the journey to surviving the apocalypse (vce journal)

lxna

Hello! My name is Luna, and I am a year 12 student studying VCE. I had a VCE journal that I started towards the end of 2022, which recounted the last couple of months of my year 11 journey, but I decided we needed to start afresh as I’m sure there are plenty of things coming up this year that I would like to keep a memento of.

This year I will be doing English language, chemistry, general maths (finally dropped psych!), maths methods, and Japanese second language. I finished biology last year with a raw 39.

My goals for this year are simple, and definitely less ambitious than last years:

I’m aiming for an 80 ATAR. I’d like to do a bachelor of nursing at Monash which requires a 77, and the same course from other unis requires much lower. Hence, an 80 will give me the freedom of having options. 🙂
I’d like all of my study scores to be in the 30s… which means I need to work on methods a lot… (crying rn)
I want to have fun and work on my mental health. It’s year 12, there are going to be so much fun and exciting stuff happening, I don’t want to be studying 25/8 or let my mental illnesses prevent me from doing the things I love.

This is honestly a scary year, I can’t believe I’m nearly done with highschool but I am also excited to get into the next chapter of my life. To the class of ‘23, good luck and have fun!

Holiday Recap
Gonna be honest, I‘ve taken the holidays really chill. I finished school in late November so I got a bit of my holiday homework done before I got bored and decided to chill out for most of December. In January I procrastinated my holiday homework, but I’m going interstate really soon so I’m on a countdown now and hope to get at least 95% of my holiday homework done before I leave. (We’ll find out…)

Do I regret my decisions? Always! But it’s too late now! <3

Week 1 Over
I don’t plan on doing weekly updates since nothing much comes up per week anyways, but since it’s the first week of school I reckon that’s enough of an event.

First week wasn’t that bad, actually. Quite uneventful but really chill. God bless free periods ❤️

General: since I switched to General halfway through the holidays, I hadn’t done any of the work so I was really behind. Fortunately, I’ve been able to catch up enough that I should be on track by next week. I’m really enjoying General actually, it’s been so long since I’ve done maths that I understand pretty easily and have fun doing. Such a change of pace compared to methods, and it’s a very welcome one.

Methods: I don’t hate methods, but it’s not my favourite. I’m not necessarily behind, but every chapter is just a bore and I’m finding that I’m not putting as much effort into it as I should. I am expecting it to be in my bottom 2, but I also don’t want to slack off and not put my best into it because I know I’ll regret it. Also, I was one of the top students in methods last year and my ego would hurt badly if I get knocked down. 💀 Please, god of motivation, help me. 🙏

Chemistry: I love chemistry. It’s my favourite subject and I will happily do chapter questions any day. This week has been fun for chem, I have a wonderful teacher and I’m so excited for the upcoming year because she loves chem as much as I do and it’s nice to have someone with the same passion. I’m trying to get a few chapters ahead now, since I found that I don’t like writing up my notes as the teacher explains the content. I much prefer using class time as a way to revise.

Japanese: I also enjoy Japanese a lot, but it is a roller coaster of emotions. I think that people are expecting me to do well in Japanese, which is nice that they believe in me, but I’m not really aiming for top marks. I study Japanese because I love Japanese culture and history and media. Unfortunately I can’t really talk about how much I love anime in a VCAA exam. :/

English language: I have a new teacher and he’s also wonderful. I was scared he wouldn’t be but he clearly knows the content well. I forgot to mention it in my introduction, but I am trying for a high-ish score in English language. For no reason other than my old teacher believed that I could do well, and I just wanna show her that I can. I very much enjoy englang. I’ve always been decent at English but it was never a subject I ever thought was, or could be, ‘fun’. Englang proved me wrong.

Well, some basic goals I wanna get done:

work on methods, even if I get questions wrong and want to give up, I refuse to be defeated by some stupid numbers
catch up on general, I don’t think I’ll have trouble with this one but you never know
get ahead in chem

Well, I hope everyone’s had a wonderful week/couple of days at school. Good luck in 2023!

lxna

22/02/23
I had my first SAC of the year… and I absolutely flopped it. It was for Japanese, so it’s understandable that it’s difficult. I’m not expecting a high score for it anyway, I’m aiming for a 30ish so that scaling can save me.

But it does sting a bit. </3 I’ve always been that kid in the Japanese class that was expected to do well, and I’ve been dux of my class from every school I’ve been in for as long as I’ve been studying Japanese. So I don’t wanna disappoint my teachers and friends who expected me to do well, but I don’t think I’m gonna reach their expectations. :/

Which sucks but it is still the first SAC, if things go really badly I can always turn things around. But currently praying to all the gods out there to give me strength in this. ❤️

Status update on my other subjects:
General - no longer behind! In fact I kinda went overboard and finished the first AOS so I’m chilling in that for now.

Chem - slightly ahead, I’m absolutely loving the topics right now so I have motivation to continue working. I definitely need to practice more questions though as I’m fine with the theory, but not really the application.

