Am I in a good position for year 11?

lil N

Just wondering if I am in a good position to start year 11 considering I am at a low ranked public high school. I saw a reddit post saying that for methods you need the foundation topics like exponentials, logs, functions and relations and more. I have learned these topics but math has been my best subject forever and my school excels in math department so I am just making this discussion to ask if I have enough prerequisite knowledge to succeed in year 11.
Ill just write the topics I covered in term 3 & 4, year 10, as my school "starts" unit 1 then:
Biology: Must've left some bits out but this is a short summary
really felt good with the topics but didn't perform well in exam due to putting too much pressure on myself, content wasn't toooo much but it definitely was my most content filled subject.
Excretory system (gas exchange, osmoregulation (nephrons) and anatomy of alveoli, lungs etc)
Respiratory system (flow of air, what the body does to inhale and exhale, etc)
Digestive system (main focus on enzymes, ways of breaking downs foods and what into and anatomy of the digestive track)
Biological molecules (the monomers of molecules, proteins, carbs etc)
Circulatory system (heart anatomy, flow and structure of blood/ blood vessels, effect of altitude (haemoglobin))
Chemistry: really love this subject, explores the natures of particles and everyday reactions.
Stoichiometry (basic mole/ gram calculations/ conversions)
chemical reactions (unit 1 level) (exo vs endo thermic) (rate of reactions)
periodic table trends (basically review of year 9)
bonds (ionic compounds/ formulas and properties, precipitate reactions)
solubility
isotopes
atomic structure
Physics really found physics fun, As I love math using it to solve physical problems really makes me more curious as our teacher likes to explain "ahead" of the syllabus. I think we were taught the fundamentals for year 11 and focused on perfecting the habits needed, especially in term 3. I think I also left out a few topics for physics as I am writing this all off memory
units and prefixes (also scientific notation, order of mag, rounding rules, uncertainties, errors)
excel graphing
thermo physics (heating and cooling, properties of particles, kinetic particle model of matter, internal energy, thermal expansion, q=mcT , energy systems)
Methods Its math, really never could dislike it and really have just learned math to a point where class is boring and I am just ticking topics off the syllabus, genuinely excited for end of year 11/ all of year 12 where we learn calc.
Arithmetic and geometric progressions
functions and relations
logs
algebra (solving mainly log equations)
Specialist math Felt ready for the exam but teacher threw a curve ball question and it smacked me in the face, as we learned trig and proofs he combined the complex unfamiliar question with both and I was stumped, ended up getting a B so pretty disappointed with the result but again I think I lost easy marks due to all the pressure I had put on myself.
Trig (pythag identity, unit circle, graphing)
circle theorems (proof was fun)
intro to proof (mainly just similarity and congruency to introduce us to the topic)
probability (very easy just questions are worded hard)
vectors (very large topic as it was basically all of term 4 so we learned dot product, scalar resolute, parallels and perpendicular resolute, magnitudes and direction, finding components, unit vectors)
geometric proof using vectors (I wont lie in saying I hated this at the start because I couldn't wrap my head around how I am supposed to know where to start with proofs, It came easier as I learned that most of the questions were based around like 2 or 3 core concepts)
English Never was really good at English, as ATAR only takes top 5 subjects here in QLD I doubt English will be in there as I have averaged a B for as long as I can remember.
term 3 was an analytical essay and term 4 was creative writing which I did enjoy but never knew how to study to get better.
Overall just wanted to share this experience and also potentially gain some responses to whether or not These topics have prepared me well enough for year 11.
Patty.

DumbNerd

lil N

Yo, I'm going to yr11 with you as well lol. I have almost the same subjects as you but I'm doing eco instead of bio and yr12 methods. I'm also at a public high school and let me just say: your school literally does NOT play a role in your results. You just have to focus hard on your studies instead of whether your plane has sparkling water 🤣 . Some previous students at my school did really well - our dux in '21 got a 99.75... in a public school.

Also, you don't really need to worry about what you've done in yr10 since in yr11 they'll go through everything again (that is they should). I couldn't do chem in yr10 since history was compulsory (still topped my class tho lmao).

Maths is also my best and favourite subject, after all I'm doing yr12 so maybe I could explain a few things to you if you have any questions? I'll be sure to vent all about it here - hopefully the external's not as "stupid" as 2022's!

PhytoPlankton

lil N
Hey Patty,

As @DumbNerd said, your school certainly does not have an impact on your marks anymore like in the OP system. It just really depends on if your teachers give you enough resources, adequate teaching and the marks you deserve 🙂. I believe you certainly are in a good position for grade 11. For maths methods, chemistry and physics, those concepts you've learnt so far are vital for learning in Grade 11 and 12 - those are foundational concepts. But as DumbNerd said, they will go through those again because you're officially starting the ATAR Units 1-4. Also, if you are ever worried about that, please please refer to the QCAA syllabuses for each subject. They list out every single thing you need to know. Those syllabuses are basically the bible for the QCE students.

As for your UCAT, I would highly recommend starting UCAT prep now. Work through that textbook and do some of those free resources given by different companies and in the meantime, research those prep companies so you know what to buy when you need it (I recommend around mid this year, after this year's UCAT testing). What I would do is identify which of the 5 sections is the weakest and work mainly on that until you get a course.
Also, if you do well in your UCAT, you don't need to stress too much about your ATAR. At least for UQ, they decide your interview solely based on your UCAT score and you only need to get an ATAR of 95. So basically, if you get a high UCAT and a pretty decent ATAR then you have a pretty good chance at UQ med.

Hope that helps!

lil N

Also, on the topic of 'am i ready' should i be starting UCAT prep now? I have a textbook and sorta started have been studying it throughout the year but do not know if im actually gonna get the grades to be eligible for the atar i need for undergrad med!

jinx_58

Hey! Congrats on finishing year 10!

