The last straw: Into trial and HSC exams

[henrychapman]

Hey everyone,
I apologise I know I'm only like 3 terms (plus holidays) behind when I should have created this, but I literally only came across this part of the website over the last few days. After debating in my mind whether to create a page for myself this late in the piece, I settled on yes because I have realised throughout the year how supportive and helpful the entire AN community has been, and what better way to vent all the stresses and anxieties of the last few months of the HSC on a forum where people can relate as they are going through the exact same thing !
I am known for writing/talking a lot, however I plan to keep this as short as possible so I don't lose you all immediately.
I go to St Ignatius' College, Riverview. Riverview (because barely anyone has heard of it) is a very small suburb in the Lane Cove area. The students are very fortunate; large grounds including many sporting ovals and other facilities, very good teachers and high quality resources. However, I don't believe having all this is the secret to HSC success. You have to be personally driven firstly, and you have to have a good set of people around you, whether that be academically or personally, throughout the journey. These two things can be done regardless of where you go to school.  A lot of people in my year have either hired external tutors, or have spent expensive amounts of money on tutoring centres to try and help them achieve good results. What I love about ATAR notes is that they believe that it is not necessary to pay excessive amounts of money for HSC help. And I fully agree. This website allows the whole community, both expert moderators/tutors who smashed the HSC and those completing it, to come together and support each other through the year by answering questions, providing feedback on essays and just generally being there for a bit of moral support. I'm actually hoping to be a lecturer/moderator once I finish the HSC- so that I can support future students and give back.

Ok back to me; I do English Advanced, Legal Studies, Economics, Modern History, Studies of Religion II and History Extension. Yes, I do not do maths. This was controversial at the time because of all the speculation about the maths prerequisite for certain courses at USYD, but is honestly the best decision I could've made given I just genuinely don't like maths and really struggle with the concepts so I had no idea how I was going to survive year 11 and 12 with it. I'm sorry for all you maths wiz people viewing this ! Obviously, as you can tell, I'm a humanities fan. I find writing comes reasonably naturally to me and I enjoy all of my subjects. Economics and legal are probably my strongest points, if you want any assistance or just generally want to talk about them I'd be happy to ! I want to study a combined degree of Law/International Studies at UNSW, as I'm passionate about both law and the way countries interact with each other. This UNSW degree also offers a semester of study to be completed overseas, and as I studied French till the end of prelim (I dropped because my teacher just sucked and hated me) I want to pick my speaking up again.  I also can see myself being a journalist, and thus may also end up studying this at uni too- maybe post grad ! ATAR goal: 98+. I didn't think it was reachable at the start of the year but as I've gone on I've probably surprised myself a little bit. It's funny what hard work and ambitions can do ! Obviously trials and the HSC will have a huge bearing on that though.

Other things that I'm interested in; I play lots of cricket during the summer and have always been super passionate about it. Since I was about 9 years old, I have been playing both Saturdays and Sundays, and since year 7 this has been all day both Saturday and Sunday. Last summer with the HSC in mind I had to reduce the amount of teams I was playing for to reduce my commitments and ensure I had adequate time to study. I was involved in NSW squads throughout year 9 and 10 and would be training almost 12 months and it was taxing. However, whilst still playing at quite a high level, I now just see it as something for enjoyment and fun, rather than a highly pressurised activity.

I also do debating and public speaking, and I participated in the mock trial competition in year 11 where my school made it to the quarter finals and were unfortunately knocked out. I also participated in the Kirby Cup Mooting Competition at the University of Western Sydney last year, and most recently, participated in the Bond University Mooting Competition, which brings together schools from across the country and was an incredible experience. In all three teams I was the solicitor.

How I'm feeling about trials: it's a bit of a juxtaposition. I'm someone who always puts things in perspective and ultimately in the scheme of life, trials are just this small thing that is irrelevant in the long run. Yet, I also understand the importance of it for my overall mark (particularly internally) and achieving my goals. I'm a confident person when I know I've put everything I can into something  so I'm hoping to draw on that come the exam period.

Feel free to ask questions, comment on things I've said, or just be up for a general talk. I'll do my best to answer all of them sufficiently !

[fantasticbeasts3]

Hi Henry, great to see you're starting a journal! Your presence here on the forums has definitely not been missed; thanks for all the help on the Modern boards (and every other one you've posted in)!

Responding to some stuff you wrote:
- Glad to know AN has been awesome for you! I hope it stays like that until your HSC (and possibly beyond).
- Your school is soooo awesome lol I visited once and it was just... so nice. Definitely agree with what you said about the whole external tutor situation though - by no means did I go to a school in an affluent area, but loads of people had tutoring for a lot of their subjects, and you don't need that to smash the HSC. :-)
- (maths sucks I second that sorry maths people)
- I study International Studies (and Media) at UNSW! The course is super cool, and if you end up doing it I hope you enjoy it :-) fyi, it's actually a whole year abroad, possibly more depending on how your overseas institution has structured their academic year and how it transfers back to UNSW.
- Best of luck for trials!

[owidjaja]

It's never too late to start a HSC journal!