Englang - I need to cover more metalanguage, and I need to practice short answer questions badly. I have a SAQ SAC coming up soon, so this is gonna be my priority for the next little bit.

Methods - … we’re getting there. I’m not behind anymore which is great, but methods and I are just not vibing. I’ve accepted that I won’t get a good score in it so I’m not too stressed and have decided to put my focus onto subjects I’m better at so I can get a better score in them.

Current mood: missing biology 3&4 badly </3

28/03/23
Update: Got the Japanese SAC back! DID NOT FLOP IT!!!

Definitely did not do as well as I usually do with my other subjects, but I’m very pleased considering I was expecting the worse case scenario. Last year, I flopped my first Japanese SAC and I’m happy to see that I made major improvements.

Specifically, I got pretty decent marks on the listening section, which I absolutely abhor. I’ve been working hard on that, so I’m glad my effort paid off. I’d like to continue improving though, since I’m still not doing as well as I could, and I also need to work on my speaking skills.

lxna

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

lxna If this is an area of study 1 chem SAC, then FYI teacher's aren't allowed to put rechargeable batteries/secondary cells into U3 AOS1 SACs since it falls within U3 AOS2 in the study design along with electrolysis

lxna

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

lxna

TERM 1 IS OVER! Wow… that’s really scary… a lot of stuff happened between the last update and now so let’s speedrun.

Chem
I got the score for the chem test I did when I sick… AND I DIDN’T FAIL! Me and this other dude in my class tied for rank 2, which is kinda insane considering I literally ran out of time and had to speed run like 3 pages without double checking my answers. Maybe the batteries were a good thing??? Either way, very proud of myself for not failing that.

I also sat my chemistry U3 AOS 1 SAC, it went as smoothly as I could hope for. Ended up with a 48/50, which is not too shabby. I was very happy with that. Redox is my favourite topic in chem. (Not a popular opinion in my class)

Our next SAC is week 2 of term 2, which is terrifying so I gotta get myself together to prepare for that.

English Language
I got my English language SAQ SAC back, and, once again, not too bad. The upper beings must’ve blessed me because I managed to pull an 18/20, which is fantastic considering I literally cried over it after I finished the SAC… yeah it was not a good day.

I also sat a second SAC, which was an analytical commentary. I haven’t received the marks for that one yet, I’m not feeling confident about my paragraphs but it is what it is. Will update on how that turns out 😀

01/05/23: Got the SAC back, was kinda mid. 23/30, but I’m not complaining. This means that for the total outcome I achieved a 41/50 which is pretty solid and is considered a pretty high score on the VCAA rubric that my teacher bases his marking on so you know what, I’m very happy with that. Can only work harder from here!

Japanese
Sat a writing SAC for Japanese, in which I got a 13.5/15. It was one of the best essays I’ve ever written so I’m very happy about that.

General
We had our data analysis SAC and it was probably one of the worst SACs I’ve ever sat in my life. Nobody in the cohort felt good about it. It wasn’t that the content is hard, like it was really easy but the questions were so confusing and there was no marking scheme so we didn’t really know what was expected of us?

It was split into 3 parts, and I cried after part 2 so yeah. Not excited to get my marks back for that one.

It does really upset me though, because I do quite well in the practice exams I’ve done for general so far. I’m very comfortable with test and exam-style questions. But it was an application task and I just don’t do well with those, and I feel like I screwed myself over because I know I know the content, and I know I can do well.

But, at least the exam is worth 60% of the study score. As long as I try my best in the SACs, (whether that means getting a high grade or not), I can still pull through with a decent score if I can do decently on the exam… hopefully.

UPDATE: I got a 36/40! I am very pleasantly surprised, I was not expecting to get that. I’m so happy that I didn’t fail haha, there’s still hope for me.

The plan for these holidays is to get my copious amounts of holiday homework done, do some pre-study for the next AOS, and enjoy my birthday!!

Well, have a lovely holidays everyone! Take a break and relax.

lxna

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 🤙

lxna

i completely gave up on this, (and VCE too ngl)

but i know people enjoy seeing other’s results so 🙂)

VCE RESULTS 2023
Chemistry - 35 (scaled 39)
English language - 33 (scaled 35)
Japanese - 33 (scaled 41)
General maths - 40 (scaled 38)
Methods - 29 (scaled 33)
Biology - 39 (scaled 40)

ATAR: 92.80 (!!!! WTF!!!!)

to those who read my year 11 journal and knew that my goal this entire time was to get a 90 and be the 6th person good enough,, i did it <3

AngelWings

lxna Congrats! 🥳

beep_boop

lxna

You did really well! Congrats. 🎊🎉

jinx_58

lxna
Ayyyyy!!! Nice work my dude!!! Awesome job 🎉🎉🎉

-jinx_58

lxna

AngelWings thank youuu!!

lxna

beep_boop thank you!!!!! 😁🫶

lxna

jinx_58 ahah tysm!!😁😁

lxna

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!

Arielle

lxna congrats mate with both your Atar and offer!! Good luck with your studies, all the best with your future career! 😁🥳