I'll Figure it Out

[catpacksnapback]

Me too! I can't remember when I last read for pleasure and not the assigned texts which I grow to how shall I put it, not be a fan of by the end of the year. I think the way you write is lovely, you definitely have a flair. What kind of art do you like doing? And I second this visual glossary idea, it sounds wonderful, and I'd love to see it! You could make your own thread, it would be amazing!

Take care x

TOTALLY agreed - I try my best to enjoy the assigned reading, but it's like destiny that I eventually don't like it! But oh my gosh, thank you so much for the kind words (again! You're too sweet!). I love drawing little things, animals, cutesy stuff, I can't do realism at all; but I would love to try that out! Thank you for the encouragement

I appreciate that, you too!
June 12, GAT Week, 2019
Not to mislead - I'm not doing the GAT, year 11, but it seems like we've been granted a catch-up week for students a little behind on unit 1 work!
So I'm taking this opportunity to yell here. (Speaking of yelling: Did you guys see the new animal crossing trailer?!!?!)

It only took me about two days, but I think I figured out our schedule! We have a catchup week this week, then the first two weeks of unit 2. Then we have a two week holiday. There's an annual event on during the holidays that I'd love to catch, but I have a feeling I might have to forgo it to study ahead since it's all throughout July That's okay though! I have started studying ahead for Unit 2 this week and here's what I have to do:
CHEM2: Begin studying the properties of water
BIO2: The cell cycle and asexual reproduction
LIT2: Read 'The Great Gatsby'
PSYCH2: Sensations and perception, principles of visual perception
Now that's just before the holidays - I have already read the chapter on the cell cycle and might try to finalize my notes/do practice questions today.
Otherwise, I honestly don't feel very confident in my performance in Unit 1 at all. There's a lot that I want to brush up on! Chemistry, namely, I would love to solidify, and Psychology kinda fell to the wayside. Biology seems to be okay, but a little revision never hurts, and I perpetually have no idea what's going on with Literature. Constantly.
Still battling the ever-enigmatic health mystery which has been fighting me on all of this since November. Keeps things interesting!

I also want to start studying for Methods, like, now. I'm terrified. I have the book here. It's terrifying. I really didn't retain anything from Year 10, so I have to revise MAJORLY on that. I might ask the lovely math people here if they have any recommendations or resources for that!

Thanks for reading! Stay safe out there! What's your week looking like?

[Bri MT]

I'd love to see a visual glossary on here: would be a great fit for the creative corner or accountability and motivation sections of the forum

Glad to hear that the year 9 class went well too - year 9 can be a bit unpredictable in my experience


I'm busy with exam preparation today but I'll check out your methods thread when I can

[catpacksnapback]

I'd love to see a visual glossary on here: would be a great fit for the creative corner or accountability and motivation sections of the forum

Glad to hear that the year 9 class went well too - year 9 can be a bit unpredictable in my experience


I'm busy with exam preparation today but I'll check out your methods thread when I can

Thank you so much! I will absolutely be looking into it, in that case. Definitely agreed on the year 9 front.
I hope all went well with the exam prep; no stress, but any input there is very much appreciated!
June 17, Week 1, 2019
I probably need to figure out a better format for these headers. To be clear - we're on week 1 of unit 2.. but since I know I'll be doing jumbled units, I'm not sure I can say what unit we're on.. hmm..
Unit 2 begins! I have finished the first week of Biology, finished the assigned reading for Literature, and have quite a bit of studying to do for Chemistry and Psychology. Lots of stuff to remember, which never used to bother me, but I've been so drained!
I just finished self-correcting the two practice exams I had for the last unit and I'm honestly really not happy with how I went. Admittedly.. I answer questions quite weirdly. The answers work, sure, but if they're looking for exact keywords, I tend to miss them by a thread every time! So I relied more on my multiple choice answers for now, and I got a 25/30 on Biology, and a 5/20 on Chemistry.

So what on Earth happened with Chemistry?
Maybe I'm crazy - any fellow virtual schoolers are welcome to chide me for my unfortunate results here - but I don't think we were doing the right work throughout the unit. I was never able to find what I was looking for in the right place of the textbook (and we spent a lot of time on chapters from Unit 2, when we did use it) and the exam was Neap's standard Unit 1 exam. I recall not knowing a lot of the material, and seeing a lot that we hadn't covered in any detail at all - and not seeing a lot of what we did cover. The migraine was feisty that day, too, but now I'm just looking for excuses, hahaha! Truth of the matter is, I want to spend more time on practice questions and doing practice exams.
We also weren't allowed to use a calculator, which I thought was interesting. There were stoichiometry questions.

[Geoo]

Yeah the chem exam was an interesting one. There where a few things that related to the coursework last unit, but I used the knowledge from year 9&10 to answer most of them as it wan't taught. I don't think it is a reflection on our part on how good we did, as the exam is by a company, not the school. So it isn't really customised, and I know NEAP gives out harder exams than normal.