And btw, what in the world is mock trials?? No matter how many times my friends try to explain it to me (they did mock trials last year too) I can never understand it lmao (to me it sounds like a scripted courtroom)

[beatroot]

I also do debating and public speaking, and I participated in the mock trial competition in year 11 where my school made it to the quarter finals and were unfortunately knocked out. I also participated in the Kirby Cup Mooting Competition at the University of Western Sydney last year, and most recently, participated in the Bond University Mooting Competition, which brings together schools from across the country and was an incredible experience. In all three teams I was the solicitor.

It's never too late to start a HSC journal!

And btw, what in the world is mock trials?? No matter how many times my friends try to explain it to me (they did mock trials last year too) I can never understand it lmao (to me it sounds like a scripted courtroom)

Mock trial is (possibly) the BEST extra curricular activity in high school! (coming from a very clearly biased perspective since I never did public speaking nor debating aha). Like the name states, it is basically a mock version of a trial. Best extra curricular activity if you want to be a lawyer- it really is good practice!

@Henry: what other roles did you do besides solicitor? Being court officer was super fun, as well as being a witness aha. Good luck with your trials and the rest of your HSC year

[jamonwindeyer]

Booyah, another journal!! Keen for more entries mate!

[prickles]

Obviously, as you can tell, I'm a humanities fan.

I have a feeling you would get on with Adam just a little bit. 
Keen to hear more

[henrychapman]

Mock trial is (possibly) the BEST extra curricular activity in high school! (coming from a very clearly biased perspective since I never did public speaking nor debating aha). Like the name states, it is basically a mock version of a trial. Best extra curricular activity if you want to be a lawyer- it really is good practice!

@Henry: what other roles did you do besides solicitor? Being court officer was super fun, as well as being a witness aha. Good luck with your trials and the rest of your HSC year

I was exclusively solicitor ! I think I did court officer once when I was sick during the prep week for one of the trials.
It was seriously awesome - definitely one of the best things Ive done at school too

[henrychapman]

Hi Henry, great to see you're starting a journal! Your presence here on the forums has definitely not been missed; thanks for all the help on the Modern boards (and every other one you've posted in)!

Responding to some stuff you wrote:
- Glad to know AN has been awesome for you! I hope it stays like that until your HSC (and possibly beyond).
- Your school is soooo awesome lol I visited once and it was just... so nice. Definitely agree with what you said about the whole external tutor situation though - by no means did I go to a school in an affluent area, but loads of people had tutoring for a lot of their subjects, and you don't need that to smash the HSC. :-)
- (maths sucks I second that sorry maths people)
- I study International Studies (and Media) at UNSW! The course is super cool, and if you end up doing it I hope you enjoy it :-) fyi, it's actually a whole year abroad, possibly more depending on how your overseas institution has structured their academic year and how it transfers back to UNSW.
- Best of luck for trials!

Omg wow ! That is my back up degree if I don't get into law ! Thank you for telling me about how the overseas program works too- I was told from someone from UNSW at a careers expo that it was a semester so I'm glad I've heard it from someone who's actually doing the degree. As you pointed out, I am very lucky with where I go to school but you're right you don't need that or external tutors to smash the HSC. I'm going to need plenty of luck in trials ahah

[henrychapman]

Update:  its officially 13 days till my trials. While I'm telling myself I'm as calm as anything right now, hearing from my mates from other schools who started theirs yesterdays just screams to me that reality isn't far away and I need to get my head in the game. A lot of them are freaking out and its kind of scaring me lol because I dare say I'll be in their position in less than two weeks. I'm trying to calm them down so hopefully they do the same for me when I start mine coz I'm sure as hell going to need it. If any of you are reading this and have started trials this applies for you too haha !
My trial timetable also kinda sucks with all my exams (except legal) done by the start of the 2nd week. Looks like my usual exam period cram won't be happening as much this time ! Any advice on this ??

In the meantime however, I have a module C in class task tomorrow. We have to write about our prescribed text (Art of Travel by Alain de Botton) and an unseen visual.  Low key praying the techniques just stick out to me and fit my thesis so I don't have to go frantically searching for obscure visual techniques under time constraints !! A sort of rare assessment, but nonetheless I guess its quite a good chance to improvise and see how I deal under pressure without pre prepared material (exactly like the reading section in paper 1). I suppose I just have to go in confidant in my Art of Travel material and back myself to analyse the visual properly.

With that in mind, I better get gluing it to my brain. As always, comments/questions/observations always appreciated ! I promise I won't be as slack in getting back to you this time

[henrychapman]

It's never too late to start a HSC journal!

And btw, what in the world is mock trials?? No matter how many times my friends try to explain it to me (they did mock trials last year too) I can never understand it lmao (to me it sounds like a scripted courtroom)

You basically got it in one ! Scripted courtroom; we're given the case about 10 days before we're due to give it. Barristers have to write opening/closing submissions and conduct examination of witnesses (both their own teams and the oppositions), solicitor has to prepare pre trial notes, two people act as witnesses and then the court officer basically hands all the relevant documents to the judge (they get lawyers from the real world to come and adjudicate) and time keeps all the sections. The result is not based on who sufficiently proves the case, but essentially who was the better team in all the elements of the case throughout the night. Thank god its a year 10 and 11 thing - the trials go for over 3 hours and are super time consuming !! But yeh - super fun