So, week 3, and everything has ramped up. I've tried to keep ahead in everything, but most I'm learning at the same rate at class (which is also a miracle). Due to doing only 4 subjects, instead of 6 like the majority of my cohort, I have more time in school to do the homework.
Rn, I've been allowing myself to have home time as just time to relax because I've already reached the recommended weekly homework time (12.5 hours a week). Except for Sunday tho. I might will have to do more work at home.
I'm probably won't do any tutoring- its never helped bc I only grasp the information by myself after class.

Literature:
It's going good, but I have no idea how to prepare for future tests (so scared for the exams). I've tried to annotate the book, but I've only done tags, and not highlighting. Annotating is soooo boring sometimes, I need to practise doing it.
Global Politics:
It's been up and down honestly with work. I'm hoping for at least a study score of 35 (38-40 would be absolutely amazing). I keep forgetting to read the news everyday, which is a pretty core thing of this subject.
Physics:
Although I am still way ahead, I have so many hours of work to do to consolidate my learning. Even though it is only 1/2, I'm motivated to keep really organised.
VSV Environmental Science:
Work has really ramped up, but it is still manageable. It feels like 75% of a whole subject, due to how little external work I do for it. I think I've gotten the hang of the website.

My hopes for this year to really just stay in the moment, cherishing all the freedom and busyness with all the clubs and friends. Thank god I got my morning/night routine in track- I would be sleeping every second (instead I feel the need to sleep every hour lol)

This is so much stuff, and it's only a summary! Wish I wrote this much as I did for English lmao

    For Global Politics I found last year that subscribing to just a few daily emailed updates was a good way to keep up with the news. I signed up for UN News and Foreign Policy Morning Brief, Editors' Picks and China Brief (since my school did China for Power in the Asia-Pacific). I used to have a look at these in the morning before class, and it kept it digestible.

      TnGn74
      Ooo I haven't thought of that- thank you for the suggestion!

        Yolk15 Psychology was probably my 2nd favorite subject in VCE. Really enjoyed how applicable it was to real life and honestly found it much more interesting than Biology. I would also recommend having a look at VCE Geography. Don't really need the 1/2 for Geography (or at least I didn't do it and still was my best subject). Found it was a good mix of Enviro ish stuff as well as Human Geography and impacts.

          5 days later

          Hello internet- I need some advice (it isn't urgent so I won't make a separate discussion page):
          Rn Im doing 4 subjects and am wondering if I should do 5 or 6 in total. There are so many subjects I want to do, but I'm afraid I'll get overwhelmed/won't have a lot of study times. Not too worried about my atar, just whether if I'll enjoy my last years of high school or not.

          Here are my choices as of now (after cutting down the list from a previous update):
          .Psychology- fun, interesting, and easy; competitive cohort, tight marking, might have some trouble without 3/4
          .Sociology- easy, related to my future career, VSV; too easy..., scales a bunch down
          .English- doing lit at the same time so easy pick up, love reading, not as competitive overall cohort; can be repetitive/boring writing essays, terrible exam

          I can choose up to two of them but honestly I'll probably change my mind within a week (oh well).

            Yolk15 I assume you’re in year 11?

            If you’re able to transfer into a 3&4 in year 11, then definitely go for an extra subject and do 6. However, if you plan to do 6 subjects in year 12, I would personally say it’s not worth it unless you absolutely need a high atar.

            It’s perfectly possible to get 95+ with 5 subjects, but a 99.95 would be unlikely.

            I say not to do it because as a year 12 right now, my free periods are absolute godsend and I can’t imagine not having that extra time to get work done. I think 6 subjects is a bit too much work and you might have to sacrifice some stuff in order to keep up.

            It’s entirely up to you, obviously. If you feel like you can keep up with the workload without sacrificing too much, then go for it. I just personally wouldn’t be able to <3

                lxna
                Thanks so much for the advice and assurance! Aiming for above a 96, but honestly 70 is all I need as a minimum. I'm in year 11 rn. I can only do a max of 5 subjects in year 12. But yeah, free studies are the best. Thanks again for replying!

                  6 days later

                  Yolk15 I'm considereing switching to VSV Environmental science for semester 2, are you enjoying it? Would you recommend it?

