AMA with Bri - sciences, leadership & other things too

BriMT

Hey everyone,

Welcome to this AMA!

Quick snapshot of info you might care about from me:
98.30 ATAR at a low-ranked school in 2017
Dux and dux of all of my subjects at my school
Graduated Bachelor of Science Advanced - Global Challenges (Honours) with first class honours earlier this year
Major: ecology and conservation biology | Minor: mathematical statistics

For VCE, I studied psych, chem & physics in the first year of the current study design. I've been tutoring sciences since high school graduation. I achieved 40+ study scores in the sciences (bio, psych, chem, physics | I did not get a breakdown of my marks). I studied literature in units 1&2, got sick of it, swapped to eng lang 3&4 via distance ed. I don't tutor eng lang since imo I didn't get enough feedback to be good at providing it to others. I also studied methods (spec wasn't offered at my school and we weren't allowed to do it by distance ed). Methods broke my heart as I narrowly missed out on rank 1 then rank 1 decided not to bother with revision or exam prep - leading to my GA1 score being tanked. Ngl if it weren't for the salt I might not have done a maths minor in uni.

For QCE, I looked into the new study designs to help create science resources when they were rolled out in 2020.

I know a little bit about HSC and WACE but certainly don't know those comprehensively and I know next to nothing about SACE and Tassie's high school program.

In high school including in VCE I did a lot of extra curriculars (school band, Venturer Scouts unit council positions, youth mayor of local youth advisory committee, vice school captain etc.). I'm from a single parent family with mum working full time from work so it was my responsibility to get myself to/from places and since I went vegetarian I was also cooking for myself every night (albeit not always full meals). So I didn't have a huge abundance of time up my hands, nor a lot of paid resources.

I'm a big believer in the importance of self-care during VCE, not so much in the "treat yourself!"-focused sense, but in that if you don't take care of your sleep, diet, unhealthy thought patterns etc. that makes things a LOT harder - both personally and academically. On the previous website I had text under my profile saying "invest in your wellbeing so it can invest in you" and this is something I very much believe in.

Please feel free to ask questions; sciences, leadership, communication skills, and resilience are somewhat themes of my life & I've been helping students with their science studies for a while now. Those are the areas that stand out to me but you are welcome to ask about other topics as well.

beep_boop

If you don't mind me asking, what made you choose this degree?

BriMT

beep_boop

of course you can ask!

I went through a few different study plans. I knew I wanted to be a marine biologist from a young age so initially I looked at marine bio specific courses (at Deakin Warnambool, UTAS, JCU). I was pretty focused on these wants at year 9 but I was talked out of believing I could afford to move to attend them so I gave up on that. (By the time I realised I probably could get enough financial support I had already given up on them.)

My assumption for most of VCE was that I would study a bachelor of science at unimelb. I did also feel pressure to consider medicine instead and for a while thought I might go into biomedical engineering but in the end I didn't want to give up on marine bio and I didn't even sit the UMAT.

I went to Monash's Open Day and learnt about the global challenges and research courses there. I had been at UniMelb a decent amount before but this was my first time at Monash and I got such a great vibe from the campus (hello, rainforest walk). It also seemed easier to have the possibility of moving to or close to campus for Monash compared to UniMelb.

Originally I was going to apply for the research one (bachelor of science advanced - research (honours) ) as although global challenges looked aligned with my interests I couldn't see the concrete things that made it separate. In the end, I preferenced research just below global challenges and put biomed scholars below general science. I was offered a biomed scholarship but I didn't want to give up on marine biology, so I declined it.

Global challenges in the end worked out fantastically for me - lots of soft skills, thinking systematically, navigating uncertainty practice etc. that I wouldn't have gotten in a different course. Additionally, my cohort is absolutely fantastic and I made amazing friends quickly. I think choosing a course that focuses more on how to tie in with industry etc. will work well for me given that I plan on also studying masters (in marine science) to get more domain-specific knowledge but I otherwise I would miss not having much marine biology specific content available.

beep_boop

BriMT

What's the difference between a bachelor of science and the degree you studied? I feel like they're similar but are also very different courses.

BriMT

beep_boop

The global challenges course 3/4 of your units ("subjects") are with normal science but 1/4 is impact through science (leadership, communication, adapting to change, working with industry... lots of focus on doing stuff w/ science and how that works). That 1/4 you take with the other gc students in your year level. GC can only be joined from 1st year (no transferring in) and deferring is not allowed. The honours years is quite different in that it is done in teams and is always focused on external partner project (e.g. industry, non-profit, research org).

(I'll come back and answer more questions after tutoring I have very soon)

charl

Was it challenging studying subjects with a newly implemented study design? I will be in that position next year and the year after 🥲
What was your favourite subject in high school and why?
What's your biggest regret (if you have any) with how you completed your VCE?

BriMT

charl

New study designs

It was a bit intimidating but what I've noticed is that people tend to have over detailed study for new study designs. There will be genuinely new content, content from previous study designs (but not most recent), and a lot of content from the most recent one too. It's not an entirely new thing - just modifications (extent of which varies with subject)

Favourite subject

Has to be biology. For me biology also had special emotional meaning to me because my bio 34 teacher was also my year 9 science teacher. In year 9 I was trying to claw my way out of some pretty strong depressive symptoms and this was reflected in things like straight up not doing a bunch of homework (and instead doing nothing feeling guilty about it). So my teacher for year 9 science talked to me about while I had the potential to be good at VCE I was not going to be with the behaviours I was having then. Part way through bio 34 she told me she hoped I'd be the first student at the school to get an A on the exam since it went to one exam for the whole year. I got a 47 study score in bio, breaking my school's study score record at the time. After that, not only did my confidence improve and belief in what I could achieve but I also noticed peers setting higher goals as well. So even aside from my love of biology generally that was very special for me.

