Not indulging yourself fully in academia now is, in my opinion, beneficial, because you get to meet a lot of like-minded people which in turn will help you in the long run.
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Your concerns are totally valid and current.
I always used to think of that, and sometimes I would think of worse things that can happen in the future when I was young like you.
But what I learnt is that doing exactly that is wasting time worrying. I was like wow I just spent 30 mins of my youth worrying about my short life when I could have been doing other things in that 30 mins.
Life is funny and I think we should stay in the present as much as possible! If we are in the past or future we are cheating ourselves from being in the present, and in a way, wasting our short time here. Do what you love and focus on the now! Instead of worrying about that ATAR use that time worrying, to study or have fun so you know you have done all you can to achieve that.
You are a bright young person and have a long and successful life ahead of you. i believe you will get into medicine one way or another, hopefully by getting 99. Nevertheless, if you are so strongly intended on getting into medicine, no doubt you will create that future for yourself. You are in control at the end of the day, this is your life and you have complete control over it. Make every moment count! ❤️❤️
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I personally have a really bad mindset, which is slowly changing, I feel like sometimes I focus too much on my grades and etc. But I just don't find any actual enjoyment in relaxing anymore, because I'm just so focussed on 'being productive' and doing enough work every night (and I practically never fulfil my own expectations for this anyway). Do any of you have tips on how to change this mindset? Honestly, don't know what to do, I don't want it to affect me in vce, so I'm trying to change it as soon as possible.
I kind of had this too. Sometimes, I even felt guilty for not doing work :/ but I learnt having a balance is most important.
I think it is Bri MT, who has this lovely quote...
'Invest in wellbeing, so it an invest in you'
Doing work is good, but ask yourself, is the work you are doing actually helping you? Or are you just working for the sake of it?
Throughout VCE I actually didn't have any expectations when studying, I would just get home and read over notes or revise for any SACs I had coming up. Maybe timing yourself is the best way to go. So if you study for an hour, you know you have studied for the 'correct' amount of time, and maybe this will allow you to enjoy your free time more because for that day, you have done your part of being productive. I hope that makes sense (:
But yeah the quote, like it's quite powerful and maybe tell yourself and remind yourself of it. Tell yourself relaxing is productive because in the long run, it will benefit your grades more than studying will, there is not point studying a lot to end up being burnt out at the exams.
Lol I wrote a lot, I hope that helps even in the slightest way.
Good luck (: don't stress too much and trust yourself (:
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I kind of had this too. Sometimes, I even felt guilty for not doing work :/ but I learnt having a balance is most important.
I think it is Bri MT, who has this lovely quote...
'Invest in wellbeing, so it an invest in you'
Doing work is good, but ask yourself, is the work you are doing actually helping you? Or are you just working for the sake of it?
Throughout VCE I actually didn't have any expectations when studying, I would just get home and read over notes or revise for any SACs I had coming up. Maybe timing yourself is the best way to go. So if you study for an hour, you know you have studied for the 'correct' amount of time, and maybe this will allow you to enjoy your free time more because for that day, you have done your part of being productive. I hope that makes sense (:
But yeah the quote, like it's quite powerful and maybe tell yourself and remind yourself of it. Tell yourself relaxing is productive because in the long run, it will benefit your grades more than studying will, there is not point studying a lot to end up being burnt out at the exams.
Lol I wrote a lot, I hope that helps even in the slightest way.
Good luck (: don't stress too much and trust yourself (:
wow, thank you so much! that's really interesting, I'll keep it mind :)
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I just want to echo this sentiment again: if your school has a dedicated social worker, counsellor, or psychologist (or otherwise, a trusted teacher), I definitely recommend setting up a session to express any of your concerns and to see where it goes from there! I feel not enough people utilised such services during secondary school at my place, including myself, until a concerned teacher would take it in their own hands and recommend an appointment on behalf of the student.
A balance in life can be hard to achieve (some would argue truly impossible), but I think if you can maintain a balance (or perceived balance) more often than you're in a state of imbalance and distress, you're already getting there. Reflect upon and process some of the great posts here already. Don't feel like you can't have these chaotic and stressful feelings either - they are not irrelevant, they are valid - maybe some of the advice, reflection, and/or a school counsellor visit can help you adjust and tweak the intensity of them for the benefit of yourself.
