John Monash Science School :)

[kpoplover]

Hello, so I got into John Monash Science School for year 10 2015 and I am as excited as ever!!!! Although there will be an information night I just have a few questions
1.  Is there an accelerated learning program?
2.  Hw many units 1 and 2 can you do in yr 10 and what is the procedure for that?

Other people who made it for next year, feel free to post and share the excitement!

[IndefatigableLover]

1. No real 'accelerated' learning area to be exact since you all undergo the same subjects and so forth for everything except for elective sciences and maths (which I'll go through in point 2).

2. You can take Methods Units 1&2 in Year 10 however you must sit a test for this (which isn't that hard to be honest) and if you do well in it then they'll let you undertake Methods in Year 10! It's actually a really good experience if you do choose to take this test (either for real or to meet other people there LOL).
They'll announce more details soon however no other real 1&2 subjects are taken though I think an exception is LOTE [not too sure].

[kpoplover]

2. You can take Methods Units 1&2 in Year 10 however you must sit a test for this (which isn't that hard to be honest) and if you do well in it then they'll let you undertake Methods in Year 10! It's actually a really good experience if you do choose to take this test (either for real or to meet other people there LOL).
They'll announce more details soon however no other real 1&2 subjects are taken though I think an exception is LOTE [not too sure].


Thanks, any tips for the test? Will it be just the year 9 curriculum or will it cover the year 10 curriculum as well?

[IndefatigableLover]

Thanks, any tips for the test? Will it be just the year 9 curriculum or will it cover the year 10 curriculum as well?

It could be different to when I did it (in terms of questions) but topics that were covered if I remember correctly include:
Quadratics (pretty much everything you should know with quadratics like factorising, complete the square etc.), sketching linear and quadratic graphs, surds, rationalising and finding the equation of lines from inspection or when given points. There could be more that I would believe that to be the bulk of it imo.

[kpoplover]

[It could be different to when I did it (in terms of questions) but topics that were covered if I remember correctly include:
Quadratics (pretty much everything you should know with quadratics like factorising, complete the square etc.), sketching linear and quadratic graphs, surds, rationalising and finding the equation of lines from inspection or when given points. There could be more that I would believe that to be the bulk of it imo.]


Okay, thank you .  So other than maths methods, you cannot do any other VCE subject, eg bio or chem?  Thanks for all the info!

[Hannibal]

If I can recall correctly you could do Physics Unit 2 as an elective. Not 100% sure though .

[Yeanah]

Congrats on getting in!
I'm super close to finishing my final year!!

In yr ten the only two 'vce' subjects apart from LOTE is methods, which you need to pass a test as mentioned above, or physics unit 2.
But, they allow you to choose enrichment science courses(1 per semester) which are pretty much the same as doing a vce subject, though they are a lot more focused on one area. For example, they have a course called bioinformatics(or something like that), which cover similar topics to unit 4 biology. TBH you don't really need unit 1&2 for bio or physics anyways.

They don't really have an accelerated program but if you like challenges, in yr 11 they have a class called computational science, which is a combination of physics and spesh and is super hard. They did all this crazy uni maths stuff last year and I heard everyone cried during the exam. Though in yr 12 you do spesh and physics separately.

Oh and enjoy JMSS

[ifarted69]

1. No real 'accelerated' learning area to be exact since you all undergo the same subjects and so forth for everything except for elective sciences and maths (which I'll go through in point 2).

2. You can take Methods Units 1&2 in Year 10 however you must sit a test for this (which isn't that hard to be honest) and if you do well in it then they'll let you undertake Methods in Year 10! It's actually a really good experience if you do choose to take this test (either for real or to meet other people there LOL).
They'll announce more details soon however no other real 1&2 subjects are taken though I think an exception is LOTE [not too sure].

Is it only languages and methods? Do they offer bio?

[kpoplover]

btw, Kpoplover I'm super excited for JMSS next year as well!!!

me too! aaaah 2015, come soon!

[IndefatigableLover]

Haha as Hannibal and Yeanah (nice username by the way ) pointed out, I actually forgot about Physics Unit 2 that's offered for VCE subjects in Year 10.

Is it only languages and methods? Do they offer bio?

As Yeanah has pointed out, we don't offer Biology but elective sciences are more than likely going to cover it anyway. You don't really need 1&2 for Biology imo.

[vidhiypatel]

Hey guys! I got into JMSS for Year 10 2015 as well. #VeryExcited   I was wondering if I could undertake VCE Biology Units 1 & 2 next year. But they didn't mention anything about it in the information booklet though it says in the booklet that they do offer it.