So don't beat yourself up about, I have know a few people in real life and on the forms with the same thing when it came to their exams in unit 1 & 2. I took one look and just didn't bother with doing most of the exam anyway. It was optional, and I had more important SACs due and I know that it doesn't always reflect on how good you are at the subject.

But good luck on starting unit 2! Only one more week till school holidays

[catpacksnapback]

Yeah the chem exam was an interesting one. There where a few things that related to the coursework last unit, but I used the knowledge from year 9&10 to answer most of them as it wan't taught. I don't think it is a reflection on our part on how good we did, as the exam is by a company, not the school. So it isn't really customised, and I know NEAP gives out harder exams than normal.

So don't beat yourself up about, I have know a few people in real life and on the forms with the same thing when it came to their exams in unit 1 & 2. I took one look and just didn't bother with doing most of the exam anyway. It was optional, and I had more important SACs due and I know that it doesn't always reflect on how good you are at the subject.

But good luck on starting unit 2! Only one more week till school holidays

Thank you SO much for your assurance here. Oh my gosh. I'm so glad it's not me going crazy.
I did no chemistry whatsoever in year 9 and 10 - so it sounds like I've got some self study to do!
I really appreciate it. Good luck with this last week to you too!

[catpacksnapback]

July 16, Week 3 (Unit 2), 2019
Hi guys! Just a tiny update.
Health has been getting worse and I've been really struggling with my studies, but trucking along. 5 big SACs coming up!
Thinking of totally reconsidering my goals over the next few years, or even months. Not sure where this will take me.
Hope you are all well.

[laura_]

July 16, Week 3 (Unit 2), 2019
Hi guys! Just a tiny update.
Health has been getting worse and I've been really struggling with my studies, but trucking along. 5 big SACs coming up!
Thinking of totally reconsidering my goals over the next few years, or even months. Not sure where this will take me.
Hope you are all well.

That's no good to hear. Have been a long term lurker on your journal, absolutely love it! Best of luck with your sacs. <3 Sending good vibes!

[Geoo]

Hey Cat, how's everything going?
Haven't had an update from you in a while, everything still going okay?

[catpacksnapback]

Hey there laura_ and Geoo! You two are relentlessly lovely. Thank you both, seriously, for checking in on my little thread!
I'm so sorry I've been so inactive -- I didn't intend on radio silence, but my how the days have gone by!

I hope the both of you have been doing well. Here's a long, long overdue update!

November 11, Nothing!, 2019
Twelve months! And what a year! It's been exactly 365 days since the medically recorded beginning of my chronic fatigue syndrome.

A couple of weeks ago I completed all of my work and finished Unit 2 of Biology, Psychology, Chemistry, and Literature.

If you're curious, here are my averages in each subject.

These are the average scores across all of my SACs throughout units 1 and 2 of each subject.
Literature: 83%
Psychology: 88%
Chemistry: 93%
Biology: 93%

It's kind of bittersweet. I don't remember much at all of what I learned, but I am happy that I made it out alive!

A bit of recap on each subject.

Literature and Psychology were certainly a challenge. Psychology was my most unforgiving subject. Usually I'm decent at recall, but with how unreliable my memory has been, much of the content was lost by the time I had to repeat it. Ouch!
I'm still glad I took literature as opposed to english - it seems like analysis has been my only saving grace, whereas my greatest struggles have been in the creative department. I will never not, however, be wildly salty that we don't have english language. I'd give anything to learn it, whereas admittedly I don't feel as if I am learning much in literature.

Chemistry was, in all honesty, a nightmare. The material was fun and interesting for the most part, but appeared entirely estranged from the study design - meaning that every practice exam I did made exactly zero sense. Either that or I am absolutely terrible at exams. Regardless of the subject, I never seem to do very well in exams, admittedly -- I'm not sure what's up there, but I plan on taking more practice ones throughout the holidays.

And biology is still my favorite! I had a brilliant teacher and found the content highly engaging. I'm really excited for next year's content.

So, what now?
Not to drag this post on forever (just making up for lost time!) but over these holidays, I plan on working hard at all of my upcoming subjects: Methods, more literature, biology, and more chemistry.
I'm honestly terrified of methods. I'm going to have to look into tutoring, but it will be my top priority to understand it before the year begins, and secondarily, I'd love to have read the biology and chemistry textbooks through before then.

I'll be doing plenty of practice exams and, hopefully, regaining some sense of cognition! I have begun listening to Douchy's Biology -- and I adore his enthusiasm. Though I don't quite follow all the time, I'm happy to be forming the foundation for the next two units.



Lastly, I have picked up reading again. And what a relief! I'm not nearly as good at it as I used to be, but it feels like a part of my soul is back. I missed, dearly missed, being positively lost in the pages of a book. I just completed Dr. Richard Shepherd's Unnatural Causes. I adored it. My next is Kathleen McAullife's This Is Your Brain On Parasites, and I'm looking forward to starting it very soon!

I've found some of my sanity back in games, too. Forcing some leisure seems just as important in productivity as working, studying, etc. I played through The Legend Of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (my first Zelda game!) and loved it. I'm very excited for Pokemon Sword/Shield, too.

