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  • vce journey 2024 from an overthinker

Im in year 11 this year and am doing biology, chemistry, english, general maths, methods, and already did 3/4 health this year.

I just got my health score back a couple days ago and could not be happier. I got a 48 which apparently scales to a 47.4 which is so good cause i was so worried as most health scores scale down by 3+. I always wanted to do really good in health but wasnt sure i was capable of it so i always just assumed i would do better next year but now having a 48 which i should be in my top 4 is so much of a relief.

Here is how I feel about each of my next years subjects:

BIOLOGY - Biology is my favourite subject and I def think it will be my top. I find it so easy to study for and do well in. I got the subject award for biology unit 1/2 so feeling really good about bio. Although I had the best bio teacher at my school this year but next year I have a different one but Im really hoping it still goes fine because they are still a good teacher but my other one was just like the best teacher i have ever had. Honestly right now I am hoping for a 43+ in bio as in unit 1/2 i barely dropped any marks and got the highest exam marks for both in both semesters and got mainly 100%. I know the topics are kinda different but hoping they will ckick like how the 1/2 content did.

CHEMISTRY - I had a really bad chem teacher this year and still managed to average high 90's until i go really unmotivated for chem in term 4 and started dropping to low 90's and high 80's. Although next year I have a great chem teacher and i am joining this study group with this amazing tutor i have heard great things about so am hoping those 2 combined help me keep up my motivation in chem. Im pretty sure im somewhere around top 5 in my year level and I think I can definately keep that up so hoping I can get a 40+ although I am really going to try hard to get higher. This is also considering my schools always have a few students go high 40's so I have hope.

METHODS - I actually really enjoy methods, I had a great teacher this year and my class was full of people who do specialists but i still managed to get the top exam mark in both unit 1 and unit 2. In Unit 1 I wasnt quite aware of the step up from year 10 and got high 70's on sacs that averaged around a 30 in the entire cohort as they make them ridiculously hard. In unit 4 i got straight 90's with my exam being 97% which I was so happy with also considering the average was around 50%. I so badly want to get a 40+ in methods but my teacher this year is very bad. He has never taught year 12 methods and I think Im gonna have to rely on teaching myself a lot of content but hoping can use other resources like youtube and other teacher to help me get through. My school does not usually do great in methods but we have a few students each year just scrape 40-43 so hoping I can be one of them

GENERAL - General i pretty much got 100% on all my sacs and got 96% on the exam. The only marks I have dropped are silly mistakes i know the answer to. I dont know my general teacher so hoping they are good and arent too strict witht he work as I sorta just like to catch up with general when I want and focus on methods, well at least thats what i did this year. I really think I can get a 45+ in general as I find the work easily to learn and apply and with my bound reference for the entire exam anything not 100% with can just look at. I also tend to get through general sacs/exams in half the time they allow us to do it which should helo me in the exams. My school is often pretty good at general and get the odd 50 with a fair few 45+ scores so hoping foir the best.

ENGLISH - This is where it goes down hill. I hate english with my whole life. I would drop it in an instant if i could. I think the main reason I hate english is that I am not great at it either compared to my stem subjects. In year 11 i had the absolute worst english teacher and never did any work and she never cared which didnt help either. I never studied for sacs and was still getting 80s but then my end of year exam came back with a shock when I got verrrrrrry low. like my lowest score for the whole of year 11, my around 20%. It was my lowest score ever since year 7. I drive myself on academic validation and this really triggered something in me. It really made me realise i need to get my act together and turn it around in english seems it has to go towards my atar. My ultimate goal is a 95+ but honestly english is really going to affect that. Now i really wish I had chosen eng lang cause at least if i did bad it scsaled up a tad but english will just go down and down. Please evryone who is reading this pray for me that I have a good english teacher cause i am going to be going to them for help like everyday until i am good at english.

Well overall if you read all that im sorry cause it was pretty much a huge rant but hope you liekd it and ask me questions cause id love to answrr

Off topic but these are my pre-year 12 study score predictions (going to be way off)
Health - 48 (already did)
Biology - 44 (i really wnat 45+ but dont know if im capable with all my other subjects)
Chemsitry - 43 (again want higher but dont know if i am capable)
Methods - 40 (pls i beg you)
general - 47
English 40 (TRUST I AM GOING TO WORK MUCH HARDER NEXT YEAR)

Hey haps!
Welcome to the wonderful, yet cursed journey of Year 12!
With a study score of 48 in Health, especially in such a competitive and popular subject, I'd say you should already have a pretty good idea of what to expect with the other subjects. While I didn't do as many technical subjects, like chemistry or maths, I think you have strong goals for next year too. My highest study score wasn't even above 30, but I'm sure with grit and determination, you'll reach your goals
The only subject we share is Biology, and I really, really enjoyed it. My tips, don't fall behind with your summary book or any coursework, as it's really tricky to catch up again. Don't underestimate any SACs or exams either. If it seems too, too easy, keep rereading the questions. Me and my friends thought the exam was pretty simple, I ended up getting a C (one of my better exam scores though, haha).
But hey, you seem to be filled with ambition and vigour. You'll be able to get your study scores, as long as you always give it your best shot

    12 days later

    Hey, looking forward to reading your journal! Well done on your results this year 🙂