As long as you’re confident in these topics, you should be alright for year 11. Personally, I felt year 11 was the same as year 10, except with differently styled assessment. My advice would be to focus on your study habits these holidays. Reflect on how you study, because our syllabus strongly relies on properly understanding concepts, rather than memorisation. Especially for Physics. Year 11 for me was a trial and error year and my grades (especially for exams) were trash. And if the way you study is not great and solely based on memorisation and passive recall, I strongly suggest learning go to study. Trust me, it’s a total game changer. Another tip, branching off this, is learning what study methods to use when you’re learning a concept vs. study methods when you’re revising.

I’d also suggest having an exam-day-strategy kinda thing. If you seem stressed out or are putting too much pressure on yourself, ask why. Write it down. Write down your feelings to get a full grasp of why you’re putting too much pressure on yourself. Just keep in mind, it’s not an end-of-the world situation. Fake that confidence into the exam room, and trust me mate, you’ll be amazing.
Learning time management skills will also be useful to make year 11 a little smoother. Year 11 was definitely trial and error for most of our cohort so don’t be too hard on yourself if you mess up a little. As long as you learn from your mistakes and do better in year 12, you’ll be right.

Hope this helped, sorry this post is so long, and feel free to ask more questions,
-jinx_58

WelcomeToHell

Just wondering, if you're aiming for undergrad med then why did you choose biology?

Usually scaling shouldn't decide what subjects you choose and you should pick subjects that you enjoy and are good at, but in the case of med you should definitely do the subjects that scale well as it has such a high ATAR requirement.

lil N

WelcomeToHell
Hey, I did not choose my subjects for the scaling, although it is a bonus. I love science and learning about the universe and biology is interesting, I just couldn’t see myself doing humanity subjects or more English as it’s not what I enjoy.

lil N

PhytoPlankton
Thanks for the reply, if my teachers didn’t give me enough resources do you know of any online ones that are good? I have a lot of YouTube channels that I watch which help and we have decent resources with school.
Also is UQ one of the most competitive schools in Queensland? I do want to go there as of now because of all the stuff I’ve bear my mum say about it ahah.

PhytoPlankton

lil N
No problem! There are so many resources online now for the QCE but you will definitely have to be prepared to pay a bit. Here are just a few of the many resources available:

ATAR Notes study guides and topic tests (I think I used the VCE and HSC topic tests)
ReviseOnline (online platform which has tests, questions etc.)
Pearson skills assessment, Cambridge checkpoints, Oxford Study Buddy books which are all tailored to QCE
Practise exam companies: Neap, Total Education, Queensland Exam Papers etc.

These are all resources that are specific to QCE that you can buy any time. However, I do highly recommend that you take a look on Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree and especially, any of the senior Facebook groups (such as the QCAA 2023 FB group) which have past students selling tons of resources for pretty cheap.

I would say UQ is one of the most competitive medical schools in Australia, however, that doesn't mean that the other QLD ones aren't. I've very very briefly summarised the QLD medical schools below:

UQ: very competitive --> High UCAT for interview offer then medical place is based on the interview, UCAT and ATAR
Griffith GC, Nathan and SC: very competitive --> Very high ATAR (99.80+ needed for all three campuses)
JCU: moderately to very competitive --> moderate to high ATAR but lots of extra-curricular, leadership and service involvement needed
Bond University: not very competitive --> moderate ATAR, moderate interview score and a lot of money

I hope you found this helpful and let me know if you have any questions!

lil N

PhytoPlankton
thank you, these resources will be utilised extensively. As I don't think I am going to be able to get the atar that I want as my assignment writing skills aren't where I want them to be, I was thinking of going for a regional pathway med school, working as a doctor in a rural suburb is where I plan to work anyway so the pathways with these bonds are in my favour as they are less competitive from what Ive heard.
How are you finding your experience with your med program?

PhytoPlankton

lil N
Hey Patty,

If you currently study and live in a rural area, you can certainly apply for the rural access scheme for any university (including UQ, Griffith etc.). Based on what you said that your writing skills aren't that good, there is certainly more than enough time for you to practise since you are in Grade 11. Ask your teacher or past students for their assignments so you use them as exemplars to see how they wrote them. It'll definitely help!

I'm finding the med program pretty good so far - I am definitely enjoying everything I'm learning right now! I'm actually in the second year of my pre-medical undergraduate program so the courses aren't too bad right now. Everyone's different but I can tell you that, at least for me, the medical program is definitely worth the hard work you put in.

Anyways, let me know if you have another other questions.

lil N

PhytoPlankton
Ok, on the topic of asking past students for their assignments do you still have yours (student experiments, research paper, maths report etc)? If so would you mind sending them for the following subjects:
spec, methods, bio, chem, physics and english.
It would be largely appreciated but I do understand if you do not wish to send me the assignments.
And with the med programs with rural application I was thinking more about the bonded places where you have to work in rural areas for a certain time after med school or am I misunderstood?

PhytoPlankton

lil N
Hey Patty,

I can certainly send them to you. I would just have to find them first 😅 and if I do, how would you like me to send them to you?

No, you certainly did not misunderstand. You can certainly apply for the bonded places and you are right that you have to intern for a certain amount of time wherever the government tells you to (most likely rural). However, I will be honest though and say that the entry requirements for bonded places are only marginally lower than the requirements for unbonded places. For example, if the unbonded place UCAT percentile is 95%, the bonded place requirement would be 93%. And some universities determine bonded and unbonded based on GPA of your undergraduate.

Anyways, hope that helped and let me know for the above.