Anyway! Goodness, if you've read through this whole thing, kudos to you - and thank you for your interest! I can't express how much it means to me. Take care of yourself in the current exam or post-exam season! Take a deep breath. You've got this.

[whys]

Ur back!!! 

Glad to see you’ve done well.

[laura_]

It's good to hear from you again Cat!! That's wonderful that you've completed all of your coursework. Do you have exams or are you finished for the year now?

Also, those books sound super interesting.

[catpacksnapback]

Hey laura_ and whys! Great to hear from you both Thank you <3
I apologize for the late response - I was finished for the year, but have already begun studying for next year! Hope both of you (and anyone reading!) have been well.

December 17, Absolutely nothing!, 2019
I wanted to put a little update here about what the holidays have entailed thus far. I'm a bit daunted by how late my Campion books are getting here but that's okay. So far, I have spent the majority doing math.

I never failed math, but I also never understood it - like, at all - and given that I'm taking methods, I figured I'd go through some additional (ha!) study via courses like Khanacademy, which has been absolutely stellar. I've learned a lot about myself in doing so. It's been a journey of mathematical self discovery.
1. I have absolutely no idea how to do my 3's time tables. I don't know how I missed these, but I seem to persistently struggle with any multiples of 3, 6, and 9. (Yet, I know my sevens better than my fives. What?)
2. I can fully understand the methodology behind a question, but I trip up on stuff like 5 + 7.
3. ...I trip up on stuff like 5 + 7?
4. ...OH.

It turns out -- when you aren't under ridiculous mainstream pressure you can actually self-assess on occasion. And it turns out, I have a TERRIBLE penchant for mistaking numbers for other numbers. Is it a form of dyscalculia? Most likely! Is it frustrating? Absolutely! I have to triple-read VERY basic questions in order not to write things out wrong and answer them even wrong-er. I thought it was really interesting, so here I am, sharing. When it comes to algebra, it's even weirder - sometimes I mistake letters and numbers (with no visual relation, such as E and 12 or 8 and N (barring 6 and G, which look identical in my handwriting, oops)), so coefficients and variables are.. interesting to work through.

Ramble aside -- does anyone have experience with this kind of issue? It makes me wonder if the whole reason I struggled through all of math was because of a really silly unchecked mental misalignment. It's so strange how one little thing can change so many others!

[Bri MT]

Not sure if this would help,  but maybe you could try using different coloured highlighters for different characters to help you differentiate them?

I'm glad you've been able to figure this out about yourself & that your extra study has helped you. Really interesting to read about & best of luck with adjusting your studying tactics to best help you!

[catpacksnapback]

Hey Bri,
Thank you for that! I hadn't thought of working that way but it makes so much sense. I have a feeling highlighters are going to be my secret weapon through Methods; and I really appreciate that! :)

January 17, Woah-oh Here She Comes, 2020
Happy new year!! I apologize for neglecting this. A bit of an overarching sense of hopelessness has dampened my motivation -- but we persevere!

My pre-study has been doing well! I attended some of the ATARNotes headstart lectures earlier this week - one for each of my subjects. (If you saw someone sitting up on the wall on Monday, that was me. (Sorry for sitting on the wall.)) As always they were brilliant and I'm happy I made it - lots and lots of running to catch trains, running to catch lectures, running to catch donuts, etcetera etcetera.

A story about one of those lectures:

As indicated by my screaming, I'm taking the first two units of Methods this year to complete the subject next year (along with Psychology and HHD, in a year of study I am dubbing "year 12b"), and figured this would be the most vital lecture to attend. I went, I got some questions right and was totally stumped with others, as to be expected, but was overall quite content with the idea of catching up to learn the 'gaps' in what i didn't understand about it. I knew I'd only have a couple of weeks at most to get comfortable with those, and that was fine.

Dot, dot, dot. I attended the 3 and 4 lecture. Yes; I was aware the 1 and 2 lectures were being held at the AN headquarters(es) but, like a true genius, apparently some part of me that didn't register would only realize this fully a few days after I attended the wrong one. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy -- I understood a good chunk of NEXT year's methods study! :D

For the first day of those lectures I brought my notebook and immediately regretted handwriting my notes. Not because of the content or the amount within - one issue is that all my pens simultaneously died, and the other is that my hand still does that weird thing where it acts up after handwriting. So for the second day, I brought my little netbook laptop and typed them up instead. Thus begins my year of doing exactly that.

I prefer handwriting because I feel I absorb information better that way, so in an effort to preserve that, I have made my notes very colorful and included lots of nonsense that, so far, seems to work. If you're curious, I've attached a little sample of one of the more (over) illustrated pages I made as a test-run while revising last year's Biology.

We'll see if this works in the long term, but for now it's quite fun! I think this will help a lot with Chemistry, too, as I seem to need a lot of visual representation of the content for that subject in particular.

Anyway! I've rambled enough. Hope all of you are doing well and have had a fun break :) Thanks for reading!

[lm21074]

Nice to hear from you again, catpacksnapback!

Those biology notes look amazing! 😍👌