[Shinkaze]

Hey Guys/Gals,

Just to be clear if you have not worked it out yet, in terms of doing a VCE 3/4 unit in Year 11, here are your choices of what to do in year 10 :

1) Methods 1/2 in Yr 10 => Methods 3/4 in Yr 11
2) Cells to systems or Marine Biology or Bioinformatics in Yr 10 => Bio 3/4 in Yr 11
3) Physics unit 2 in Yr 10 => Physics 3/4 in Yr 11
4) Dynamic Earth in Yr 10 => Geography 3/4 in Yr 11
5) Analytical and Spectroscopic in Yr 10 => Yr 1 University Chemistry in Yr 12 ( this one has nothing to do with doing 3/4 in Yr 12 )

Source : Mr Andrew Chisholm, Vice Principle, JMSS

Please be aware that you need to get good grades to be allow to take these paths.  There are actually lots of other options which is not well published but they are really flexible and encouraging so if you want to take a particular path, just ask!

Thank you so much! Feeling so good to know that I've opened up like 3 of those options to myself

[Harru!]

Also there are more options as previous posts have mentioned.

In year 11, there is a jmss exclusive subject called mathematical and computational physics units 1 and 2 or comp as it is notoriously known for.
In summary it is physics units 1-4, spesh units 1-4 and contain traces of university mathematics and methods.
(Basically it is really really hard. But there are students acing this subject. What a bunch of freaks)
Doing this subject opens up opportunities to complete uni physics and maths without requiring to complete 3/4 physics or methods at yr 11. (though don't count on it as it may be subjected to change.)

I personally advise to do this if you are really interested in maths and physics as it really helps with your 3/4s. (I wish I have done it so I can survive the wrath of my spesh teacher x.x)

But you guys can worry bout this next year. Just letting you know. but just remember as southmelbdimsim mentioned: Please be aware that you need to get good grades to be allow to take these paths.

[Harru!]

Basically, you want to get a Distinction average which is 70 to do a 3/4 in yr 11. The average is calculated by using ALL of your scores from ALL of your subjects that is assessed. I don't think PE is assessed with marks but you do get a grade for it. If you hate humanities, it is not excuse to do poorly in Issue studies. Likewise for emerging tech.

I personally don't think this is a difficult task as the majority of yr 11s are doing a 3/4.

If you get an average that is above 90, there is a chance to do 2 3/4s at yr 11. Keep in mind the school hates this. LIKE REALLY HATES THIS. even if you get a score over 80 for your average, they probably won't consider you to do 2 3/4s. you have to be a role model hard working student if you want to do 2 3/4s in yr 11. It helps if you're doing units 1/2 for your 2 3/4s as they will consider this and may let you do it. probably cuz repeating units can do more harm than good as you probably be more bored and disruptive. Like my friend did physics unit 2 and methods 1/2 and both 3/4s in yr 11 as he got an average over 90 and did the 1/2 units. However my house captain wasn't allowed to do 2 3/4 subjects despite having an average in mid 90s or something close to it. She is wicked smart and wanted to do bio 3/4 and psych 3/4 where jmss doesnt offer psych 1/2 for yr 10. She works very hard as well. The reason why she was denied the opportunity is because "having a 7th subject provides no benefit to her atar score." I dont think it is a valid reason to deny her enrollment of 2 3/4s as she wanted to do those subjects because she has a keen interest in them. Like jmss' philosophy is learning>atar.
You can see jmss' policies are bit iffy. The reason why jmss doesnt really allow students to do 2 3/4s in yr 11 is that they are 'concern about their wellbeing.'  Sure jmss does really care bout this but the reason why I use quotation marks of this is that sometimes they underestimated their students which I do find it insulting and tackle it from the wrong angles. I don't see why hard-working students like my house caption can't do 2 3/4s.

Sorry for my rant but this is jmss lyf. Ultimatums (it is either 1 3/4 or none at all) are made in your course counselling for yr 11 subjects next yr for most of the students. They are vicious in doing so. Beware.


Edit: @chelonianlover - I thought you are allow to have an exclamation mark in your username. I did nothing special and just register an AN account with my username.

[Yeanah]

Hi Harru!, fancy meeting you here

Also if you do do 2 3/4 in yr 11 but don't end up doing 5 in yr 12(or just have a lot of free study periods), JMSS has some like mentoring program they want students to take part in where you basically go to yr 10 and 11 classes and help the students. I haven't done it myself personally but quite a few of my friends did it and it sounds pretty alright. It looks nice on your resume

Oh and another pathway to bio would be to do pharmaceutical science, I did cells to system and pharm in yr 10, then did bio 3/4 in year 11.