                      3mma-13
                      Hey 3mma!
                      I personally love environmental science as a subject, and am a pretty independent learner. That being said, this year hasn't been the most fun- due to the fact I'm not trying too much. I mean, it is only 1/2, but I'm spending much more time on my other subjects. Turns out there is actually a fair amount of work (you can't really finish it all in one day, unless you really went for it). Luckily the subject is considered an "easy" subject, so I'm sure you'll do fine with the content. Although it means that you have to do a lot to not get beaten with the scaling down. Also, 1/2 isn't necessary for 3/4
                      If you like Environmental Science, don't mind keeping yourself accountable without any teachers to catch you up with work, then sure go ahead!

                        6 days later

                        Hey yall procrastinating rn, hopefully I will start working after this...

                        Clubs: Oh lord. I've been taking school days off when I know my mental health will plummet if I go to school on that certain day, so I can in the long term do more work. The thing is, if I leave for one day, I miss literally 2-6 club things for one lunch... I'm just telling myself that everyone's understanding, and missing one thing (or 10) is best for the long term.

                        Politics: My first ever 3/4 sac is on this friday, and I think it will go alright (because we're not doing an essay). I'm just hoping for at least a 35 study score- i think that's achieveable.

                        Literature: It's going good, we recently got a year calendar so I can organise everything! I have my first comparative on Wednesday- I think it might be worse than my close analysis, but as long as I finish something, its fine.

                        Physics: Ehhh its getting a bit muddy now (I miss one class yall smh), and we have a test on Thursday. It'll be fine, hopefully. Physics will be my top scoring study score (maybe more than a 40), so I gotta smash this!!

                        Environmental Science: I have my test on Wednesday as well, I read through the intructions and I think this will be okay. Honestly I haven't been taking notes, just absentmindedly going through my assignments, but I really should get my head in the game.

                        I can't wait for holidays, I really need a new fresh start, see yall on the other side...

                        Yolk15
                        Hey so, coming from someone who's done both sociology and psychology I thought I'd give you some advice if you're still considering between the two subjects

                        Psychology: I am not a science orientated person, prefer humanities any day, however psychology is simple enough that it's easy to pick up (I picked it up as a 3/4 last year without doing the 1/2), however I would say it's a lot of scientific content you will have to learn there will be quite a bit of biology however it's interesting and relates to everyday life scenarios (like how your body deals with stress, sleep etc.) It also has a lot of niches and small things to remember but as it is a lot of applying as well as remembering it's not too difficult of a subject. It's also amazing if you like writing because the questions are mainly like dot point sentences explaining how processes occur and the exam has 40 MC which is beautiful! However the exam last year was very difficult but because this year and next year (For you) will be a relatively new study design the exam shouldn't be too hard and you should be able to get a good study score

                        Sociology: I found this subject so much more interesting than any subject I had done throughout schooling, like it made me want to do a Bachelor of Arts. Like every topic in sociology is so interesting and relevant to today's society, I found it was interacting with all my other subjects in some shape or form and was just a very holistic subject. HOWEVER, though it was a fabulous subject to learn, it was not great in terms of assessment, many people are naive coming into the subject thinking it's easy, it scales down, remember scaling is based on the competitiveness of the cohort you are against not the subject itself! Sociology has lots of content, like lots, there are like 15 case studies, examples and quotes you have to know about almost every dot point it's also very difficult in terms of assessment. You have to write long definitions and explain answers very quickly in limited time, so I would say far more interesting than psych but lots more work don't underestimate it! It does unfortunately scale down by a lot too, so just be wise in choosing.

                        I think ultimately choose what would suit you best, these are my experiences of the 2 subjects, so don't take my opinions as what your experience will be like but I just thought I should give you a taste of what each subject is like so that your not shocked if you choose one of them.

                            6 days later

                            Ok so the big obstacle's over, and now the hangover...

                            The only two subjects I really want to focus on rn are glopol and lit, because we're doing work that relates to the exam. The two sciences are more like recaps. Also, because we're now in week 7, everything's slowing down. Next week is camp/volunteering week, and the only sac for the rest of the term is in week 10, for the glopol essay- I want to focus the most on that, since I have more time now. I feel so bad coz all my friends are stressing out about their sacs due this week, while I'm over here taking it slow and steady.