      7 days later

      Ok so random little update because i felt like it!!
      BIOLOGY - So i completed all the exam questions and videos on edrolo for bio plus made flashcards and have been testing myself and its all going really well!!! Really loving the bio content so far. I feel like i have done so much bio stuff cause now im already doing chapter 3 work but i honestly think its cause im procrastinating kother subjects by doing bio, which is a common thing for me to do

      CHEMISTRY - Ok so read through the first chapter but havent really done much else as i have a tutor group which starts next week so after that i think ill get into a bit more chem work and do a little grind before school starts to cover the early content. For chem I think i really just need a push and then ill be off and going with my study for chem

      METHODS and GENERAL - Did most of the holiday homework for these subjects before my last post which was chapter 2 and 4 of methods and chapter 1 of general but i am still looking to do a bit more, still struggling with what to do for my bound reference though so need to figiure that out

      ENGLISh - Ok so improvements!! Ive strated reading and annotating the english book, although it is one of our later aos so im not totally prioritising reading it yet but maybe next holidays but still trying to get through it. Can people give me advice if they think i should just prioritise getting through it or taking a bit longer but annotating it? Also did some questions from the mentor texts but still have some more to do. Hoenstly i think a part of english i hate is that i cant listen to music while studying for it cause it usually involves reading or writing, and when im really enjoying lsitening to music i do other subjects instead or english, also a reason why im always far ahead in maths cause its my fav listen to music while study subject

      EDIT: Just finished all methods holiday homework and got a little ahead so feeling happy

      Hope everyones last few weeks of holidays are good!

      a year later

      Okay this feels weird seems that my last post was in the summer holidays, but I thought I would do a little update and Im happy to answer any questions anyone has!

      I got an atar of 98.40!!! I could not be happier🙂
      My study scores were
      HHD 48 (2023)
      Bio 47
      Chem 45
      General 50
      Methods 38
      English 34

      Here are my thoughts for each to compare from the start of the year.

      Bio - I love bio with my whole heart. It carried me through semester one when I was going through a pretty rough time, and ultimately came through with the goods on results day. That bio exam was rough tho, Id con vinced myself I would have been lucky to get a 40. All my sacs were around 88-92% and I was so shocked to find out that I was rank 1, even after I had almost given up on bio in late term 3. But that just gave me the biggest motvation boost which ended up getting me the score that I did!

      Chem - Chem was definately a slow burn. I hated 1/2 chem and luckily with a great teacher this year it slowly became my favourite. Again, I had convinced myself I had done much worse on the exam, but came out with a 45 which I was soooo happy with. I also got rank 1 for chem, which year 11 me would have never believed.

      English - I in fact did not work much harder. I neglected it all year, and certainly neglected it come exam time. I ddint do one practice piece for it, rocked up to most of my sacs with not one bit of study. My good short term emmeory worked on my side when I would read a quote bank the mornign of each and somehow fluked a pass. Anyways, if i had studied my atar would have thanked me for it because instead I ended up with a scaled 32 in my top 4 🙁

      General - pulled my stuff together in term 3 when I found out i was rank 1 and came out with the goods. Thank god because I dont know what I would have done if those 50+ practice exams were a waste.

      Methods - very happy with my score. Pretty quickly i realised methods would be in my bottom two so i stopped caring as much as I should. Methods will always be a what if, because I believe if I put as much effort into methods as I did for general I definately coul;d have gotten 40+.

      Anyways cya guys, if you have any questions let me know.

      Im also selling general and health resources so let me know if your interested!

        haps20 congrats on the AMAZING atar!! you deserve it and worked hard it sounded 🙂

          haps20
          WOAH!! That's an incredible score, job well done!
          What are your next plans? Where will you study? What course will you take?

              haps20 heyy thats soo good do you know where I could find practice exams for general math and chem

                  a month later

                  S007🌿☁️ i got all mine from vce rocks (now vce.best i think?) and my school. For both subjects i also did lots of old study design vcaa as they are all great too!!

                    5 days later

                    • din

                      • Post #14

                      yr 11 also contributes to ur atar if u do a 3/4 subject in yr 11

                      matureagedstudent

                      im really confused by your message sorry.

                      I go to a regular public school, not selective or anything.

                      I did a year 11 (1/2) in year 10 and so did most people at my school? This meant that most people did a 3/4 in year 11 which went towards our atar.

                      What do you mean by 'youre cleaerly in year 11'???

                        • FH

                          • Post #20
                          • Edited

                          matureagedstudent Wait until you’re 23 years old to cringe at your teenage self.

                          wait under you're 45 and cringe at your 23 year old self, it's just life no need to be pessimistic.

                          matureagedstudent Cheating happens all the time in school, it’s the only way to get 100% on a VCAA state exam

                          also encouraging cheating and saying it's the only way to do well on a vcaa exam is NOT true one bit. i managed a 93 on one exam and there was no cheating involved, and proves that hard work pays off. so it'd be great if you stop being in every page and spreading negativity because it's truly dulling.

                                • MMMHS

                                  • Post #22

                                  FH yea someone honest and truthfull like you wouldn't cheat, you did the best you could and now you have gotten in uni! Wish you the best there

                                    • FH

                                      • Post #24

                                      matureagedstudent prove i cheated. honestly if you can prove if i cheated, and that i in fact didn't put effort in, go ahead.
                                      remember one thing; you can have all the notes you want if you cheat, but if you dont know how to formulate an answer that meets the demands of the questions, cheating is useless.
                                      don't appreciate being called a cheater either...

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