Biggest regret

Wayyyy too much stress. Like honestly the amount of time spent feeling hopeless after a bad SAC score or something.

ducktails

Apply anyway, you might be able to scrape in on ATAR through adjustments (or higher performance than you expect) and when they're looking at how you interview compared to say a 99 ATAR student they won't hold it against you. Just make sure you also consider what your back up preferences are (as you would for any course) - even after ATAR concerns GC is competitive. Make sure you get the supplementary form in on time so that you can be considered if you do meet the ATAR cut-off.

ducktails

Hey Bri,

I've recently been exposed to the global challenges degree - the more I hear about it, the more it sounds like it'd be a good fit for me, but hot damn the ATAR requirement is scary and I just miss the cutoff for the Monash guarantee. Have you got any advice for a potential future GC student?

Joseph41

BriMT

Wayyyy too much stress. Like honestly the amount of time spent feeling hopeless after a bad SAC score or something.

This is interesting. What would you do differently if you had the time again?

BriMT

Joseph41

If I had the time again with the additional emotion development maturity etc. from now I'd spent a lot less time worrying about how other people would perceive me. One of the ways in which this manifested was a lot of focus on having to be rank 1 ALL the time. Some of this was externally imposed (e.g. there was one physics SAC where I didn't get the highest score and people still talked about that months later) but largely it was about me catastrophising that if I wasn't rank 1 I couldn't get a "good" study score etc. I would spend time thinking about students who had been preparing from younger year levels, had access to more resources, spent all of their time on VCE etc. Ultimately there are VERY few students who fit a close to "perfect" archetype and that focus was pretty unhelpful + there's more to VCE than just the scores at the end.

Another way it manifested was in avoiding mental health help. I'd been referred to school counsellors previously but I obfuscated and avoided talking about the real issues. E.g. I would talk about external sources of academic pressure but not internal ones (perceived need to be "perfect" to be accepted etc.). Additionally, I only told an adult outside of my home about the family violence* I was experiencing after starting the mental health topic in psych and realising that I was having maladaptive mental patterns associated with that. Having help to change my perspectives and be healthier from a professional meant I had much greater mental and emotional resources for VCE. It also helped me view VCE in a healthier way too. If I could go back I'd speak up sooner.

/* Anyone experiencing - or who thinks they might be experiencing - family violence and/or difficulties with emotional wellbeing 1. It's common and not your fault 2. You can talk to trained people online (including anonymously), on the phone or in person for help, guidance, and clarity about your situation. (e.g. Kids Helpline and Headspace). I am happy to provide links to sites that give more info or talk about how mental health links in with the psychology study design; I will not otherwise be going more in-depth on this. I'm in a good and safe place now 🙂

SnekiSnek

Hey Bri!

You did the same three science subjects I am currently doing (chem, psych and physics), what are your best tips for preparing for these exams in order to get the best possible marks?

BriMT

SnekiSnek

I often reinforce the importance of practice exam questions but here are some more specific pieces of advice:

Physics:

learn from where your past reference sheets have been helpful and failed you and keep improving on this
don't just cram the maximum amount of info into your reference sheet, make sure it's useable (e.g. size 6 font is not going to make it easy to read or find the info you need)

Psych:

there are a lot of marks you can get through memorisation but also a lot where you need proper understanding ESPECIALLY in linking topics together and research methods. Students often lose marks in those areas.

Chem:

get into the habit of clear and succinct working out - sometimes even for multichoice (e.g. some titration multi choice questions). n vs n(molecule) for example. Make sure it's clear what you're talking about. This is largely for your benefit when doing questions but it also makes review and finding your mistakes a lot easier.

For all:
Figure out where you could improve and where you're doing well & use that information. Find the trends in where you lose marks and address those (if you can't think of how, ask). It's a lot harder for me to help someone if they tell me "I'm getting __ but I want __" if I don't know why & it also makes it harder for those students to help themselves study effectively. Also as a psych student you will know the importance of sleep, it's not common for students to study on BAC of 0.05 but when it comes to sleep... sleep, healthy diet, exercise etc. are no magic fix to make things perfect but they can help A LOT.

Moskva

Hey Bri 😁

Biology is giving me a tough time with all the competition (mainly year 11s who accelerate the subject haha 😅). Do you have any tips for gaining an edge against them when it comes to assessment-tasks/SACs?

BriMT

Hey Moskva!

Year 11 tend to have an edge in terms of having more time available to study but can struggle more when it comes to how to answer questions. My advice for you to is focus on where you are losing marks and to put in place a strategy for addressing those areas. E.g. if you tend to make silly mistakes but finish early, try slowing down the rate at which you go through assessments. If you're not sure where you're losing marks now is a good time to start keeping track.

lm21074

Hey Bri!

Do you have a favourite species of turtle?

Would you ever consider doing a PhD or following a research pathway in the future?