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I remember back when I was year 8. I did not even know what Atar and vce was, please don't worry too much now and enjoy the rest of year 8-10. Then start to crack at year 10 and get serious. I am certainly worried about atar even tho I am only year 10 ad it is still 2 years away. But as mentioned please have fun now while you still can. :) :)
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I just want to echo this sentiment again: if your school has a dedicated social worker, counsellor, or psychologist (or otherwise, a trusted teacher), I definitely recommend setting up a session to express any of your concerns and to see where it goes from there! I feel not enough people utilised such services during secondary school at my place, including myself, until a concerned teacher would take it in their own hands and recommend an appointment on behalf of the student.
A balance in life can be hard to achieve (some would argue truly impossible), but I think if you can maintain a balance (or perceived balance) more often than you're in a state of imbalance and distress, you're already getting there. Reflect upon and process some of the great posts here already. Don't feel like you can't have these chaotic and stressful feelings either - they are not irrelevant, they are valid - maybe some of the advice, reflection, and/or a school counsellor visit can help you adjust and tweak the intensity of them for the benefit of yourself.
100% back this. I wish I used this stuff in high school to help with my mindset and teach me strategies for dealing with expectations, disappointments, etc. I started seeing a psych this year for broadly similar stuff and I've found it so helpful. No reason why you have to wait until you're older to start doing these things, in fact probably the earlier you do it the better.
You don't have to have something be "wrong" to seek help - its just like how you take a car in for regular services, not just when it breaks down - you should do the same for your mental health! :)
Shxh, I hope you've found some helpful advice in this thread. Please know you're not alone and we have a great community here to support you!
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Thank you I appreciate all of you! But I know everyone is like this; Remember the good old days in year 3-5 when death was not a myth? Yeah before we know it, we will hit our 30s and then 40s and 50s. And death will no longer be a myth. I am not afraid of death itself, I am worried about what happens after death, we will see our parents again? Our pets?
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Thank you I appreciate all of you! But I know everyone is like this; Remember the good old days in year 3-5 when death was not a myth? Yeah before we know it, we will hit our 30s and then 40s and 50s. And death will no longer be a myth. I am not afraid of death itself, I am worried about what happens after death, we will see our parents again? Our pets?
That's not a question we can answer yet. But it is one we all question.
Death is ever-present but it's nothing we should worry about. It is what it is. It can be very difficult to avoid stressing about the inevitable, but I think the takeaway from this is a reminder that life is what we make it, and we should enjoy the time we have here.
I don't think ATAR Notes has the answer to your existential and spiritual questions, but if you need support feel free to PM me about anything further off-topic. :)
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Like has been mentioned before in this thread, chatting to an experienced professional (perhaps someone at your school) could be super helpful. I'm sure they would love to have a chat, even if there's nothing really "wrong", but you just think that talking to someone could be good. ;D
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Haven't read this thread, so may be repeating general sentiment, but:
Do you year 12's feel the same? I wish I could just be in year 1. I'm stressing so much about VCE as I need a 99 atar to get into medicine. I think of it this way. I'm 14, so basically have 60 years left of my life, therefore I have lived 20% of my life. Life is so short!
I feel the same way sometimes. In many respects, for me, at least, being younger was an easier existence. In many respects, though, it was also harder. In general, I feel a lot more stressed now, but I also find things to be more rewarding. More independence means more opportunity.
I re-read some of my high school journals the other day, and they showed that I was really worried about Year 12, too. It's super easy to look back now and say "wow, what was I stressing for?!", but that would be downplaying the perceived importance of what was happening at the time. But in saying that, I always thought I wasn't really ready for the next stage, and ended up doing fine.
"I'm not ready for high school!"
"I'm not ready for VCE!"
"I'm not ready for Year 12!"
Stuff like that - I'm sure a lot of people can empathise.
I'm not really sure how helpful any of this is, but my advice would be:
Try not to get too distracted about the future to the point that you're not focusing on the present. And if you need help, seek it. :)