the journey to surviving the apocalypse (vce journal)

11/03/23
Real quick recap.

Got my practice SAC marks for English Language back, did incredibly well and was in high spirits. Then immediately sat a chemistry AOS test straight after, and had all my hopes and dreams crushed in front of me in the form of rechargeable batteries. What cruel, cruel teacher blesses me with thermochemical equations and gas laws, and then watches me crumble as she puts in BATTERIES.

Needless to say, not very excited to get my marks back for that one.

It did not help that the apocalypse caught up to me, infecting me with the dreaded influenza virus. Oh how my immune system has failed me numerous times these past two years, I’ve been sick constantly and I’m kinda done with it. Will I turn into a zombie, a slave of the VCAA, or will I miraculously recover?

Essentially, I’ve been trudging through school this week with only a headache, sore throat and sniffles to accompany me on my journey.

I had my English Language short answer SAC on Wednesday, and I kind of messed it up. I don’t think I failed, but I definitely underperformed and I think I have to kiss my chances at a 40+ goodbye. It really frustrates me because I knew I did a question wrong but I didn’t have enough time to fix it. I’m not necessarily giving up, though, I’m gonna try my damn best in the upcoming SACs to make up for it, but I’m definitely lowering my expectations. It’s okay some things just don’t go our way and the best thing we can do is just try our best to do better.

I’ve got SAC after SAC until the end of the term now, so I can’t really pity myself any longer. I got this.

Status update:
Methods - not feeling too bad at the moment, currently doing polynomials which I enjoy so I’m getting there.

General - been doing practice SACs and getting through the textbook a bit more, a bit stressed for the data analysis SAC since it’s not really like anything I’ve ever done before, and I know I’m gonna lose marks from stupid shit

Japanese - got a writing SAC soon, writing is my strong suit so I hope to practice that for a bit. I also need to start working on my speaking stuff for orals at the end of the year

Billzene Oh, I didn’t know that! That’s good to know thank you! This was just a test covering chapter 1-6 of the Heinemann chemistry textbook though, our actual aos1 SAC is specifically on galvanic cells as far as I’m aware

16/06/23
Uhm, yeah. So last time I posted at the end of term 1, and now it’s the end of term 2. That’s terrifying. One more term left (term 4 barely counts) and that’s it… I’m done.

Had my year 12 formal, lovely night, a lot of fun. Did the GAT, hilarious as always. (I was team BBQ, if you supported the benches then who even are you wtf.)

Anyways, subject time and updates on goals and stuff??

General Maths:
Only had one SAC this term, which was financial maths. Ngl, I thought it was kinda fucked like a lot of us genuinely thought we were gonna fail and it was not a good time. Terrible SAC, so very confusingly worded and yeah.

Somehow got 18/20 by some miracle that I won’t dare to question, so it all worked out but the tears shed over that SAC was not worth it.

Japanese:
Again, only had one SAC which was a speaking SAC this time. Went pretty smoothly, didn’t have any major complaints.

Got 13.5/15, which y’know for a language I’m not complaining.

English Language:
Had one SAC (again? What is it with the singular SACs…) and it was an AC + Short Answer SAC. Short answer was hella easy ngl, got full marks for that section. The AC was okay, I could’ve chosen better examples (I kinda rambled on about pronouns for too long and got marked down for that, which fair enough. I read through it when I got my feedback and I was like: yeah, uh, never doing that again)

Got 44/50.

Chemistry:
Once again, one SAC which was on equilibrium. I found it to be a pretty easy SAC, so I’ll admit I was hoping for a higher score, and I was a bit disappointed, but hey it’s still a decent score so yk.

44/50.

Methods:
The big one… the one that terrified me. We had one SAC, and it was a calculus application one. And when I tell you I cried so much over this, I mean I was ugly crying. I felt so bad after this SAC that I was convinced I was gonna fail.

I’ve never failed anything in my life before, so the idea of this being my first time just absolutely devastated me. My goal for methods is a 25 study score, so I really only need a pass or a bit more in order to get that. And I thought I wouldn’t.

So today we got our SAC marks AND our rankings for that SAC. I got a 42/50, and am somehow ranked in the top 5. What the fuck. I am absolutely ecstatic and it’s so much more than I deserve. Safe to say, just try your damn best y’all. I knew methods was gonna drag me down, so I did my best to compensate for it, and sometimes you’ll feel like shit but who knows, it might work out for you. You never know unless you try.

Anyways, in terms of goals (study scores and ATAR). Still aiming for an 80+ ATAR, and still aiming for a 30 study score at least in all my subjects… and I think maybe?? Just maybe?? I can get above a 25 in methods??? We’ll see how I feel next term.

Semester 1 is over. Here’s to hopefully a decent semester 2

AngelWings thank youuu!!

jinx_58 ahah tysm!!

this’ll be my last update and then i’ll be off for good

uni offers came out and i was accepted into my first preference! nursing (scholars program) at monash university!

the current plan is to finish nursing, and hopefully try for med school in the future but that’s a problem for future me. good luck to all the future vce students who happen to stumble upon this forum like i did, remember to try your best and have no regrets, but also remember that vce is only a small part of your life, and there are so many ways to get to where you wanna go.

adios!