                            Good luck to everyone with their sacs this week, and don't burnout before the end of the term!!

                            18 days later

                            Hello, yes I am still alive!
                            So so SO very tired, and just a few more days left- hoping for a fresh start next term.
                            I'm dropping VSV environmental science bc I don't think the learning style needed to cope with virtual school fits well with me. Instead I'm picking up 1/2 English mainstream- yes, two englishes!
                            So what I'm thinking by the end of year 12 is: English, lit, psychology, physics, global politics, and maybe something else??
                            Sorry I don't have much to talk about, just wrote so that I at least do have something recent here.
                            Bye, and have a good holiday!

                            12 days later

                            I commend those reading this- but really, please enjoy your holidays (preferably with limited attention to school)!
                            My current routine rn unfortunately has been wake up early, sleep again, wake up in the afternoon to do hours of school work, then sleep. At least I'm getting work done?
                            My school's holiday homework guidelines tell me that 2 hours should be allocated for each subject (excluding reading), but honestly the way I'm going I'll take up 5 or more hours. Hopefully I don't burnout too quickly.
                            Oh well, it is only the start of the holidays (but oh boy does time like to sneak up on me), have a good one guys!

                            14 days later

                            Welcome back to the term 2! Are you ready for a subject selection rant? No? Oh well, you're gonna have to sit through one, so here we go!
                            The current subjects year 11/2023: 1/2 English Mainstream, 1/2 lit, 1/2 physics, 3/4 global politics.
                            Year 12/2023 plan (all 3/4): Mainstream, lit, physics, and psychology (there is room for another subject, but I'm not sure).

                            Rn I have 5 subjects I definitely know what I want to, and I could pick up another subject. I dropped my vsv subject, I was not fit to thrive in online school, so my last subject will have to be one from school. Best choice is englang, but that means all three english subjects (so one will go automatically to bottom 5/6), and a LOT of writing.
                            A few years ago I knew that english and science was my main strengths, but I thought both subjects were really boring. Fast forward to now, where I realise those two are the only subjects I actually can survive through. After a lot of thinking, I've realised that I love researching about a lot of subjects like maths and humanities, but that I suck at them in school. If I could choose my atar subjects based if I had to do personal research, it would be humanities and visual arts. I really like social science, and would like to pursue something relating to it in the future, but I really hate the high school subjects- hopefully uni will be different. I know that even though science is easy for me, I would hate to base my whole career on it. I've dropped and picked up so many subjects, and thought that I definitely knew what career I wanted to go to, but I'm very indecisive. I guess I will leave this all to future me.

                            19 days later

                            It's been a while since I've been back here, but that's because not anything interesting has been going on. I have found a way to be productive though: overstimulating myself!
                            I'm always tired after school and on the weekends, so I use 2 productive apps on my phone (forest and yeolpumta), I have a tab open of "here.fm" (a studying lobby website), and a tab of loud music blasting in my headphones. And it works! I also use the pomodoro technique (studying 25 minutes, resting for 5, repeat). I guess what also helps is that I genuinely like all my subjects. During my studies, I do most of the "fun" homework, leaving all the "hard" stuff at home, where I can put myself in the productive zone.

                            Honestly, I get more stuff done during the holidays than I do during school terms. However, an advantage of that is since 2 of my subjects are english, I read and annotate all my novels before school, so I hardly have any homework for those subjects, and I can focus on my other ones.

                            Also, I've learned that there is a fine line when trying to help out your peers with school work. I've learned now that to avoid plagiarism, just create a separate word doc from your original work, where if it is maths work, put exactly what you wrote (it's fine if people copy and paste that work, as with maths there is only one answer); if it is a worded question, don't write an actual answer! What's better is to point the reader in the right direction- explain certain terms in the question and use dot points when saying how to solve the answer- that way your peers are actually using their brain instead of just copy and pasting. This only applies to weekly/daily homework.

                            That's really all there is I have to say/rant, have a good day!

                            a month later

                            Yes hi hello I am still alive
                            Just briefly came back to state my opinion on the first Gat I've ever done:
                            .Like a Naplan
                            .So very silly
                            .At least no classes on the day
                            .A bit boring
                            .Writing was nice- very free, very good place for a rant
                            Ok thank you i am going to sleep now

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